A home search was a full family affair for Henry and Rachel Nix.
Their 7-year-old daughter, Abigail, accompanied them to every home they viewed and made friends with their real estate agent and mortgage lender, Rachel said. When it was time to pick lots for a new home, Abigail and their son, Caleb, 23, were asked for their opinion.
“They were our No. 1 priority. We needed to establish a home for them,” said Rachel, a school secretary. “They really took ownership in it because they were a part of it from the beginning.”
The priority
Rachel said she grew up in the country, but wanted Abigail to experience living in a neighborhood near kids her age. Caleb, who works in law enforcement, also needed his own separate space. They wanted the home to be newer construction.
“We weren’t in a situation to go in and immediately sink a lot of money into a home,” Rachel said. “It needed to pretty much be move-in ready with minor cosmetics so it could be easily taken care of.”
The family, who had been renting a home in Monroe, wanted to remain in the Walton County area because of jobs and Abigail’s softball team. Henry works in nearby Conyers.
The search
Rachel called Janice Baldwin with Keller Williams Realty Atlanta Partners on a Friday night to tell her they were interested in using her as their real estate agent. By Saturday, they had listings to view. Rachel credits Baldwin and Betsy Jourdan, a mortgage lender with Pinnacle Bank, a community bank in northeast Georgia, for helping them become homeowners.
“I 100 percent believe that we would not be in our home had it not been for Janice and Betsy. It didn’t matter what time of day it was, whether it was the weekend or a weekday, I could call, text and email them, and I had an answer,” she said.
The home
The family built a new home in Loganville’s Greenridge Estates neighborhood, which has homes from the $170,000s.
“We had been in the neighborhood a lot and watched one of the houses being built,” Rachel said.
They selected a lot and a three-bedroom, three-bath floor plan built by Southfork Homes and moved in during April. The home, which has 2,472 square feet, offered a split-level plan with a downstairs kitchenette, bedroom and bath for Caleb, plus a den and office/craft room on that level.
The lifestyle
The new home is only seven miles from their previous home. Rachel didn’t have to change her shopping habits and could remain loyal to certain stores.
“My grocery store is the Loganville Kroger. I could not be too far from it because that’s where I shop,” she said. “That was part of the criteria with Janice. She had to (find) me a house that wasn’t too far from there.”
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