JOHNSON CITY, TENNESSEE — Scott and I have always dreamed of our own homestead – a place to call our own with enough space to have a more self-sufficient lifestyle. 

That dream seemed so far away as two young teachers living in tiny apartments. Ever since getting married seven years ago, we have scrimped and saved. 

Although we had a general idea of what we wanted, we discovered the perfect home in 2019. 

Our friends invited us to housesit, and their beautiful homestead showed us everything we had ever wanted. 

That’s when we started seriously looking to buy. 

After putting in an inquiry for an online listing, Deanna Marcus, with NextHome Magnolia Realty, came into our lives. She was so knowledgeable and our communication styles clicked. 

We found ourselves comparing every house we looked at to that one perfect house. It was our standard for what we really wanted. 

Our perfect home was a two-bedroom, two-bath farmhouse sitting on five acres. It was built in 1936 and was full of character. All of the generations of owners had been diligent about keeping it in great condition. It came complete with original wood floors and a really cool fireplace with a well-maintained chimney. One side of the fireplace is in the living room, and the other is the kitchen. My dad pointed out that back when they didn’t have any electricity, the original homeowners would need to both heath the house and cook.

This house had so much character and history. It was unbelievable. Needless to say, we set a pretty high and specific bar for what we wanted. 

One day, we learned that our friends had decided to sell their home to move closer to family. We knew we just had to buy their place; our perfect home was finally ready for us! 

We saw the house hit online listings on Thursday. We put in the offer on Friday. They accepted our offer on Saturday. It was so quick!

Without a responsive real estate associate like Deanna, we would have likely missed out on our dream home. 

From that point on, it was as if everything was meant to be. Deanna made the process as easy as possible. We closed on March 24, 2023. 

In hindsight, so many things went right to get us into our perfect home. 

What we needed for our first-time home buying was someone with the heart of a teacher. We certainly appreciated Deanna for her ability to not only know what was happening and how to explain it to us, but also guide us effectively. It felt like she really cared about our experience and it wasn’t just transactional. We felt like she cared about us more than the house.

Because of that, our dreams have finally come true. Today, we get to think about getting farm animals, and eventually adding on to the house. It’s almost like we’ve been saving for so long for this moment, and now our future feels wide open.