The morning of July 2nd, 2021, was when I saw a Facebook post by Bruce West, whom I had known for many years and worked with in the Emmaus Walk Ministry, saying that he had changed careers, was now a Realtor, and if anyone needed to buy or sell property, he’d be glad to talk to them about representation. I texted him that I was indeed interested in selling my home at Brownspur. Bruce and Gwendolyn lived about ten miles south of me in Hollandale, just down the street from my brother Beau. He called back that afternoon and made an appointment to come by Monday to look at my homestead, which consisted of a big two-story 1898 Plantation Home, with nearly 6000 sq. ft. under roof and an 1800 sq. ft. guest house connected by a covered walkway, all on six acres, including an old-fashioned sand-bottomed Swimming Hole with a shooting range behind it.
Betsy and I had listed Brownspur several times in the past few years after all our kids got out from underfoot, intending to move to smaller quarters in our Golden Years, but had never gotten a serious offer. She had passed away suddenly the week after our 55th Anniversary, six months before the Covid-19 pandemic hit. I viewed that as an opportunity to catch it and die, to go be with Betsy, so had done absolutely nothing to the house and yard in over two years since her death. Bruce advised me to go with a “Buy-As-Is” approach, and we signed an agreement for representation Tuesday morning. He e-mailed me Thursday morning that he was showing it to a couple at 5:30 that afternoon. Monday morning he called to say that he had an offer, so I met him early Tuesday. The couple had offered less than we had listed it for, but three other people had contacted him over the weekend to say they were interested in looking at Brownspur. What did I want to do?
“Let’s make them a counter-offer, halfway the difference,” I suggested. He nodded and dialed where we stood in the parking lot of the Double Quik gas station in Leland. He never got off the phone: “They took it,” he exclaimed!
I had no idea how much paperwork was involved by so many parties from North Carolina to Nashville, Tennessee, to Leland, Greenwood, Cleveland, Brownspur, to Sumner where I now live, re-married to Cindy, Betsy’s former Ole Miss roommate. Bruce took care of dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s, thank the Lord. We closed on August 24th.
What a fantastic experience it was, selling my home on the plantation I’d grown up on for 77 years, through my Realtor and Friend, Bruce West!