Photo by Ben Fant // Buy this photo
When Dawson and Kathryn Stockdale bought their first home in Oakland in 2005, they had a five-year plan."We moved out there because the property values were going up and the taxes were really low," said Kathryn, an ER nurse at Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center. "We could get a brand new home out there much cheaper than it cost to get an existing home in Memphis."
They only planned to stay in the house three to five years. But when the real estate bubble burst, their plans burst along with it.
"We held on to it a little while longer," said Dawson, co-owner of landscaping and exterior lighting company Covenant Landscape Services. "Finally, we came to the conclusion we just had to move. We'd been in that house six and a half years."
The main reason the Stockdales wanted to move was because they were ready to move up. Since buying the Oakland starter house, their family had grown from two people to three. And before their son, Grayson, reached school age, both Kathryn and Dawson knew they wanted to be in East Memphis.
Kathryn, for her part, had grown up in the city. Dawson lived in East Memphis for a while in his 20s and had always wanted to move back.
"Everything is closer, everything is more convenient," Kathryn said.
Plus, they wanted to be in an area with great public schools.
"We looked all over East Memphis," Kathryn said. "We looked for the Richland school district. We looked at White Station. This was the area that we wanted to be in, and we knew that."
Finally they decided to jump into the market and give selling their Oakland house a try -- on their own.
"We stuck a sign in the yard," Dawson said.
"That was in July," added Kathryn. "At the end of August, we had an MLS (Multiple Listing Service) Assist agent list it online. We sold it in October for almost asking price. It was awesome. It was a modern-day miracle."
In the meantime, the Stockdales had been scouring the East Memphis market for homes in their target neighborhoods and price range. For that, they sought the help of Mary Catherine Hitchings, a retired Realtor who formerly worked with Crye-Leike, Realtors, and a longtime friend of Kathryn's family.
With Hitching's help, the couple viewed six to 10 houses. The one that spoke to them the loudest was an online listing they nearly chose to overlook.
"Kathryn found it online, and I had looked at it before," Dawson said. "The outside was junky-looking, the roof needed repairs, the landscaping was kind of gross. The outside was not my favorite."
But then they went inside.
"There was a ton of stuff that was cool about this house that the listing didn't mention," Kathryn said. "Plus the owners were relocating, and they just wanted to sell it. They needed to sell it quickly, so we got a great deal."
And although the couple didn't want a house they had to put a lot of work into, Dawson knew that with his background, he could one day turn the "junky-looking" exterior into a place with curb appeal. The Stockdales knew they'd found their house.
They purchased the three-bedroom, two and a half-bath, 1,740-square-foot home in the Normandy Meadows subdivision in July for $162,500. They're glad they decided to jump into the market when they did.
"You might sell your house cheaper than you think, but you actually make your money back when you buy a new house because houses are so cheap," Dawson said.
"And our house note is the same," Kathryn added.
At the front of the house, a formal living room features original hardwood floors, an antique sewing table and several framed pastoral photographs the Stockdales took during family trips to Cades Cove in Townsend, Tenn.
Built-in bookshelves flank each side of the entry to a formal dining room, where taupe walls provide a backdrop for red curtains, a dining table with six chairs and a contemporary light fixture with old world flair.
"I've been steadily changing out light fixtures," Kathryn said. "I've slowly been replacing fixtures with more modern ones."
In the kitchen, a stainless steel cart fits into a niche that once held a washer and dryer, though the house now has a laundry room. Dark green-gray countertops and black appliances set off the white-painted, original cabinets. The Stockdales plan to update the kitchen eventually, but for now, they've found, it's livable and comfortable.
Down a side hallway, a tiled guest bath features an original medicine cabinet, a pedestal sink and space for a small, weathered wood chest. In the gray-walled guest room, a canopy bed is dressed with pink and white, Shabby Chic-style bedding.
By contrast, Grayson's room is all boy, with light blue walls and a pirate ship theme. The master suite, which features blue walls Kathryn plans to paint, has space for a king-size bed and includes an en-suite bath.
It's the additions at the back of the house, though, that really sold the Stockdales on their new home. A spacious den/sunroom features gray-painted paneling, a cozy seating area where the family spends much of its time and a corner brick fireplace with a striking copper hood.
Beyond it, a two-story addition provides a spot for Dawson's home office. The space has dark, solid-wood paneling, parquet floors, hidden nooks, rows of built-in shelving and a small half-bath. It also includes a small room the family has set up as a playroom for Grayson.
All in all, the house and the neighborhood has everything the Stockdales were hoping for when they set out on their home search.
"Once we moved in, we realized some friends of ours live five houses down," Kathryn said. "There are a lot of younger couples and a lot of people who've lived here forever. Everybody is really friendly, which is great. Everyone in Oakland was friendly, and I didn't want to leave that."
The couple plan to tackle indoor and outdoor renovations over time, but they're not stressing out about it or feeling any rush. They consider it one of the perks of homeownership.
"It's fun to make it our own," Kathryn said. "There's a lot we want to do. We've just got to budget."
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