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Ashia and Darius Graham, and their six-year-old son, Jayden, moved to Memphis from Huntsville, Alabama, for Ashia's job opportunity with The Hershey Company. She is a production manager at Hershey, and Darius later joined the Hershey’s team. Initially the family moved into an apartment; however, after 10 months they decided to buy their first house. 

“We were tired of paying rent and needed more space,” explained Ashia. “We knew we wanted a house with three or four large bedrooms. Plus, we wanted a large gathering space for family. Also, we wanted a two-car garage.”

The couple connected with Regi Stevenson of Keller Williams Realty for assistance with their house hunt.

“Ashia and Darius were looking at one of my listings online and contacted me about it,” recalled Regi. “They weren’t working with an agent at the time, so they agreed to become my clients. They had looked at some properties online and when they came to me, we looked at about 15 more. They were definitely ready to make a move. We put in several offers on different properties, but with the limited inventory, they lost out several times in this highly competitive market. When I spotted the house that would become theirs, we moved on it quickly. We toured the house and made an offer the same day. The previous owner had already purchased her next home and was ready to close on this one.”

Ultimately, Ashia and Darius found the house they were looking for in the Cordova Club subdivision, a planned unit development of single family homes in the heart of Cordova. They paid $249,000 for approximately 2,700 square feet of living space. Built in 1999, their traditional two-story, unpainted brick  house had their desired three bedrooms as well as 2½ bathrooms. They said they also appreciated that the home offered large rooms and large closets. Aesthetically, there was a gas fireplace which added to the coziness of the den. Architectural columns gave a sense of separation to the dining room without actually closing off the space from the airy open floor plan. The home had a general sense of ease for entertaining, as well as everyday living. And there was an attached two-car garage in the back.

Ashia added, ”The original hardwood floors are wonderful, too. When we moved in, we repainted the entire interior and replaced a few of the light fixtures. We still intend to replace a few more fixtures and we want to renovate the kitchen with new appliances and repainted cabinets. That’s one of the biggest joys, that unlike living in an apartment, this home is ours to modify as we like. And we now have a spare bedroom for guests and plenty of space for Jayden to play.”

As for their Cordova neighborhood, after closing on their new home, the Grahams were pleased to discover that they already knew some of their neighbors.

“We’re lucky to have such great neighbors," said Darius. “And, this is a quiet area in a great location. Everything we need seems to be very convenient for us, like shopping, the grocery store, etc. It’s also an easy transit for us to get to work.”

Emily Adams Keplinger is a freelance reporter who produced this feature for the Advertising Department.

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