My daughter Bailee started a blog in college a few years ago and her thoughtful musings inspired me to start one for a number of reasons. Hopefully, some will find our effort of value and maybe it will help me gain some focus in this busy world we live in.
Usually when someone says “to make a long story short” the story goes on and on. I’ll try to do better. Here is the who, what , when, where, and why.
WHO?
Ric Bowman and Susie Bowman, born a while back, grew up in Colonial Acres, Overton High School, Memphis State, and Memphis College of Art. Susie worked part time, did volunteer work, sold real estate, and raised 2 children, Kendall and Bailey, now 29 and 22 years old. Ric worked in the newspaper business until going full time into real estate. He opened BenchMark Realtors and BenchMark Mortgage in 1999. Raised 2 kids, Bailee and Tyler, now 25 and 21 years old. Yes, that’s correct we both have kids named Bailey(e)!
In 2009 we got married, blended our families, bought a house, and purchased a Weichert Realtors franchise. In 2010, just before our first wedding anniversary, we were in a boating accident which left Susie in a wheelchair. Incredible how a split second can change a life. This event lead us in many directions. This blog is one of them.
WHAT?
Hopefully, our blog will be a literary vehicle to share information about the real estate profession, our travels, our country, and info that other real estate professionals want to share. We are a part of 450 Weichert offices nationwide (hence the corporate yellow) and have learned a great deal from other broker/owners in the network. We want to further connect with Weichert offices and share what we continue to learn for the benefit of our agents and clients. A mobile conduit if you will.
WHEN?
It starts now and will continue as long as we feel it could be a benefit. We have had a travel vehicle on order that is part RV, part tailgate vehicle, part limo, and part accessible van. I think Susie will pack it with survival supplies so I suppose it could be our bug out vehicle should that become necessary! Check out midwestautomotivedesigns.com. They build some incredible vehicles and were the only company willing to take on our special build.
WHERE?
September 25th, we are heading to Destin, FL for a stay at the beach with all the kids (we hope). On from there, we will head to the Weichert National Convention in Orlando Florida. After that, we plan to take trips to Weichert offices across the country as we have time and money to take off work. We will start in Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida.
WHY?
5 years post accident with airline travel and conventional cars not practical for long travel distances, it is time to get out of town! Time to see new places and meet new people. We also see this as an opportunity to contribute to our profession. Sure we could have volunteered or run for positions on our local board, but we thought we would try something different. Sometimes I tend to overdo things. We’ll see how this effort turns out!
I learned a long time that the hardest part of doing something new is taking the first step. Then you have made a commitment and things snowball. I guess we just made a commitment.
On the Yellow Brick Road 