Benchmark Happenings

Anchoring Dreams: Aiden and Lauren Moore's Voyage to First-Time Homeownership with Benchmark Home Loans

• Jonathan Tipton, Steve Reed & Christine Reed • Episode 27

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Embarking on the journey of first-time home ownership can feel like navigating a maze without a map. But fear not, as our latest episode brings you the compelling story of Aiden and Lauren Moore, who, with the aid of Benchmark Home Loans, transformed their high school romance and pirate-themed pickup lines into a partnership for life. Celebrating four years of marriage and the impending arrival of their baby boy, the Moores offer up a treasure trove of insights on how they conquered the high seas of the housing market. From disciplined saving to facing a daunting rent hike, their tale is brimming with practical advice for anyone looking to anchor down and call a place their own.

Imagine a world where every financial decision is a stepping stone towards a dream. That's the reality Aiden and Lauren crafted through years of deliberate saving and financial education. Their narrative, featured in our latest episode, underscores the significance of building trust with professionals who can illuminate the path to homeownership. Listen to how the Moores, with support from trusted advisors like Steve, navigated the complexities from pre-approval to closing, transforming fears and uncertainties into a triumph of informed decision-making. Their story not only educates but also inspires, proving that the right preparation and connections can make all the difference.

Lastly, we zoom in on the personal growth and financial independence that blossom from owning a home. Lauren reflects on the joys of personalizing their space without constraints, an emblem of the freedom they've achieved. The couple's journey from modest beginnings to intentional living, while avoiding the pitfalls of lifestyle creep, is a lesson in gratitude and the importance of open communication about finances. Their experience is a beacon for young couples and individuals alike, demonstrating the profound impact of facing struggles head-on and learning from life's challenges. Tune in to witness how the Moores' wisdom can light the way for your own journey toward building wealth through homeownership.

To help you to navigate the home buying and mortgage process, Jonathan & Steve are currently licensed in Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia, contact us today at 423-491-5405 or visit www.jonathanandsteve.com.

Speaker 1:

This is Benchmark Happenings, brought to you by Jonathan and Steve from Benchmark Home Loans. Northeast Tennessee, johnson City, kingsport, bristol, the Tri-Cities one of the most beautiful places in the country to live Tons of great things to do and awesome local businesses. And on this show you'll find out why people are dying to move to Northeast Tennessee. And on the way we'll have discussions about mortgages and we'll interview people in the real estate industry. It's what we do. This is Benchmark Happenings, brought to you by Benchmark Home Loans and now your host, christine Reed.

Speaker 2:

Well, welcome back everybody, and we are so excited today I have two superstars on our show, a beautiful young couple, Aiden and Lauren Moore.

Speaker 3:

Welcome Thanks for having us.

Speaker 2:

Thank you. We are just. We're so glad to have you because we're going to take a little bit of a turn from our podcast and talk about first-time home buying experience. And Lauren and Aiden, you are some first-time home buyers here with Benchmark, you've worked with Steve, so we're going to talk about that. But before we dive into that, let's talk about some fun stuff first. Let's do it, okay. So tell us a little bit about the Lauren and Aiden love story. How did you two meet and how long have you been married? So the fun stuff.

Speaker 4:

I think our stories would vary a little bit between the two of us, but I'll give a first crack at it and, Lauren, you can fill in my blank.

Speaker 2:

There you go. We'll let each of you share the story.

Speaker 4:

So I knew Lauren through mutual friends in high school and then senior year of high school we started hanging out in a group more and at that time I was playing guitar and singing in a youth group band and she started coming to the youth group and we'd hang out in groups afterwards and I kept trying to drop the hint that you're gorgeous and I really like you. And I think there was a while where she was like oh, aiden's a nice friend, he's a nice, nice guy. And then one time I think I pulled out probably the worst pickup line of all time. We were sitting together after one of these events and we were watching a show or sports event and we were sitting a little bit further apart than we are now, and so it was a little bit awkward and it's just the two of us there.

Speaker 4:

Everyone started filing out and I said hey, lauren, do you know about pirates? And she said what? And I said never mind, don't worry about it, kept watching the show. And then a couple minutes later she goes Aiden, why did you say that? What are you talking about? And I said well, I was just wondering if you knew a lot about pirates. I was trying to figure out if they usually liked their parrot on this shoulder or this shoulder. And I reached around and put my arm around her. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 3:

And it worked.

Speaker 4:

Somehow that worked, and then the rest is history. We've been married, coming up on four years now been together for six and a half, but that's my angle of the story. You can fill in the gaps.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, okay, lauren, so let's hear it from the woman's point of view.

Speaker 3:

Yes, Well, yeah, we were kind of in the same friend groups. I had never known about him until like right before we met because he was homeschooled and he lived like 45 minutes away and um. But he played sports at Tennessee high. He played soccer there and I started hanging out with some of my sports friends from Tennessee high and going to the same youth group. That was like so far from my house, such a random, like so random, but obviously a God thing.

Speaker 2:

And because you live in Kingsport. Yes, so you were driving all the way to Tennessee High, right, that's a long drive.

Speaker 3:

It is, it is and it wasn't, and it was for my friends at the time. But then so I go to this youth group that's like close to an hour away from my house, probably, it felt like it and I walk in and I see this little blonde boy and he's playing guitar on the stage, leading worship, and he starts flirting with me and it might have felt like it took a long time, but I think it was like a will they won't they thing, and we hung out in groups for a long time, which I'm glad, because I got to see his true intentions and how much of a gentleman that he was and so that and the parrot story that's very and it worked is the craziest thing.

Speaker 2:

So did you scoot in a little bit when he did, because he wasn't going to.

Speaker 3:

He was a gentleman, he was going to leave space.

Speaker 4:

Leave room for Jesus. Exactly, exactly.

Speaker 2:

Yes. So you were thinking that the dots are not connecting. I'm like how am I going to get this beautiful girl's attention? But you were like. You liked Aiden too. You liked what you saw. I think that's so important. Just to have that God puts that spark for that person and we kind of were attracted to him immediately. So married four years now. How well, how long did you date before you got married?

Speaker 4:

It was about two and a half years, between two and a half and three years.

Speaker 3:

Yes, Um we got married very young, but I would have me and my family would have had it younger if possible. My parents were ready to send me off with Aiden once they met him. They loved him so much.

Speaker 2:

Yes, they do, they do. And what's not to love?

Speaker 3:

right, exactly.

Speaker 2:

Two great families coming together and I know, it's such a blessing for each of you. So I think we have some other news to share Exciting news, exciting.

Speaker 3:

Yes, we are expanding the Moore family.

Speaker 4:

Yes, baby Moore coming in October. Baby boy.

Speaker 2:

Baby boy October. This is the first, and so, Lauren, I think it was was so funny. You were talking about your cravings.

Speaker 3:

Patterson boy cravings. Patterson boy craving the tomatoes yes, and the biggest one, the most recent and the most random one, because I've never eaten this. I don't know if I've ever eaten this that I can remember, but a McDonald's cheeseburger. I haven't eaten McDonald's cheeseburger. I haven't eaten McDonald's in years, but it was like McDonald's is the way to go now.

Speaker 4:

And if you know that's 100% a Travis Patterson craving, not an Amy Patterson craving no, she wouldn't be caught dead. She's like oh gross.

Speaker 3:

And dad's like, yeah, that's a meal of champions right there, there you go. Yes, yes, amy is kind like, yeah, that's a meal of champions right there.

Speaker 2:

There you go. Yes, yes, amy is kind of that's a snobby thing. I'm not going to eat the fast food. Oh yeah. Your dad's like oh yeah, I'm all about it Good stuff.

Speaker 4:

Exactly.

Speaker 2:

So when you guys met, I mean you said, you were really young. How old were you when you first met 17. Okay, yeah.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, I had just turned 18 about a week or two before we met and you were 17.

Speaker 4:

We were both seniors in high school, and so it was around Christmas time, senior year of high school. And then we dated through the rest of high school and I went down to Cleveland, tennessee, to Lee university to go to school, and Lauren went to the University of Tennessee, chattanooga, and so we were only about 40 minutes, 35 minutes away there. And then, after what was it? I don't even think it was a year, it was one semester at UTC Lauren ended up transferring to Lee, yeah, and we dated for another year and then, between our sophomore and junior year of college, we got married.

Speaker 4:

So, June of 2020, the middle of. Covid, craziness oh my goodness, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Well, I'm sure there's a lot to talk about that but we'll just leave all that behind.

Speaker 2:

Um, so I just I think it's a beautiful story and I just both of you, your faith and your marriage, and just your examples that you set for younger people and younger couples, and it's just so encouraging and Steve and I, we just love that and we love being around the two of you. So let's talk a little bit about how long were you married before you started thinking about you know what? Maybe we need to start the planning process of thinking about purchasing our first home.

Speaker 4:

It was probably about two years in Um. So as we got married in college we were, we knew we wouldn't be in Cleveland, tennessee, forever. So we were staying in apartments at the time, but in the back of our minds we always knew that the sooner the better to be homeowners.

Speaker 4:

And so we planned our finances accordingly and kind of from when we started from right, when we got married, we started saving and setting things aside and kept our eye on things. But then after those two years when we moved back to Kingsport, our general plan was all right, well, the apartment rates haven't gone crazy yet, here's a good apartment. Let's get a one year lease and just watch the housing market, try to learn a few things, and then we'll reassess from there. And so it was kind of always in the back of our minds. But the real planning and looking ahead really started about two years into our marriage when we moved back here.

Speaker 3:

I remember last year, because we're coming up on a year in our house and, um, last year it was kind of like we, I remember when we moved into our apartment in Kingsport two years ago, we're like, oh, we can stay here, this is a good size, we can stay here for a while. And then, you know, plans change and we're like, oh, this is kind of like it's time to start looking. And we knew it was. And obviously you're like, where do we even start? And my mom, you know realtor, she's like I know, I know the place for you to go. And boy am I glad because we were kind of it's confusing and you know, you're like can we even do this?

Speaker 3:

Should we do this?

Speaker 1:

And it was just a incredible experience, really, truly.

Speaker 2:

That's great. So what were some of the challenges? Cause it was exciting time and the markets kind of iffy. So what were some of the challenges that you two faced in this process?

Speaker 4:

that you two faced in this process? Yeah, I think so. The catalyst for really reaching out to Steve and starting the process was we were coming up on the end of that one-year lease and we got the letter in our door that rent prices were going to go up.

Speaker 4:

And when I started looking at that and it was a pretty exorbitant amount that it was increasing and I was like I know, I know people, probably even my parents, that have mortgages that are less than this.

Speaker 4:

Yes, this apartment, what was your rent going to go up to? It was going to go up about $250 a month, from about $1,300 to almost $1,600 a month, and so at that point I was like we've kind of had this plan on the back burner and started looking towards home ownership for a while, but it was a real kind of spark that now's the time, and so, as, as we talk about the challenges with it is most people that I've spoken to or had spoken to at the time about being a first-time home buyer and about the market in general, a lot of those discussions and a lot of the information surrounding first-time home ownership was kind of led by fear, in the sense it was. You know, this is an unknown, this is you know, mortgage rates are going up or down or sideways. What is, you know? What are they going to do at the federal level?

Speaker 4:

And there was a lot of uncertainty and fear and I think, in an age where information's at your fingertips online, I didn't know who to trust, because normally I'm pretty good at researching and figuring things out, but I was like every different article or journal or report is saying 10 different things, and so at that point I had known Steve for a little while and I'd heard him come into the office and talk to the real estate agents and had really admired all that, all the information that he was sharing. I don't know if it's possible here now for us to potentially get approved and purchase a home, but could you help me? Just look at things, and that was the start and what helped so much? And pull me off my soapbox whenever you want, but what helped so much about going to Steve is the. It never seemed like the agenda was to just spit out a piece of paper towards me with some numbers, get me to sign a dotted line. It was always education and relationship first, and so, after reaching out initially to Steve, he came back and before he knew anything else about my financial situation, he had a sit down meeting.

Speaker 4:

I think it was over zoom and had a whole presentation of walking through benchmarks process and giving me really key pointers of information that I didn't know um and really helped me. And so, moving from there to the the whole pre-approval process into the actual underwriting and close of our of our loan when we found the home, actual underwriting and close of our loan when we found the home every step of the way, steve and the benchmark team as a whole provided myself and Lauren with valuable information where we felt we were making educated decisions. It wasn't like here's all you can do or you can or you can't. It was here's information, here's how you can look at things, here's pertinent information about adjusters and how they work at the market level, and here's what here's the value of of not waiting the best time to buy a home is today or yesterday and showed us the the increase in value of land over time, regardless of interest rates, and so I just felt like it was an educational crash course that I really needed and couldn't find elsewhere at the time.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's awesome. Were you part of those initial meetings, Lauren?

Speaker 3:

Well, actually no, which is I was going to tell from my side of things. So Aiden was more in contact with Steve and, um, of course, I was always in the loop and always heard how great Steve was, and but one of the coolest things from like my aspect of this process was honestly being like less knowledgeable about this process. Of course, it's our first time buying a home and you know it's all happening so fast because that was a month before our lease was up when they sent us that and we were like, oh, like you know, and wow, we of course I don't think we were going to be homeless at any point, but I think you probably had a place to go Right exactly.

Speaker 3:

My mom was like you could stay with us, but we're like you know. We would like to find a home. And it was really cool how, when we found the home, how fast that process was, but also just feeling so confident and at peace with our decision because how great everybody at benchmark was, how great. Steve was that was. I was like this isn't normal, is it? But that's, it's a good thing. This is above average experience for a first time home buyer for sure. Especially in that time, it was really great.

Speaker 2:

Well, thank you, that's wonderful to hear and that's that's the whole goal of is, you know, um, step-by-step, walking clients, families, through that process, eliminating the fear and providing that education and Aiden you're, you know, you're a CFO, you're a finance guy, so you know, you look at numbers and, uh, things like that. So you know, you look at numbers and things like that. So let's talk a little bit about how important is it of having a great real estate agent to guide you and advise you, you know, when buying a home Because you know, I know your mom has Conservis Real Estate, her and Bud and Tina co-owners wonderful company. And let's talk a little bit about the importance of you know having that, um, that person that can guide you, because that's that's just as important as the right realtor who's educated and is going to do the right thing for you, as well as having that lender too, for sure.

Speaker 4:

I think that they definitely work in tandem in the same way that you know having the right lender provides.

Speaker 4:

You know the education and the confidence and the direction in the process when it comes to actually finding the right home and seeing the value of that home.

Speaker 4:

I think it's so essential to have a real estate agent that is working on your team that is helping you see things that you couldn't see otherwise. So on the lending side of things, as I spoke about, it was almost like there was too much information and too many things to look at, and Steve and the benchmark team helped me narrow down my focus and show me what I needed to actually view. And on the real estate side, I think a good real estate agent does a very similar thing. If you don't have an agent and you're just looking on Zillow and saying some things might appear wonderful and you're missing, you're missing things, and so having a real estate agent and in our case it was Amy- um you know, right when we saw, right when we saw our home, it actually got listed and within four or five hours of it listing we had already reached out and scheduled a visit there, a showing.

Speaker 4:

And so we went with Amy and looked through the home and looked at it and she the whole time was talking about potential red flags and this and that, and we'd been to four or five other properties before this one.

Speaker 2:

Okay, actually we'd we'd been to four or five other properties before this one.

Speaker 4:

okay, and each time, based on my information and the things that I was looking at, like this is perfect, this is perfect. And amy would walk in and in five minutes say, no, here's why. See the way that this crack is in the foundation because at this angle it's more vertical than horizontal. That leads to this problem in the future. The repairs on this are and so just the depth of knowledge of the actual home and property and value therein, as well as contracts and negotiations, and all of that is super important as well. It's just to have a real estate agent and a lender that you trust and are helping hold your hand through the process. It's invaluable?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, absolutely I remember one of the houses. It starts to get discouraging. You know when you go and you look, and something you know, of course, especially the part when we think, oh, this is perfect, this is perfect, yes.

Speaker 3:

She's like there was one of them. When we think, oh, this is perfect, this is perfect, and she's like there was one of them that she said, oh, there's, they have plugins, they have the Febreze plugins. Like we need to look in the basement and there was water in the basement and it was like hiding the smell.

Speaker 2:

I was like I would, I would have thought, oh, how nice they're.

Speaker 3:

just you know, but it's super important. Especially I am the type to look through Zillow and be like, oh, this is perfect and you know you need somebody there to. This is your home that you're going to be living in, and there's some problems that aren't visible, especially to people who aren't knowledgeable about it, or just like as far as location and the value of that, and there's all sorts of things that you don't think about, especially when you're on a little bit of a time crunch with the rent and the lease, and I think about people that buy homes online.

Speaker 2:

They've never seen anything and, just like you said, going through that walkthrough, having your real estate agent point those things out, but also to understand what those cracks mean or the Febreze scents and things like that. I mean where we walk into it and we think, oh, this place is perfect, I love it because we'll look at the pretty things and you know, my thing is a closet. You got me a big closet.

Speaker 3:

I'm in love I would overlook everything else.

Speaker 2:

So so I was talking about things online. You know, it's been said that all lenders are pretty much the same. I'm sure you've heard that a lot. However, once buyers have gone through the process, most agree that and I think, aiden, you've already talked about this that a lender does provide that high level financial advice. And you've really I think you really talked a lot about your experience with Steve and would make those recommendations to have someone that can lead you through that process and truly look at your financial portfolio.

Speaker 4:

Absolutely. Yeah, that's for us, it was crucial and especially, you know, like we've spoke about and as last time I was here, I was here in the role, as you know, CFO of Patterson Homes and I've got extensive education and experience in because there was there's quite a few things that you know, either I had considered, but it looked at them in the wrong light, or looked at them from more of a you know, maybe an accountant accounting lens on this end or maybe a uh corporate financial end on, and so I think the perspective and the understanding of the financial nuances is invaluable.

Speaker 4:

Once again, it's just so important and was so beneficial to us.

Speaker 2:

And you know we hear so much about, you know, people calling what's your rate? What's your rate? What's your rate? Well, there's so much more to it than a rate. You know. So your experience and what you gained was much more than your rate.

Speaker 4:

Yes, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

And you can't just get that from um. What would you say about people that um a first time home buyer that um would look at an online lender? What would be your advice to that young couple or anyone really, if they're looking at, you know, rocket Mortgage or all those that are online lenders? What would be your suggestion after you've had your experience?

Speaker 4:

Yeah, my suggestion would be it needs to be someone in person that you trust and if you're in the Tri-Cities, in my opinion it has to be someone in person that you trust and if you're in the Tri-Cities, in my opinion it has to be benchmark. But that's just me. The value of the relationship that was built in the process and the trust built there, because in business as a whole, but especially when it's this personal and about your family and your future, and this big of an investment, there has to be a relationship and there has to be trust.

Speaker 4:

And so on top of all of the additional benefits that we've already spoke of and the nuances that come from meeting with Steve and having the personal connection, there's also just the base level of relationship and trust. That gave us so much confidence throughout the process, because it's a big scary thing for a lot of people and I know for us as we started down this road it was scary and intimidating but through the relationships built and the trust built and all the information we learned, it gave us so much peace and confidence.

Speaker 3:

Exactly, I would say I mean for everybody, but especially young people, especially first-time homebuyers. Whenever you're going through, you know, like you said, aiden works with numbers. This is like you know. I can always just rely on Aiden to be that person.

Speaker 3:

But we were in need of somebody, not just somebody online, but somebody a real person, that we build that relationship and it puts us at ease and now like even after this process, we're like we have no doubt, you know next house, anything like we know who we're going to, we know who we're sending people to, just because of that relationship and the peace, like you, steve, wouldn't lead us in the wrong direction. Just, I mean, same goes with the right realtor.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 3:

They the wrong direction. Just, I mean same goes with the right realtor. Yes, they, you develop that relationship and they want the best for you and your family. And you don't get that, you know online.

Speaker 2:

And you know what, and you miss the joy that we gained from life through those relationships that are built. Yeah, and when it's an online transaction or if it's just, you know, video calls and things like that, if you can't pick up the phone and call your realtor to say, hey, you know, I've got this question, or and have that comfort level to know you can't pick up the phone and talk to a real person without having a recording, or I mean that just that's so and it does provide kind of decreasing that anxiety level and give you that peace. We all need that peace, right? So what suggestions would you give to a first-time homebuyer, starting the process, thinking about it, what would you say to them?

Speaker 4:

I'd say one of the first pieces of advice I would say is don't wait to start thinking about it.

Speaker 4:

I know that was don't wait until you're ready and then start thinking about it.

Speaker 4:

And then so I mean, on the financial end, prepare for it early, but also start having those conversations. Reach out to a lender, if you're in the area of reach out to someone at benchmark here, reach out to Steve and Jonathan and start learning about the process early, because walking through the process here, um, there was so much information gained and and so much that we learned before we even got to pre-approval. And so I'd say, the earlier the better, and and the only way you can really find reliable information and knowledge and grow in the ways that you need to grow to appropriately view the process of first time home buying is through talking to someone, talking to someone who has the knowledge and experience. And so I mean that would probably be the number one thing is is don't wait, start now, reach out, learn what you can. So when the time comes that you're ready, or there's the perfect home out there for you, or your financial situation is where it needs to be, you've already done a lot of the legwork early. I think that's really important.

Speaker 2:

It's never too early to start planning. So, lauren, do you regret buying your home?

Speaker 3:

Not, at all. I think. First of all, with the kicks of all the you know we're not renting anymore I can paint a wall and do this in a day. There was one day that I actually painted a room and then painted it back to what it was before before I didn't go.

Speaker 3:

And I'm like you know what I can do that, but that's definitely been like as we prepare to grow our family and it's so nice to have um a home that's perfect for us in this season and we don't regret it at all and we know that um, there's value in that, in the home, and it's just nice to own this piece of property and we definitely don't regret it. I don't, we haven't regretted it today.

Speaker 2:

That's wonderful.

Speaker 2:

And knowing that you're building wealth and you know, so many um, younger people are choosing not to buy their renting or they're taking the money that they do earn and they're traveling. They don't want to be, you know, settle down and have those long-term jobs or kind of moving around, and I think we're going to see a change in that dynamic. You know, and I know you guys, that was. The choice that you made was to save, and congratulations for saving. I think that's something that you can help other people, younger people, with. Is, how did you start that saving process? You know, what did that look like? Were you on a budget?

Speaker 4:

Yeah, so the way that we, from the beginning of our marriage, we actually in our premarital counseling. Of course, one of the things they said is what's your plan for money? Because you know, even though we were meeting with a pastor, they said, this is super important.

Speaker 4:

And so, as much as I'm very analytical and I manage money for a living, we never had a super strict budget. We had a few simple agreements that we agreed upon. We said we don't really care to go on a ton of big trips or spend money on extravagant things for the next few years because the first big thing we want to purchase together is a home. And so we said we're fine with the vehicles we have, we're fine, you know, with the appliances we have, we're fine going on a little trip once a year. We don't need to go to the south of france for a month.

Speaker 4:

And so we had kind of that agreement early that you know we're not going to be completely penny pinching and not enjoy life. We can spend money on going out to dinner with friends and and doing things like that. But we had a set limit that over this amount of money we'd had to have a sit down conversation before we spent that money and those two simple understandings that we have a goal on this end of saving. And then there's freedom in our finances up to a certain extent where we need to make sure we're on the same page and realign that with the goal that we had set and that really eased so many problems and prevented so many disagreements, because we were on the same page and we didn't even have to have a super crazy strict budget and we just lived within our means and knew that our goal was out here, and so every time that we made a decision to not do something that would be a little bit extravagant or splurge a little bit, we knew that was helping us reach this goal quicker.

Speaker 3:

There we go, yeah, and I even remember talking to Aiden about finances before we got married and saying, you know, I know we're young and I know I was like I won't spend anything if we get to get married, I don't care, you know, and it was like the first few years. You know we're young and I know I was like I won't spend anything if we get to get married, I don't care, you know, and it was like the first few years. You know we're married. College kids still live in the college kid life. You know, I, the first year of our marriage, while he was still playing college soccer, I was working at a frozen yogurt shop and we're going to school and it was. We were perfectly happy with that. And honestly, we say all the time like starting out like that has made us so much more grateful for anything on top of that and it's just been easy because of how it started out and we didn't even know it, because we were like, oh, we're okay if we don't do all those things, we're happy.

Speaker 4:

I think we got used to living with not much Right and so then, when we started having more opportunities with work and other things, we didn't let lifestyle creep get to us.

Speaker 4:

Because I mean there was a time in college where, like she was saying, for a period of time we had one vehicle between us after we got married. I would drive and drop her off at the frozen yogurt shop to work in the mornings. Then I'd go back to campus, go to my classes, go to soccer, drive to Chattanooga for a consulting internship that I was working so I worked in Chattanooga would drive back, pick her up, bring her home and then go donate plasma to get a, to get a little money from that, and then do individual training sessions with students for soccer and I brought home frozen yogurt for dinner.

Speaker 4:

We'd eat frozen yogurt for dinner and sometimes. And so I think we learned early what it meant to just work together to make it happen, just to just to survive. And then, as you know, as that continued to grow and we begin to be more stable financially and got out of school and got big kid jobs you know, we didn't really change our lifestyle and that was a huge part too.

Speaker 2:

Well, I think that is so important and I really appreciate you both sharing that perspective, because I think that we've missed that and that whole point of allowing our children to struggle, allowing the two of you to do things on on your own, to live within your means, and then you are determined, you had your goals. Um, there's a lot of wisdom in that and god just has used that to grow the two of you, and to where you're stronger. Um, your relationship continues to grow and you have those things to look back on. And it wasn't, you know, having yogurt for dinner or one sharing one car. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just those are kind of you look back on it. Yeah, it was hard, it was a little bit of a struggle, but yet now you've got those memories, you know what we made it, we Aiden and we made it through that. So the next thing that happens in life, you know you can make it through that as a couple.

Speaker 4:

Exactly, and we had fun. We didn't even know we were poor, we just had fun, isn't that great.

Speaker 3:

I remember I think my mom did, because she's always just like I'm her baby and Aiden, therefore, is also her baby, is just like I'm her baby and Aiden, therefore, is also her baby. And she would call and she, you know, she would never, ever let one of her kids struggle, but we didn't even know. You know she was when we had one car, one of them broke down. So she was like you know, she definitely helped us through that process of getting a new car, but she let us like she you know she let us go a while without a car and I'm thankful that she did have that like letting us do that.

Speaker 2:

Like you said it's, there's definitely some wisdom that's priceless out of that to gain and it makes you stronger, you know stronger, and you're building I call it the resilience muscle. It allows you to build that resilience in your life. So um great, great interview for both of you guys.

Speaker 2:

thank you so much for being here I just how encouraging you just give, give us hope and and we love you both, and we know that God has his hand on your marriage and your family. And the little boy can't wait to hear what you guys are going to name him. And so we're going to have to have a big baby shower, big celebration oh yeah, for sure, but anything else, you want to wrap us up with Aiden or Lauren.

Speaker 4:

Just thank you, guys, so much we love you guys I always tell Lauren and I can't divulge all the names because I don't want to hurt feelings but I always say that two people that are for sure on my Mount Rushmore of men that I look up to are Steve Reed and Teddy Roosevelt.

Speaker 3:

So we love you guys. Steve's up there with Teddy and he talks about him all the time.

Speaker 2:

That's huge. Honey Steve's back here running the podcast. I hope you've heard that. That's some big shoes to fill, oh gosh. Well, thank you guys so much for being on today. Thank you for having us.

Speaker 1:

This has been Benchmark Happenings brought to you by Jonathan Tipton and Steve Reed from Benchmark Home Loans. Jonathan and Steve are residential mortgage lenders. They do home loans in Northeast Tennessee and they're not only licensed in Tennessee but Florida, georgia, south Carolina and Virginia. We hope you've enjoyed the show. If you did make sure to like, rate and review. Our passion is Northeast Tennessee, so if you have questions about mortgages, call us at 423-491-5405. And the website is wwwjonathanandstevecom. Thanks for being with us and we'll see you next time on benchmark happenings.

Speaker 3:

All right.

People on this episode

Contributor

Christine Reed

Host
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Jonathan Tipton

Co-host
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Steve Reed

Co-host