David P. Condon - Birmingham, AL

Overview

Twenty-four years ago, I crossed the Alabama state line at the age of 21 for only the second time in my life. The first time I was a sixth-grade student in Marietta, Georgia on a field trip to the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center.

This second time was in 1991 when I enrolled in law school at Samford University's Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama. I graduated from Furman University in 1991 with a degree in Economics and while I never intended to be a lawyer, I thought the law school education could always benefit me no matter what course I ultimately chose. I also knew myself well enough to know that if I were going to pursue additional education following college, it would need to be immediately after college.

Being from Marietta, Georgia, Cumberland School of Law seemed like a good choice as it was fairly close to home and was similar in many ways to Furman University where I spent a wonderful four years and developed meaningful and lasting friendships. So, in August 1991, my mother, father and I packed my belongings in a U-Haul truck and headed west on I-20. As we drove, I considered the journey ahead and where it might take me (in law school, not on I-20) and imagined it would only include a brief three-year stay in Birmingham and a return trip on I-20 East in 1994 to begin a career.

I was surprised to find law school interesting and it did not take long to realize that I could enjoy a nice quality of life in Birmingham. Prior to graduation, I was fortunate to receive an offer of employment from a mid-size law firm and I accepted knowing that my plans to return to Georgia may never come about. It was at this law firm that I learned the importance of a doing a job well, on time and paying attention to detail. I also worked with a great group of people and those friendships developed during those first few years of law practice remain some of my closest today. And, I was lucky to find two mentors that I considered my "professional" father and grandfather that took a real interest in me.

Birmingham was becoming my home and it was about to get even better. In 1996, I took Ashley Herring on our first date to Legion Field for an Olympic Soccer game. Despite having no interest in soccer, Ashley was great company at the game and ignored the absolute downpour that started right at kick off and continued all night. We never thought about leaving the game and Ashley never complained - not once. I knew a good thing when I saw it. In 1997, Ashley and I married and it was the best decision I've ever made. She still has not complained even though I can give her plenty to complain about.

In 2002, I was ready for a change from the world of litigation. Through a chance meeting with my law school classmate Shelly Moss while Christmas shopping for our children (Caroline, at the time 19 months and Paul, 5 months), I learned that Shelly was moving to Texas and leaving her busy real estate closing practice. The prospect of continuing her practice was attractive to me for several reasons. First and foremost however, I liked that I would be providing a needed service at a known and reasonable price for those who chose to be involved in the transaction - not usually the case in litigation.

As I write these words, I feel fortunate to be celebrating my thirteen-year anniversary in the real estate closing business and I have enjoyed it even more than I thought I would. There are many things I like about it including those that I thought I would. But what I find most rewarding, I believe, is that I am a part of a community and I get to play a small part in someone's decision to choose a home.

I enjoy our life here and am proud to call Birmingham home. I'm also grateful that I'm not fighting that Atlanta traffic! Ashley and I have three happy and healthy children (Brian, our third, joined us in 2003) that actually get along and enjoy school.

And, I continue in a job that I find enjoyable and rewarding and always feel flattered when someone allows me to handle their real estate transaction for them. So much so that I hope to be updating this statement another twenty-three years from now!