by Kate Merrihew – Director of Education and Marketing
It was a late November day in Jonesboro, GA when the sunshine came out and John Allred was born. For the record, I have no idea if this actually happened but if you know John, you know he leads with humor. John Allred has been an appraiser for 18 years and with DS Murphy for 6-7. He leads a team of 7 from his home in Snellville and teaches an average of 4-5 classes a month with the Academy of Real Estate. When he isn’t over-committing to the appraisal world, he can be found with his 2 sons, Jack and Abe and his wife, Jennifer – likely running around and over-committing somewhere else.
John has lived in Georgia his whole life. He grew up in Warner Robins (around Mom’s family) with a sister who is 6 years older, Amber and a stepbrother, Neal. His father passed away when he was 6 but his mother re-married and his stepfather was a formative figure. He took John to circle track races when he was 10-12. John spent the better part of middle school/high school riding BMX bikes and racing cars/working on cars. He met Jennifer in 11th grade and they started dating shortly after. John didn’t plan to go to college. His parents owned the mechanic shop where he worked and he knew how to weld and fix a car. The only problem was that it was 100 degrees and he was laying in transmission fluid so he decided maybe this wasn’t where he wanted to be. He and Jennifer decided to go Middle GA College and then Valdosta. The were married there in 1998.
John spent most of his pre-appraisal years woodworking. He worked in cabinet shops after high school and throughout. For a spell he loaded 18 wheelers and taught himself to drive them. When he moved to Atlanta in 2000, he and Jennifer lived with Sharon Washney (a famous DS Murphy team lead) all the while driving trucks and Jennifer interning in speech pathology. Sharon convinced John to leave cabinetry and trucks and come to the dark side. She trained him and they worked together independently before joining Kaiser Mitsch. John took some solo appraising time before going back to KM when he decided he was an appraiser and not a business owner. As many of you know, Kaiser Mitsch merged with DS Murphy in 2015 – John came over to DS Murphy at that time and has taken on many roles within the company since.
Arguably his most important role is with his family. Jack, born in 2006, keeps his dad busy with racing, hockey and lacrosse while Abe (b. 2008) is into art and musical theatre. Many Wednesday nights you can find John throwing pottery with Abe and on the weekends leading sports retreats. When I inquired about the pottery he likes to create, John responded, “I might start out making a cup…then it’s a plate. I go where the wheel tells me.” This mantra seems to have shaped the better part of his life and will no doubt continue to.
I asked John the following questions…
Q: What made you want to be an appraiser?
A: Sharon Washney. She played a big part in my life as far appraising. She started the year before I did and she enjoyed it. I was interested in getting out of cabinets so I just followed her lead. Until getting into appraising I was a blue collar kind of guy.
Q: What would you like to do when you are no longer appraising?
A: Woodworking or Metalworking… just building – I would also love to live on a sailboat for a month.
Q: What the weirdest thing you have come across when inspecting/appraising?
A: I walked in a policeman sleeping. I also walked up to a house and a snake popped out of the wreath beside my head when I went to knock on the door.
Q: Something no one knows about you?
A: I was actually shy before I had Jack. I wouldn’t even sing to him because I was worried what I sounded like. Jennifer said “I don’t care what you have to do, but you have to make that kid go to bed. You have to sing to him.” So I did. If you talked to someone I went to high school with, I was a totally different person. I know, no one would believe it.
Another thing, bought my first computer 18 years ago when I started appraising. All of my tech knowledge was self-taught because I wanted to stay on top of the business.
Q: What words of wisdom can you share with the team?
A: Be a good person. I believe in karma and treating people the way you want to be treated. Be friendly at the inspections – you are a stranger in their house and they need to feel comfortable. It’s the same when you’re dealing with clients. It’s a win win for everyone involved.