By: Kate Merrihew – Director of Education and Marketing
If you are reading this Team Spotlight between 4 and 5 in the morning because you enjoy the peaceful solitude of a quiet home and that fresh cup of coffee that says, “yes, you need me because only crazy people are working right now,” you are not alone. Mark Durden is also awake and working happily, likely checking a trainee’s report submitted mere hour/s earlier.
Born in Marietta and the youngest of 4 (by 19 years), Mark grew up playing baseball (3rd base and catcher) and football (nose guard). He enjoyed sports, band and the Boys Scouts. Mark went to the University of Georgia and studied Risk Management, though he would like to note that he has never been paid to be a Risk Manager. One thing he knew to take a risk on… Lynne Durden. A fellow Red Coat band member at UGA, she played the piccolo and Mark fell immediately in love. He remarked that she was “the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen, but I played the trombone and they never put the trombone near the piccolo.” As luck would have it, that year they did. Mark recalled his suave opening line, “Hey, my name is Mark. What’s your name?” He added that he felt it was the dumbest thing he could’ve said but 32 years later that are still going strong.
After graduating college, Mark had decided that he didn’t want to sell insurance (which was the common direction) and the field did not have a well-known position within a lot of corporations. He worked with a small company in Atlanta that provided the in-house copying services for law firms. The company was expanding to Charlotte and Mark was transferred to NC to help expand the market – it didn’t go well. He went to work for a local Savings and Loan in Charlotte and they placed him in in-house appraisal department. This was the winter of 1991 and Mark was In first wave of appraisers to be licensed and certified. His setup in the Savings and Loan was certainly a trial by fire. He felt the loan officer pressure first hand. He remembered that they would just walk down the hall and say “hey Mark, what’s the deal with this?” This was not the optimal space for him to grow as an appraiser. Luckily, Mark and Lynne’s first daughter, Caroline was born in 1996 and then decided it was time to live closer to family so they moved back to Atlanta.
Back in Atlanta, Mark worked for Schultz Carr Bissett. This firm focused primarily on commercial but also had residential appraisers. *Fun fact – his first week working there was Scott Murphy’s last week. He was with the firm for 3 years and in 2000 he came on board with Scott. Mark is a certified residential appraiser and Team Lead with D.S. Murphy. He is also a USPAP instructor and has now been with the company for 22 years. He lives in Marietta with his wife, Lynne and is a huge cheerleader for his 3 children. Caroline (26) – ICU nurse at Emory Midtown – Griffin (23)– recently married and works for logistics company and Amelia (20) – sophomore at KSU studying Journalism.
This month (December) is Mark’s birthday and also marks over 200 classes taught for D.S. Murphy since 2016. Anyone who knows Mark, knows that he leads with integrity, professionalism and a warm sensibility. I am personally excited to celebrate him this month.
I asked Mark the following questions…
Q: What made you want to be an appraiser?
A: After I left the company that sent me to Charlotte (banking capitol of the south) I was looking at different banks and my brother worked at Wachovia. My brother said to go to the Savings and Loan and see what they had, which was in the appraisals department. I did construction draw inspections before that job. The builder would call in to ask for an advance on the completion and they would send someone (me) out there to make sure the work was in line with what they had claimed. When I would show up at these job sites, I got to be known as “the bank man.” Then everyone in the appraisal department started taking the licensure classes and I was included in that.
Q: What would you like to do when you are no longer appraising?
A: Oh wow, that’s hard to imagine but I’d like to travel. Also I’d like to do something to help someone, volunteer and be involved with something. I’d like to be active and involved and engaged.
Q: What the weirdest thing you have come across when inspecting/appraising?
A: One time I was in a vacant house and there was a recently dead squirrel in the bedroom. It’s also always kind of weird when you run into hoarders – in 32 years it has been less than 10 homes but still. There have been a few where I couldn’t physically get up the stairs. What I really like about the inspections part of the job is that you’ve never seen everything and that forces us to stay on top of market expectations.
Q: Something no one knows about you?
A: I was a band geek in school which is probably why I really enjoyed doing more band stuff when the kids were in high school. The Rosebowl parade trip with Griffin’s freshman year band was probably the best trip we ever took – Jan of 2015.
Q: What words of wisdom can you share with the team?
A: Trust God in the process and always strive for excellence – in no matter what you do.
Oh, and we always tell our kids when they leave the house – be a leader and make good choices.
Response
we love mark durden! woohoo!