by Kate Merrihew, Director of Education and Marketing
You’ve probably spoken with her on the phone and enjoyed the warmth of her voice and her immediate ability to calm. Leslea Fox is the heart of the Suwanee office and will make you feel comfortable from the moment you step in the door.
Born in Aurora, CO, this hard-working mother of 2 is the Operations Manager for Inspections. She lived in Colorado with her father until she was 8 years old. She remembered snowboarding there and truly misses the snow to this day. At age 8, she moved to Georgia (with her sister) to be with her mom in Peachtree City. Her mother and father got re-married, so Leslea is one of the oldest of 11 siblings (only 3 boys!). Her youngest sibling is 14 years old. Leslea went to McIntosh high school where she ran track and lettered in the 400m and the 4×4. She moved to Columbus for college but met the love of her life at a Buffalo Wild Wings and they traded Columbus for Sugar Hill. They bought their first house and their son Jaxon was born. Leslea mentioned that this is when they fell into a “routine.” She worked for Mark Spain and at a daycare. Leslea had also had her second child, Cameron. She also worked for her parents running their Tropical Smoothie location in N. Druid Hills. After 6 years there, she was interested in another career, more long term and perhaps in the real estate industry. She came across D.S. Murphy and she has been on our team for 3 years.
Leslea commented that her life looks a little different after work, now that her kids are a little older. “We do a lot of outdoor stuff with them – baseball and softball. We try to spend as much time outdoors as we can.” She also has two Great Danes, Kova (4) and Luca (3) so it’s certainly a full house. Her husband Justin has worked at Okabashi for 11 years and is the engineer for EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) – a type of anti-microbial material used in shoe design and creation. Leslea has been getting back into distance running and is looking forward to a Book Run race in March. Columbus had a big running community and that is something she is excited to bring back to her day-to-day. Eventually, she and Justin would like to move out of the city and have more space to stretch out. Most of her family still lives in Colorado and that feeling of “wide open spaces” hasn’t really left her. “I want to have dogs and cats and more animal,” she said. Work wise, Leslea remarked that she loves where she is and doesn’t see herself going anywhere but would like more free life at home – oh, and no HOA.
I asked Leslea the following questions…
Q: What made you want to go into the appraisal world?
A: Ironically, when I was looking for jobs and I came across this one, I had gotten into googling companies to see what the employees thought. There wasn’t much (if anything) on D.S. Murphy. I met with the people in the company and it seemed that everyone was really personable and easy to speak with. I wouldn’t say it was something I was searching for but it found me and I’m so grateful. I had real estate experience from my time with Mark Spain and has been looking at real estate type jobs.
Q: What would you like to do when you are no longer working?
A: I want to buy an RV and travel. Justin and I have talked about it so many times – just having an RV and not having a destination in mind, just traveling.
Q: What the weirdest thing you have come across when talking to clients?
A: It was 4 months after a home inspection, a client called saying that she flooded the first floor with a stopped-up toilet. She demanded that we fix the damage. She said that the toilet sounded funny when we were there so obviously we should’ve known that something was wrong.
Q: Something no one knows about you?
A: I read 203 books in 2023. I read a lot. I like thrillers and I’ll read anything if it has a cool cover. They might be trash but I read them anyway because I have to know how it ends.
Q: What words of wisdom can you share with the team?
A: Be kind because you never know who needs it.