By Kate Merrihew – Director of Education and Marketing
They say “you can’t go home again,” but I beg to differ. This month’s Team Spotlight is an introduction (or shall I say, re-introduction) to one of our newest additions to the team, Jake Dore. Jake is the Director of Development and Client Relations but this is not his first time working with D.S. Murphy. He returns to us after an almost 10-year hiatus, conquering the industry through various roles. We are honored to have the opportunity to learn, grow and profit from the expertise he gained along the way.
Born in the mountains of Colorado, he moved to Georgia at the age of 5. Jake doesn’t really remember Colorado, but he returned every winter through middle and high school to go skiing so the only part of the Rockies that remains with him is his ski prowess. He grew up in the Roswell-Alpharetta area and though he now lives in Midtown, still calls that area home. He was raised by a powerful and intelligent single-mother. She is a physician who specializes in respiratory diseases but also holds a Masters in Epidemiology, Creative Writing and English Literature. Jake learned early that it is ok to love everything and not choose just 1 hobby or vocation. His childhood was marked by soccer games and an obsession with cars. Jake carried an “emotional support soccer ball” with him everywhere, but his mother made him leave it outside when the attachment became too serious. He played for the Roswell Santos community soccer team and only missed 1 game for a broken arm. There was an incident with a boomerang stuck in a tree, some giant rocks and a hornet’s nest that you will have to ask him about next time you see him.
When asked how serious the car obsession was, he recalled a story from his childhood. A man had just moved in down the street and he owned a Rolls-Royce Corniche. One day, 7 year old Jake was playing in the yard and the man drove by. Jake complimented the car and the man asked if he would like to go for a ride. *Don’t worry, this story ends happily, though admittedly, Jake knows that what he was about to do was a bad decision. Jake got into the vehicle with the neighbor-stranger and rode through the subdivision and streets for 20+ minutes. The man parked the car, Jake walked home safe and happy and didn’t tell his mother about this disappearance until he was 16. I mean, it was a beautiful car.
When Jake was 13-14, he picked up a new obsession – houses. When he was old enough to drive, he would go to new construction areas and walk through the homes that were left open. He wanted to be an architect and actually received admission to SCAD but decided to go to UGA when he learned how much math and AutoCAD were involved. He preferred hand-drafting to computer-generated designs. He studied International Economic Affairs in Athens, GA. The career that it fed into was investigations of white-collar crimes – FBI, CIA and government work. All of his classes focused on how we could utilize other countries to hide money/create shell accounts. He was convinced he was going to become Jack Ryan (Jake Dore, it’s close). The summer between the last years of college, he attended Coldwell Banker School of Real Estate and got his license at 20. *He has never sold, nor listed, a house. He got this license because a local mortgage company was looking for someone with a real estate license to review sales contracts in-house.
21 was a big year for Jake. He started many traditions and industries that would continue throughout his life. He went skydiving for the first time and continued to do so every year for his birthday until 32. He has transitioned to vacations every year for his birthday instead, starting with Europe. His most memorable birthday trip was to Italy. A big storm came in and he was forced to stay an extra 3-4 days (too bad) and he took the train to Switzerland, Monte Carlo and Monaco. When he turned 21 he also bought his first new car – a taffeta white Acura from the dealership on Buford Highway. This was also the year that he got his first dog and he has always had at least 1 dog since. He was 21 years old when he started underwriting for Bank Mortgage. Bank Mortgage was bought out by SunTrust and Jake started working for D.S. Murphy (the first time) right before the merger. He would return to work in the same building -as SunTrust – 11 years later on their National Review Panel.
Jake remembered that Mark Durden used to deliver reports and come by Bank Mortgage to say hello when he was first working there. He recalled that he asked either Mark or Curtis and they told him to talk to Scott Murphy. He decided to go ahead and take the classes in preparation. The day he got his registration, he knew he needed a supervisor. The guy who taught the class gave the advice to attendees that working for the county was a good way to get your hours. Jake applied with Cobb County and was a county appraiser. He believes that it didn’t even last a month. It was awful – nothing like what he had learned in class. The mass appraisal process was not his cup of tea but he didn’t want to wait to get the appraisal gig started. Jake remembered what happened next, “I got my license and I would call every week and ask if he had any openings. One day he finally called back and said ‘I have an opportunity but there is a catch – you have to move to FL and open my office down there.’” So he did. Jake moved to Florida with Karen and Kevin Murphy, Dawn and Shane to open the D.S. Murphy office. He worked in Florida for 5 years with the team and moved back in 2009 because of the recession. He would continue to work for D.S. Murphy until 2015.
On a personal note, I bought my home in 2014 and Jake Dore was my appraiser. He was gregarious and intelligent, and we talked for a long time about the appraisal business. I got my registration through GREC and pulled a similar move on Jake. I emailed quite a few times, hoping for an opening with D.S. Murphy. Jake took me on as his first, and only, trainee. I learned a lot from this man and I am extremely happy to have him back home.
I asked Jake the following questions…
Q: What made you want to be an appraiser?
A: Easy answer. Looking at the appraisals was always my favorite part of the underwriting. One day, I stood up from the cubicle to see if my manager was in the office and everyone I worked with was a woman over the age of 55. And no one was happy. It was a pivotal moment. The moment that makes you sit down slowly. I realized, if I don’t do something different, I will become one of these people. So I went to investigate appraisals.
Q: What would you like to do when you are no longer appraising?
A: Seriously, I would love to be a pastry chef. I love to make pies, cakes, cupcakes, anything dessert. My favorite thing to make is a Grand Marnier spice cake with a Grand Marnier cheesecake icing.
Q: What the weirdest thing you have come across when inspecting/appraising?
A: The weirdest one that I ever came across was when I went to a physician’s home. It was probably 9000 sq ft on the bay and the gulf. Meth was being made on the counter. I had to call the police and stay there. I also had to call Debbie at Bay Bank and Trust and tell her the appraisal couldn’t be completed and why. She said “no wonder his deposits were so large.”
Q: Something no one knows about you?
A: I have a standing haircut appointment every Saturday at 8:30am. Oh, and I only buy 1 brand of toothpaste and use a specific flavor in the morning and one at night. Ginger in the AM. Jasmine in the PM.
Q: What words of wisdom can you share with the team?
A: I would love to say “update your Lastpass!” but I’m not going to. What I was told in appraisal school was “if you ever have an appraisal that doesn’t make sense, get up, walk away, and come back to it the next morning. You will see something that you didn’t see the night before.”