Meet Shawn and Annette
When Shawn and Annette Murray needed to relocate from El Paso to Houston, it wasn’t their first relo – it was actually their seventeenth. Since getting married after law school, these empty nesters have lived all over the world, from the Houston area to as far away as Dubai! We sat down with them to find out what they were looking for, why they chose a Brookfield home, and what shababy means!
A big yard for Roux
After coming back to the States from Dubai, the Murrays moved to El Paso because they owned a home there, but they knew it wasn’t where they wanted to stay. Annette had accepted a mostly remote job with a firm in Atlanta, and Shawn was changing careers to work in real estate. The couple has lots of friends and family in the area, and they knew Houston would be a great spot to launch Shawn’s new career. Because Annette had already started her new job, Shawn spearheaded the home search. They knew they needed a house that could have two home offices, as well as a big yard for Roux, their 70-lb boxer mix. “We came out and looked all around Houston,” Shawn said. “But it wasn’t until we got back to El Paso that I found Elyson. It seemed like the yards were much bigger than other new build homes we had looked at.”
Finding their floor plan
The couple knew they didn’t want to wait for construction, and the Rutgers floor plan from Brookfield seemed like just what they were looking for. Shawn liked the circular design of the downstairs, with the Primary bedroom closet connected directly to the utility room. They also liked that one of the move-in ready homes offered a huge wedge-shaped yard. “If you look at plats for the neighborhood, this lot is on a curve,” Annette says. “It backs up to a main street, so there would be no houses behind us, and it’s on a boulevard, so there would be no one in front of us, either. We really liked the space of it.”
The rush to Houston
Annette was working with clients when she returned to her desk to find a flurry of emails from Shawn – Brookfield had lowered the price on the home, and he was worried that if they didn’t act fast, they would miss it. Shawn had already booked plane tickets, a rental car, and a hotel room, and he coordinated a pre-approval letter from their lender. The next morning, they headed straight from the airport to Elyson, suitcases in hand, and met up with Brookfield’s New Home Counselor, Belinda. “We had an official appointment for Sunday, but luckily, the folks Belinda was supposed to meet were late, so she took us over to the house,” Shawn said. “We had never seen a Brookfield build in person before, but we immediately loved it. We loved the yard, we loved the layout. I asked her, ‘What do we need to do to lock this in?’ and we went back and worked out all the details”.
Add in a little bit of destiny…
We can’t tell this story without telling about the strange coincidence that also happened that day. As Shawn and Annette first approached the home with Belinda, Annette showed Belinda a picture of their dog, Roux. When Belinda responded with “Shababy,” Cajun slang for dear one, Annette knew Belinda was a fellow Louisiana native. The two got to talking about their small hometowns and discovered that Annette’s parents had gone to high school with Belinda’s stepmom, also named Annette, and that they had all graduated in the same year. “I texted my dad to ask if he remembered Annette Blanchard,” Annette said, “and he told me that my mother was good friends with her! He said, ‘Your mother always said you were named after her because she was so sweet!’”
Home sweet home
In the next month, everything quickly fell into place. The couple sold their El Paso house, closing a week before their Brookfield closing. They moved in immediately, and they have nothing but praise for their experience. “We’ve built a house before, south of the Woodlands, and the customer service and personal touch between the two experiences has been night and day,” Shawn said. “With that builder, we had to insert ourselves into the process and ask for updates. Since we’ve been here, we’ve met people during the walk throughs and blue tape inspection, and they’ve been great. If we found a touchup, they took care of it the next day. It was very personalized and good service in a way we were not expecting after our experience with our last builder. It’s been a wonderful experience working with Brookfield.” Now, they’re looking forward to meeting more neighbors and going to Lakeside Landing, Elyson’s newest amenity center, which is just across the street. The best part of all? Roux loves her new yard! And Annette loves the natural light. “There’s so much light that comes in from the tall windows in the two-story living room,” Annette said. “With the windows across the top, we don’t turn the light on during the day! It’s such an open, bright feeling. It just feels good.”
Want to experience Brookfield for yourself? See our available Houston homes and browse our great incentives.
After coming back to the States from Dubai, the Murrays moved to El Paso because they owned a home there, but they knew it wasn’t where they wanted to stay. Annette had accepted a mostly remote job with a firm in Atlanta, and Shawn was changing careers to work in real estate. The couple has lots of friends and family in the area, and they knew Houston would be a great spot to launch Shawn’s new career. Because Annette had already started her new job, Shawn spearheaded the home search. They knew they needed a house that could have two home offices, as well as a big yard for Roux, their 70-lb boxer mix. “We came out and looked all around Houston,” Shawn said. “But it wasn’t until we got back to El Paso that I found Elyson. It seemed like the yards were much bigger than other new build homes we had looked at.”
Finding their floor plan
The couple knew they didn’t want to wait for construction, and the Rutgers floor plan from Brookfield seemed like just what they were looking for. Shawn liked the circular design of the downstairs, with the Primary bedroom closet connected directly to the utility room. They also liked that one of the move-in ready homes offered a huge wedge-shaped yard. “If you look at plats for the neighborhood, this lot is on a curve,” Annette says. “It backs up to a main street, so there would be no houses behind us, and it’s on a boulevard, so there would be no one in front of us, either. We really liked the space of it.”
The rush to Houston
Annette was working with clients when she returned to her desk to find a flurry of emails from Shawn – Brookfield had lowered the price on the home, and he was worried that if they didn’t act fast, they would miss it. Shawn had already booked plane tickets, a rental car, and a hotel room, and he coordinated a pre-approval letter from their lender. The next morning, they headed straight from the airport to Elyson, suitcases in hand, and met up with Brookfield’s New Home Counselor, Belinda. “We had an official appointment for Sunday, but luckily, the folks Belinda was supposed to meet were late, so she took us over to the house,” Shawn said. “We had never seen a Brookfield build in person before, but we immediately loved it. We loved the yard, we loved the layout. I asked her, ‘What do we need to do to lock this in?’ and we went back and worked out all the details”.
Add in a little bit of destiny…
We can’t tell this story without telling about the strange coincidence that also happened that day. As Shawn and Annette first approached the home with Belinda, Annette showed Belinda a picture of their dog, Roux. When Belinda responded with “Shababy,” Cajun slang for dear one, Annette knew Belinda was a fellow Louisiana native. The two got to talking about their small hometowns and discovered that Annette’s parents had gone to high school with Belinda’s stepmom, also named Annette, and that they had all graduated in the same year. “I texted my dad to ask if he remembered Annette Blanchard,” Annette said, “and he told me that my mother was good friends with her! He said, ‘Your mother always said you were named after her because she was so sweet!’”
Home sweet home
In the next month, everything quickly fell into place. The couple sold their El Paso house, closing a week before their Brookfield closing. They moved in immediately, and they have nothing but praise for their experience. “We’ve built a house before, south of the Woodlands, and the customer service and personal touch between the two experiences has been night and day,” Shawn said. “With that builder, we had to insert ourselves into the process and ask for updates. Since we’ve been here, we’ve met people during the walk throughs and blue tape inspection, and they’ve been great. If we found a touchup, they took care of it the next day. It was very personalized and good service in a way we were not expecting after our experience with our last builder. It’s been a wonderful experience working with Brookfield.” Now, they’re looking forward to meeting more neighbors and going to Lakeside Landing, Elyson’s newest amenity center, which is just across the street. The best part of all? Roux loves her new yard! And Annette loves the natural light. “There’s so much light that comes in from the tall windows in the two-story living room,” Annette said. “With the windows across the top, we don’t turn the light on during the day! It’s such an open, bright feeling. It just feels good.”
Want to experience Brookfield for yourself? See our available Houston homes and browse our great incentives.
