Marshall Mend a good real estate friend

Marshall Mend. 

That name came across my desk the other day when we received a press release that Marshall and Doug Cresswell were resigning from the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations board after serving on it for decades. 

It brought back good memories of a good man.

Mend, one of the co-founders of KCTFHR in 1981, handled the transaction when we bought our home in Coeur d’Alene about 25 years ago. My friend, Keith Erickson, introduced me to Marshall, who encouraged us to buy a home and highlighted the benefits of home ownership. 

We listened. 

I clearly recall looking at that house in the Sanders Beach neighborhood with the asking price of $119,000. It was pretty much exactly what we were hoping to find, with four bedrooms, a family room, garage, large yard and on a quiet street.  

The buyer later dropped the price to $109,000. Through Marshall’s office, we offered $107,500, but someone else made a full price cash offer and got it. A few weeks later, Marshall contacted me and asked if we were still interested in that home as the deal fell through. 

“The cash dried up,” he said. 

We were back with our original offer and this time, we closed the deal. 

The home served us well. 

It fit our five kids and our dogs. In the coming years, we celebrated graduations and birthdays. We played hundreds of basketball games. We sat around campfires on summer and winter nights. We gathered around the TV in the living room, worked on cars in the garage and shoveled snow out front and in back. We replaced the roof and rebuilt fallen fences.

A house full of kids is a blessing. I loved waking them up in the morning for school and sending them off to bed at night. The dinner table, when by chance we all sat down together, was truly a feast for my eyes. Seemed like we lived at the grocery store. 

It was at times complete chaos and at others, peaceful. There were tears and laughs. Fights and hugs. Good days and bad. But all was a gift from God.

Every now and then, Marshall and I would cross paths. He was always pleased to learn we still lived in the same home.

One by one, as the years ticked by, the kids moved out. Eventually, we became what I never thought possible: Empty nesters. Just me and Marianne. An old married couple. We each have our own rooms now. The guest room goes unused most days. The family room is filled with my workout gear. 

Some nights, I sit up late, alone, and listen. It's too quiet. I have never learned to like quiet.

I think we should downsize and get a home that requires less yardwork, but my wife loves yardwork and gardening, so we’ll stay put. 

When I reflect on this home full of memories, Marshall Mend is part of the story, always smiling, respectful and kind. He helped put us into the house that saw us, for the first time, put down roots after moves from Seattle to Priest River to Forks, Wash., to Sagle and finally, Coeur d’Alene. 

Marshall helped us find a sense of place, where we felt like we belonged. 

Like we were home.

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Bill Buley is managing editor of The Press. He can be reached at [email protected].