WP 91 | From Purchase to Purpose: My Faith Story of Buying a Building

Written By James Marland

Hello, friends, and thanks for joining me today. I’m Whitney Owens, a group practice owner and faith-based practice consultant, and I’m thrilled to share a journey that's deeply personal and faith-filled. Whether you're here to learn about private practice, grow your faith, or find inspiration, you've come to the right place.

The Search Begins for a New Group Practice Office

In November, I recorded an episode on “To Scale or Not to Scale,” talking about trusting God's timing. Coincidentally—or divinely orchestrated—that very afternoon, my realtor emailed about a property on Wilmington Island. Although it needed significant renovations, I felt a stirring in my heart. I called my accountant, who confirmed we could afford it. All signs seemed to point to this building.

Challenges and Roadblocks of Expansion

Purchasing the building was a challenging endeavor that took nearly six months. We faced zoning issues, as the property was only zoned for residential use, not commercial. This required us to go through multiple zoning meetings. "It’s important to know who you’re fighting against," I often reminded myself. Our real battle isn’t against people but deeper issues like pride and misunderstanding.

The process took several months and involved numerous setbacks—from bureaucratic delays to appraisals that came in lower than expected, to the point where I feared I couldn’t afford the building. But as I often say, “When God wants to do something big, expect difficulties.”

Just when things seemed bleakest, my loan officer, a woman of faith, worked out a special loan arrangement for me that made the purchase possible. “In the midst of fear, there’s a level of security in Christ that I feel,” I reflected. What amazed me even more was the community support: the church next door offered us shared parking, solving a critical zoning issue.

Faith in Action

Through all the challenges, I was reminded that faith involves waiting on God’s timing. Every roadblock tested my resolve, but each time, a way was made. "God is doing a good work," I would reassure myself, knowing that despite the uncertainties, this journey was ordained.

Moving Forward

We closed on the building in May, and renovations are set to begin shortly. I'm eagerly looking forward to the future and the impact we can have on the Wilmington Island community. There's still work to be done, and undoubtedly, more challenges will arise, but I’m confident in the direction we're headed.

This story is not just about buying a building; it’s about the transformative power of faith and God’s timing. If you find yourself at a crossroads, unsure of the next step in your journey, remember this: "Trust the process, even when it’s hard. Write down your moments of faith and revisit them when you need encouragement."

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Links and Resources

  • From Purchase to Purpose_ My Faith Story of Buying a Building _ WP91

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    I, I'm Whitney Owens. I'm a group practice owner and faith-based practice consultant, and I'm here to tell you that you can have it all. Wanna grow your practice, wanna grow your faith, wanna enjoy your life outside of work? You've come to the right place. Each week on the Wise Practice podcast, I will give you the action steps to have a successful faith based practice while also having a good time.

    Now, let's get started. Where she grows your practice, she don't play. She does business with a twist of faith. It's Whitney Owens and the Wise Practice Podcast. Whitney Owens and the Wise Practice Podcast. Hello friends, and thanks for hanging out with me today on the Wise Practice Podcast. I actually have not been podcasting for the past couple of weeks, as I took some break over the summer to relax and enjoy travel.

    And now I'm trying to get back into it. So I'm actually recording from a different location today. I have a little podcast room that I was working out of. It was actually the closet of one of my therapist offices. The lighting wasn't so cury and it actually was really hot in there. It's just the ventilation though.

    I made a change. So hopefully today you're getting some good audio and now I'm at a desk in front of a window and enjoying watching the walk by while I'm hanging out and talking to you guys. So I'm excited today to be talking about something that God put in my heart and I wanna share my story with you in hopes that God will speak to you and bring you encouragement and strength through it.

    I'm going to share the story about purchasing a building. Yes. Wow. So I did it. Um, it was a very scary decision, a very faith based decision and a story that's important to share, not only share it with you, but honestly to remind myself, I think when we step out in faith and do things that God's calling us to, there's constant obstacles and oftentimes.

    I will forget so easily how God is a part of the process. Will things get difficult? We have got to write our stories down and remember them, talk about them. In fact, this is all into the Bible, where the Israelites were told to put the stones out so that they could remember where they came from. They told stories to one another over the years so they could remember their fate.

    So I'm going to tell a story today about purchasing a building. So I want to encourage you, if you, um, are newer to the show, or maybe you haven't listened to the episode yet, but I'm going to refer you back to a previous episode. I recorded a podcast back in November about to scale or not to scale. It actually came out in December.

    This is episode number 58. You have not literally seen it. I want to encourage you to head back over there and listen to that, but that episode was kind of about the culture and growth and feeling like you have to keep going hard and doing things. So really, sometimes you just need to slow it down. Right.

    I'm bringing this episode up because this is a part of the story. So I want to share with you how God put it in my heart to buy a building. The things that were happening in advance with that and the things that happened during the process. And let me warn you, it was like a five month process and we're still not done.

    There is a story that's coming, but to start out, my practice is located on a foreigner. In Savannah, busy street corner, and I have 2 buildings. I rent both of them. I started with 1 of them back in 2014, started at the top floor, got the bottom floor a couple years later, got the building next door a couple years later.

    Now, I rent these every time I'm waiting on God to move. I need more space. He moves. I have so many stories and if you listen to the show, you'll hear them. About waiting on God to give me more space and then the building by the side of me opens up for the floor below me I've been done and I talked about that on that episode So we need to we needed to expand and it just seems like every time It takes longer than I think it's gonna take right?

    Isn't that how it is where people of faith like waiting on God to do something? It seems like his timing is so different than ours. So I have about 15 therapists at the practice, and then I also have a marketing director and, uh, office manager, and we were low on space. In fact, Sarah, who works for Water's Edge and also with the consulting business, she literally works out of the lobby in one of our buildings.

    There's a little screen up, she's on the other side of the screen, but that's where she works. So we were needing more office space, and I would say for about nine months prior to this building purchased, I was looking at space all over the place. And so here's a food for thought. I pulled out all the clients in the practice and looked at their zip code.

    As I was thinking about where to go put up another building, I thought, okay. I'm going to be where everybody's coming from. So a lot of the clients were coming, of course, from the area right around my office, but they were also coming from Wilmington Island, which is about 20 minutes from here. There is a very busy intersection of Wilmington Island that I kind of had my eye on, but.

    Didn't really know what would happen. So I was looking at buildings all over the place. I was looking at purchasing I was looking at renting just waiting on God to show me I'm kind of one of those people that opens as many doors as I can until God closes them So I recorded that episode episode 58 on a Tuesday morning No, it's on Monday morning on Monday morning in November and I talk in that episode About office space and about trusting God and how we open these spaces.

    And I believe I might've even mentioned needing more office space and waiting on God to do something. That afternoon, I received an email from my realtor about a space opening up on Wilmington Island. Like that's the place I want to be. So she said, Hey, let's go look at it in the morning. So, or maybe it was that afternoon.

    At some point we went and looked at it. Very quickly, it had only been on the market for about 24 hours and I'll go ahead and warn you this building. It is needing lots of work. It's completely gutted. It had been a couple of different spaces and then some people had purchased it to make it into a medical spa.

    And evidently they did not have the team that they needed. And so now they're selling it, but it basically has no walls. I mean, we're talking about hardly anything here. So we go out there and we look at it and it was the first building that I was like, wow, I could see this working. It is located on the very spot.

    I want to be. It is on the very busy intersection and it literally is beside a church. Yes, I play this is all working out, but I always told myself. That all the things have got to fall into place. So, of course, as time would tell, you know, and as things are. I was scheduled to go to Hawaii the next day, I went looked at the building.

    It was a Tuesday morning was scheduled to go to Hawaii the next day. And like, this is a crazy time to be trying to purchase the building. So, if things don't all work out, this isn't going to work. So, after I look at the building that morning. I call my accountant, I tell her exactly what the cost is going to be and she runs all my numbers to make sure I can afford it, which I can.

    She looked at, like, what if I had been paying the mortgage the past 6 months, would I have been able to do it? And yes, I would have. I called my contractor who worked on my house, because I've always said, okay, if I'm ever to buy a building, I need this contractor. So I give him a call, he's after the world of Mr.

    Steven Bodak, that's his name, and he was like, you know, Whitney, I just had dental surgery yesterday and I didn't think I'd be able to get up and come, but I actually feel fine and I'm coming, comes and looks at it. I didn't even know he was a commercial contractor. He comes and looks at it. He gives me a quote pretty quickly, you know, just a rough estimate.

    I was like, okay. Things are working out, but at the same time, this sounds so scary, right? Putting your money out there, not really sure what's going to happen. And it's going to be a complete rehaul of this building. I do find that when I take leaps of faith, in the midst of the fear that I feel, there's a level of security in Christ that I feel.

    Like I just know that I know in my gut, let's call it Holy Spirit, that I'm moving in the right direction, even when I'm scared. I want you to know that if you're going to make a big financial purchase, do your work, okay? I had looked at my numbers and it'd been, my accountant looked at my numbers. I had reached out about a loan a long time ago and got re approved that I would know what to look for.

    So do make sure you're doing those things. Don't just take a big leap, not thinking about some of that stuff. But at the same time, when we take a leap of faith, it doesn't always look rational. A lot of people would have said to me, Whitney, that's crazy. That building looks awful. And actually it really does look awful, but it's going to be beautiful one day.

    So I'm like praying and thinking about this and I'm walking to pick up my daughter from school. Now in the past, one of the ways that God speaks to me is by finding coins on the ground. Might sound silly, but it's a way I feel like God speaks to me and you probably have ways that God speaks to you. I'm walking along to go pick up my daughter and it's a warm day that day.

    And I look down and I find a quarter in the middle of the road where I'm walking. A quarter. And I'm like, God, I love it. I'm making this big decision. And you just ringed me. Before I bought my house, I was on a run and found like a dime or nickel or something. And I was like, all right, quarter. It wasn't a dime.

    It wasn't a nickel. It wasn't a penny. God wanted to make himself clear to me. It's the right direction, Whitney. And I'm with you in this. So pick up the quarter, take it as a sign. Back to when I get these. Coins, put them in a safe place when they speak to me. So I did that and I put an offer down and then I get on an airplane and go to Hawaii.

    And there was some negotiating back and forth with the sellers. Ultimately, we negotiated on a rate and I literally signed the paperwork getting off the airplane in Hawaii. Pretty crazy, but also super exciting. And I have to go back to this moment where things Were obvious to me, the coin, the contractor, the accountant being available, the buildings right where I want it to be and the church.

    It's pretty incredible because the rest of the story is not so great, right? We worked hard. Here's how it went down after that. When I got back, Hawaii, we're in our due diligence period. I've learned so much about real estate by the way, through this experience. And if you are thinking about buying or.

    Leasing. I did interview a guy about that Carl car real estate, sorry, not Carl car, real car, real estate, to go back and listen to that episode. Um, which just really is probably just a few episodes before this one, within the past couple of months because that, that was really helpful and I'm sure that'll be linked to the show notes.

    So. I wish I'd known a little bit more, but I've learned to learn the way and have a lot of information. If you ever are looking at purchasing, reach out to me. I can help you with that. But I'm providing some of it here today, but there's a due diligence period. And that is when you have someone come out, um, an inspector and look at the building in case there's anything that's really big that wasn't noticed.

    And we make sure that those things are taken care of. So we did the inspection and that was fine. But during that time, some weird things happened. Their officer or their representative, you know, the sellers, their agent, she was very strong world. I'm sure she does great as a real estate agent, but she was already calling my loan officer and asking her about the closing and kind of pushing on that, and that was weird.

    We were like, what's going on here? It's not common for someone else's agent to call your loan officer. So it was a little concerning. And we were not having the best working relationship with the other side, which is unfortunate and does happen. So we wanted to make sure that it was zoned for commercial real estate.

    This is important, residential and commercial. And sadly, the other side, the sellers were saying, Hey, yes, it is. Yes, it is. It's fine. Well, they couldn't prove it. So we went through our process and we find out that it is not zoned residential. I mean, I said that totally wrong. It is not zoned commercial.

    It's only zoned residential. So that says that that space had been used incorrectly all this time. And that's a concern because I could start a business in there and then be in trouble. We do not want that. I do not want to buy a building that's not zoned correctly. So That began the process of zoning, which meant that this, the contracts had to get signed for months out because it takes time.

    So how this process works is you fill out your forms, you send them in to the zoning office in your city, and they review those for you. And so we filled out the form, we had to call them to know how to fill out the form because it's a very confusing process. You also have to pay them money, so we had to pay them 3, 000 or 3, 500 actually.

    Fortunately, the sellers, um, were willing to pay me for that because it was not them correctly I'll marry. And they did push back a lot on this when we told them that it really wasn't zoned that way. They were like, that's not good advice. That's not what, that's not accurate. And we're like, yeah, it is.

    It's accurate. You know, and if you think it's not, then you give it to us in writing that it's non commercial, and of course, they didn't. So, we start this process, and at this point in our journey, I'm thinking, we got this. Okay, this is a little hiccup, but we got this. And so we went on ahead and did the application paid the money and we were told the 1st, zoning meeting would be January.

    I want to say the 16th. I remember that. And we did a lot of confirming, and then that day comes and we're all ready to go to the meeting and we find out that they hadn't put the signs up and they hadn't done what they were supposed to do on their end as a city. And evidently there had been some turnover going on.

    With their employees, so it was another hiccup, so then it had to be delayed to more weeks to go to a meeting and every time this would happen, the sellers would get angry at us as if we had some kind of ability to change all of it. So then we went to another zoning meeting, we went to the first zoning meeting, it's about 2 hours and you sit in a meeting and they talk about all these things and finally they talk about you.

    And then that leads to another zoning meeting and another zoning meeting, so I went to 3 zoning meetings over like a 6 week period, not the most pleasant experience. Thanks But we moved through it, and I would say that's when we kind of had a lull as I was just waiting on things to work out. So, at this point, my faith is still strong.

    I'm still pretty excited about the building. And then, things kind of got a little more dicey. And so, along the way, you do, um, an appraisal. An appraisal is when someone comes in and checks what the building is actually worth. We had asked the sellers how they determined the cost of the building and they refused to explain to us where that really came from.

    That was a little confusing. They weren't really working with us. So then we had an appraiser go in, and I can't explain all the details about this, but there was a conflict of interest with the first appraiser that they assigned to me, the bank assigned them. So unfortunately, I was not able to use that appraiser.

    And then the sellers thought I had it against them, or I had somehow finagled everything to get the right appraiser to come in and give me the quote that I wanted, which is absolutely not accurate at all. I have no say in who the appraiser was. The first, then they assigned me another appraiser. And as this is going on, the sellers keep scheduling closing dates, even though you do not do that until you have this settled.

    So the second appraiser that they assigned goes in there. And comes back and appraises it for 100, 000 less than what it's actually at rate, what it was actually going for, priced it lower. So we go back to the sellers and I'm in prayer and I'm waiting on God and say, Hey, we need you to come down on this price.

    Because how this works is even if you do have a loan for a certain amount, the eight, the, even though you're approved for a certain amount, you can only get a loan for an amount of the appraisal. So if they don't come down on the price, I don't have enough money. To pay for this place and men who owned it were made of money.

    Okay, lots of money talking about a million of dollars in money. Which is very different than a therapist has. Right and so, yes, 100, 000 dollars might be simple money to some people, not for me. It's not something I just have in a bank account ready to go. And I think that people who had a lot of money don't understand that and it does.

    Cause a lot of tension, and so it kind of got to a point where I was becoming scared. I was becoming scared that I was going to be sued, scared of what these people are going to do. The feller himself started calling my loan officer at home. Yes, that is very inappropriate. And obviously I'm only telling you parts of the story as I'm recording this live for people to listen to.

    But I will tell you in this moment, I was riddled with anxiety, difficulty sleeping, pain in my stomach. As I said, God, I know you want me to move forward, but now all these roadblocks are coming up. Are you telling me to pull out? What is going on here? Why are things not working? Because y'all, our faith journeys are not easy.

    It will have lots of roadblocks, and that doesn't mean that you stop. The Christian life is hard, and when God wants to do something big in your area and in your community, you should expect it to be difficult. When God wants you to grow your practice, there are going to be some hard moments to it. Okay, that's part of it.

    That's part of life, but it's also part of following God. Okay, so all this is going on and then the sellers are saying they don't accept it. They won't accept that appraisal and they want another appraisal and they want me to pay for it. So traditionally the buyer will pay for that first appraisal. It's not very.

    For all the common, you get a second one sometimes, so they demanded that I pay for it. And at this point, I felt bullied, I felt unheard, and I was angry. And this is when I said, I'm done, like, I am not going to pay for a second appraisal in this building. So my agent worked it out with their agent, that my agent paid half and they paid half and they got another appraisal.

    That appraisal, every time you order an appraisal, it takes a few weeks. The guy had a due date for us, so this is the third appraiser. It didn't come, he didn't send it. And of course they're like waiting on closing. And then finally he did send it because sadly he had a death in his family. It was just like every little thing that could have happened was happening.

    And every time we're waiting on something and trying to have my faith in God and I'm scared at the same time. And, and so this third appraiser sends an appraisal and it's even less y'all, even less, more than a hundred thousand dollars less than the asking price. So at this point I'm waiting on God. I'm like, I don't know how this is going to work, but it's going to work.

    And fortunately the sellers came down some of the price after getting another appraisal that was low. And then, um, I still though, it still wasn't as low as I needed it to be. It still wasn't what the appraisal was. And I was just like, God, you're going to have to make a way for this because I don't have all this cash flow.

    And then he gave me a little gift and my loan officer. Um, she had been involved in all this and I, I didn't know that she was a woman of faith. I didn't know any of this in advance. I had just been recommended to her by somebody else. And she comes to me and she says, Whitney, I know that God is wanting you to have this building.

    I hear that. Um, I'm passionate for you. I understand. And I'm going to, she went and talked to the owner of the bank, like the president of the branch, and they worked out a special loan situation for me. That's going to basically cover what I need covered. And it was such a gift. And God worked out all those details.

    And this was like coming down to the day before signing, like the last moment. And that is oftentimes what faith is like, it's waiting on God at the last moment. So I bought a building, closed in May, put the offer down in November. So it was definitely a long road and a long process that I could have given up many times.

    And can I tell you for certain that everything's going to be perfect? Absolutely not. Am I still scared? Absolutely. So we bought this building. They're supposed to start renovation 10 days from today. The renovations are supposed to take about 20 weeks. And of course, they're telling me it's going to be due or done on December 8th, which they didn't know this, but that's my birthday.

    It's another one of those God weeks, right? I share this story with you to remind myself, but to also remind you that God is at work and those challenges are going to come and you got to trust that process. Even as if you've had any construction done on anything, you know that challenges are going to come up when they start doing this project.

    I know challenges are going to come up, but I also know that God is doing a good work and Wilmington Island where we're building this building only has one other group practice. They need the services. I can't believe I forgot to tell you this part of the story. I have to show this other part. When we were in the zoning process, they came back and said, Hey, if you want to get zoned, you've got to have parking.

    You have to have three parking spots for every provider at your office. Well, I'm planning to have at least eight providers, which means I need 24 parking spots. Let me tell you, this place did not have 24 parking spots, but the church is next door. Like literally you can walk from their parking lot to ours.

    And so we called them, don't even know these people, but we called her and said, Hey, we're a therapy practice. We're opening up next door so anyway, we can have some of your parking during the day. It was another just God moment. The lady says, we were in staff meeting yesterday talking about how we need a Christian practice to refer to.

    We don't know her. What? And then they said, we'd be honored to give you these spots. They wrote a letter. They faxed it over so that we could give it at the council meeting. Wow. So there's, and by the pastor also came to the zoning meeting. And talked about how excited he was to have us next door. Like, what a good guy, because I'm telling you, these only meetings are pretty boring.

    So it's those small things and those, and I shouldn't say small things, big things that you have to go back to. Write these things down when you're in a moment of trying to make a big decision. Maybe it's hiring your first therapist. Or maybe it's setting your rates or maybe it's your niche or, or maybe you're thinking about a side hustle or a podcast or something that you feel like God's wanting you to do.

    And maybe you're thinking about coaching, you think about joining a mastermind, you don't know what step to take next. Journal, write it down, pray about it, ask God to make it clear to you and just show you things in the world around you about how he's working. And he will, and he did with this building.

    So I had to battle difficult sellers. And a difficult agent and it did remind me that our battle is not against flesh and blood y'all and there are some stuff that happens in the world and it's not necessarily about the people. It's about what is in our world and what we fight against. Right narcissism, money, all those things came into play in this situation and I continue to press on knowing that price fights for me.

    And the things that God wants to do in the world. So hopefully when the building's done, I can do another episode and tell you about it. And I encourage you to follow me on social media, WOS Practice Consulting, if you want to see the building coming together, I definitely plan to post about that. My group practice is called Watersedge Counseling.

    If you want to watch those updates as the construction's being done, I'm really excited about it. And I appreciate you taking the time to listen to me today, share my story with you. And I know that I'll have to go back and listen to it whenever I become discouraged and uncertain. And so I hope that it brings you some strength and some faith today as you press forward in your private practice journey.

    And I thank you for letting me be a part of it. If

    you're listening to this, you likely didn't go to school to get an MBA, learn accounting or dive deep into bookkeeping. If you're listening to this, you likely love caring for people, doing good work in your community, and you're out to build something great. If so, that's amazing, and you're doing great and necessary work.

    Maybe you feel that the financial side of your practice is a big blonde spot filled with guesswork, stress, and anxiety. and feeling of not measuring up. Maybe cash feels tight all the time and profit seems to disappear too quickly or as soon as it comes in. This isn't how you expected the financials to feel.

    If you feel that way, you're not alone. And even better, you don't need to handle those parts of your practice alone. There is a way to stop the guesswork, feel confident in your finances, and start moving towards a more profitable and positive future. Navigator Bookkeeping exists solely to partner with private practice centers and help them remove financial blind spots while learning the financial story of their practice.

    Meeting monthly with each client, Navigator is here to help you make key financial decisions, boost cash flow, and create a plan from the chaos that can be private practice finance. If you're looking for a financial ally. Navigator Bookkeeping is offering a limited number of free tactical strategy sessions for listeners to the Wise Practice Podcast.

    In those 30 minutes, they will diagnose the financial health of your practice, and together with you, create a plan for profitability and positive cash flow. Go to navigatingyourbooks. com slash wise to schedule your session now. That's navigatingyourbooks. com backslash wise.

    So here's how it went down after that. When I got back, why? We're in our due diligence period. I've learned so much about real estate by the way, through this experience. And if you are thinking about buying or leasing, I did interview a guy about that Carl, Carl, Carl real estate, sorry, Carl, Carl real estate to go back and listen to that episode, um, which just really is probably just a few episodes before this one, but then the past couple of months, because that, that was really helpful and I'm sure that'll be linked to my show notes.

    So. I wish I had known a little bit more, but I've learned to learn the way and have a lot of information. If you ever are looking at purchasing, reach out to me. I can help you with that. But I'm providing some of it here today, but there's a due diligence period. And that is when you have someone come out, um, an inspector and look at the building in case there's anything that's really big that wasn't noticed.

    And we make sure that those things are taken care of. So we did the inspection and that was fine. But during that time, some weird things happened. Their officer or their representative, you know, the sellers, their agent, she was very strong world. I'm sure she does great as a real estate agent, but she was already calling my loan officer and asking her about the closing and kind of pushing on that.

    And that was weird. We were like, what's going on here? It's not common for someone else's agent to call your loan officer. So it was a little concerning. And we were not having the best working relationship with the other side, which is unfortunate and does happen. So we wanted to make sure that it was zoned for commercial real estate.

    This is important, residential and commercial. And sadly, the other side, the sellers were saying, Hey, yes, it is. Yes, it is. It's fine. Well, they couldn't prove it. So we went through our process and we find out that it is not zoned residential. I mean, I said that totally wrong. It is not zoned commercial.

    It's only zoned residential. So that says that that space had been used incorrectly all this time. And that's a concern because I could start a business in there and then be in trouble. We do not want that. I do not want to buy a building that's not zoned correctly. That began the process of zoning, which meant that this, the contracts had to get signed for months out because it takes time.

    So how this process works is you fill out your forms, you send them in to the zoning office in your city, and they review those for you. And so we filled out the form, we had to call them to know how to fill out the form because it's a very confusing process. You also have to pay them money, so we had to pay them 3, 000 or 3, 500 actually.

    Fortunately, the sellers, um, were willing to pay me for that because it was not zoned correctly on Mary. And they did push back a lot on this when we told them that it really wasn't zoned. That way they were like, that's not good advice. That's not, that's not accurate. And we're like, yeah, it is. It's accurate.

    You know, and if you think it's not, then you give it to us in writing that it's zoned commercial. Of course, they didn't. So we start this process and at this point in our journey, I'm thinking we got this. Okay. This is a little hiccup, but we got this. And so we went on ahead and did the application, paid the money.

    We were told the 1st zoning meeting would be January. I want to say the 16th. I can't really remember that. And we did a lot of confirming, and then that day comes, and we're all ready to go to the meeting, and we find out that they hadn't put the signs up, and they hadn't done what they were supposed to do on their end as a city, and evidently there had been some turnover going on with their employees.

    So with another hiccup, so then had to be delayed two more weeks to go to a meeting and every time this would happen the Sellers would get angry at us as if we had some kind of ability to change all this. So then we went to another zoning meeting. We went to the first zoning meeting. It's about two hours and you sit in a meeting and they talk about all these things and finally they talk about you.

    And then that leads to another zoning meeting and another zoning meeting. So I went to three zoning meetings over like a six week period, not the most pleasant experience. Transcribed But we moved through it and I would say that's when we kind of had a lull as I was just waiting on things to work out.

    So at this point my faith is still strong. I'm still pretty excited about the building. And then things kind of got a little more dicey. And so along the way you do, um, an appraisal. So an appraisal is when someone comes in and checks what the building is actually worth. We had asked the sellers how they determined the cost of the building.

    They refused to explain to us where that really came from. That was a little confusing. They weren't really working with us. So then we had an appraiser go in, and I can't explain all the details about this, but there was a conflict of interest with the first appraiser that they assigned to me, the bank assigned them.

    So unfortunately, I was not able to use that appraiser, and then the sellers thought I had it against them, or I had somehow finagled everything to get the right appraiser to come in and give me the quote that I wanted, which is absolutely not accurate at all. I have no say in who the appraiser was. The first app, then they assign me another appraiser, and as this is going on, the sellers keep scheduling closing dates.

    Even though you do not do that until you have this settled. So the second appraiser that they assigned goes in there and comes back and appraises it for a hundred thousand dollars less than what it's actually rate, what it was actually going for. Raised it lower. So we go back to the sellers and I'm in prayer and I'm waiting on God, and we say, Hey, we need you to come down on this price.

    Because how this works is even if you do have a loan for a certain amount, the eight, the, even though you're approved for a certain amount, you can only get a loan for an amount of the appraisal. So, if they don't come down on the price, I don't have enough money to pay for this place. And the men who owned it were made of money.

    Okay. Lots of money. Talking about a million of dollars in money, which is very different than a therapist task. Right? Right. And so, yes, 100, 000 might be simple money to some people, not for me. It's not something I just have in a bank account ready to go. And I think that people who've had a lot of money don't understand that and it does cause a lot of tension.

    And so it kind of got to a point where I was becoming scared. I was becoming scared that I was going to be sued, scared of what these people are going to do. The feller himself started calling my loan officer at home. Yes, that is very inappropriate. And, uh, obviously I'm only telling you parts of the story as I'm recording this live for people to listen to, but I will tell you in this moment, I was riddled with anxiety, difficulty sleeping, pain in my stomach, as I said, God, I know you want me to move forward, but now all these roadblocks are coming up.

    Are you telling me to pull out? What is going on here? Why are things not working? Because y'all, our faith journeys are not easy. It will have lots of roadblocks and that doesn't mean that you stop. The Christian life is hard, and when God wants to do something big in your area and in your community, you should expect it to be difficult.

    When God wants you to grow your practice, there are going to be some hard moments to it. Okay. That's part of it. That's part of life, but it's also part of following God. Okay. So all this is going on. And then the sellers are saying they don't accept it. They won't accept that appraisal and they want another appraisal and they want me to pay for it.

    So traditionally. The buyer will pay for that first appraisal. It's not very, not all that common you'd get a second one sometimes. So they demanded that I pay for it. And at this point, I felt bullied. I felt unheard. And I was angry. And this is when I said, I'm done. Like, I am not going to pay for a second appraisal in this building.

    So my agent worked it out with their agent. My agent paid half and they paid half and they got another appraisal. That appraisal every time you order an appraisal takes a few weeks the guy had a due date for us So this is the third appraiser and then it didn't come he didn't send it And of course, they're like waiting on closing and then finally he did send it because sadly he had a death in his family It was just like every little thing that could have happened was happening and every time we're waiting on something and Trying to have my faith in God and I'm scared at the same time and and so this third appraiser sends an appraisal You And it's even less y'all, even less, more than a hundred thousand dollars less than the asking price.

    So at this point I'm waiting on God. I'm like, I don't know how this is going to work, but it's going to work. And fortunately the sellers came down some of the price after getting another appraisal that was low. And then, um, I still, the, it still wasn't as low as I needed it to be. It still wasn't what the appraisal was.

    And I was just like, God, you're going to have to make a way for this because I don't have all this cash flow. And then he gave me a little gift and my loan officer, um, she had been involved in all this. And I, I didn't know that she was a woman of faith. I didn't know any of this in advance. I had just been recommended to her by somebody else.

    And she comes to me and she says, Whitney, I know that God, Is wanting you to have this building. I hear that. Um, I'm passionate for you. I understand. And I'm going to, she went and talked to the owner of the bank, like the president of the branch, and they worked out a special loan situation for me. That's going to basically cover what I need covered.

    And it was such a gift and God worked out all those details. And this was like coming down to the day before signing, like the last moment. And that is oftentimes what faith is like, is waiting on God at the last moment. So, I bought a building, closed in May, put the offer down in November. So, it was definitely a long road and a long process that I could have given up many times.

    And can I tell you for certain that everything's going to be perfect? Absolutely not. Am I still scared? Absolutely. So, we bought this building. They're supposed to start renovation 10 days from today. The renovations, they're supposed to take about 20 weeks. And of course, they're telling me it's going to be due or done on December 8th.

    Which they didn't know this, but that's my birthday. So it's another one of those God weeks, right? I share this story with you to remind myself, but to also remind you that God is at work and those challenges are going to come and you've got to trust that process. Even as if you've had any construction done on anything, you know, that challenges are going to come up when they start doing this project.

    I know challenges are going to come up, but I also know that God is doing a good work. In Wilmington Island, where we're building this building, only has one other group practice. They need the services. I can't believe I forgot to tell you this part of the story. I have to show this other part. When we were in the zoning process, they came back and said, Hey, if you want to get zoned, you've got to have parking.

    You have to have 3 parking spots for every provider at your office. Well, I'm planning to have at least 8 providers, which means I need 24 parking spots. Let me tell you, this place did not have 24 parking spots. But the church is next door like literally you can walk from their parking lot to ours And so we called them don't even know these people, but we called her and said hey, we're a therapy practice We're opening up next door.

    So anyway, we can have some of your parking during the day It was another just God moment. The lady says we were in staff meeting yesterday Talking about how we need a Christian practice to refer to we don't know her just what? You And then they said, we'd be honored to give you these spots. They wrote a letter, they faxed it over so that we could give it at the council meeting.

    Wow. So this, and by the, the pastor also came to the zoning meeting and talked about how excited he was to have a snake store, like what a good guy. Cause I'm telling you, these zoning meetings are pretty boring. So it's those small things and those, and I shouldn't say small things, big, that you have to go back to.

    Write these things down when you're in a moment of trying to make a big decision. Maybe it. Hiring your first therapist, or maybe it's setting your rates, or maybe it's your niche, or maybe you're thinking about a side hustle, or a podcast, or something that you feel like God's wanting you to do. And maybe you're thinking about coaching, you think about joining a master, and you don't know what step to take next.

    Journal, write it down, pray about it, ask God to make it clear to you, just show you things in the world around you about how it's working, and he will. And he did with this building. So I had to battle difficult sellers and a difficult agent. And it did remind me that our battle is not against flesh and blood y'all.

    And there are some stuff that happens in the world and it's not necessarily about the people. It's about what is in our world and what we fight against, right? Narcissism, ego, money, all those things came into play in this situation. And I continue to press on doing the Christ fights for me and the things that God wants to do in the world.

    So, hopefully when the building's done, I can do another episode and tell you about it. And I encourage you to follow me on social media, LostPracticeConsulting, if you want to. I'm going to be posting about that. I definitely plan to post about that. My group practice is called Watersedge Counseling. If you want to watch those updates as the construction's being done, I'm really excited about it.

    And I appreciate you taking the time to listen to me today, share my story with you. And I know that I'll have to go back and listen to it whenever I become discouraged and uncertain. And so I hope that it brings you some strength and some faith today as you press forward In your private practice journey, and I thank you for letting me be a part of it.

    So click on follow and leave a review. Keep on loving this work we do with Whitney Owens and Wise Practice Podcast, Whitney Owens and Wise Practice Podcast. Special thanks to Marty Altman for the music in this podcast. The Wise Practice Podcast is part of the Site Craft Podcast Network. A collaboration of independent podcasters focused on helping people live more meaningful and productive lives.

    To learn more about the other amazing podcasts in the network, head on over to site craft network.com. The Wise Practice podcast represents the opinions of Whitney Owens and her guests. This podcast is for educational purposes only, and the content should not be taken as legal advice. If you have legal questions, please consult an attorney.



James Marland
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