My New Home: Buyer willing to do a little remodeling finds a bargain on Union

Initially intending to alter only one set of cabinets, Roberson eventually remodeled the entire kitchen of his new condo in the Mayfair.

Roberson's master bedroom is sparsely appointed, but features original parquet floors that run throughout the unit.

As the end of the lease on his Midtown apartment approached, Chase Roberson toyed with several questions. Did he want to stay in Memphis, or did he want to move to another city? If he stayed, did he want to buy, or did he want to rent?

Meanwhile, every time he drove up Union Avenue, he'd glance up at The Mayfair condominium building and think, "I'd really like to live there."

Finally, he resolved to just do it.

"I decided on a whim that I'd been here this long, I wasn't going to go anywhere else," Roberson said. "I had money in hand, and being a first-time buyer worked in my favor."

Roberson called Alan Stricklin of Sowell & Co. Realtors to get the process started.

"He's a friend of mine, so naturally when I got ready, I just called him up," said Roberson, an assistant designer with Ray & Baudoin Interior Design. "He actually really wanted to steer me away from the building when we were looking at first."

That was because Stricklin knew a unit in The Mayfair, which was built in 1962, would likely require remodeling. Roberson, though, was not only up for it, he welcomed the challenge of designing his own space.

"I didn't want anything that was too big, too run down," he said. "But I definitely wanted something that needed fixing up, because that's a hobby of mine."

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My New Home: Buyer willing to do a little remodeling finds a bargain on Union