Jane and Daniel Cheek with sons Ike (1) and Abe (3). (Photo: Maryam Salassi)

I got to know Jane Cheek and her cute little boy, Abe, when she was teaching a toddler art class in East Dallas a little over a year ago. This talented stay-at-home-mom, a former art teacher, came up with the cutest ideas for crafts for our little buggers. When she and her husband, Daniel, bought a home up in Royal Highlands Village, I adored watching her transform their three-bedroom semi-detached into a gorgeous property. She managed to do it just months after having her second little boy, Ike, too.

Now with two boys and another bun in the oven, Jane and Daniel Cheek are moving back to their hometown of Raleigh, N.C. Our loss was some other homebuyer’s gain, as their adorable home was snapped up in a matter of days, all due to the brilliant marketing of Keller Williams Elite agent Vicki White.

Read on for their real estate story …

Photos of 9503 Summerhill: Shoot2Sell

Full name: Jane Cheek

Age: 31

Family: Husband, Daniel; son, Abe (3); son, Ike (1); dog, Sully (10)

Location: Royal Highlands/Lake Highlands

Price Range: $175,000 – $200,000

Agent: Vicki White

Tell us a little background on this home, and your reason for moving: We moved into our 1978 Lake Highlands duplex 1 year ago, after my husband’s career brought us to Dallas from North Carolina. When we purchased our home, we had no idea that his career would take us home to North Carolina a year later; so after living in our home about 10 months, we put it on the market and started packing up.

Why did you choose this particular home? This home had a perfect mix of location, affordability, and low maintenance. We loved the open floor plan and I was particularly smitten with the diagonal planking on the stair wall and on the front door.

Why did you choose your neighborhood? When we first moved to Dallas, we leased a home in the Lakewood neighborhood of East Dallas, and we fell in love with East Dallas’ homey feel, all the trees, the lake, and the whole laid-back feeling of the area. When we decided to buy a home, my husband had just been transferred from Garland to Carrollton and the Royal Highlands neighborhood has really great access to 635, which allowed us to stay in East Dallas and make my husband’s commute to Carrollton a little bit easier.

What shocked you about the sales process? I was completely surprised at how quick and painless the process was, how thorough our photographer was, and how extensive the marketing plan was with Vicki White and her team. Our house is scheduled to close two weeks after we listed it, so the turnaround time was shockingly quick.

What pleased you? We were very impressed with the courtesy of the Realtors that showed our home. It was always locked up, everything with always neat, and the lights were always off when we returned. We were extremely happy with Vicki and her sales team, and the wonderful job they did

What aspects of your move have been an adjustment for you? Did you buy with renovating in mind? Adjusting to keeping a house spotless with two young kids, a dog, and a messy husband running around was the biggest challenge. Other than that, the process was quite painless. We did have plans to renovate the kitchen of our home ourselves. We started those plans but did not have time to finish them so the appliances and counters are 1970s originals still.

If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently? I honestly cannot think of anything that I would have done differently; this situation has worked out really, really well.