Laurie Walter will tell you what you miss when you’re exploring a new area in a car. The smells. The sounds. The details that blur by at 60 miles an hour. On a motorcycle, you experience all of it.
It’s fitting, then, that a woman who has spent decades paying close attention to the world around her has also never lost sight of what home actually means.
“Home to me is being with my husband and our dogs,” Laurie said. “Home is where there’s love.”
11 Years of Retirement and 10 New Homes
Laurie spent 21 years serving in the United States Navy. When she and her husband Doug retired, they didn’t stop moving. In the 11 years since leaving the service, the two have purchased 10 homes using their VA loan benefit.
And every single time, they have used Veterans United Home Loans.
That kind of loyalty doesn’t happen by accident. It starts with a good first experience, but it deepens over time into something that looks a lot less like a business relationship and a lot more like family.
A Friendship That Grew with Every Move
Laurie and Doug first connected with loan officer Aaron Madrid (NMLS #1161632) in the fall of 2016. They hit it off quickly, bonding over a shared love of the outdoors. When they came back the following year, ready to move again, Aaron wasn’t surprised. He’d worked with repeat clients before.
But then they came back again. And again. And again.
“That’s kind of where I feel like our friendship really started,” Aaron said.
Through every move, Aaron called regularly. He wasn’t calling just to check on the loan, but to hear what was going on in their lives.
“It was just so easy,” Laurie said. “He would call and check on us once a week and see how we were doing. Through 10 houses, I stayed with Aaron, and he still called once a week. He was like a friend, more or less.”
The friendship grew in both directions. Aaron started a family during those years, and Laurie and Doug watched his son grow up through photos shared along the way.
“Laurie would joke about how she was like my adopted grandma,” Aaron said.
Every New Home, a New Adventure
For Laurie and Doug, each new home has been more than a change of address. It’s been an opportunity to explore a new area.
“Out of all the houses that we’ve moved, all 10, I’ve experienced so much more in life than I ever have up until that point. It’s like, ‘Oh, what are we going to find here? What can we do there? Where can we go dig here?’ We just enjoy all that.”
The couple’s latest move brought them to Cañon City, Colorado, just five months before this story was told. Another new town and another new landscape were waiting, along with plenty of new roads left to explore.
One More Surprise
As they have gotten older, the couple has been talking about their motorcycles. A trike had come up in conversation because it would be easier to handle and more manageable as the years go on.
But they hadn’t made any moves yet. What they didn’t figure on was what was waiting in their driveway.
Their old friend Aaron showed up unannounced. He pulled into the driveway, and standing next to him was a trike he and the Veterans United team had brought as a gift.
“I just wanted to come and tell you guys how much we value you,” Aaron told them. “It’s been fun getting to know you. Wanted you guys to have something a little fun for your time here in Colorado.”
Laurie was speechless.
“It was the most exciting thing that’s ever happened in my life,” she said. “Except meeting him [Doug].”
For Aaron, the moment was the natural endpoint of a decade-long friendship.
“To have someone that I’ve worked with now for 10 years, to consider them my friends more so than my clients along this way,” Aaron said. “It meant a lot to me to be able to give them this gift.”
Home is with Us Together
Laurie and Doug are hoping Cañon City is their forever home. But if life takes them somewhere new, they already know who they’ll call.
“We’re hoping that this is our forever home,” Laurie said. “And if not, well, there’s Veterans United.”
After 10 homes and 10 VA loans, one thing has stayed constant through every move, every new zip code and every fresh start.
“No matter where we live,” Laurie said, “home is with us together.”
