How we Bought our first Home Debt-Free!
When Alex and I got married, we had this crazy idea: What if we could buy our first home — DEBT-FREE? Yeah, we knew it was crazy, and also, probably impossible. But what can I say? We like to do things the hard way. ( Just to prove that we can. 😂 ) So, here’s Part 1 of the (incredible) story of how we bought our first home, debt-free!
Buying our first home debt-free was a huge goal for us — but to be totally honest… I didn’t think it was possible.
Like I said, it all started with a crazy dream... one of those Big, Scary, Impossibly-Impossible kind of Dreams:
We wanted to buy our first home debt-free.
Alex had been diligently saving for this since he was a kid, but even with what he'd saved — it would take a MIRACLE. We scoured real-estate websites and craigslist, hoping to come across some kind of gem. Most of the time, we didn’t find anything. We thought we’d hit gold at one point. Thankfully, we looked closer before we made an offer — the real-estate website wasn’t reputable at ALL.
We continued to hope, dream, and try to add funds to Alex's hard-earned nest-egg. (Which isn’t easy when you’re living on one income.) One day, he told me about a small piece of land that was just a few minutes from town, owned by people he knew through the family store. He wanted to see if they were interested in selling.
We went to look at it, and as soon as we stepped on to the property, it felt like we belonged there. The project was HUGE... so I wasn't sure if it was intuition or just excitement that our dream might become a reality.
As it turned out, they were thinking of selling. For TWICE what we could afford. 😳 We said “no,” and that was that. We continued to hope, browse the internet, and kept on dreaming.
A few months later, out-of-the-blue, one of the owners walked in to the family store. He mentioned a price... a good price. I mean; a really, REALLY good price. It was So. Close. to what we had saved up. Could we somehow come up with some extra money? Or maybe we shouldn’t... after a week, we had almost decided to say yes. Maybe.
Alex was at work when he got another (miraculous!) phone call. 😱 The kind of phone call that knocks your socks off. The owners had decided on a new price. We hadn't asked them to come down any more, or tried to negotiate terms.
➢ It was EXACTLY the amount of money we had saved.
(It was also exactly HALF of what they had originally told us.) Yeah, I still get goosebumps.
About a month later, we were seated at a long, fancy table in a big room. It was surreal. We sat across from the three land-owners, and a very nice lawyer. Papers were signed, and we walked out as first-time property owners. DEBT-FREE.
We didn’t care about the amount of work we had ahead of us. (There was a LOT.) We didn't care about the state of the property and house. (It was in disrepair.)
We just saw the potential.
Our family and friends thought we were NUTS. (We totally were. 😂) You'll have to see it to understand why:
Yes, this was the state of our home when we bought it. The weeds were so tall, we could’ve baled them for a little extra money. 😂 A friend was kind enough to help Alex chop down the overgrown weeds, which uncovered a yard FULL of trash! 😳
About a month after we closed on the property, I had a surprise “birthday party” for Alex and invited all of our friends coming over to help clean up the property. They donned gloves, brought food, and merrily dug through garbage, and tore down old animal pens. There were lots of jokes, and we laughed at their expressions when we showed them inside our "new house."
It was Alex's dream birthday celebration. (Seriously - I've never seen him so excited! 😜) And yes... our friends are REALLY good sports.
After that day, the property itself seemed a lot more manageable. The next thing to tackle was the house. Should we just tear it down (like everybody was suggesting)...
…or should we attempt a Renovation?
This entire experience was a huge lesson to me in chasing big dreams. (And being willing to work hard to make them happen!) I hope it inspires you to NOT give up on your own crazy dreams. ❤️ So please don’t ever forget:
