Our American Dream

On this historic occasion of the first black man being sworn in as president of the United States, I felt it was only appropriate to chronicle our journey to achieving the American dream. (That's home ownership, not actually being the president... still working on that one!)

We sold the condo Hubby owned for about seven years in September of 2007. There were many reasons we decided to sell it (I was pregnant at the time), though we sort of fell into listing the condo. After it sold, we moved into our current home. It's a rental from my father-in-law and he's renting it to us at a great discount. We've looked for homes to buy off and on throughout that time. We made our first real offer on a home in March 2008. We loved that home! Unfortunately, the housing market was just starting to bottom out and getting approved for a loan dragged on and on. Eventually the sellers decided our time was up and sold the house to another couple.

Since that time, I've searched through thousands of online ads, we've toured dozens of homes, loved a handful, and placed offers on a few. We continued to have problems with financing mostly due to situations beyond our control. We finally got a loan but for a ridiculously low amount. I started searching through thousands more online ads, and as we got serious about a house, the loan company folded and we lost the loan. Then we decided to look into the rent-to-own market. We found a rent-to-own home that was unfinished and with a lot of sweat equity we could knock the expensive sticker price down. We were given a pre-qualification letter for a loan with many provisions. Basically, we could put in a lot of work to the house, live there for a year, and then find out if we would qualify for a loan. Hubby and I didn't feel good about the gamble, and we passed.

Our new goal is to find a fixer-upper, something priced lower than that initial loan. We're hoping that a home in this lower bracket won't be so difficult to qualify for, even in this market. Last week I came across an interesting ad. It advertised two tiny homes in two separate lots, each listed for a very low price. The catch: the homes share a waterline and must be purchased together. We broached my father-in-law with the topic of him buying the second home as a rental property. It's in an amazing area, and the total acreage is .43. The goal would be for us to buy the second home from him in the future and eventually tear both down to create our dream home. Of course, that's much further down the road!

This morning we put our offer in, and it sounds as if it may be accepted. I believe we'll know by tonight. However, I know from long hard experience that this is only step one. I know absolutely that if it's going to happen, it will. If it's not right, it won't, and we'll move on. I'm looking at it purely logically, which is foreign to me. My hopes aren't up (but they're not down either), and I know I won't believe that it will happen until they hand me the keys. I've been disappointed so many times that I don't think I have many emotions all tied up in this. We'll move when it's right.

That won't stop me, however, from daydreaming about how I'm going to decorate this tiny little cottage...