3 Homes In 3 Years
Home ownership is a dream for many, and we were no exception. In fact, Alisha had the expectation that she would be a homeowner at the age of 25. Even though this was a completely arbitrary date, it was something she had dreamt of for most of her life and was unwilling to relent on the deadline, even when life hadn’t lined up with it. Alisha finished grad school at 24, didn’t have a full-time job after graduating, was trying to start her own business instead, and we would soon find out that pre-approval for home ownership was based on income from the previous two years. Suffice it to say, the 25-year-old deadline would not be met. And this was devastating for Alisha.
We had been renting apartments in Orange County, California, moving each year chasing after move-in specials, and finding this as an unsustainable practice. The news we got in 2012, ahead of Alisha’s 25th birthday laid the foundation for what we would need to do for us to qualify for a home in the next 2 years. Alisha took a full-time job, keeping her business on the side, and Maurice worked to pay down some debt.
In 2014, just after we were married, the opportunity to buy a home presented itself… but it wasn’t in California. We would be relocating to Arizona, where Alisha’s family resided. This was a long-debated discussion amongst us, as Alisha had just been able to leave her full-time job with the business offering her enough income to make this decision and leaving the state felt risky. But it was a necessary step for us to prioritize our family and have the quality of life we desired.
The most exciting part is that this would be a brand-new home, built from the lot up, where we would have the opportunity to make design selections, and upgrades. This process started in 2014 and would be completed in May 2015, days after Maurice graduated from college at the age of 30. And when we arrived in Arizona to close on this house, we would be dealt another surprise: my business income would not be allowed (despite having been full time with the business for 1 year) and Maurice’s credit score would bring down our qualification for interest rates, causing our monthly mortgage to rise. Thankfully, my mom offered to co-sign, which was a huge risk for her, but seeing as how the mortgage we’d be paying on this house was $800 cheaper than the rent we had been affording for the past several years, she knew we could make the payment. 16 months later, in September 2016, we would sell this house to Maurice’s parents for a $25k profit.
We would close on our next home in December 2016 and subsequently sell it in August of 2018 for a $65k profit. We would close on home #3 in August 2018…. And end up selling it in November 2020 for a $170k profit. Alisha turned 30 in May of 2017 and just 3 months later she would be in her 3rd home, despite not meeting her original “deadline” of being a homeowner before the age of 25. The move to AZ, the willingness to buy and flip, continue moving year after year, all allowed us to get into homes we otherwise would not have been able to afford. Saving for the 20% down only needed to happen once, because we rolled profits over and gained increasing amounts of equity in each home.
If we had allowed the initial disappointment to deter us. Or the subsequent roadblocks to keep us stuck, we wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of the upwards market or have found ourselves in homes we had only dreamt of. It did take sacrifice (and help from others) to get here, but it’s a reminder for us to stay focused on the long term vision, even when an immediate goal doesn’t get met.
