My Real Estate Journey

Pause the distractions momentarily and tune into a high-level overview of my real estate journey. These are MY unique experiences:

My husband and I purchased our first home in 2004. I was 20 years old. I know, I know, super young to already be married for multiple years, but that right there is a story for another day. We both worked full-time at entry-level jobs and did not make much money. We saved every penny from our paychecks outside of food and shelter for well over six months to put 5% down on our first home. Legit, you guys, we worked as much overtime as work would allow and spent our free time playing World of Warcraft because it was super fun AND a cheap date night!

Neither of us had a college degree. What we did have is that we were both employed by a big savings and loan bank. I was a loan closing specialist then, and my husband worked at a tech support help desk for appraisers. Both were brand new to the mortgage industry, but we dove in with curiosity and bought our first home to boot! ‘Knowledge is power IF put into action.’ We acted at what is historically a very young age to purchase your first home (me at 20 and he at 23 years old). I look back at that and am not sure we would have done so had I not been going through all of the mortgage classes the bank was putting me through. Invest in your future!

We sold our Texas home two years later and moved to Utah. We bought home #2 in 2006 in Saratoga Springs. It was a spec home. Initially, we had signed a contract for a new construction home in Daybreak but bailed on it shortly after. I had just started as an appraiser trainee, which made me reevaluate. Daybreak, with its shiny and new appeal—super tempting—was the new hotness at that time. The debt-to-income ratios for Daybreak were also higher than my underwriter mind could comfortably handle. So, we ended up at the Saratoga Springs spec home for a more conservative price. Canceling our Daybreak contract was wise for several reasons, particularly as the real estate market began to crash in 2008. ‘Knowledge is power IF put into action.’ Our years in Saratoga Springs, where we welcomed our first two kiddos, became a cherished chapter in our lives.

In 2012, like many others, we found ourselves underwater in our home. Foreclosures and short sales were widespread, and as an appraiser, I witnessed the impact firsthand. I appraised so many vacant homes through those years; it was wild! Six years into my appraisal career, I felt confident it was the opportune moment to take advantage of the market conditions.  So, we did what no one else was doing at the time. We decided to build a home with a custom builder, RC Dent Construction, in Lehi. They were phenomenal to work with. Man, I hope to work with Scott and Brian again someday!!

We closed on home #3 in 2013. We held onto our property in Saratoga Springs because selling it would have meant a loss at the time. To get a loan for the new construction, we had to qualify to pay for both mortgages. Despite the bank knowing our plan to rent the Saratoga Springs home, the underwriter couldn’t use that income due to the guidelines mandating a year of rental history. I meticulously ran through all the numbers and scenarios, fully aware of what to expect, and I knew this would be an excellent long-term move. Despite my professional background—This. Was. Stressful. Toting around two adorable boys (a one-year-old and a three-year-old) while building our new home added another layer of challenges. To help myself feel better, I’d remind myself of the worst-case scenario: We wouldn’t be able to close on our new home and would stay in Saratoga Springs. Not the end of the world. ‘Knowledge is power IF put into action.’ I couldn’t let myself celebrate the Lehi home until everything officially closed. This is why I affectionately dubbed the Lehi home our ‘Dream Home on a Budget’!

We rented our Saratoga Springs house for over a year and sold it for a profit in 2015. The first house we made money on!! My appraiser mind didn’t want to move to Salt Lake for years because it’s ‘too expensive.’ It took months of house shopping in Oregon and Northern California (we even stayed in California for an entire month with our little fam to test the waters) for me to wake up and realize that Salt Lake’s not so bad. I can’t help but laugh at myself. Here we are, looking at million-plus homes in 2018 while I was rationalizing that $500,000 – $700,000 was too damn expensive in Salt Lake. For way nicer homes and far better locations, I might add!

The Salt Lake move was different for us. This was house #4. Our kids were getting older—10, 7, and 3. We had a much better idea of what we wanted and were unwilling to settle. It took a while for us to find our forever home! Before this move, all of the moves felt temporary. Even the Lehi home, although we initially wondered if we’d stay there a long time. We purchased home #4 in Holladay in 2018. I knew this area from appraising homes and was convinced we’d love it here. Holladay has far exceeded even my expectations!! One of the biggest surprises of moving here is that it feels calmer than Lehi. There’s not as much traffic. It feels like a small town, yet you’re within 15 minutes of anything you’d want to do in Salt Lake. Our kids have access to so much that they can walk to independently. I love their independence, and I LOVE not having to be their taxi driver. A walkable city is my happy place. What’s yours?!

In 2018, I wanted to keep our Lehi home and rent it out so badly. It would have been such an excellent long-term rental. I ran through all the numbers, and we would not have been able to keep it AND comfortably purchase home #4 in Holladay. So, we let it go and made a hefty profit from it. But man, could you imagine if we still had it now?! More than 3x of our 2018 profits. Ugh, it is what it is. We wouldn’t be where we are today without selling it. ‘Knowledge is power IF put into action.’ And I recently completed a massive dream: remodeling an older home and making it our own! This experience was full of ups and downs—yet another story for another day.

You must decide what makes sense for you and how you want to invest in your future. Even though we did not make any money when we sold our first home (in fact, we had to pay our realtor out of pocket to sell the home), the knowledge we gained through those years was invaluable and led us down a path of homeownership I never could have dreamt up in a million years!! Our journey began with virtually nothing to our name. You can do it too!! When my kids become adults (our firstborn will be in less than three years!) after they’ve done their research, and IF they decide homeownership is part of their story; I’ll be damned if I don’t find a path that works for them to get there. I will gladly do the same for you.

For the first time in over 20 years of marriage, we have zero plans of selling our home. I hope to own it our entire life! Not for all the negative reasons filling everyone’s news feeds. I want to keep it because we genuinely love the home, the location, the community, the independence the area brings to our kids, the long-term financial investment, and the quality of life…we have found our forever home. We are happy. We are content. It’s out there, friends, and it is pure magic. But it’s not going to happen on its own. YOU have to take action, and grit is a requirement to get there.

In every generation, there are unique challenges and hardships to navigate—such is life. While my journey through homeownership hasn’t been without its trials, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I have no regrets about any of the moves we’ve made. I believe that, as long as you’ve diligently done your research and enlisted the expertise of true professionals who genuinely have your best interests at heart, you’re unlikely to regret your journey either.