It’s been years and years since I’ve posted here, but I’ve been getting a lot of questions, looks, and head tilts about why we chose to buy/build our first home during this market, so let’s revive the blog!

(If you’re here while the vibe is still very 2010s and out of date, so sorry! I’ll update it eventually but part of my day job is designing UI and UX so I’m pretty done with making graphics and layouts etc. by the end of each day, haha.)

We are about 40 days out from closing on our first home after being renters for almost 20 years, and it is so exciting to say the least! Because of this, I wanted to do a series all about buying or building a house in the 2024 market, what it’s like to be first time buyers this late in the game, and tips to make your process go more smoothly. And, bonus, I’m a real person writing this without AI so no generic regurgitated nonsense here.

As posts come out, I’ll link them here:
– All about Financing in 2024’s Market
– Builder Grade, Semi-Custom, or Custom: How to Choose?
– The Builder Selection Process for Upgrading
– Build Process: Part One
– Build Process: Part Two
(More to come!)

So let’s get into it. Why in the world did we pick this time to venture out into the Wild West of the housing market?

Simply put, we didn’t have much of a choice when we’d be able to start doing this. We didn’t come from well-off families who could help us put down 20% and we had to make a lot of hard decisions when we were younger about finances which set us behind. We also both chose to forgo decent salaries and stay as teachers in order to make an impact on the world for a very long time, and until I finally left teaching in 2021, our salaries just weren’t high enough to make it work with kids. We had resigned ourselves to being renters forever. Thankfully, my career change massively changed that for us and we finally were able to make a lot of changes over the last few years.

Not everyone chooses when they can enter the market, and that’s totally okay. For Millenials and Gen Z, the narrative of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps/the “Amerciacan Dream” hasn’t really ever applied to us. Knowing this doesn’t make us feel any better being first time home buyers in our late 30s/early 40s especially thanks to societal pressure and guilt from other generations, but it’s reality today.

Do interest rates still suck right now? Totally, but there are still some upsides to buying right now that I’ll share in my next post about financing in this market.

Does it always make sense to buy instead of rent? Not at all! Until we realized we had completely outgrown the size of our rental house, it made much more financial sense to keep renting long-term rather than buying.

Market fluctuations and owning a home instead of renting should not be the main reasons you decide on timing to enter the market.

I can’t wait to dig in and share more with you soon!

*Disclaimer: While I was a licensed real estate professional long ago, all content is my opinion only and should not be taken as professional or legal advice.