The beginning

On October 28, 2008 I signed an enormous stack of boring papers legally binding me to the purchase of a house. A 1973 three bedroom, two bath shoebox shaped house in Palm Bay, Fl!

I decided in 2007 that if I moved back to Florida I would look into buying a house to see if it was even a possibility. I had been renting places for 6 years and had moved 9 times and I was tired of seeing my money thrown away never to be seen again. The idea of buying seemed a smart investment, but based on my income and savings and lack of credit, a highly unlikely one.

On one short visit home to Melbourne, I called a mortgage broker who told me that no, it wouldn't be possible for me to buy a house. He said that he would be able to approve me for so little that he believed the house I could get for that amount would be unsuitable for living in or in a neighborhood that was. So, for the moment I let it go and waited until I moved back to Florida from Virginia (moves #6-8) where I'd been living and working as a flight attendant.

However, almost immediately upon moving back (move #9) I knew I needed to pursue this buying idea a little more. So after starting my new job and next part of my life, I began making more phone calls. I was connected to a realtor that was often surprised that I wanted to see houses that were below the amount that I had been approved for and (sometimes) tried to hide her cringes as we walked into houses that were clearly below the standards of most people. So we kept looking. I knew that if I wanted to have financial peace of mind I would buy something costing less than I'd been approved for. After all, I know how I spend and save better than mister-suit-jacket-bank-executive. I also knew I wanted safe and livable.

I found a house online that looked good, very good and I called my realtor. We decided that since the price was so low it was possible there was something hugely wrong with it and that I would go to the house and take a look and if I liked what I saw she would meet me there. After feeling like a bad person for trespassing on well, no one's property and looking through the windows I gave her a call and drove around the neighborhood while waiting for her.

The purchasing process was started and before long I was signing paperwork at the bank on my lunch break. (Big things happen on my lunch breaks! I paid off my car on a lunch break too.) And oh, by the way, it cost less than the amount I was told would get me a "scary" place in 2007. God is GOOD!