The Search for A Modest Home

Life has been pretty exciting recently. But let's talk about the past for a minute...After the short sale of our town house in 2012, Brandon and I thought we would not be able to purchase a home for at least 4 years after it was finally sold. We knew this would put a ding on our credit, but unfortunately, he lost his job and we didn't have the resources to continue to pay for our mortgage, plus we needed to move 2 hours north of our current house for Brandon's new job position.

As life has gone one, we have slowly been talking about the prospects of purchasing a house at the end of next year! So one afternoon we had always discussed one area of Saratoga Springs that we loved, and hey, a builder that we knew and liked was building in that area. Guys it's perfect, and I found the perfect floor plan I love. In the back of my head though I kept thinking, we still have to wait, I know it takes time to build, but these will still be done before any bank would finance us due to our previous short sale...Well...we started talking with the salesman (never a good thing), and found out we only had to wait 3 years! 3 years! That means comes this December we could have a house. WHAT?! The dream is real guys! It has consumed our thoughts, and time, which isn't necessarily the best thing since we're both in school and have the kiddo's and work.

So since we found the perfect area and floor plan, really it was a great time to potentially build!

The thing is, I'm in a Family Finance class at BYU. This is such a practical class that honestly should be available to everyone, especially married couples! Within our class we have discussed the discouragement of debt, except for three different categories. Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin put it best when he said, "Some debt - such as for a modest home, expenses, for education, perhaps for a needed first car - may be necessary. But never should we enter into financial bondage through consumer debt without carefully weighing the costs."

As we kept looking at our dream lots and floor plan the price of it kept creeping into the back of my mind. Although Brandon is making significantly more than he ever has, this is still a house we could not afford...Not right now at least. I brought this up to Brandon, who unfortunately agreed with me, so we started to discuss maybe purchasing a home already built, for less.

We are still on the hunt and searching. But this term "modest home" is what has been continually on my mind. I had heard that quote by Elder Wirthlin before, but as we are truly searching for a home, and we want so many wonderful things, this small phrase of "modest" keeps coming into my head.

A thought that has come back to Brandon is maybe we should purchase another town house for now. We could get into one fairly quickly, and have a mortgage for about the same price we're paying in rent right now. Then, we can keep our budget the same that it is and continue to pay off debts as quickly as we can. Once all other debts are paid, except for a mortgage, then we can maybe look into selling the townhouse and then putting the equity into a down payment for a larger house in the future.

Nothing is for certain right now, and if for anything, I'm grateful for the fact that we are taking our time and truly talking about all the options we have before us. I'm excited for the future, and what it has in store for my little family. I truly hope we can continue to have the Spirit guide us to find our new modest home.