To Buy A House Or Not Buy A House


This is a question that Cody and I struggle with daily. It's such a huge commitment to own a home. Especially when you are us, considering that we have moved over ten times in ten years. Our Wyoming house is our third house. Our first home we purchased a year before we were married back in 2005. We were first time home buyers and probably looked at sixty houses before finally picking one. (My poor realtor.)

I have fallen in love with so many houses over the years. My problem is I see the potential in homes that are falling apart or just plan ugly. Lucky for us, our first home had already been cleaned up and didn't need a lot of work. In other words, it was move in ready. The main reason we sold the house a few years later was because our kitchen was super tiny and did not work for us at the time. (Says the girl that wants to build a tiny house! If I was to build a tiny house, the house would basically be a big kitchen. hahaha)


House #2 After lots of work
Fast forward to house number two, a fixer upper in so many ways. Even this house scared me. The main problem was it had a bad roof. (A huge red flag!!! Run, don't buy!) If you are a newer follower of my blog, you may not know that house number two was the reason I started my blog. I showcased all of the remodeling here on the blog. It was a living hell. The roof was so bad that it rained in half of the house. We did get it for a good price, but sadly when the housing market cashed so did the value of the home. Then Cody lost his job, which lead to him joining the Air Force.


Me in the background tearing out a wall in the "what was supposed to be" a bedroom.
Now we currently live in house number three. When we first looked at our house, it didn't seem to be that much of a "fixer upper", It was just dated and ugly. I feel like even though this house didn't need as much work as house number two, I learned so many more life lessons from it. Buying a home that needs lots of work or updating can drain your bank account VERY quickly. This is something I wish we would of thought about first. Our current home wasn't that bad and I'm scared to say out loud how much money we have spent on it. I've kept a pretty good count in my head along the way. Also, every time we go to Home Depot now, the cashiers ask if we are done with our house yet.

House number three, our current home.
I feel like shows on HGTV and DIY Network give people the impression that buying a fixer upper and doing a bunch of work yourself is going to be so fun and glamorous. Well, it's not. Yes, it's rewarding when a project that you planned to take two weeks ends up taking three months and you FINAL finish it. That feels pretty awesome, but those weeks in between you are pulling your hair out.


Being small means you can get into little places to paint!
With all this said, Cody and I swore that we wouldn't buy another house. That if we moved to Portland that we would just rent until we could build a tiny house. As I shared some of my photos of our house projects with my dad, he said to me, "Why don't you flip houses for a living? You guys are so good at fixing up houses already anyway." I'm not saying that this is what Cody and I plan to do, but since my dad said it I can't stop thinking about it. I totally have a love hate relationship with remodeling houses.

Then after my dad planted the "flip houses thing" in my head, I started thinking that I would love to buy a house in Portland that is a fixer upper but liveable. The cheapest land in Portland is around $50,000 and then I would have to build a tiny house for probably another $40,000 after permits and stuff. The numbers don't really add up to me. I can buy a house that needs loved (rescued) for way less then that and I'm being more green by using a house that's already built. Also, most of the houses I have found on the market in Portland that are in my price range are less then 1,000 square feet. Some are as small as 600 square feet. It's not as cool as building a tiny house, but it makes more sense in the end.

Is a fixer upper right for you?
I'm planning on doing a video all about this topic full of advise and stories of how it's been for Cody and I.
Do you have any questions or topics that you would like me to talk about?
How do you feel about owning a home verses renting?
I find there are many pros and cons to both.
View the posts about house number two HERE.
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