Today, I want to talk about this house, which you can see on the screen. It’s so relevant to what is happening today in the housing marketing.
This house is the one that we bought together in 1998. Vicki was 2-weeks away from giving birth to our second baby. I still remember that she found this house, and her friend’s mom was the Realtor – and I was trying to figure out how we would buy the house when we could barely pay our rent!
Long story short, when your pregnant wife says something that you’re going to do, then you do it. So we bought this house and paid $252,000 for it. I remember being absolutely terrified of the mortgage payment. I couldn’t believe that we were going to try to pull this off.
How Our Starter Home Relates to Today’s Market
It sounds so much like everybody’s situation today! Many people are asking: how in the world are we going to make this happen?
Fast-forward: a long time ago, we sold that house. Vicki’s job moved us up to Washington State. We turned a great profit when we sold it.
Yesterday, Vicki sent me a photo of this house and asked me if I could believe how much the house is worth now. The price has increased from the $252,000 we paid in 1998 to right around a million dollars now! It’s interesting to see how times have changed.
Houses Will Always Increase in Value
This is the interesting point about real estate. As hard as it is to imagine: these houses that are selling for $600k, $700k, $800k, and up right now… they are going to double and triple in value. That is what is going to happen.
As much as I wish we still had that house. I am so glad that we are still in the market. This starter home was a launching pad for us. It gave us a great down payment to use on the next purchase. Real estate has been amazing for us.
Even though it’s been almost 30 years ago, it’s interesting to look at the perspective now. When she said that we were going to buy it, the whole situation almost sounded laughable at the time!
I share this so that you can see: it is possible. It is worth it. Yes, we had to make all sorts of cutbacks in our budget, but we made it work. And this lanching pad ended up being a great decision because of how it helped us get started with several other properties that have done really well for us.
This is a peek into my own personal story. If you need help with your unique real estate journey, reach out and I will help you find the best mortgage solution for your needs.