how to buy a house – our story

After college graduation my boyfriend and I took the glamorous route and moved back in with our parents. We’ve been able to save money, pay off debt, and raid the refrigerator at our leisure; in short, it’s been pretty awesome.  But having never lived together aside from frequent sleepovers, we were curious about the I-see-you-twenty-four-seven-because-we-live-together-and-share-a-bathroom couple lifestyle. Luckily, a few months back, we had the opportunity to house sit for two months and try out that I-see-you-twenty-four-seven thing. It was our first taste of what would eventually be a permanent situation. And we liked it.

It was always our intention to buy a house. In fact, our with-out-fail qualifier whenever we explained our living circumstances to our acquaintances, was that we were only living with our parents for a short time—enough time to save up for a down payment and scout out neighborhoods for lovely fixer-uppers. And although a fixer-upper was a smart financial decision, we needed a stable career and a steady income to ensure we had money for savvy spending. And, at the time, paying my dues to the PR world through low-paying internships was not the stability we were looking for. Eventually, a local university hired me; it was a place I felt comfortable putting down roots that provided a paycheck capable of paying real bills. We paid off our credit cards and started building our savings. I’ll admit, my savings grew slower than his simply because I was obsessed with debt reduction—nobody wants student loans knocking on the door of their new home. But as my job progressed and debt decreased, our credit and savings felt good. We felt ready (or as ready as anyone would ever be) to become responsible, independent adults (gulp). Ready to buy our first home together.