The House That Built Us

You don’t start with granite countertops and a perfect life—you start with corn dogs, exhaustion, and a house that looks nothing like your dream… and you decide to own it anyway. It all started with an evening motorcycle ride in August of 1997 in our hometown of Forest Grove, Oregon. We were 22 years young, married for just over 3 years, and hankering for a place of our own. We'd rented an apartment, which we quickly learned was not our cup of tea, and then found an old farmhouse that was 450 sq ft and $475 to rent on a 5 acre parcel. We loved that little place; we could sit on the toilet, watch TV, and greet whoever walked in the front door all at the same time. We were living paycheck to paycheck, Tad working as an apprentice electrician and I was waitressing at Red Robin, and had no money for a down payment of any kind. Zero.

On this walk we saw an old 1930's bungalow house that seemed to be abandoned and after snooping (read trespassing) around a bit, we asked around and found out that it was sitting on land that a contractor had bought and would soon turn into a new development. That little house would get knocked down, and clearly needed someone like us to save it. The contractor told us that we could have the home for $1 (he couldn't legally give it to us, so it was a sale for $1) if we could find a lot for it and move it by a certain date.

Say no more.

Where there is a will, there is a way, right?

We started searching high and low for a lot that would both fit the home and our budget of...basically, zero. An older couple in our church at the time had a lot that fit the bill and he told us he'd sell it to us for $50,000. We worked out a creative financing deal with Tad's parents and they had enough faith in us to pull equity from their home to purchase the lot, move the home to the lot, and build from there.

What you have to know about us is that we move quickly once we decide to do something. This was our ticket to get our foot in the real estate door! Instantly, Tad started drawing up plans for the home to submit to the city. Yes, he somehow knew how to do this with paper, pencil and a special ruler at age 22. In June of 1998 we had a sort of barn raising where all of our friends and family came out to take off the roof of the home, and prepare it for its maiden voyage, traveling one mile down the street to our new lot. By taking off the roof ourselves it would cut the costs down tremendously. We ended up paying $10,000 to the moving company to come pick it up, and set it down on the new foundation that my dad had laid for us on the new lot. At this point, we are in it for $60K.

For the next thirteen months straight Tad would come home from work, pick up a Big Gulp from 7-11 of Mountain Dew (this was before we drank coffee), microwave a few corn dogs and then went straight over to the house to work until 11pm-midnight every single day. Thirteen months! Meanwhile, we decided getting pregnant would be a fun idea to throw in as well. Hence, the corn dogs - I was exhausted, and cooking dinner made me feel ill. Often, I'd go over and find a bucket to sit on and watch him work, and chit chat just so I could see his face once in awhile. 

We essentially turned a little 1300 sq ft bungalow into a brand new 2600 sq ft home that we would call our very own. Tad put in so much sweat equity, and so many of our friends helped us out over the course of the year; it was truly a community project. We will always be thankful for them. We received our certificate of occupancy July 28, 1999 and Kayla (our first born) was born August 30, 1999 - talk about barely making the deadline. 

After we had it appraised, we were able to refinance and pay off Tad’s parents. All in, it was around a 160K loan for us to carry. We barely paid the mortgage back then, and rented out a room to a few college kids to make it work, but it was more than worth it. It gave us instant equity for our future (more on that to come) and so much pride to see our dream come to fruition, where 3 of our 6 babies came home from the hospital to call home. 

Moral of the story? Don’t judge a home for what it is now…imagine what it could be with your blood, sweat and tears (there will be tears) and how you will tell the story 25 years later about all your adventures. Don’t be so picky that you end up renting forever because you want Pinterest-worthy luxury on a lunchable budget. Most of us started at the bottom - not with everything picture perfect, with no repairs to be had, and we’re better off for it not only financially, but I’d wager that we all have a bit more grit than we did before and for that, I’m thankful.