We’re Building a House!!

My husband Joe and I are building our first home and we couldn’t be more excited and thankful! Honestly this experience is nothing but God because we didn’t plan to build, it kind of just happened. We knew we wanted to move into our own place this year (we currently live with my in-laws in an effort to save, reduce debt and “live like no other so we can later live and give like no other” #davetaughtme), but we didn’t really know whether we were going to purchase a home or rent a home or another apartment. We were in prayer about it and told God that whatever He wanted us to do we were going to do it and we claimed 2017 as our year to move – preferably end of summer. We were initially looking at rental property and apartments that fit into our budget, but we weren’t really finding what we wanted for our money and questioned if we wanted to put that money towards renting a place or into a home that was ours.

Right before Christmas my MIL told us about a home that was for sale in the neighborhood and she thought it would be perfect for us. It had been on the market for several months and they reduced the price. Joe and I decided to go check it out, we liked it and decided to move on it. Well, Joe did. I was hesitant at first because it was December 2016 and not late summer 2017. It was well before my intended time to get a home so I felt I needed to think long and hard and pray lol. I needed a sign because this home was not part of my plan (I told you I’m a perfectionist). The very next day after we looked at this home and I prayed to God, I heard a word from the Lord at church. That day the pastor spoke about how we can get so caught up in our own plans that we can miss a blessing that the Lord has for us. And how we can make many plans for our lives, but it is the purpose of the Lord that prevails. So God pretty much got me all the way together in like 30 minutes that day. So Joe and I decided to make a move on that house and see what would come of it.

That process was a blessing I must say! There were some things on our credit report we had no idea were there but were able to get cleaned up for free (praise God), we were able to see what we were working with, what we needed to do and what we could afford, but in the end things didn’t work out with that house. I was disappointed at first because after being hesitant I was excited and eager so it was a let down that things weren’t working (plus I had saved so many pins on Pinterest for what I wanted to do to the home lol). But in the end it came down to a down payment and because we weren’t planning for that we didn’t have money saved for it, so we had to pass. But God had something else in mind…

Literally a day or so after we decided to withdraw from the purchase of that home, God told me to look into a builder up the street. We pass this subdivision often, but we didn’t know they were building a new phase. Joe and I went to check out the model home and speak with a sales agent and we loved the home, the quality of it and the prices. I remember looking at this builder about a year ago, liking the homes but thinking nothing of it because we weren’t ready at the time. After speaking with the sales agent and looking at the floor plan that we wanted (it had majority of our must-haves with room for more) which we both LOVED as opposed to liked, we decided to see what could come of this, but we were both a little hesitant because of what had just happened less than a week ago. Since we were building we only needed to put down earnest money to reserve the spot; the down payment would come at closing. This was the moment we knew God was all up in this and that this was the home for us. The day we decided that we would go with this builder, Joe (which was the Lord reminding Joe) remembered some money he had set aside in an old investment fund from several jobs ago. The amount of money that was in this account was the exact amount we needed to put down to reserve our lot. Mind you, God could have given us this money a week earlier when we were trying to get the other house, but He didn’t because THIS was the home for us! On the day we were scheduled to sign the paperwork was the day the money was deposited into our account – right on time! We got pre-approved, confirmed our lot and scheduled our appointment for the design center a week after we decided to walk away from the other home that wasn’t for us although it was the blessing that started this process. Had it not been for us taking a step out on faith to try to get that house we wouldn’t have even looked into this builder. The fact that we are building is probably the best route we could have gone because this gives us time to continue to save and pay off some more debt. And the best part of all is that our home will be ready at the end of the summer – right when I was wanting to move anyway 🙂

I’m just so thankful to be on this journey with my husband. We’ve been dedicated for a year and a half to knocking out debt, better managing our money and making better financial decisions. We were going to be content with whatever God had for us because we know He knows what’s best, but it’s so wonderful to see that His best is far greater than what we even imagined. Sometimes it just takes being open to God’s will despite what you think is right. And even though God was faithful in honoring my little timeline lol, He needed me to be open to taking that leap right now so that the desires of my heart can fall into place when they’re supposed to. Ain’t God good?!

So… needless to say, Joe and I have been stalking our lot daily! We can’t wait until they break ground and we can’t wait to see and experience the step by step process. I will be blogging about the process, sharing pictures and our experience along the way. If you are building or have built a home, I’d love to hear your experience! Comment below 🙂

I’ll be sharing home building updates soon!

Until next time…