Hi Friends!! Can you believe a month went by that quick?! So if you’re here you may be wondering how the heck we bought a home during a crazy time like now and how you too can do it?! Or..... you’re simply here for future purposes, Either way, you came to the right blog today.
Yes y’all, we did it! By the Grace of GOD we relocated to North Carolina and Got the house we wanted to build. Yes, you read that correctly... a BRAND NEW HOME. It's crazy typing this now, I’m still in awe we packed up our family of 5 plus a dog and moved.
To start, this has been a process we wanted to accomplish at least two years ago. Back then we always talked about relocating and said North Carolina will be the new place we'll call HOME. We knew we wanted to move but didn't know the right time to do it. Honestly, we were scared to leave our comfort zone, a place where we both were born and raised, and a place we started our own family! Finally, 2020 came around and as we do every New Year, we started working on our family vision board.
Our Vision board only focused on relocating and all the things we'll need/want in that process. From increases to building our home, even the furniture we'll want in our home, schools for our oldest, and the type of neighborhoods we wanted to live in. The completed vision board roomed in our 2 bedroom duplex. Every day we saw it and every time we prayed: we prayed over our visions.
Eventually, the pandemic hit, and honestly, some people assumed we put everything on pause. We did not!!! We kept applying to jobs and then we were being rejected for postings we both knew we were well qualified for. As I mentioned on my Instagram page, God told me to stop applying. I shared this with my husband and in turn, he stopped too and insisted we fasted and prayed more. I concurred and from there, things started to shake.
We always visited NC, honestly at least once a year! Back in May, as an annual trip for my husband's birthday, we decided to fly to NC with our 5-month-old to narrow down communities. It worked, we saw a home design we wanted to build, but couldn't because neither one of us had jobs there. We did become discouraged because the home lots were selling like crazy and we thought we were losing out on good deals. (I'll discuss "deals" later in this blog post).
This is when God said nope, Jess stop applying to jobs there, sit still. During our fasting and praying God has been preparing us for our closing day. This is where it gets good good! LOL. During the 4th of July week, we drove over from ATL to scout a neighborhood we liked. My husband and daughter came across a random one. RANDOM, tuh! I remember this day so clearly, it was July 7th in the afternoon leaving from picking up my mom from my Aunt's house.
Mark said, babe this the one KK and I saw, let's check it out. Now after being turned down multiple times, I said okkkk. After visiting and speaking with the sales representative, he mentioned they had one lot left. The crazy thing is, I fell in love right away and I said Oh my Goodness this is the one. Mark said yep, sign us up. Make it crazier, they had a great deal if we signed up with their lender. We received closing cost credit, a home under our purchase/pre-qualification amount, has the square footage, more than 4 beds, etc.
We arrive back in Wisconsin, and we agreed this will be the place. I even saved the picture of all the details on my phone. Fast forward to September, I'm cleaning up the kitchen and I came across the business card of the sales representative. I threw the card out, even though I heard God say keep it. I THREW IT OUT! I said, 'Why Lord?' they more than likely sold that lot. And I was right, they sold the lot.
At the end of September, my husband received a call back from the same company he works for and they said yeah you interviewed a while back and we want you. Like, want you in three weeks. Immediately, I remember my Granny and my mom speaking wisdom to me stating, "You do not allow anything to block your blessing." My husband shared this news and I said Airbnb, let's do it.
October we visited for my brother-in-love wedding. We put an offer in on a home, and two days later pulled the offer off the table. We were rushing to get to North Carolina and it was taking the sellers a while to say yay or nay. After driving past that home, we were glad we pulled it LOL. We spoke to our realtor and she said the new development you all wanted has a three-bedroom, maybe get that now. I told her nope, we want this and that. I then called the place myself and he confirmed all 5 bedrooms were sold.
Not even three weeks later, the last week Mark was in Wisconsin, I called again. I introduced myself to help "ring a bell", and it did. But he stopped me midway through my sentence and said, actually ma'am we had a 5 bedroom that went up an hour ago. Without hesitation, I said sign us up. That same day we were under contract.
In the midst of this, I was literally crying and thanking God. Y'all we were tested by God himself on so many levels. Even having my husband leave to go to NC for 4 weeks and me staying back home... A TEST. It was hard but worth it all. How can we be tested by God?! Well, we prayed and fasted for it all, and God threw things at us that would make you question your faith. In the beginning...I failed to mention, we started packing up our home not knowing when we were leaving. Our house started to look empty! We even moved in with my mom, still not knowing when we'll leave. THAT'S FAITH! Our plan was to have tenants in our rental unit(s) so we don't worry, we are out here trusting GOD throughout this entire process.
We finally arrived in North Carolina after driving 18 hours with 3 kids and a dog LOL!
This move has been one of the best life moments for me and my family. People ask me all the time how do I feel? Homesick Yet? Regrets? To answer, I feel happy all the time and amazing that I'm a living witness to miracles happening. I actually feel like I set myself up for success and that I'll get what I'm worth. I do not have any regrets and not homesick at all. I'm sure homesick may come, but nothing yet.
I did have a few questions on my social media page regarding How long did we visit the area before we decided on this location, Does it feel weird not having a basement, How much do I suggest having for a downpayment, How did I keep my job, and How did I do it during this time, and my nugget- deals with lending companies.
To answer those:
How long did we visit before deciding on NC? At least two years, multiple times.
Does it feel weird not having a basement? Yes, it does. NC seldomly have homes with basements. You can build homes with basements though!! Right now, we use our garage for storage. We hope we do not have to purchase a storage unit, we shall see.
How much do I suggest for a downpayment? At least 5-10%. For an FHA Loan you'll need 3.5% down, conventional loans you'll need 5% down. The more money down of course, the better your loan payment will be. So I'll say to be on the safe side, save 5-10% of your prequalification amount to be ahead of the game. That's what we did!
How did I keep my job? Communication!
How did we do it during a pandemic? Being consistent, praying, communicating with each other (spouses), and having a great support team. Mortgage companies are being very tight with lending. They called and requested an email from my HR team for verification. (Typically a letter will do, but they wanted all three).
Deals with mortgage companies? So if you choose the Builders Lending company, they will give you deals like no closing cost, free appliances, and more importantly, cheaper interest rates.
I hope I answered lingering questions, if you have more please comment or reach out to me. If you're in the process of buying/building your home, YOU GOT THIS AND CONGRATULATIONS. I know this time can be stressful.
As always, thank you for reading my blog post.
xoxo,
Jess