My wife and I are young parents living in Washington state. We were desperate to buy a home to raise our child, but homes in our area were above 800K on postage stamp lots. We decided to look outside our area and found an amazing Victorian mansion on top of a hill with a big turret and a view of the water. We bought the home for \~870K, 20% down, but the inspection report showed a lot of projects that we would have to handle over a decade or more. We weren’t too worried about the “evidence of rodents” in the attic since we had dealt with rats and mice before by setting traps. We didn’t consider the possibility of squirrels though, as we had heard stories of them in attics. With my fully remote job, we can burn down the equity and finance improvements in the future, and possibly refi to a lower rate if the Fed ever comes down again.
My wife and I were thrilled to buy a home, but there were many projects that needed to be done and unknown pests to be dealt with. With a fully remote job, we were able to purchase a Victorian mansion with a view of the water for \~870K, 20% down. The inspection report had shown evidence of rodents in the attic, which we were familiar with dealing with, but we didn’t think about the possibility of squirrels. We plan to burn down the equity and finance improvements once my wife returns to work, and potentially refi to a lower rate if the Fed ever comes down. We are hopeful that we can turn this mansion into a home for our family, but know that it will take a lot of hard work and dedication.