I wanted to sit back and reflect on the last 9 months and how we went from renting an extremely small townhouse to living in a 2400 square foot home with a screened in pool.

As we all know 2020 was a tough year for many people and that included us. At the time in April 2020 my husband and I both worked for Macys in different roles. By April 2020 we were both furloughed without knowing what our next step would be.

Thankfully my husband was called back in 2 weeks so at least we had one income coming in. I went on unemployment, focused on my parents, dove into my social media, started my LLC and my blog.

In July 2020 I was called back to work and kept my salary which was a massive blessing. After that we realized that with the Cares Act and the low interest rates we could afford to buy a home. It was extremely stressful. Here’s what we dealt with:

1. Competitive Market – As the rest of the country, South Florida’s real estate was hot in 2020 and still in 2021. Every house we looked at had a line backed out the door to view the home. It was extremely intense and disappointing process. Every time we went to look at a place it had a line of people going in to view it. So competitive! One time as we were looking at a space, an offer was put in and accepted. We never even made it to tour the backyard!!
2. Ran our credit too soon – I regret going with the first mortgage broker/company so quickly and we ran our credit too soon so we really could not leave and move on to anyone else. I just did not want to go with someone else and run my credit again while trying to buy a home. LESSON – try not to run your credit so many times when you are buying…it will hurt you financially when you are trying to get a loan and it may lower my loan amount.
3. Out of state Mortgage company – We worked with Rocket Mortgage for buying a home and I regret it. They were ok but they did not work hard to get us the best deal and did not advise us on anything. I literally had to ask and find out on my own.
4. 401K woes – With the Cares Act we were able to withdrew funds to put towards the downpayment. This was by far the most stressful thing for me because usually you are penalized if you take 401K money out before you are like 65 years old. The good thing is, it didn’t penalize us. I just worry with everything when it comes to retirement funds.
5. Our loan for the house was very low compared to our income – I was extremely shocked and we had decent credit. This just shows that working with a major company virtually with no emotional attachment or real engagement it did not work in our favor. The person we worked with just really did not care honestly and it showed. I knew some friends who made less than us and had decent credit almost received the same loan amount.

Well let that all sink in a bit lol. Any moments when you purchased a home that just blew your mind?

More details to share for another blog session! Share your buying home experience?

XOXO,

Jessi Morgan

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We were so excited when we bought our very first home that is a fixer upper. As many people know in the last 10 years “fixer upper” homes have been very popular but at times people underestimate how much it really costs to fix it up.

Our home was built in 1976 so it is over 40 years old…so yes a little dated. When we first saw the home we were overwhelmed with the size of it and we loved some of the great features like the high ceilings and the wooden beams.

As we started moving in we also paced ourselves on fixing it up. Here are the 10 pieces of advice I would share with you when it comes to renovating a fixer upper home.

• Pay close attention to the inspection paperwork – This is so important because it gives you the key details of what needs to be fixed and the timeline needed. The electrical panel in our home had paint all in it, the previous owner painted the room and just did not even cover the panel! There was white paint all in it and in order for us to have homeowner’s insurance we had to get that fixed within the first 30 days of moving in. All that detail was in the inspection report. PAY ATTENTION TO THAT PLEASE! It will give you guidelines on what to prioritize first.

• Appliances – Ensure your appliances work. Check it yourself with the inspector! If something does not work ensure the seller fixes it or lowers the sell price of the home. Important! This should be one of the first things you fix when you enter a new home. The dryer we had was the original one…I repeat the original one. I did not check it when we had the inspection. It took 2 cycles before the clothes were dry. It was frustrating and we had to replace as soon as we could.

• Paint goes a long way – One of the first things we did was paint the inside and outside of the home. The house was lettuce green so in order for me to mentally be excited about the new house, I had to paint it. As soon as we did that, it felt like a new home! We painted the inside a pure white. White represents fresh and a new start, it is a great color to start with.

• Pace yourself – Do not push to get everything done at once if you cannot afford it. It is not worth renovating a kitchen if you have to finance it and struggle to make the monthly payments. Many families save for years before they update their home, it is normal. Do not feel pressured to do upgrades if you really cannot at first.

• Work your way from the bottom up – If you hate the floors in your new fixer upper, save and get that done first. One mistake I regret is updating our bathroom vanity and not doing the floors first. What happened to us was the tile on the floor is not manufactured anymore, so it was extremely hard to find a tile that matched. So if you want to redo your kitchen and you hate your floors, do the floors first so then you can easily install everything else and your floors are consistent.

• Focus on one room at a time – You will feel that you got a lot done if you completely finish one room at a time when it comes to decorating. I focused first on the office/closet, then the kitchen etc. I literally went from room to room and decorated. I had a theme and I made sure it reflected from one room to the next. It becomes depressing if you do not finish an entire space at a time I feel.

Hope you found these points helpful! Stay tuned for part 2 of my advice on updating a fixer upper! How has your fixer upper Reno going?

XOXO,

Jessi Morgan