The Beginning: a 5-Year Plan

(Out with the Old, In with the New: PART 1)

After Kanyon was born in February 2007, we officially became a family of 6 living in a 2-bedroom house. Using the bonus room we had previously added to the house, we rearranged bedrooms multiple times to accomodate everyone's growing stages. It quickly became apparant that we couldn't live forever in the old single-wide. Of course, that was never the plan--to live there forever. We bought the old single-wide in October 2002 for $2,200. The purchase was the cheapest and best way for us to live in Salmon. It was cheaper than paying rent, and it was better than living with family. We figured we could use the house as a starter house, until we could afford a permanent one. However, less than 6 months after buying the 2-bedroom house, we discovered we were pregnant with twins. So, we grew out of the house much quicker than we anticipated, thus the reason for the room addition in 2004.
A few months after he was born, Kanyon grew out of his cradle, and he had to move out of our master bedroom because there wasn't enough room for a crib. This change began the bedroom shuffle, and also became the beginning of the end of our stay in that home. Josh and I sat down that spring and came up with a 5-year, debt-free plan: the first four years would be dedicated to paying off all our debts--the multiple credit cards, the truck, the van, the trailer, etc., and the fifth year would be the saving up year--we'd save all our money to put a down payment on a home.

We decided that we wanted to buy a brand new double-wide manufactured home in the future. After building that 10x14 bonus room onto our house, we knew we couldn't work together to build an entire house without a divorce included. So, every year, Josh and I would go to different manufactured home lots and look around at the houses on display for sale. We wanted to get a feel for what we liked, what we didn't like, and what we really wanted in a home so that we'd be ready when we could financially afford one. In the casual search for a house, we found one that we loved, and we kept the floor plan layout and looked at it whenever we needed a reminder to stick with our goal of paying off debt!

Last year, we were right on track in year 2 of the 5-year plan. We paid off the van, a credit card, and were close to paying off some more debt as well. In September, we looked at a manufactured home lot in Idaho Falls. They had a special sale, so we thought we'd check out what they had. It was a home lot we'd never been to before, and the stop there was supposed to be like every other home sales lot visit: get out of the car, walk around homes, pick up floor plans, leave. But this time, things ended up different than planned. We found a house that we really liked. A LOT. The layout of the home was different than the other floor plan that we'd become attached to years earlier, but I could imagine our family living there. The double-wide had a simple floor plan that flowed well and felt spacious. The 2,026 sq. ft. home had 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, a family room, and a living room. The kitchen connects the living spaces and has a nice long bar and lots of cabinets, the dining room is just off the kitchen and is next to the mudroom, and the master bedroom suite was complete with a retreat and walk-in closets and an attached bathroom. All for a reduced price of $95,900. We told the salesman we would discuss our options, and get back with him. With the $8,000 rebate offered by the government for new home-buyers, we wanted to take advantage of both the home sale and the government rebate, but there was no way we could financially afford it at the time. We weighed all our options, and told the salesman it just wouldn't work out.

In October, a month later, the home sales office dropped their prices again in an effort to clear off the lot models to make way for the coming new year's models. Our home's price dropped considerably! Right after that, the government decided to extend the special rebate offer from November 30 to April 30. We both felt really good about the deal this time, since we knew we could afford the house in the spring. So, we told the salesman we wanted the house for sure. In November, we put a deposit down on the house, and officially started the process of purchasing it. Little did we know then the long ordeal that was to come in the pursuit of finding financing for the new home.

to be continued...