I'm about to start a series on my blog about all of our home improvements and especially discussing the details.

I thought I would give you all a little background on how we got here. I think a lot of people are a little surprised that we are so young and own a home. Through this whole process I have learned that you definitely do not have to be rich to buy a house, and you can do it in a smart way so that you aren't paying a HUGE mortgage each month. (More on that later.)

Almost exactly a year ago, Jeremy and I were working like dogs to get ourselves out of almost $15K of debt when we found out I was pregnant. (Don't worry, it was planned :o)) Although we had been looking toward having a child and trying to prepare ourselves in every way, once that line showed up on the test, things got real.

Our good friends and downstairs neighbors had just bought a house and invited us to come live with them for about half what we were paying at the time. Although it was a hard decision to leave our first little apartment that we loved so much and share a house with another couple, we knew it was a good idea because we would be able to get out of debt so much faster.

At that time, we realized we needed to look forward to where we would end up once our little one arrived. We instantly decided that with the market the way it was, we did not want to be renting a 3 bedroom apartment or house when we could buy and pay just as much if not a little less for a mortgage. (And actually have our money going into something worthwhile.)

Jer had just gotten a new job which meant a steady income and I quickly found a full-time job for the summer at Xactware. We put every extra penny we saved on rent into getting out of debt. We both worked LOOOONG hours and then when we got off work we would go house hunting. It was exhausting and trying. We had a strict budget and several must-haves.

Our initial thought was to buy a new little townhome in Spanish Fork or an area where they are starting to develop a lot more. It would be move-in ready and we could get settled before baby came. My dad kept suggesting these old broken-down houses with basement apartments that were cheap but definite fixer-uppers. I was not amused. Not only was I getting bigger by the second, but my husband was not the "handyman" type. Through our search I kept going back to this house in Provo. So old, so smelly, so not what I wanted. It was a short sale. Ugh. But we decided to put in an offer.

That was in July. Meanwhile, I was in panic mode. Our baby was going to be sleeping in a shoebox at this rate! So we kept looking. We realized we wanted an investment property so that we could essentially pay nothing to own a home. We found a cute little blue house in Provo that had a perfect basement apartment we could rent out. We decided we wanted it and started the paperwork. Not a short sale, easy peasy.

It took us a month to complete all the paperwork. We got everything ready, bought paint, made plans, moved furniture and boxes into the garage. The whole time I could not stop thinking about that first house we made an offer on. I even dreamed about it. It was so weird. Because I loved this blue house. And I didn't love the other one.

The day before we were to close on the house, we found out that the basement apartment was not legal to rent. And without that extra income, we wouldn't be able to afford the house. SUCH  a bummer. This was the end of August. Just 2 months from my due date. Cue panic mode round 2.

We moved into my parents' condo in Provo in order to save even more money while we tried to find a home for our growing little family. What you don't know is that a week before closing on the blue house, the Provo house asked us if we would like to re-submit our offer. Jer and I wanted to say no since we were decided on the blue house, but my father, in his infinite wisdom, told us not to let it go and advised us to keep our offer. So we did.

Just one month before Scotty was due, we found out the bank was finally considering our offer. We did a lot of back and forth in that month and had to re-do a lot of our paperwork. The week Scotty was due we heard the offer had finally been accepted. Just 5 days after he was born, we signed the papers to buy our first house.