It happened sooner than we’d expected.  In less than a year, the condos were selling for $25,000 more than we’d paid, meaning we could finally afford a house with a yard big enough for a dog.  Our realtor knew that the yard/dog dream was what we were looking for and helped us to find a really cute house in our price range that didn’t need too much work (or so we thought).  It was in an older neighborhood with bigger lots and a fenced back yard perfect for a dog. 

The bank had been willing to loan us $190,000.  That, along with the $35,000 equity we’d be using from the sale of the condo, meant we could have bought a $225,000 house.  Depending on where you are from, that might sound like a lot.  However, in Fort Collins, that is more average than anything.  And yet, Eric and I didn’t want to spend that much.  We wanted our new house payment to be the same as the first.  We felt like with that monthly mortgage payment, we would always be able to live off of a single salary, Eric’s.  That was important to us because if we had kids, we wanted them to grow up like we did, with their mom at home.  We didn’t want to be the traditional two income household.  So, we bought a house that was $157,000 and not as big as we would have liked, but remarkably like the house I had grown up in.

© Salahub 2003