So it got bought, remodeled, and paid for.

So the $60,000 home got bought, remodeled, and paid for.

Just letting y'all know.

It cost about $10,000 to put in new windows, new kitchen, do the wiring, put in new plumbing here and there,. a dishwasher, a washer dryer (and the wiring, water supply and drain, plus the wall vent for the dryer) but we did it all using unfinished Home Depot cabinets, a nice deep stainless sink, a stove and oven used from Craigslist for $150. We made our own concrete countertops, put in a $1000 floor for $100, a tin roof that cost nothing. We took down a shitty ceiling, moved around lights, tore down walls, put up new ceilings, put in insulation in the walls, put up new lights, new bathroom vanities, new toilets, heating system, blower, thermostat, and breaker box.

And now, that $60,000 home is worth about $170,000. And it's paid for.

So all the effort I put into the house paid off, just onto something else. It is a home all done and paid for, and it's a wonderful feeling, and I am very grateful.

Thanks, too, to Home Depot, Lowes, and the building and electrical companies in Santa Fe, and to all the people who contributed to my understanding of the process of making it all happen.

It's amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it.

We're living in a nice house at the moment. Not in the best condition, since the roof leaks, there are electrical problems, damp problems, mold problems and all manner of things. It's run down, filthy, chicken shit everywhere, and quite an eyesore, but it would be a great investment opportunity for us if we had the chance.

We were renting from a woman who'd told us she'd be selling it to us as a short sale, and that we should wait while it was all worked out.

Turned out she was just conning us, and wasn't paying the mortgage all the time we were paying her rent (and collecting rent on her behalf) and finally it went into foreclosure.

But we found out it was foreclosing, stopped paying rent from the moment it was going through, and haven't paid any rent since November 2013. She took us to court, lost, since she couldn't prove she was the owner, and a couple of weeks ago the place was auctioned.

The bank bought it back for $465,000.

So our hope of buying it at auction was wrecked, and we just have to wait until someone comes round and tells us we need to leave, which could be at any time.

Kele attempted to buy a three bed place near here for $189,000 a couple of months ago, but was turned down for the mortgage. We've subsequently been looking at other ways to get a mortgage, and have more recently been looking into buying a condo and getting owner financing.

Problem is the condos aren't HFA approved, which means it's impossible to get a mortgage, and the interest the sellers are asking for is 10%, which means the repayments are much higher than through a bank at something like 4%

The only advantage is that the condos are cheap. Some are under $50K, and three bed places are only $65K ish.

So we'll see. We might be able to find something. Hopefully we'll get one of the condos for $65K, and pay it off within a few years.

But we shall see...

I heard today that someone bought one of the condos we're looking at and still managed to get a loan from a local bank. I'll be speaking to the bank later today, or so someone told me.

I'm also looking at ways to jump through the kinds of hoops that it seems people have to jump through to get a condo. Here's a good link:  http://www.bankrate.com/finance/mortgages/how-to-jump-through-condo-loan-hoops.aspx

What Kelly and I are trying to do

So Kelly and I are wanting to buy a home here in Santa Fe. It's not been easy, as we thought we had a loan, then we didn't, then we did, then we didn't.

We thought we'd be able to buy the house we've been in the past five years, then we didn't. Then we did. Then we didn't.

We thought we'd have to leave, then we didn't, then we did, then we didn't, then we did, then we didn't.

So it's all been something of a mess.

More recently, we thought we could buy a condo. Then we didn't. Then we did. Then we didn't.

Now, perhaps we can.

But this is a blog entirely for us, to put everything we find here that relates to making it happen, plus the properties viewed, and everything we're learning about the whole process.

At the end of the day, owning property is quite interesting. I've been playing Monopoly online recently, and I'm remembering the thrill of playing a game around ownership of property, and how to play the money game. It's inspiring me to do more with actual property ownership.

This blog might well be a mess in a few weeks, since it'll likely contain links to things, no points of reference, and just seem like it's something we're doing for ourselves.

But we'll see.