buying

If you forgot where we first started our first “home buying experience” you can click here.

Once we (me and Brielle–Shane had to work this day) entered Clayton Homes, I knew our lives would change.. for better or for worse!

I had looked at information and everything online, but they always get you with the disclaimer that “these houses must be viewed in person” crap, so we knew we had to make our way to actually go see them.

I had to bring our 2 year old, which probably wasn’t the best place to take her, since it was a kind of a major appointment where we could potentially be making a really ~~small~~ BIG decision, and I knew I would want to focus the best I could.

I had a meeting set up, and they took us to a private room to go over what “type” of house Shane and I were looking for, what budget we wanted to stay within, and to go over how exactly the Clayton Homes are made,and the material they are made out of. I definitely liked this part, because I didn’t feel rushed to go look at houses, before actually knowing the basics of what buying a “mobile home” truly meant.

I came in with a list of a few of the layouts that I preferred, but didn’t really know what they would look like inside. That was until he showed me and Brielle two of the most unappealing floor plans you could have possibly imagined.

They were both a single-wide that did not have the space or open layout that we were looking for, so I knew then that single-wide homes were a no-go and that Shane and I would have to go back to the drawing board, to pick better layouts that gave everyone enough space. Our rent house was a tiny 2 bed, 1 bath home, so space was very much needed for our growing family!

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So this first visit was a not a success, but we did plan to schedule to come back in a few days with a new mindset, and new goals! Pssst.. we didn’t know that the next visit would be the time where we found our “forever” home!

When Shane and I first started our home-buying process last August, we didn’t know where to start. We finally had enough money in our savings to get started and weren’t quite sure what all of our options were.

Once we started looking at houses in and around our area, we were just never really “satisfied” with all that some had to offer. Some had enough space (but did not use it well) and other houses had a great backyard with a tiny house (with not a lot of square footage). We weren’t finding what we wanted, in the price range that we wanted, so we started to look at other options that didn’t involve buying a house in town, with a lot of neighbors.

Shane’s Dad has a lot of family land, that he has always talked about how cool it would be if one of his kids put a house on some of the acres. Well, to tell you the truth, we ~~never~~ considered purchasing a mobile home only a few times, if any at all, so we really didn’t know what all was involved in literally starting from scratch on an empty piece of land.

The more we started looking around/research/talk about building a house, the more it started to look like it required more and more money. All in all, they wanted about 12,000 just to have in our bank account, to put down before getting started in the building process, with a lot of extra money needed to cover other expenses as well. Well, that thought definitely went out the window, just about as quickly as it came in, and we were left feeling like the only option we really had, was to buy a mobile home.

We quickly knew there had to be a LOT of work to even think about putting a house on the land. This land had never been lived on, and we would drive through it on the 4 wheeler, but never actually spent time or work on the land.

We decided to just start researching companies in and around our surrounding area, asking friends and family who they used, and just overall wanted to work with a great, trust-worthy company in the beginning, the first time around, to prevent more mistakes/problems from happening.

We both agreed to pray about it, and then just go check out Clayton Homes in Seguin, Texas, to see what all they had to offer and check out some of the sample houses(I would go first with Brielle, since Shane couldn’t take off work) and then agreed that the next time he would definitely go with me.

Let’s just say walking through those tall, black framed glass doors, was the day our lives forever changed..

To be continued..

Images by Manufactured Homes and Buyerlink

Tag: buying

We walked in… now what?

To buy..what and where?