Hello, HOUSE!

We’re not the most handy people in the Western world.

My Huz has some tools you can borrow, but if you’re looking for people to help you mount, drill, repair or build a thing, do NOT call us. 

As I like to say, “Somos CERO HGTV!”

And yet, here we are, with a new house.

Unlike many of our friends, and certainly unlike our family, owning a house was never a “dream.”

When we moved to our little Brickell apartment in the sky in October of 2018, we knew it was the three year plan. Our conversations earlier this year leading up to our move in the fall were around “What to rent next?”

And then, as the unintended consequences of the pandemic started to show, The Rent Became Too Damn High. Tech bros and millennials living in NY, SF, and DC started moving. Covid-19 proved you could work remotely in places with better weather, no state income tax and a higher quality of life. Among the most coveted locations: Miami, FL.

If we waited until the fall to start exploring our next move, The Rent was bound to be Much Damn Higher.

Seems logical we’d look for houses, right? 

Wrong.

Aside from The Rent Being Too Damn High, you basically can’t turn on NPR or read any national outlets without seeing news about The Crazy Housing Market. Tech bros and millennial movers aren’t just driving up rent, they’re buying houses cash, way over their value, in Miami, Broward, the neighboring county where we grew up, and all over South Florida. 

As the reality of The Rent Being Too Damn High and The Crazy Housing Market sunk in, we started to panic.

After a few frenetic weeks, we centered ourselves, and reached out to El Realtor de FOMO.

El Realtor de FOMO is a friend who has helped our friends from the FOMO crew buy their homes. 

Our plan: to embark on a calm, cool and collected search well before fall to witness The Crazy Housing Market for ourselves.

So, sometime in mid-March:

WE saw seven houses. 
In two days.
And without much fuss or frill, WE agreed on The House.
It was well within our budget.
The House was a pretty new construction.
It was move-in ready! (remember, “Somos CERO HGTV!”)
In an area that doesn't require much of a lifestyle change.
Located in a low crime and low flooding neighborhood (important #becauseMiami).

And, there was a sign. When we walked in, we saw the family had a knick knack of a black Scottish Terrier, the same breed as Cocoa (RIP) and now, Junior, Julian’s family’s dogs.

This was definitely The House.

As we thought about where to go next, we reflected on our bougie Brickell life. It was fantastic, really, but a big concern for us is that as we move on up, we’ll move on out of proximity with everyday people.

In this new hood, we see Latino uncles sitting in their yards playing dominoes con Salsa y Merengue de fondo. We see millennial moms walking with their strollers to the supermarket. We see middle schoolers on their scooters waiting for the school bus. We see retired Boomers mowing their lawns and washing their cars.

We’re surrounded by Spanglish and all sorts of everyday people coexisting in a Miami neighborhood full of flavor and authenticity. The type of place that is sadly becoming extinct in this city we call home.

We made an offer for asking price the day after seeing The House.
They accepted with no negotiations involved.

That was it. 

We bought The House.

We didn’t buy our dream house or our forever house or a DIY house. We bought The House that would insure us against The Rent Getting Too Damn High in The Crazy Housing Market. 

But wait. WHAT. We bought a house?! In a week? We bought a house in a week?! Us? Really? We don’t even want a house! Somos CERO HGTV! How does one even inhabit a house?! I haven’t lived in a house since I was ten and my Huz has not lived in one EVER.

So much for being calm, cool and collected.

Aside from our own disbelief, a whole new set of emotions emerged when we told our friends and family…

Some were elated. Others were congratulatory but confused. Some were proud. Others critiqued. And my grandma, of course, said, “Ahora falta el bebé!” 

Now with two weeks in The House and the emotions settled, I’ve had time to process some lessons learned:

• Buying a house doesn’t have to be a decision of epic proportions.

• Buying a house doesn’t equate incurring massive debt.
  If you buy in a coveted area and know your trends, you’ll be able to sell or put it up for rent when you’re ready.

• No matter what the bank approves you for, don’t go above your budget.
  If 2020 showed us anything, it’s that you don’t need more than you need.

• Get yourself a realtor de confianza.
  Get them to help you find other people de confianza, too. (loan officer, inspector, moving company, etc.).

• Listen to everyone, then make your own conclusions.
  All the humans said it was the WORST time to buy a house. And yet, we found the BEST deal we could have hoped for. 

• Buying a house is an enormous privilege we don’t take for granted.
  In a recent story we did at Pulso we shared that “Latinos are on track to make up 70% of new U.S. homeowners by 2040. Yet just 49% of Latinos are homeowners, compared to 75% of white households...Millennials across all races and ethnicities are still struggling to make enough money to afford a home.”

Aunque seamos CERO HGTV, we really are enjoying the process! (You should see us trying to decipher our door code or remove the old dishwasher...we’re hilariously bad at it!)

Hope #thewholestory of our house buying experience gives you a positive anecdote about a topic flooded with negative ones.