We never believed that we could own our own home

After graduating college and moving back to Portland at the height of the housing market we never believed that we could own our own home. Homes were valued very high and our employment was spotty and varied. Fortunately for us time went by, we got stable employment, saved our money and home values decreased (a lot). After saving, saving and working, working we thought we might be getting close to THINKING about the home buying process. We began taking the Financial Fitness classes last May.

Financial Fitness was the first major step in our own home buying process. We curbed our eating out and developed a more rigors savings plan. After months of saving and watching the market drop to more near affordable we went back to the Housing Center for the Home Buying 101 class. Home Buying 101 was incredibly helpful. We learned about the home buying process and made connections with some great people who became part of our home buying Team.

Once we had our Team put together finding our home wasn’t too difficult. We knew what we wanted, where we wanted it and how much we were willing to pay. Troy, our agent, was great for us. He picked us up in a December snow storm to go looking at houses! The first time we visited our house it was covered in snow and freezing inside. From the first time we saw it we knew it was special (ugly carpet and all!).

As full time bike commuters to down town we initially hesitated due to the location. It was a little bit further out then we thought we wanted to be. But after looking more and actually riding our bikes to the house we decided that the location wasn’t bad after all. Our new home has everything we wanted and more–tons of storage for our bikes, gardens and a massive bathtub that we can soak our tired legs in after a hard day of riding or gardening.

PHC provided us much needed insight during the process, including a somewhat panicked discussion involving the phrase “cash to close gap” and helped explain our options. Through the resources of PHC we met our excellent agent, Troy Wilkerson, and our mortgage broker, Ralph, who were supportive and answered all our questions during the process.

With the support of PHC, our team and a lot of saving and determination on our part we are now proud homeowners of a wonderful ranch home!
Cecily and Jordan Norris