Thinking about buying a home, but not sure how to afford it? Welcome to the Down Payment Diaries, where real people spill about how they saved and splurged on their path to homeownership.
Today, a single mother shares how she bartered and borrowed her way to homeownership after being told she didn’t qualify for a conventional loan.
The Basics
Age: 37
Marital status: Engaged
Occupation: Construction project manager
What was your home experience when you were growing up?
I was raised by a single mom. When I was really little, we hopped between apartments. By the time I was 5 she remarried, and together with her new spouse they bought a house on the west side of St. Paul, Minnesota. Growing up, I was taught that you went to college, got married, and bought a house with a white-picket fence. It was only after I finished college that I learned my student debt wasn’t going to allow me to live out my dream of owning a house.
When did you start thinking about buying a home?
My daughter’s father and I had talked about buying a home together 11 years ago. We took the first step and talked to a mortgage broker only to discover we didn’t qualify to buy anything. I was working full time as a veterinary nurse making $16 an hour—with six-figure student debt. My former partner had zero credit as he’d never had a credit card in his life and never taken out a loan. The mortgage broker told us flat out that to qualify to buy a home, I would need to triple my income. It felt like a dead end.
How did you decide to go tiny?
When I want something, I won’t quit until I get it. Looking back, I think I first learned about tiny homes at Barnes & Noble when I saw The Small House Book by Jay Shafer, the godfather of tiny houses. Seeing the photos of his house, I figured that because it was a fraction of the size of a regular house, surely I could afford one. That sent me researching on websites and social media.
How did you find your home?
This was before all the tiny house shows on TV, so I did research on websites and social media. I found a tiny homebuilder called Midwest Tiny Living, based in St. Cloud, Minnesota, and hired them.
How long did it take to build?
The build took six months from start to finish.
Where did you put the tiny house?
I lived on other people’s land for six years. Initially, I rented a spot on a colleague’s 10-acre farm in southern Minnesota. We were never entirely sure if zoning laws allowed me to park the house there—it was pretty gray. Knowing this, I intentionally painted the house green and brown to not attract attention and blend in with the woods.
What made you start thinking about buying land?
In the last place, there was no privacy. We were right next to the garage, and the homeowners used that area early in the morning for projects with power tools. Then, my landlord asked me to put the camper I also owned in storage rather than allowing it to remain on site. We used the camper as additional storage and living space, so that was a big disappointment—so much so that I started looking online for land.
How long did your land search take?
It was pretty qui