2872: I Lost My First Home to Foreclosure, Then Bought my Next Home in Cash! by Tiffany Aliche of The Budgetnista

[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Optimal Finance Daily

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_00]: I lost my first home to foreclosure then bought my next home in cash by Tiffany

[00:00:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Aliche of The Budgetnista.com and I'm your host and personal finance

[00:00:40] [SPEAKER_00]: enthusiast Diana Merriam. We're gonna jump right into today's post as we

[00:00:45] [SPEAKER_00]: optimize your life. I lost my first home to foreclosure then bought my next home

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_00]: in cash by Tiffany Aliche of The Budgetnista.com

[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_00]: When your finances are not where you want them to be, it can be hard to

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_00]: visualize a happy ending. But a happy ending is possible. Here's my story and

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_00]: the important lessons I learned along the way. I hope they help to inspire you

[00:01:14] [SPEAKER_00]: to keep going. Four years ago I began dating my now husband, Superman. We'd been

[00:01:21] [SPEAKER_00]: friends previously so I already knew he was the one. Although I love to travel,

[00:01:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Superman wasn't the biggest fan because of past experiences. It took a full year

[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_00]: of watching me fly around the world before he asked to join in. I suggested

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_00]: that we start saving for travel together and begin automating our savings so we

[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_00]: could quickly take advantage of any deals that popped up. What he didn't

[00:01:47] [SPEAKER_00]: know was our travel accounts were a practice run for our future wedding

[00:01:52] [SPEAKER_00]: fund. A couple years went by and Superman became a saving pro. He popped the

[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_00]: question with a ring he paid for in full with some of the money he'd saved.

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Success! We then decided to take our savings up a notch and chose not to have

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_00]: a big wedding. I hate planning events and secretly I don't like being the center

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_00]: of attention unless it's as The Budgetnista. So Superman and I paid for

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_00]: our small wedding in cash, $2,700. That included everything, my dress, his clothes,

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_00]: our reception, our cake, everything. By this time our now joint savings account

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_00]: was super healthy. We still traveled, had date nights and enjoyed life but now we

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_00]: had a bigger goal in mind, home ownership. First we created a joint budget. We

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_00]: decided that we would live off of Superman's income and save and invest

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_00]: mine. All last year we prepared to buy a home. We found a real estate agent, raised

[00:02:55] [SPEAKER_00]: our credit score, paid off debt, got pre-approved for a mortgage and spent

[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_00]: hours online and in person looking for the perfect house. Side note, beyond your

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_00]: credit score it's important to note that your debt to income ratio can be just as

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_00]: important if you're financing a major expense like a home. Make sure to keep a

[00:03:16] [SPEAKER_00]: close eye on both if you're considering making a big purchase like this. Debt to

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_00]: income ratio, also known as your DTI, is a calculation that determines how much

[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_00]: debt you have versus your income. It's super important when you need to borrow

[00:03:32] [SPEAKER_00]: money. Most lenders use your DTI as one of the factors to decide if you're

[00:03:37] [SPEAKER_00]: someone they trust to lend money to and then determine the maximum amount you

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_00]: could borrow based upon the other lenders you owe. These three key numbers,

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_00]: income, credit score and debt to income ratio help you to understand how lenders

[00:03:53] [SPEAKER_00]: may view you. Back to our home buying journey. Unfortunately we chose to buy in

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_00]: a seller's market. Not enough homes and too many buyers. Over and over we'd fall

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_00]: in love with a home, put an offer in and lose out to someone that put in a higher

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_00]: and stronger offer. Then after a while we got a lucky break. Our realtor found a

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_00]: foreclosure that had not been made public yet. The one issue was only cash

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_00]: offers were being accepted. The bank was asking for a hundred and eighty five

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_00]: thousand. It took us a few nervous days of doing our budget over and over but we

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_00]: knew we had enough cash and that our lifestyle would allow us to buy the home

[00:04:38] [SPEAKER_00]: while still maintaining our other financial responsibilities. We made an

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_00]: offer of a hundred and eighty thousand and it was accepted. Five thousand less

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_00]: than asking. During the process our realtor showed us the value of our five

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_00]: bedroom three and a half bath home via the comparable homes in the area. Our

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_00]: house was worth three hundred and seventy thousand. We more than doubled

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_00]: our money with one purchase. There are so many lessons that our home ownership

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_00]: journey taught me. Here are some of them. Prepare for future dreams before you

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_00]: even know what they are. A budget is not constricting. It gives you the freedom to

[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_00]: strategically plan for your goals. Your spending should match your values

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_00]: despite what everyone else is doing. And sharing your goals with someone helps

[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_00]: to make them real. Well it was definitely a journey and one that took a lot of

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_00]: planning, support and preparation along the way. I'm so glad that we ended up

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_00]: where we are now. Can we have some real money talk? There were so many amazing

[00:05:44] [SPEAKER_00]: folks that joined me and Superman on this adventure. There's something powerful

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_00]: about sharing your process. It holds you accountable and means you'll have some

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_00]: cheerleaders rooting for you along the way. Where are you on your financial

[00:05:59] [SPEAKER_00]: journey? What are you working towards? You just listen to the post titled I lost

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_00]: my first home to foreclosure then bought my next home in cash by Tiffany Aliche

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_00]: of thebudgetnista.com and I'll be right back with my commentary. Buy low sell

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_00]: high. Buy low sell high. It's a simple concept but not necessarily an easy

[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_00]: concept. Right now high interest rates have crushed the real estate market.

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[00:07:18] [SPEAKER_00]: This is a paid advertisement. Tiffany's story reminds me of the famous Seneca

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_00]: quote, luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. I find

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_00]: when people share their financial success stories they're often dismissed

[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_00]: because critics like to get hung up on their unique circumstances that aren't

[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_00]: replicable. I could imagine someone listening to this trying to buy a house

[00:07:44] [SPEAKER_00]: right now saying but I don't have hundreds of thousands in cash laying

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_00]: around and I'm surrounded by investors who jump on the foreclosures before I

[00:07:54] [SPEAKER_00]: get wind of them. It would be easy to explain Tiffany's success with that

[00:07:59] [SPEAKER_00]: defeatist phrase, she just got lucky. But Seneca's quote reminds me that luck

[00:08:05] [SPEAKER_00]: isn't just about random chance, it's about being ready to act when the right

[00:08:10] [SPEAKER_00]: moment comes. Tiffany's success was indeed a result of her preparation and

[00:08:16] [SPEAKER_00]: her unique circumstances. Tiffany's story also underscores the importance of

[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_00]: having a positive can-do attitude, especially when facing challenges.

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Despite the difficulties they encountered in a competitive seller's

[00:08:30] [SPEAKER_00]: market where they repeatedly lost out on homes due to higher offers, Tiffany

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_00]: and her husband remained undeterred. Instead of seeing the cash only

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_00]: requirement as an obstacle, they viewed it as an opportunity. And that'll do it

[00:08:46] [SPEAKER_00]: for another edition of Optimal Finance Daily. Thank you so much for subscribing

[00:08:51] [SPEAKER_00]: or following the show and sharing with others. Have a great rest of your day and

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll see you tomorrow where optimal life awaits.