Are you thinking about building your dream house? Read this mom’s story on how they transformed an old house into their family’s home sweet home.
What can you read in this article?
- Finding and building your dream house with limited funds
- What made them decide to go for the 30-year old house
What is your dream house?
If you have a few savings in the bank, what kind of house do you want to have? Are you after the location? Size? Design?
Would you choose a brand new house even if the location is a little far? Or would you choose a pre-owned house, like 30 years old perhaps? Where you are not the first owner but it’s located in an executive village at the heart of the city.
Unintentionally, we chose the latter – which led us to have our home sweet home.
Searching for a place to call our own
Our househunting journey began when I was pregnant with my eldest Cassie. Jhunie, my husband, was such a workaholic and did not really have much time to look for houses. So I was in charge of the searching and just asks his approval for the houses that I’ve found.
We were planning to look for a small house, even a townhouse, as long as it’s in a gated subdivision. I have done an extensive search for our dream house – Google, realty websites and met with different sales agents and developers.
I also looked into foreclosed properties from banks and housing firms, for the reason that foreclosed properties usually have a lower value compared to new properties being sold.
Renting was our last option. Mommies, if you can, please don’t settle to rent unless it’s a rent-to-own property. Instead of renting, you can buy a house and loan it from a bank provided that the amortization is equivalent to the amount you can afford to rent. With this, you are paying monthly for a property that you can one day call your own.
READ MORE:
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What you need to know if you’re planning on buying a house for your family
Finding and building our dream house
One day, a realty agent called me and asked if I wanted to look at a house in an executive village in Quezon City. According to the agent, it was previously owned by a PBA player amounting to 14 million.
I told Jhunie about this and he said to me, “Cha, please don’t say yes if you know that we cannot afford it.” I answered him, “Of course, I will not say yes to this.”
A week passed and a different agent called me and asking me to have a “tripping” in the same village. She mentioned that the property was previously owned by a PBA Player amounting to 10 million.
I told myself, “Is this the same house someone was asking me to visit?” Of course, I said no again.
But then after a week, someone called me again asking me to check out this house and insisted on visiting it.
By this time, I was curious about what this house looks like, and why they kept on asking us to visit it. So I convinced Jhunie to check it out once and for all. Anyway, we can always say no since this is off our budget.
Exterior of the 30-year old house | Image courtesy of the author
Outside, the house looked really old. But I imagined, with a new paint, it may look better. We met with the owners and after getting a tour of the entire house, we felt good about it despite it being old.
Considering the age of the house, I’d say it was pretty well-constructed. It’s a 4-bedroom house with 3 bathrooms. 1 master bedroom, 2 kids’ room on the 2nd floor, and a maids room at the ground floor. The living & dining room is walled with Marble stones on one side.
Jhunie and I talked about it and decided that we like the house. For a starting couple like us, this was more than enough.
Interior of the old house | Image courtesy of the author
Jhunie told me to be honest to the owners about our budget and so I said everything that I had to say. They were also honest with us on their current situation and their reason for selling the house. There was mutual understanding on both parties, that’s why things easily fell into place and the rest was history.
I personally think that it is God who directs us to situations like this, and He gives us opportunities to decide on what we feel is best for us. I also believe that there are reasons why meet certain people in our lives.
And sometimes, unexpected things happen. God made it happen.
Image courtesy of the author
Right now, there is still so much to be done in the house. We haven’t really done any big renovations. We are still saving for it. One at a time, we are doing small repairs but we’re not planning on changing the structure anyway. We just want to make it more modern.
We are also looking for an interior designer to help us design the house because we want to make sure we have a good plan before we start the renovations.
Image courtesy of the author
Someone suggested to us, sell the house and buy a brand new one since its value is even bigger now. But we didn’t. We couldn’t. We already fell in love with this house – flaws, leaks and all. We felt at home in all the aspects of the house, the good and the not so good.
Tatay brushing stones. This wall was previously plain.
I’m a devotee of Mama Mary that is why we constructed a Grotto here before we move in. | Image courtesy of the author
Dream House? We never imagined going for a 30-year-old one. But so far, we are happy and content. It’s not luxurious and modern, but we feel safe and secured. We have a very nice community and helpful neighbors to guide us. We have nothing more to ask.
By God’s grace, the house is still standing and we hope it can still stand for more years.
P.S. – This PBA Legend from SMB has a very short surname. We hope you can visit us soon.
Exterior of the house with new paint | Image courtesy of the author