New Home One Year On

Almost exactly one year ago, we closed on our “new” home. To recap, my wife and I are in our 50s and have purchased over a dozen properties together…but this was only the second home we’ve purchased as our primary residence!

And it shows. We completed many of the projects on our initial punch list, some of them fairly substantial. From installing a new U-drive, front door, and a screen porch, down to replacing about a half dozen fixtures, overall, we are pleased with the results. It hasn’t all been smooth; it took us nearly a year to find curtains!

I suppose making a home your own is a natural process, but we both feel a bit out of our league. This is a beautiful home, and we just don’t have the experience to know what will look great. We’ve considered consulting interior and exterior designers, but both of us are just hesitant to spend that kind of (extra) money.

On that note, I am thankful to possess moderately reliable home improvement skills honed from years of keeping up investment properties. Over the past year I’ve installed landscape lighting, replaced a kitchen faucet, rewired the garbage disposal, replaced an attic fan and a host of other small jobs. I enjoy this kind of work, but it is sometimes a challenge while juggling a day job and side hustle.

The other piece of the equation was selling our former home. While we went under contract with a buyer last November, we didn’t close to almost March this year due to the buyer assuming our VA loan. Overall, it was a very positive experience. We were left with a nice windfall after the sale.

What’s a windfall you may ask? It’s when we come into a sometimes unexpected, substantial sum of money. You may see it coming as in our particular case or it may be a surprise. It seems like some people are always coming into money, while it may only happen once or twice in a lifetime for the rest of us.

I’ve written about windfalls at length in my books and blogs thinking I’d know exactly what to do with the proceeds when it happened to me. If I’ve learned anything over the past year, it’s that things change! While it seemed like a no brainer to keep some of the money for improvements to our new home and invest the rest, life just isn’t that simple anymore.

We’ve got a junior in college and a senior in high school; although we’ve saved for their college expenses, with rising tuition costs, it probably isn’t enough. Although our immediate family has remained healthy, this year has been very tough on our extended families with serious health issues. And finally, I don’t think I need to discuss current inflation or the economy! 

As a result, I just stuffed away a portion of the windfall into a CD, so the money is at least working a little, but still relatively accessible. I am torn by the desire to aggressively invest in more real estate and the fear of all the unknowns. For now, I suppose we’ll be sitting on the windfall, something that just doesn’t feel natural to me, but I think it’s the right choice given the circumstances.

2024 has shaped up to be an interesting year, a whole lot of life going on. I am reminded of the universal truth we practiced in the military. No plan survives contact intact. Sometimes you just have to adjust fire and that’s what we’ve been doing so far. While all the events in 2024 have caused us to pause and reflect about a lot of things, we remain thankful and humble for all the blessings over the past year!

Looking for a good how-to on wealth building? Check out my book, Millionaire on a Worker’s Budget: Five Financial Truth’s to Build Wealth on sale now at Amazon!

Interested in rental property investing? Look for Collect Rent, Don’t Pay It: A Beginner’s Guide to Rental Property Investing on Amazon to learn how our family turned rental property investing into a successful side hustle!

Look for, Being Frugal, a Truth to Build Wealth, coming to Amazon in early 2025!

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