Two weeks ago, a dream that seems unachievable for many, especially those who are in their 20s like ourselves, came true: my husband and I bought a house. Not just any house, though, but one that sits on nearly 10 acres of land that acts as a habitat for tall trees, patches of wildflowers, singing birds, roaming wildlife and beautiful sunsets.
From 2021 to 2024, we lived in a small, middle-of-nowhere town in west Texas. In the spring of last year, we got the news we were waiting for that we were going to be able to move “home,” less than an hour from our family. We moved into a rental house that same summer — a place that we thought we would be living in longer than our one-year lease.
If you would have told me a year ago that we would be homeowners at this point, I probably would not believe you; I probably would’ve laughed in your face.
My husband brought up the idea of these different houses to me later that year in the fall, up until this past winter and spring. He was so excited and he kept on looking at all of these different real estate websites, showing me the ones that he liked in the area.
While he was indeed looking out for our future, I was getting way too stressed out thinking about moving again in another year.
But, in mid-February of this year, we got a text message from my uncle. He said that he had an old friend who was looking at selling his house in the same county that we were currently living in, but just a town over — our eventual goal.
We went to tour the house and property, which was built in 1995. I remember walking in initially loving the place. I could see ourselves there, but there were going to be quite a few things that needed to be fixed before we could call it home.
In the next week or two, we decided to go tour another house and property, which was brought to us by a co-worker’s family member. Driving up to that house, I recall going through that gate, the tires hitting the gravel road and the beautiful trees dangling just enough over our car. I knew that this was it.
We were just keeping our options open at this point; we still had our lease at the rental house and we were planning to renew, unless something better came our way.
Soon after we toured the second house, the first one got into a pending contract, so we were basically in decision time because it was also getting close to when we needed to tell our landlord if we were going to renew our lease or not. I want to say it was about one or two weeks after that, we decided to sign the contract.
The house-buying process was not an easy feat. It was a lot of gathering documents, making phone calls, sending emails, sending follow-up emails and keeping up with extra responsibilities on top of it all. It was mentally exhausting.
But I am glad to say that we are here. We have our own little slice of Texas. We have private walks with our dog, Finn, to the gate. We have watching orange and pink sunsets. We have birds who come and sing to us every morning. We have goals of hosting parties and get-togethers.
We have our dream: chasing sunsets and bunny rabbits.
“Texas forever” — Tim Riggins, “Friday Night Lights”
Navarro is the executive editor for the Hays Free Press/News-Dispatch. She can be reached by emailing [email protected].
