HOOPER HOUSE LEVEL-UP

In just one short week, it will mark one month since we moved into our new apartment!

In my last post, I updated you all on our decision to not purchase a house at this time, but instead, move into a three bedroom apartment. We see this, honestly, as an even better decision than buying a house for us. There are several factors that play into this.

First, because of the area in which we live, the housing market is E X T R E M E L Y saturated. Therefore, extremely expensive. A three to four bedroom home in a nice neighborhood and a good school district runs about $350,000. *insert jaw drop* This means that in order to put the recommended 20% down, we would have to save $70,000. *insert bigger jaw drop*

That’s $70,000, out of our pocket, of hard earned money and that doesn’t even get us a good monthly payment, furniture, nothing. Just a better home owners insurance rate. *shakes head* AND the house would most likely need some cosmetic renovations.

So, instead, we decided that for the same monthly payment, we could get a super nice, three bedroom apartment. Beautifully finished, great neighborhood, close to Disney and we get the perks of being in an apartment…F R E E   M A I N T E N A N C E. Not to mention the fact that apartments come with amenities (hello salt water swimming pool).

Second reason, we are trying to become debt free. We are living with a mountain of student loan debt from Jacob’s time in grad school + my loans and it takes up a huge chunk of our monthly expenses. Like, the cost of another small apartment huge. So, we developed a five year repayment plan and as soon as we get all of the furniture that we need for the house, we are hitting it hard!

Third, we just aren’t sure how much space we actually need right now. We would like to start a family, but have no idea when that might happen. We would love to have friends and family visit, but have no idea how frequently guests will come. We just don’t know what we want and the idea of spending so much money on something more permanent was intimidating.

So we didn’t. And we couldn’t be happier!

A month into living here and the only complaint that we have is our ridiculously noisy upstairs neighbors. But, you win some, you lose some.

Truthfully, this is a testament to how well manifesting and goal-setting works! We have worked SO hard to get here. Every ounce of my mental energy has gone into visualizing what we want in a home and from life in general and we took as many steps as we could to get there and….here we are!

We are so incredibly grateful that we are able to live here. I make an effort to practice my gratitude everyday. I never want to take this life, that we’ve worked so hard to cultivate, for granted. I am thrilled, I am at peace, I am abundant, I am so deliciously in love with every moment of my life right now and that feeling of reaching a goal is so, so sweet. Even in the midst of a global pandemic, I have so much to be thankful for.

I genuinely hope this doesn’t come off as braggy. I want you to understand as you’re reading this, that YOU have the power to live the life you dream of. YOU have the capacity to change your life. It takes work. And vision. And action. But you C A N! Don’t settle. Never settle. *deep breathe* okay, rant over. I got it out of my system. haha

The point is, that this has been an incredible transition for us so far and we can’t wait to continue watching it unfold. Now, stop reading this, go make a vision board and G E T  T O  W O R K!! xoxoxox