How we built our dream home in NYC suburb | cost, tips, $16,000 down payment

Hi everyone! Join us for a tour of our 5 bed 3 bath reimagined midcentury modern home. We tore the original house down to the studs, I designed everything myself, and we built a new master wing addition. The property is one-of-a-kind, and it's easy to see why someone once offered the previous homeowner $4 million for it in the 90s.
In 2017, we bought our first home with an FHA first time home buyer's loan, which was one of the best financial decisions we ever made. At the time, we put every penny we had into our first house. In 2021, we sold it for a large profit and used our equity to purchase our second house and renovate it. I designed everything myself, we love how it turned out, and we're excited to share it with you guys. Even though interest rates today are not like they were back when we bought, you can also take advantage of first time home buyer's programs. You don't need 20% down to buy a home, and if you are willing to take a chance on a diamond in the rough, you can still get a good price on a home.
I was only 25 years old when I bought my first home, and it wasn't something I had even considered before that point. I thought buying a house was something that you did when you were older, in your 30s, and had been saving up for years. My husband Dan had just started his first real job after being in school for a decade, and I was in law school. We had no savings at all. Our wedding cost us $10,000, which we mostly paid for with the small inheritance Dan had been saving for years. Instead of finishing my last semester of law school, I decided to take the last semester's tuition and put it towards the down payment for our first house. I was looking for a way to contribute financially to our family, but I wanted to choose my hours and I wanted to be my own boss. Real estate was a perfect fit for me.
I made some very good decisions, including buying in the right neighborhood at the right time, choosing the perfect fixer uppers that had potential, and learning the design and renovation process with the help of the right general contractor. Nobody in my family had ever renovated their home, and it was a steep learning curve. Our starter home taught me how to do a gut renovation and flip it for a profit. We intend to stay in our current home for many years, but I applied everything I learned from our first house to our second one, and it has already paid off in the form of equity. The house is already worth a lot more than we put into it. If we hadn't gotten a fixer upper and taken out a construction loan, it would have taken us many more years to save up to buy a home of similar value. Instead, we are able to enjoy living in the home and watch the home appreciate in the meantime. Being smart with your primary residence is the best financial life hack, but it is a risk and you should make sure you are well-educated before taking the plunge.
Music by:
MP3vius - back in the day - thmatc.co/?l=9FAB0504
WABI SABI - coffee shop girl - thmatc.co/?l=0E3E6562
About me: Just a 30-something Millennial who recently became a mom and came to CZcams to talk through her feelings about motherhood. My content is about trying to have it all as a woman in 2024, raising a biracial and multicultural child, and wearing NYC fashion.
Email: [e-mail]
Vlogging camera and lens: Canon EOS R6 Mark II and RF 24mm F1.8 or RF 135mm F1.8
Vlogging microphone: Deity V-Mic D4 Mini Microphone

[@jasminecaptures]

Such a beautiful house!!!

[@rebecca_cao]

Thank you!!

[@iamkid_a]

such a nice home!!

[@rebecca_cao]

Thank you! And thanks for watching :)