Getting in the Game-of Home Ownership

So I have often been asked how I got to be a home owner a couple times over. People assume you have to start off with a big lump of cash to get into the real estate game. I must admit that I once thought the same thing. While I rented apartment after apartment I could see no light at the end of the tunnel and thought I'd have to wait until I married some rich guy before I would ever be a homeowner. Well---I am NOT married and I have become a homeowner 3 times. How did I do it? Did I hit the lottery? Did someone help me? Did I come into a huge some of money? No, No and No. What I did was take baby steps. And here's what I did. I am sharing this with you guys not to brag (well may be just a little-just kidding) but to help you see that if I can do it...then so can you if someone else shows you the way. OK so first I had to see what kind of credit score I was working with. So I checked it out...and of course it was bad. I had all kinds of late payments and student credit card bills on my report. It was bad. My Fico score was under 600! So first I had to start cleaning it up. Paid off the lower balances. Started really paying attention to paying my bills on time, closed open accounts one small account at a time. Then I got most of my bills on automated withdraw from my account so they would never be late again. This helped sooooo much! Even the most responsible person can forget a bill and be late. 

Ok so in the meantime I had to start saving money. I wasn't making THAT much money at the time. This was just before I started working on the Price is Right. I was just modeling here and there, doing music videos and commercials. I opened another bank account-for savings and everytime I got a check I would automatically take 20-30% of it and out it in this account that I didn't even get an atm card for (so it wouldn't be easy to take it out). So if I got a check for $1000-$200-$300 would go in the account NO MATTER WHAT. 

On top of that I made major cuts in my spending. I bought a flat iron and for a year I cut out going to the salon to get my hair done. This saved me a couple hundred dollars a month. I never got my nails done and cut out going out to dinner. You would not believe the money we waste everyday.  Ladies-how many times do you go to the beauty supply store and get a bunch of make up that you may never use? Or fellas-imagine how much money you would save if you didn't hit the cubs as much? This extra $10 here and $20 there added up. And before I knew it I had accumulated about $17,000 in savings. Like I said-I wasn't making a ton of money then BUT I just really really watched my spending. Also when I got to about $10,000 I out the money in a 90 day CD which gave me a little bit of interest but more than anything-I forced myself to not touch it because there are penalties applied if you try to use it before it's due. I basically had to force myself to develop some self control. Ok so now while my money was sitting there... I didn't turn down any jobs. I know I may have gotten critcized for NOT wearing designer duds, or for my hair looking crazy at times or for doing music videos (which were NEVER TRASHY) but at the end of the day-my goal was what was most important to me NOT what others opinions were. I hustled. I didn't take vacations. I wore cheap clothes. I didn't eat steak and lobsters. I cooked and I have had my share of Top Ramen. But I will tell you there weren't many more proud moments in my life when I went to the bank and withdrew that $17,000 and brought it on over to the escrow company and signed the loan docks and got the keys to my first condo that I bought in Northridge, CA. 

I got a pretty good deal. It was $169,000 and it was a 3 bed, 2 and a half bathroom 1400 square foot condo. The price was pretty low because there had been an earthquake in that city years back and it was still pretty low. Within 2 years the price skyrocketed to over $300,000. I wanted to keep it and get the next spot. I took out a line of credit against my place and by this time I was making descent money... I found my next place-a house in Stevenson Ranch, CA which was further out...and WAY more money. I honestly didn't think I could afford it. Right at this time I stopped working on the Price is right and things got tight again. This next place was over a half million dollars and I was just a single gal doing it all by myself.  I was NERVOUS. BUT here is something I can tell you-for every $200,000 the property costs you are looking at about $1000 in your monthly payment. So for example a $1 million dollar house will run you ABOUT $5,000/month. (With a descent interest rate) Anyways.... I moved on from my condo to my house-put a huge down payment down (because my job situation had changed and my credit still wasn't as high as they would like for a "jumbo loan" (amount over $450,000). So I got a cashiers check for just a lil over $100,000 and got my house. In the meantime-real estate market was still booming in California. It was insane. You could literally buy a house and turn around and sell it within a month or two and make a nice profit-I wish those days would come back! Within 2 years my house went up in value an additional $200,000- So I refinanced it-got some money out and used that money towards house number 3 in phoenix. I chose phoenix because at the time it was projected to be the next booming city. You look at trends. Where new businesses are starting up, new shopping centers and schools are being built. It all looked good for us. So I went in-looked at the lot and put $25,000 down and they started to build my new house. I had to pick EVERY SINGLE THING OUT of a book! I mean door nobs, tiles, carpet, everthing! It was annoying at times... but the day my house was done and I turned the key and walked in.... I cannot tell you the pride I felt. Especially knowing not too long ago I was in a ragedy one bedroom apartment wondering if I would ever be a home owner. I will tell you this... the hardest part is getting in the game. Once you are in and build equity you have a little more leverage to get your next place. And real estate is all about timing. BUT when times are tough like right now----this is how people become rich. If you are prepared and know what to do... you can take advantage of  a bad economy like right now. You can get what was a $700,000 home 3 years ago-for $400,000 TRUST ME I KNOW. And also NOW if you do have any extra cash and can get a loan-interest rates are low and they are giving homes away (as far as the prices are concerned). Now I am NO real estate agent. I am just an individual that wanted to share how I did it. And how you too can do it. I hope this helps someone out there looking to realize their dream of becoming a home owner. It's the thing that I am most proud of in my life... so far. Next goal----multiple unit building! Good luck friends! 

Claudia 

From-video girl>model>game show model>Home owner>Multiple Home owner :-)  You can do it too!