265k, 2 bed, 1.5 bath, unfinished basement, no garage, definitely a bot of a fixer (has a lot of landlord specials left behind we had to put work into fixing up)
Took a year and a half to save up the down payment + nest egg at ~$700/month set aside by cutting out a lot of expenses and living sorta frugal. No mcdonalds, no buying fun stuff, meal prepping, canceling subscriptions, etc etc.
We were at the time making a total of 70k combined before taxes. We could’ve prolly saved even more but we didn’t want to go full peasant mode, lol.
I also had a large chunk of crypto from many years prior (~12k value at the time we signed the mortgage) I could’ve dipped into if needed, but we actually never needed to sell out that for the house and I wanted to keep holding it.
Good thing I didn’t give in and sell, because a year later that 12k turned into 22k and I used that to substantially improve the home and build my makerspace in the basement, as well as build my garden in the back.
The house is definitely got a lot of… character… but I’m very happy with it and I don’t need or want a bigger home. It’s small with a big yard which means less space to clean, and all the fixing stuff keeps me busy.
I could do with less electrical issues though, prior owners didn’t seem to give a shit about proper wiring work and I’ve had to basically re-install every switch and plug in the house. Also went on a fun adventure pulling ethernet through the attic to got modern wired gigabit internet delivered to key points in the house so everything didn’t have to use wifi. Added security cameras, a PoE switch and server rack in the basement, and got air conditioning installed recently too.
House feels like a home now, and that’s what matters.