In September 2019, I was notified that my landlord was selling the property I had been renting and I had to be out of that house by end of the year.
It was out in the boonies, so rent was crazy cheap, and I’d been saving up to buy a house closer to where I work. My time frame was mid 2020 to start that process. Rather than put a bunch of money down and pay crazy rent (dipping deeply into my house fund), I took what I’d saved and was actually able to buy a house earlier than I had planned (not quite the one I was saving for but still nice).
Here’s where the “right place, right time” comes in. A few months after that, bam, COVID hit.
My original plans to start house shopping in April/May of 2020 would have been completely out the window. By the time that all settled down, interest rates and house prices were rising. Had I kept to my original timeframe, I’d probably still be saving up.
I also got the opportunity to work remotely and jumped on it. At my old house, my internet wasn’t fast or reliable enough to support that (except in a pinch), but my new house has fiber. On top of that, I got really good interest rates on my mortgage and even re-financed the next year to lower those even more.
So, had my landlord not decided to be shitty* and sell the house I was originally renting (forcing me to accelerate my plans to buy a house), I’d still be there and would not have been able to work remotely like I still do to this day. Have had lots of other opportunities open up since then which also would not have been possible if not for that “right place, right time” event happening to me.
* Okay, maybe not shitty, lol. They only had to give me 30 days of notice and gave me 90.
In September 2019, I was notified that my landlord was selling the property I had been renting and I had to be out of that house by end of the year.
It was out in the boonies, so rent was crazy cheap, and I’d been saving up to buy a house closer to where I work. My time frame was mid 2020 to start that process. Rather than put a bunch of money down and pay crazy rent (dipping deeply into my house fund), I took what I’d saved and was actually able to buy a house earlier than I had planned (not quite the one I was saving for but still nice).
Here’s where the “right place, right time” comes in. A few months after that, bam, COVID hit.
My original plans to start house shopping in April/May of 2020 would have been completely out the window. By the time that all settled down, interest rates and house prices were rising. Had I kept to my original timeframe, I’d probably still be saving up.
I also got the opportunity to work remotely and jumped on it. At my old house, my internet wasn’t fast or reliable enough to support that (except in a pinch), but my new house has fiber. On top of that, I got really good interest rates on my mortgage and even re-financed the next year to lower those even more.
So, had my landlord not decided to be shitty* and sell the house I was originally renting (forcing me to accelerate my plans to buy a house), I’d still be there and would not have been able to work remotely like I still do to this day. Have had lots of other opportunities open up since then which also would not have been possible if not for that “right place, right time” event happening to me.
* Okay, maybe not shitty, lol. They only had to give me 30 days of notice and gave me 90.
Edit: Removed a few Shatner commas.