Fast forward through high school, I found myself in love with a cowboy in a High Boy '73 Ford. He would later become my husband. After a stint in college and some poor career choices, I found myself broke and directionless. My raising taught me that you were a nobody if you didn't graduate college. Fate sent me to work at a bank as a bank teller. We bought our first home together. A 1995 single wide trailer house in a trailer park. It was baby pink and baby blue throughout with all the glories of mid 90s decor but it was home to us! We painted and installed a woodstove and thought we could die happy. Zane proposed in our crappy trailer house kitchen and we were married in 2006, the same year I started in mortgage lending. Shortly thereafter, we learned we were going to have a family and we cash-out refinanced our trailer house to pay for our baby (and you thought I was classy). It was 2008 and we all lost our jobs. 

After what seems like forever, I was back working in mortgage lending as a Processor. We sold our trailer house at a profit and bought our first real home. It was a railroad house that had been foreclosed on and was sold at a VERY discounted price. We bought it with a Rural Development loan with $0.00 cash to close. It was awesome. In order to move from the trailer house to the real house, I had to take on the power bill. I had $75 budgeted and that was all there was left. Every time the furnace kicked on, it would wake me from a dead sleep, heart pounding. Zane installed another wood stove. 

The market appreciated and soon we found ourselves with EQUITY in our home! We sold that home, paid off all our debt and bought our DREAM HOME. It was a beat up rental on a mountain side and a total snow hole but IT WAS ON 20 ACRES! Heaven! It was the first time in our lives that we had our horses on our own property. Mind you, the wind blew 364 days out of the year, so hard we thought the roof would blow off but we couldn't have been happier. 3 bedrooms, 3 baths. We shut off the television service and pinched our pennies, but we were home...

The lending business was starting to put some cushion in our budget so we bought the neighbor's house too. It had 20 acres as well and a house we could rent. Good deal. I used a HELOC on our home to pay for that home. We stuck a renter in there and the property instantly cash flowed. 

Years went by and the market exploded. We had put some sweat equity into our homes and they were starting to look pretty shiny. Zane and I thought for sure we knew why people went insane on the Great Plains...it was because of the wind. If there ever was a chance to buy our next home, it would be where the wind didn't blow. But, while we were dreaming, if it had enough acreage to put up our own hay and raise some cattle, that would be heaven on earth for us...

My husband knows that you had better be careful telling me what dreams are on your heart. I am really good at making things happen with mortgages. We found the most incredible property in Red Lodge. I secured a bridge loan on our home and our rental house. I had one year to sell them both but it allowed me to put 25% down on the new place. We financed the rest. I was sweating bullets each month to pay the interest only bridge loan and the new mortgage but we made it. We sold both the homes and paid off the bridge. 

I wish you all could see it. I'm not sure how we got so blessed. I included a photo here.

I really love what I do. Real estate and mortgages have been my stepping stones in life to help my family and I realize our dreams. Thanks for being part of my story.