by Rachelle Benson

Created on: March 10, 2009

I was barely 19.
Barely, by a few weeks. Rent was not something I wanted to pay for the rest of my life. Not being able to paint, fix, upgrade, repair without permission. I grew up as the son. And fixing things was in my blood.

Realistically I knew I would not be able to buy what I wanted. So I set my sights on the stepping stones of attaining my dream home within the next decade.

Knowing a little about credit I researched mine. I was managing a motel. I had a little money, it was steady, but as most people, living from fist to mouth from paycheck to paycheck. Another twist in the picture was my one year old baby girl. I just could not fathom raising her in a motel parking lot. The free housing was just not worth it. I wanted more for her, and I did see a tough road ahead of me, and yet the strength within to come off victorious. Most teenagers feel that. The ability to conquer the world.

I found my first home.
In a little mobile home park, above the fog line, and out of the city limits. I was not real keen on living in a mobile home park, but also knew it was what I could afford and in a few years time and some upgrades I could make my money back and move into phase two of my plan to get my dream home. It was so very small. But it had two bedrooms, and two bathrooms. It had its own small laundry room and a tiny kitchen with a peek a boo dining area. The living room was barely big enough for a couch and chair. But it had so much built in storage that homes come without now.
The dining area had a built in buffet and china cabinets. The bedrooms had built in dresser drawers below the closets. The living room had built in cabinets perfect for VHS tapes.

I have in my daughters room the picture the bank took of the two of together that day. She was so little, propped on my hip. I paid $5000 for my home. I borrowed my down payment from my boss, and worked it off over the next six months.
In that six months, I also began picking up clients to clean their homes, slowly invested in a better vacuum, picked up a couple of commercial buildings. I was making more money cleaning for people than managing a motel, so I put all my energy into cleaning. And I did pretty well for a cleaning lady. In the next year and a half I spent time re-tiling the kitchen, painting, repairing the roof, putting in carpets, linoleum. That little trailer house served its purpose for my daughter and I.
My payments were very low and I doubled up on them to prepare myself for phase two.

During this time,

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