Dream Property Diaries #1

My husband put an offer on a mobile home before I had even seen the property.

And honestly… I’m really glad he did.

It Started With a House Hunt

Back in 2017, we had officially outgrown our little two-bedroom condo. It was the three of us, plus Charlie (our dog), and we were more than ready for some extra space. Like everyone else, we started house hunting with our list of non-negotiables and a budget that reminded us we couldn’t have all of them. We figured we’d end up in a modest three-bedroom house somewhere in Central Florida with a decent backyard, and honestly, that felt like a pretty good next step.

Then one afternoon I came home from work, and Robby said, “I want to show you something… but I’m not sure you’re going to like it.”

He pulled up photos of a five-acre property with a mobile home sitting in the middle of it.

I was hooked almost instantly—not because of the house, but because of the possibilities. My brain wasn’t thinking, It’s a mobile home. It was thinking, Wait… could we actually live here? Look at all that land. Think of the parties we could have. I need to buy Slip ‘N Slides.

Priorities.

That’s when he casually told me, “Oh… I actually went and looked at it today.”

“…and I already put an offer on it.”

I trusted him, but I definitely still wanted to see it for myself before I got too excited.

The Land Was Always the Dream

The second we pulled onto the property, I knew.

Not because the house was perfect, but because I couldn’t stop looking past it. I saw five acres, room for horses someday, bonfires with friends, family holidays, and kids running barefoot through the yard. It wasn’t our dream house, but it was our dream property.

Looking back, I think that’s an important distinction.

We had spent almost a year looking for houses, convinced that the house itself was the goal. Looking back, I don’t think it ever was. The goal was the life we wanted to build—a little more freedom, no HOA, space for our family to gather, and a place where everyone naturally wanted to hang out. The house was simply the first chapter.

Why It Was the Best Decision for Our Family

Buying the mobile home meant we could afford the property years sooner than we ever imagined. Instead of waiting until we could afford the perfect house, we started building the life we actually wanted. We didn’t know it then, but that one decision would shape the next decade of our lives.

Since then, we’ve added a garage, built our pool, built the pool house, and someday we’ll build the house we’ve been dreaming about all these years.

People sometimes ask why we’re “still” living in the mobile home, but I don’t really feel like we’re waiting for our dream anymore.

We’re already living it.

The Part I Didn’t Expect

One of my favorite parts of this journey has nothing to do with construction. It’s that my kids get a front-row seat to all of it.

They get to watch us dream, save, change plans, celebrate the small wins, and keep showing up for something that matters to our family. I hope one day they remember the finished house, but even more than that, I hope they remember everything that came before it.

Because sometimes the dream isn’t the finished product. Sometimes it’s becoming the people who were willing to build it.