How These Writers Bought A Room Of Their Own
Two authors walk into a bank.
Sounds like the start of a bad joke. Probably because in a lot of ways loan officers think it is a joke, or at least a minor guffaw, when two people with no salary want to secure a mortgage.
“You make money, how?”
“Well, I have these contracts and this advance and she has these clients and advances due, plus every six months we get this supplementary income, and you can clearly see together we can afford this house.”
“No, sir, ma’am, actually I can’t.”
“We have sizable savings and plenty of money coming over the next two years.”
“Yes, but without a single proved paydate.”
Hm. Seems bleak. But this is the story of how we made it happen.
After we lost everything to a fire a year ago, we started discussing how to bring our five years of renting to an end.
Even beforehand we’d daydreamed about being in a more secure place, but we figured it was a couple years away. We were right, we just hadn’t figured on a fire predicating yet another move in between. But once that all settled we started talking about the idea of actually settling. We knew we couldn’t buy a home where we were currently located in New Jersey. The home prices are too high and the taxes are even higher. Even with my husband’s teaching salary, we didn’t make enough to buy a home in our current town. So when his job was phased out, we knew there was really no chance.
On top of that we never wanted to permanently stay in New Jersey even when we first moved here, but it was a decent location to be accessible to our six kids. We loved our town (my hometown) dearly, but longed for a quieter place, a new radius of exploration, and the ability to buy a home but not have to die working our asses off to keep it as so many of our friends are doing. That could be possible, right? To own a home comfortably? We knew it wasn’t possible in our town, at least not with our jobs. I’ve never even had a salary, let alone be able to secure one quickly that would be enough. And we’d need two of nearly the same exact positions! But we were in a place where our bank accounts looked impressive, and so on a whim, and mostly out of curiosity, we started looking at houses in a less expensive state: Virginia.
Very quickly we realized we could own a home in Virginia, with mortgage payments at half the monthly cost of our current rent in New Jersey.
Yes, you read that right: HALF.
Of course, we could do this, right? If we were affording X rent, how difficult could it be to get a mortgage for half that? Turns out, it’s pretty difficult and the monthly cost has little to do with it. But we wanted to try anyway. This was our moment to grab. If we weren’t successful, our bank accounts were just going to dwindle away toward rent and we didn’t want to see that happen. We both were aware we’d need jobs again before the accounts dropped too low, but regardless, didn’t want to throw the money away to renting anymore. We were going to give homeownership a try.
It took about three months before we found the house we wanted to take the risk on. It had to be worth it to take us away from a town we love and everyone we know. It had to have pretty much every dream condition I’d wanted, and it did, except being on the beach. Property, a mountain view, a garden, peace, solitude, and still close to a college town for eventual jobs and nights out. If we could get this house, we could easily live off our bank accounts for a year while looking for new jobs and/or selling more books. Plus, we knew we still had a sizable amount of advances coming. We could do this.
We put in the offer. And it was accepted.
One of the major advantages in our corner is that my husband is a veteran. With a VA loan, you don’t have to put any money down and this was the main reason we thought we could buy. The broker contacted us and was very friendly and positive about our situation, which helped. They also began asking for documents. This was a little challenging considering our fire a year ago, but fortunately most things are accessible online these days.
Quick Tips For Buying A Room Of Your Own
If you’re an author/freelancer looking to buy make sure you have the most recent of the following on hand:
· Paystubs from all jobs/side gigs
· Tax Returns — last two or three years
· Bank Statements
· 1099’s of all advances
· Royalty statements
· Publishing contracts — full versions
· Letters confirming employment from remote employers/freelance clients
· Explanations for any strange debt. (We are both divorced so we quickly found out there can be things in your credit report that have nothing to do with you anymore and you still have to fix it.)
You may be asked to explain how you intend on keeping up with payments, why there’s a weird remark on your credit report, or to pay off a balance on a card. At times it can feel a little intrusive. I wondered if I was being judged for having such a weird patchwork of income. But we did everything they asked because it all goes into whatever their equation is that computes “Yay” or “Nay”. Once we did all of this, which took about a week of uploading and explaining, we got the response.
“If you want the VA loan, you need a real job. If you want a conventional loan, you need a cosigner.”
This was like a throat-punch. It was a bit dumbfounding that we could have so much cash on hand and still not get approved.
At first we thought a job would be great, but how in the world would we get a job in Virginia within a week or two while still living in New Jersey? We both began searching and applying to anything we could find, nonetheless. We’re used to being scrappy, I know that much! Meanwhile, we actually considered the co-signing route first, even though that was the least desirable option because it meant we’d have to put money down, it would at least be the quickest solution. We did not want to lose this house. But we didn’t have anyone who could cosign, so it ended up not being an option.
We thought we were sunk.
And then my husband began emailing colleges. Circumventing the online applications altogether, he simply began emailing HR departments. It was a last-ditch effort. But he’s a very marketable man as we found out early the next morning when a community college replied and asked if he’d be interested in a position. One that wasn’t even advertised.
Is that even a question?
Fast forward exactly six days and the job was his.
The mortgage was ours.
We have our first home.
The moral of the story is: You can’t get anything without really trying.
But if you’re open to opportunities and unconventional choices, (and sometimes conventional ones) you can make things work. Our next hurdle is figuring out how to be good long-distant parents. It’s a seriously tough choice to move out of state when you’re leaving kids behind.
But you also can’t dilly-dally around when you’re approaching fifty and have zero financial or future security.
I’d loved to have had the ending of our story be that we made a sudden six-figure book deal and bought the house with cash. But, to all you aspiring authors who might think that’s the standard, I’m afraid there are very few writers who have that experience. We had to take the conventional road after all.
Taking a full-time job was not my husband’s ideal plan, but he’s excited about this job because it’s a little different than what he’s had in the past, it has a very nice teaching schedule, and it’s a lovely community. Plus, it gives us both benefits, something I haven’t had consistently for the last five years. It will give us a chance to move to a less expensive area, give me a chance to find my own position, and set us on the track to security all while still publishing books.
I keep telling him “You did it! You bought us a house!”
Truth is, we both did it. It took both of us to ratchet up our bank accounts. It took both of us writing our bums off and taking a lot of side-gigs to even get here. Without those books and contracts we wouldn’t have even tried to buy a home.
I’m amazed we made it happen.
Jess Rinker is the author of Gloria Takes a Stand, a picture book biography of Gloria Steinem, and the forthcoming, Send a Girl: The Brenda Berkman Story, due out in 2021, both published by Bloomsbury. Jessica’s middle grade novel debut duology, The Dare Sisters, will be published in Fall 2020 and 2021 by Imprint/Macmillan.
