Distinctly Montana Magazine

M Y M O N T A N A H O M E 8 0 We developed a routine. I got up early and brought the paper to Grandma. I checked on them midday and brought in their mail. Ryan weeded the garden and took out the garbage. Every evening at about 5:00pm, Grandpa knocked on the door of our RV holding a box of chocolates and told us to "Take one. Don't worry. I won't tell your mother." Grandpa had always been a chocolate addict. Despite the chaos of pandemic life, our routine was familiar and sweet. We were saving thousands of dollars a month, home- ownership felt achievable in our near future, and being able to spend time with my grandparents made everything feel okay. Then, one afternoon we noticed that his speech slurred, and he was having trouble standing. Five specialist appointments later, we got the news. Grandpa had a very aggressive form of brain cancer. He had two months left to live. The news hit our family hard. Distant cousins, aunts, uncles, neighbors—they all stopped by and said goodbye from outside the window. COVID-19 had limited the number of people my grandparents could safely interact with, and I was grateful that I was among the few who could spend time with them. I spent those last few weeks sitting with my grandpa. We had regular midday chats, him in his recliner, me on the sofa. We talked a lot about home buying. By this point, the median cost of a home in Missoula had jumped to around $350,000 and was projected to go up. The market was hot, and if we wanted to buy this year, we needed to start putting in offers. This news lit a fire in us. We quickly got approved for a $400,000 VA loan. We asked a friend who had recently purchased a house if they could recommend a realtor. Over two months, we put in twelve offers on homes in Missoula. Each one was rejected. We lowered our standards and increased our budget. Our realtor, Amy Bain-Wilson, would call us as soon as a home in our price range hit the market. We were putting in offers at $60,000 over the asking price. We had the cash to cover the sale price if the house didn't appraise for that much, and still, our offers kept getting rejected. The problem? We were trying to buy with a VA loan. Almost all the houses we had put offers on had gone to cash buyers. How do you compete with cash? Amy came from a long line of Montana home-builders and knew everything there was to know about the housing market. We told her we were disheartened and on the verge of giving up. She quieted our fears and explained that it is a sellers' market right now. She told us not to be discouraged. She said we could get more creative with our approach. Get creative we did. In the days leading up to my grandfa- ther's death, I approached him during one of our midday chats with the idea that we had been discussing with our realtor. If my parents were willing to take out a home equity line of credit against their own house, they could make a cash offer on the house for us. They could then turn around and immediately sell it to us with our VA loan. It felt risky, but grandpa said, "do it." My parents, who were eager to see us find a home, agreed.

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