What House Hunting Is Teaching Us About Priorities, Faith, and Financial Freedom

This past week, we walked through a house that seemed to check every box. It had that warm, lived-in feeling that makes you imagine raising kids there, marking their growth on the wall, thinking about fall nights on the porch. The land was just right, the home felt cozy, and we left thinking it might be the one. The only negative, it was an hour away from our church. At first, we tried to justify it. If we only drive there twice a week, that doesn’t sound so bad. We even started looking at other homes in the area, wondering if we could shift our expectations. Anthony and I drove back home together talking in the car of ways we could make it work and how we would just have to be more committed to making the drive to be involved in all the things we wanted to do. Plus I LOVE driving on peaceful country roads, nothing like an LA commute that I would dread in bumper to bumper traffic. This all seems doable.

After we got back, I listened to the latest episode of the Dial In podcast titled “Biblical Decision-Making 101: The 7 P’s That Lead to Peace and Confidence.” It felt fitting for where we were mentally. In the episode, Pastor Costi Hinn shared a story about a member of his church who was thinking about leaving Arizona and moving to Nashville. The man’s reasons mirrored our own…wanting land, animals, a slower lifestyle. I thought ok this hits VERY close to home. But Costi pointed him back to something foundational: spiritual priorities. He asked whether the man was prioritizing proximity to a church community or choosing isolation in the name of lifestyle. One line stuck with me when explaining considering all the reasons for moving. He said, “You don’t want to isolate yourself to go live on a homestead.” explaining that it would make it harder to build community and get involved with your local church and to not lose sight of the focus of the move. Wow, it was exactly what I needed to hear. Because yes, we moved to Tennessee for the land, the animals, the changing seasons, and a slower pace that lets us be with the kids every day. Yes, we already have friends here and truly love the environment. But the most important reason, the one we knew had to stay at the center, is our faith. Where is our church? Where is our community? How close are we to the people we are going to live life with and serve alongside? It reminded me of how things used to be in Los Angeles. Our church there was 45 minutes away, and as much as we loved it, more weekends than not we would end up streaming the service from home. Not because we were less committed, but because the distance gave us an excuse (freeway traffic too). We didn’t want to fall back into that pattern. I asked Anthony to listen to the episode too, and afterward he said the same thing…it was the perfect reminder. This week helped us refocus. We are still house hunting, but now we are using different filters. We want to be close enough to church that showing up and serving is part of our regular routine. That decision alone eliminated a lot of properties. But it brought peace.

The real estate market here has shifted. It is leaning toward a buyer’s market now. Homes are sitting longer, and there’s more inventory. So we are not rushing. Once our house sells in Pasadena, we will be in a position to make a strong offer. Our goal is to buy in cash. That has been our dream from the very beginning of our debt-free journey: to live without a mortgage, to not owe anyone anything. We have even joked about doing a debt-free scream on the Dave Ramsey Show (this was when callers who had paid off all their debt would call into his show to celebrate, and he would ask them how they did it. We used to listen to his radio show ALL the time after we first took his Financial Peace class back in 2012, before we ever knew we’d actually be debt-free one day, and long before we imagined we would eventually become homeowners.). That would be a full-circle moment, especially now that we live not far from Ramsey Solutions, Dave Ramsey’s headquarters. Dave often talks about how he built his company one step at a time, purchasing each building in cash and upgrading through the years as his company continued to grow, needing to hire more people and eventually find a bigger building to fit everyone. He says he moves at the speed of cash. That means he may not get the building he wants right away, but in the end, he has full ownership, equity, and freedom. Driving by his headquarters, it is incredible to think he owns every building outright because he never lost sight of that goal. That has inspired us deeply.

We were also reminded of this verse: Proverbs 22:7 says, “The borrower is slave to the lender.” That truth feels especially relevant today, in a culture where debt is not only common but often expected, particularly in America. According to Experian, the average American household debt in 2024 is $105,056. That number represents real strain on families, shaping everything from monthly decisions to long-term dreams. I still remember what it felt like to watch our paychecks disappear into a dozen small payments. It was overwhelming and discouraging, like death by a thousand cuts. Climbing out of debt required more than a new budget…it took consistent sacrifice, patience, and a willingness to delay gratification. I don’t take that season for granted. It shaped how we think, how we plan, and most of all, how we prioritize. During that time, we also had to get creative about how to bring in extra income. I sold handmade paper flowers on Etsy. Anthony consulted businesses on SEO. We would shop at Big Lots looking for products we could resell on Amazon, and I regularly hunted through thrift stores and resold what I found on eBay. We held yard sales and found small ways to stretch every dollar. None of it was glamorous, and it didn’t happen overnight, but each little effort helped chip away at the mountain. We kept going until the debt was gone, and it was SO worth it. Now, all these years later, even as we’re earning more than we were then, we don’t want to lose sight of our bigger goals.

This rental house has truly been a gift. It confirmed for us that we love the area, and more importantly, it gave us the time to find the church that now feels like home. If we had rushed into buying right away, we could have ended up an hour from the very community that’s become central to our life here. Renting has given us breathing room…to be patient, to keep searching, and to stay aligned with the long-term vision we had when we moved. As we continue house hunting, we are holding tightly to that clarity. Yes, we want enough land for chickens, ducks, a goat and maybe a cow someday. But we do not want so much land, or so much house, that it pulls us away from the freedom we moved here for in the first place. It is easy to fall in love with a charming property that feels perfect for your family. But we are learning to pause and ask the harder question. Will this home help us stay committed to the life we are trying to build, or will it slowly distract us from it? For that kind of clarity, I’m deeply thankful.

If you’re curious about our journey to becoming debt-free, we shared the full story in a podcast episode listen HERE. We also have an episode on how we currently plan our monthly budget and the habits that help us stay on track, you can find that episode HERE.

New on YouTube this week: our Easter weekend vlog is now live watch it HERE. And we just released a new Q&A episode on the podcast where we answer your questions about faith, family, and what life looks like lately listen HERE.

Thank you for being here,

Brittany