A first-time homebuyer loan helped a young family land a craftsman in Folsom | How I Bought My House

Buyers: Liz Green, 42, therapist; Adam Rzepka, 40, therapist

The house: A 1,488-square-foot craftsman with three bedrooms and one bathroom and built in 1910

The price: Listed for $295,000; purchased for $295,000

The agent: Ben Camp, Elfant Wissahickon

The ask: Liz Green and Adam Rzepka never pictured themselves in the suburbs. “We’ve been city people for such a long time,” Green said.

But after Green’s brother moved to Media, the couple decided to swap their South Philly lifestyle for a suburban test run in nearby Norwood. “It was really great in so many ways,” Green said. “We loved living closer to family.”

After two years of renting, the couple decided their city days were over and began looking for something permanent in the suburbs.

The search: In early 2024, the couple started casually attending open houses “to get a sense for different towns and neighborhoods and what might feel right,” Green said.

They wanted to live somewhere with friendly neighbors and places you could walk, like a public library or a coffee shop. “I really cared about the neighborhood,” Rzepka said, adding that he wanted it to be “cheery.” He wanted a backyard where his energetic 5-year-old son could run around.

The appeal: The house the couple was drawn to was older than others they had seen. “Sometimes we would look at houses that were almost too updated,” Green said. “They looked more like waiting rooms than homes.”

This one was the opposite. It had what Rzepka called “old-school throwback charm,” with pops of character spread throughout the first floor, like a staircase with a window near the entrance, sloped ceilings, and a reading nook by the living room.

The couple stayed at the house for an hour, noting details they loved. “We were not even entertaining the idea that we could potentially buy this house,” Green said. “It was packed with people who were clearly going to buy it.”

But the longer they stayed, the more difficult it became to picture themselves living anywhere else. Green was excited. Rzepka, however, was terrified. “My anxiety filled immediately,” he said.

They texted their agent, Ben Camp, who suggested the couple run the numbers, even though they didn’t feel ready to make an offer.

The deal: Unfortunately, the down payment and the mortgage “seemed impossible,” Green said. “We were first-time homebuyers. We did not have wealth built up.”

They left feeling bummed. But the next day, Camp encouraged them to try again. They decided to include a letter with their offer. In it, they described their intentions to “really make a home in the community,” Green said.

Aside from the letter, the couple offered the asking price of $295,000 and were willing to take the house as-is, meaning that even if the inspection turned up a problem, they couldn’t negotiate a lower a price.

The seller accepted on the condition that they could close within one week, which Green and Rzepka agreed to. “We had to do the inspections pretty quickly, so we just cleared our schedules for the next few days,” Green said.

The money: At their agent’s suggestion, Green and Rzepka got a first-time homebuyer mortgage through the Federal Housing Administration. The FHA loan only required 3.5% of the home price for a down payment. In their case, that meant $10,000, which the couple borrowed from their families. “We’re very lucky,” Green said of their family’s financial support.

The other major expense they had to contend with was the electric. To replace the knob-and-tube wiring — an outdated form of electrical wiring that is considered unsafe — Green took out a loan from the credit union she’s belonged to since high school. “I’ve been able to get good loans from them,” she said.

The move: The family waited two months after they closed to move in. “It took some time because we did some work on it,” Green said. In addition to installing new electric, they painted the walls and fixed up the outdated kitchen. Green comes from a family of DIY house flippers, so she said they weren’t afraid to renovate.

By the time they moved in mid-January 2025, “the house was in great shape,” Rzepka said.

Any reservations? Rzepka and Green had to replace the sewer line shortly after moving in. It was a surprise, Green said, but they rolled with it. “That’s kind of what homeownership is. There’s always going to be something that comes up.”

Life after close: The couple hasn’t changed much aesthetically about the house since they moved in. “We loved a lot of the paint and design they’d already done, so we kept it,” Rzepka said.

They also kept the swing set and the children’s books the previous owners left for Rzepka and Green’s son to enjoy. They added a little metal shed in the backyard and installed a bench with a padded cushion in the reading nook.

“We’re so happy with what we have,” Green said. “We feel really lucky.”

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