[Excerpts from Buying a House Debt-Free: Equipping Your Son, Steve and Teri Maxwell, Chapter 8, “What Skills Will He Have?” Product description and pre-ordering available sometime on Tuesday, the 4th.]
Have you met Eric? You’d remember him if you had. He’s a likable, enthusiastic, hardworking young man. His heart’s desire is to seek first the kingdom of God. Eric’s family is very musical, and he started playing the cello when he was six. By the time Eric was 10 years old, the four oldest children formed a string quartet and began performing professionally for weddings and also had prestigious, high end background music jobs.
When Eric was 14, he saw an article in a gardening magazine about raising bees. First, Eric read everything he could on the subject of beekeeping. Then he found a local man who was retiring from beekeeping who sold him four hives and equipment at a very reasonable cost. Eric was now a beekeeper. The first year the bees did well, and Eric harvested over 200 pounds of honey. Through the years, he was able to expand his honey operation to more than 30 beehives.
The bee business was a way for Eric to bring in a small income and be productive with his time while he was still busy in school. He estimates that over the years, he earned $8,000 to $10,000 from his beekeeping. His share of the quartet appearances yielded another $5,000.
At 16 most young men want a car, but Eric wanted a cow. That’s right, a cow! Their family lived on the edge of the suburbs, but their yard was one acre. Again, after careful research and saving his money, Eric received his parents’ permission to buy a young heifer. All was well for a while. Then the cow grew, and the reality of a cow living in the backyard where little children played proved too much. Eric’s dad said the cow needed a new home.
Eric started knocking on doors in their neighborhood and soon found a neighbor who was willing to let the cow live on her open three-acre pasture. She also gave Eric permission to keep a companion cow, which he promptly purchased from a local dairy. Overnight, Eric was in the dairy business, milking five to six gallons of fresh whole milk a day. With a market of clients seeking healthy local products, a new business was born. Within a few years, the operation grew to three Jersey milk cows and a small herd of dairy goats with more than 100 hand-milked gallons of milk a week, supplying over 40 customers. Milking at five a.m. and five p.m. every day, in addition to his school and other work, kept Eric pretty busy. Over the course of five years, by the age of 21, his milk operation and the raising and selling of cattle allowed him to save close to an additional $10,000.
When Eric was 19 he studied, tested, and obtained his real estate license and began work under a local broker. It was a difficult time in real estate with a very soft market. He learned, however, to work hard in the midst of a bad economy, and when the market stiffened in later years his same work ethic yielded great dividends.
Eric sold about 18 homes in his first three years during very lean times in the housing market. At the age of 24 and with a desire to honor God in his business, he began his own real estate brokerage.
Years earlier as a young child, Eric had watched his parents work hard to get out of debt, and that made quite an impression on him. He decided he wanted to buy his house and live debt-free.
As a realtor, Eric kept his eyes open for a house he might be able to buy with the cash he had been saving.
Because of a slow market during the fall months, a significantly undervalued town home was listed at $79,900. It was presented as a “short sale,” and Eric wrote an offer on it in October. It was mid-April before the two lien-holding banks approved his offer. The house is a two-bedroom, one-bath, 900-square-foot town home in the Denver area. Now that the housing market is beginning to recover, a similar town home in his neighborhood has been listed for $150,000. God gets the glory.
Eric is a powerful example of a young man who is always learning and 
developing marketable skills. Eric made a statement that is dead on: “Things are for a season, and then you must be ready to move on.” This mindset yields a vocationally well rounded and marketable individual.
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We’re excited to share with you so much more through Buying a Home Debt-Free! Watch for details soon.
“Prepare thy work without,
and make it fit for thyself in the field;
and afterwards build thine house.”
Proverbs 14:27
Thank you for writing this book! We are very excited to read it in its entirety.
I find stories such as this fascinating and I hope my own children prove to be diligent workers at a young age. I do wonder though, if the concept of buying a home debt-free applies equally to all communities. Certainly God rewards hard work and faithfulness, however, we live in a northern Alberta city where housing prices continue to increase. Here you will find nothing under $100,000 except an old mobile home on a town lot. A small house, simple, no garage, and most likely in need of repairs is still easily $200,000. It is a far cry from the $40,000 home my husband purchased 17 years ago. That too was a small cute mobile, but it had it’s own lot and we loved that home! We sold that home for almost double what we paid, took a giant leap of faith and moved 5 hours away. I cried when I saw housing prices in the new area! Ironically the small affordable town we left is now just as expensive to live in. The past 15 years our economy has grown so much that many people now choose to buy an RV as their home because they are unable to afford housing. With three boys of our own, we wonder if we are doing them any favours by staying in this region, yet, this is where God has led us and we are confident that he will make a way for them. We would love to be mortgage free again, but that is not our main focus in life. It is our desire to live a life that pleases the Lord and to be good stewards of all He has blessed us with. Thank-you for the encouraging post, may God continue to bless your family!
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It wouldn’t apply equally to all communities, as yes they vary. However, it still is very achievable in the vast majority. When housing costs are very expensive, that just means one needs to be more committed. Usually, high costs are used as a reason for not trying when they should be used to justify greater effort. One always seeks first the kingdom of God, (not a house) the rest is just a by-product of a surrendered life. Be encouraged!
I am so glad to see you writing a book about this subject. My husband and I are planning on building within the next 2 years. We can build a new 3 bedroom 2 bath home for around 80k. I would love to know how we can do this and not have a monthly house payment!
I would be interested to know how much money Eric’s parents contributed to this amazing story! Cello-so awesome! When starting to play at 6 yrs old, a typical child would need 2 or more scaled size cellos until they are big enough for full size.
And I would love to know how Eric is now…still living in that townhouse in Denver or moved on to something bigger with a growing family!
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I would expect Eric’s parents bought or leased the instruments for him as most parents do for young children. In a family with younger children (which they had), instruments are handed down as well. However, beyond that, I’m not aware of his parents contributing any money to his savings. He financed his own business endeavors.
He has vision and initiative. It is amazing what can be accomplished when a young man is committed.
Currently, he’s renting out the town home and living with his family until God gives him a wife.
Love this story. It is inspiration for how I need to think as the dad of 5 boys.