When I got married a few years ago, I had a vision board of the kind of house I wanted to buy. It was moderately big with spacious rooms because we had two children already at that time. While I was envisioning our house, my husband wasn’t on board. We really didn’t talk about getting a house where we can raise our family. We were just busy making money.

Dropped My Dream House Goal
After a while, we got separated. I felt very depressed, I had given up on a lot of things and just didn’t want to talk about getting a house or whatever. I was sad. That was it. PERIOD.
Then in 2018, my children finally thought of getting a house of our own. We were so excited and we did a little research. But we got very disappointed. I can’t get a house under my own name only because I was still legally married to my husband. We are planning to get it under a mortgage, so my legal husband needs to sign also as well. It was a real bummer and we didn’t talk about it again.
2020 came. The pandemic came. Everyone was staying at home. Life for me and everyone else in the world changed. It was an abrupt and instantaneous change of lifestyle. Then I lost my full-time online job and I was struggling to make ends meet while renting during the pandemic. A once seemingly hopeless situation became horrible in just a few weeks. It was a shock!
The Effects of Pandemic
The pandemic really changed all of our lives. Everyone was and currently is affected by the spread of coronavirus around the world. Every aspect of our lives. The world stopped. The economy halted. Dreams postponed. Not a good sight to behold, but it did. Even depression cases surged. Poverty is felt twice, thrice, or more because of it.
But the pandemic, also made me realize many things. It made me dream again of having my own house and lot. And this time, I am not talking about buying inside a subdivision but I am thinking about real estate property outside the city outskirts.
Not that I am socially distancing my house from everyone else (pandemic pun), but the pandemic made me realize about my retirement home. I have three kids and someday they will all get married and I will be left alone with my cats and dogs while tending a big garden.
The Pandemic’s Effect on Real Estate
While some are postponing buying homes, according to Forbes, some people will continue buying homes. Maybe not in places where the pandemic is high, but they will continue to do so in different places. And I think that goes for the Philippine consumers. My real estate agent friend is still selling houses amidst the pandemic.
And for some, people like me (renters) or homeowners, the pandemic made us realize how small or big our house is. For me, with all the kids and my parents at home, I realize that the house we are renting is big enough to accommodate everyone’s sleeping needs but too small if we factor in everyone wanting their own space for work or school.
For me, since I have been working from home, it really didn’t change my situation because I have a designated place to be productive but it made me want to dream again – buy my own house and lot someday. Having more time (no work) made me think it would be lovely to live in a place that you get food in your garden and not worry about food shortage and/or a pandemic!
Vision Boarding My Dream Again
After the abrupt changes last year, my 2021 became different. I have come to the realization of taking my dream house now a retirement home seriously again. Not just a dream to sigh upon while talking about it, but to make it a goal and make it a reality with God’s help.
2020 drained me financially and placed me on a huge financial blunder. I had debts accumulated and am currently working on how I can move past this and onto my dream retirement house.

So, what I did is put things into perspective. I made a vision board of what dream house I want to build in the land that I am going to buy. It may not be immediately, but I have plans. For now, it is getting out of debt and be free to pursue my dream.
But then again, even if this dream is not yet immediate, I can help but check out websites like CAROUSELL.PH for real estate listings to give me an idea of how much properties cost nowadays. And I even checked a mortgage calculator to see how things will go and it is affordable for me.
Dreaming is FREE. Making Into a Reality Comes with a Cost.
Dreaming of wanting to buy a retirement home is FREE, but making it into a reality is different. It needs careful planning and a whole lot of prayers. The pandemic might have taken a lot from us, but it won’t stop us from making a goal and pursuing it. As long as we are alive and kicking, there is always hope that we can dream and achieve it.