S2 E28: We Sold Our House & Walked Away With $80K! Here's Exactly How We Did It..

In this episode, Brittney gets personal... sharing the full story behind selling her family's Tennessee home in March, the equity they walked away with, and why that $80,000 became a financial lifeline during one of the most expensive seasons of military life.

Brittney walks through the original purchase in January 2021... a new construction home in Clarksville, Tennessee bought for $295,000... and what happened when it came time to price it for sale. With a newer build sitting in an older neighborhood, appraisal congruency became one of the biggest challenges, and she explains exactly how she navigated the pricing strategy to land at $369,000 listed and $375,000 under contract.

But this episode goes well beyond the sale. Brittney gets real about military transitions, the hidden costs of PCS moves, the weight of debt, and how she and her husband used the equity to pay down what was dragging them down most. She also breaks down a simple but powerful framework for looking at your debt, your interest rates, and your real estate as interconnected tools... not separate problems.

Whether you're a military family trying to make smart housing decisions or someone sitting on equity and wondering what to do with it, this is a must-listen.

Key takeaways:

•  Buying new construction at the right time in the right market can create significant equity quickly 
•  Appraisal congruency matters... how well your home matches the surrounding neighborhood impacts your pricing strategy 
•  Being conservative with your listing price can protect you at appraisal and still deliver strong results 
•  Real estate can function as a long-term savings account, even if that wasn't the original plan 
•  High-interest debt (like 20%+ credit cards) should almost always be prioritized over low-interest debt 
•  A HELOC or cash-out refinance can be a strategic tool... even if your current rate is great 
•  Real estate builds equity quietly... you often don’t realize what you have until you look 
•  Annual home value updates from realtors are not a sales pitch... they’re a financial awareness tool 

🎧 If this episode resonated with you, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a military family or friend who needs to hear this. Your review helps more people find the show... and it means the world!

Closing Chapters Podcast: Where Every Mission Has A Story

Thanks for listening. We talk all things military real estate, my transactions, the mistakes, the wins, and simple plays you can use right now.

Work With Me:

• Buying or selling near Fort Bragg & Moore County
• Agents, partner with me 

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📧 Email: brittney@homeswithbrittney.com

If this episode helped, follow the show, leave a quick review, and share it with a friend in PCS season.

Disclaimer: This podcast education only & is not legal, tax, or financial advice. Talk with your own pros about your situation. Opinions are my own.

© 2025 Brittney Frye. All rights reserved. Realtor, license # 352197 in NC. Brokerage: REAL Broker l Military Division

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hey my friend, welcome back to the closing chapters podcast where every mission has a story. The thing that we are concerned about, and this is something that I talk to my clients about too, is congruency. Okay, so my house looks different than the majority of everything else in my neighborhood. When an appraiser comes along, are they going to choose properties in my neighborhood and try to make it match my house? Or are they going to be willing to go across the street and find my same exact house? Hey, hey, friends, welcome back. I am so glad you are here today. This one is pretty personal. So we are going to talk about how we just sold one of our personal properties back in March and why we sold it and all of the details and numbers, everything in between. So let's go backwards. What property did we sell? We sold the personal residence that we purchased in Tennessee when we were stationed there. And ultimately, when we purchased this property, we honestly got a great deal. It was right when COVID was getting crazy with the market. We purchased it in January of 2021. Yes. And we got a phenomenal rate on it. It was new construction. So we didn't really have to compete. It wasn't like a resale, that was like in a bidding war. So we purchased our four-bedroom, two and a half bath, 2,300 square foot house, three-car garage on a quarter-acre lot in Clarksville, Tennessee for $295,000. And that was in January of 21. Now, there's a caveat to this. This house was one of three lots, the last three lots that were built in this neighborhood. So all of the houses around us were much older. They're early 2000s to 2010-ish. And here we are in 2021 with a new build. And a lot of those were three bedrooms with a frog, the bonus room over the garage, front room over the garage is where frog comes from. But yeah, it looked a little bit different than the rest of the neighborhood. It really had no impact on us at the time. It gave us the space. It was a great neighborhood, had the sidewalks for our kids. Everything was gravy. Kid, our daughter was just about to turn one when we moved into this house. So there was no second child at that point. He came along while we were in this house, though, which is pretty cool. So, anyhow, we purchased this house in 2021. And the neighborhood across the street from us, literally, the entrances looked at each other, like when you went out, was being built. And that neighborhood was the same builder, the same floor plans, a minimum of $60,000 more because they were all new construction. It was all the elevated builder, and maybe there's a little bit of different options. I didn't really see many different options in them. But yeah. So our house across the street would have been $60,000 more. So I call that a win because when we went to sell, that's our direct comparables. The thing that we were concerned about, and this is something that I talk to my clients about too, is congruency. Okay. So my house looks different than the majority of everything else in my neighborhood. When an appraiser comes along, are they going to choose properties in my neighborhood and try to make it match my house? Or are they going to be willing to go across the street and find my same exact house and utilize that? Because some that makes sense, right? To pick the house that's my same exact house across the street. However, because it is all a new neighborhood and they're all elevated pricing in comparison to my neighborhood, the appraiser may say, no, that's a different quality of neighborhood, or that might be a whatever. And at the time, we're pretty apples to apples. Eventually, they're supposed to be putting in maybe a pool in that neighborhood or something of that nature. That has not happened as of yet. So, either way, that was a big question mark from when we went to sell. So I knew that we needed to be reasonable and conservative with our pricing because if a repriser came into my neighborhood and picked a house in my neighborhood and made it match my property, I wasn't gonna have nearly the value I would if they pulled from a house across the street. Okay. So that is absolutely a conversation that I have with buyers all the time. Is if we're looking at something and I'm doing a 360 view around your property, can I see congruency? Can I look within a mile radius and see that there are several properties that are similar to ours if we know that we're going to be selling it in the near future, right? If we know that this is a less than five year plan, we've got to have some good congruency because if it's a less than five year plan, we don't have equity on our side. We are not holding the property long enough to really gain good equity. In our case, we were very blessed because we bought right at the cusp of the pricing continuing to increase, increase, increase. And the pricing hasn't necessarily fallen substantially, it's just held. There are plenty of properties across the street that were priced much higher than ours, probably like 380 to 420-ish, whenever we were going to sell. But I said, Hey, we need to be reasonable. So when I looked at the numbers and when my husband and I were planning to sell, I pulled properties from across the street and from in our neighborhood and made them both match and looked and said, okay, where's our middle ground? So we actually listed for 369 and we got under contract for 375. The house appraised absolutely no problem, which is phenomenal. And we knew we were under where we could be, but we needed it to sell and we needed no concern, like concerns, and we had the equity there. And I'm really happy with where we're at, right? We got over list, we ended up walking away with over $80,000 in equity after our fees and everything was settled, which is amazing. And it really helped us propel forward. If you've heard me talk about military life, it's expensive. And I understand that. And that's why I care so much about trying to help clients make good decisions with their housing situations. We have been bounced around a good bit in the past couple of years, and there's been a lot of life and a lot of cost. On average, we have found out that it costs about at least $5,000 out of pocket for us to transition, whether that's staying in hotels or the travel, like literally the gas, the oil changes that are extra because you're doing too many miles, the U-hauls, the whatever. Then this is outside of what you're getting refunded back from the military. And other people might have a better way of doing it and making it so that they're getting paid back. But I promise you, most of the time, you are not even breaking even, if I can be honest. I have a mosquito hawk friend. I just saw him in the corner. We had our window open last night. Can you tell? So, anyhow, that gets really expensive really fast if you're making several transitions very quickly, and you don't have enough time to get back to good before all of a sudden you are up and at it again. That was our experience. We've had a lot of transitioning, a lot of big costs all at one time. And our initial intention with this property was that it rented very well and had margins. So we were gonna hold on to it until my husband retired. And then that was going to be a year's worth of his salary, like up front sitting in the bank. And we were gonna have flexibility. My that was that was Britney's plan. That was my like, hey, this is our savings plan, and I'm so excited that we're gonna have this in our pocket to be able to afford that flexibility for when retirement comes. Okay. God's plan was no, that's that's not how this goes. Life is gonna knock you around a little bit and you're gonna be resourceful. And we were. So we decided that our tenant was not going to renew, they were not gonna purchase. There was a chance they were gonna purchase the house from us, and they decided to buy somewhere else. So it was time to put it on the market and get it sold and consolidate some of our hefty expenses that we had accrued over all of these transitions. So we were able to sell it and pay down $80,000 worth of debt. That's pretty incredible, you guys. And that is like the resource and the tool of using real estate as a savings account, as an investment, right? As a future amount of money that you can use for whatever you deem necessary. So we ended up finding out two, we started comparing things. And this is a word to the wise. I am not a financial advisor and we are learning along the way. But sometimes we're so blind to things, we just pay the statement or we just do the minimum payment, whatever we can do at that given time. And we don't go digging into it. And we were making some comparisons because we needed to make a purchase. And we were saying, okay, do we want to hold on to this cash and make that purchase with cash, or do we need to continue to pay down some of our debt? And when I went digging into it, I found out that the interest on one of our debts alone, not even paying towards the actual balance, the interest payment was more than the actual payment would have been on the item we needed to purchase if we financed it. So automatically that made our decision, right? We were like, nope, we're chunking the cash towards that debt and getting that interest down. And it's still gonna be like the payment that we're gonna take on is gonna be less than what that interest alone was. So there's a lot of times where like we just are in the motions and we just move forward and do the best we can with what we have at that given moment. And we forget to sit in it and look at it and really say, okay, what is dragging me down? What is costing me the most money? Where do I need to prioritize my resources? That was really eye-opening for us, extremely eye-opening for us. And I would challenge you to do the same. If for some reason you are having a high payment here unnecessarily, right? And you have equity in a property, and credit cards are the easy one. This is because it's so polar opposites, okay? So credit cards are usually 20 plus percent in interest, right? So you've racked up a credit card and you're having a really hard time paying it down, and all of a sudden you have this huge interest payment that keeps getting added to the balance. So you're just totally upside down and you're just not getting anywhere. But you have a property that you've had for five plus years and you bought it good, but you have some equity into it. Maybe, maybe it's worth looking at doing a cash out refinance. And you might say, Brittany, that's insane. I have a 3.75 interest rate on this house. Why would I ever give that up? Okay. Yeah, that does sound insane. However, I promise you, if you refinanced it, pulled out what you needed, right? The difference in the payments would probably still be less than what you were paying in interest on this 20 plus percent interest credit card. So run the math. And we had to make that decision before in the past where we were like, do we really want to refinance this property? But refinancing it afforded us to be able to do some other things. And those other things have led to further investments, right? So sometimes it is not the immediate comfort or that immediate number. You have to look at the full picture. And this profound in so many ways, right? With our personal finances, we need to look at the full picture. It's not what's the biggest balance, what's the biggest interest rate? It's like, you know, what can or sometimes is what can I handle right now? And what can I make a plan for? Or what do I need to attack? Because even if I could handle this small amount right now, the interest on it is 5%. We kept running into this, and my husband was like, Brittany, I know you just want to pay it off. I know you want to see it gone, but it does not make sense. And it was his car. His car, we were so close to paying it off, and his interest rate was like 6% on it. It made no sense to put a couple thousand dollars towards his car when we had credit cards that were 20 plus percent interest. And I understand that, but in my core, I just wanted that easy win. I just wanted to see the debt go away. I wanted something off of the books completely, like a new payment that could be sent somewhere else. Was that the right like order of operation? No, it wasn't. I just wanted that easy win. Word to the wise that the easy way is not always the right way, the best way. And we know that. Take the path less troubled. Make sure that you are actually looking at the full picture and making the difference where it's going to count. Now, let's bring this back to the real estate page. Okay. This also matters when we're looking at our investments and trying to decide should I refinance or should I not? Should I sell or should I not? That has been one of the heaviest conversations in the market in the past couple of years is I don't want to get rid of this rate. I have this amazing rate. And that that is hard for sure. But that means you also have amazing equity, more than likely. And if you're able to take that amazing equity and roll it into another property, then there's a good chance that you're gonna be able to buy down that property enough that you're probably still gonna be able to have a pretty darn reasonable payment. Or you have the cash that if you just want to go bonkers and buy down the rate as low as you possibly can, go for it. Do that. So I think sometimes we forget that we have leverage, right? Not only do we have this awesome rate, but we have leverage. Now, let's say you don't want to get rid of that rate. Maybe that means that we're pulling out a HELOC and being able to utilize that to be able to move forward with another property and keep this property as an investment because you do have a low rate, you do have a low payment, it will cash flow easily compared to a lot of other people in situations where they had to buy high with high rates and now all of a sudden they cannot turn it into an investment very easily because that is the true reality right now. So you have options. It does not mean you have to stay stuck in your bubble. And also, just another reminder that if a property is working well, you don't, if it's not a need or a necessity to sell it to move forward, hold on to it, right? Because there might be a day that you are in our shoes where life has slapped you around a little bit and you just need a way out. And you're gonna have that in your back pocket. You're not even gonna realize it. You're not even gonna realize because it's not cash sitting in your account, that you have done a great job with this investment. And now all of a sudden you have 50, 60, 75, $100,000 of cash that you can liquidate by selling that property and being able to move forward. How wonderful is that? We didn't buy that house with the intention of getting into debt and having to find our way out. That was never the plan, right? We wanted to acquire a portfolio and then when my husband retired, pick and choose which properties we wanted to keep, which ones we wanted to sell, and then be able to like re-identify our portfolio and make some new investments. That was the intention. However, thank goodness it was there. Thank goodness we had a way to move forward and to see a little bit of a light at the end of the tunnel. And that is the power of investing in real estate, right? It creates liquid cash, maybe not overnight, but it is a plan forward. And the beauty is that it is doing work for us without us ever seeing. It's not like stocks where we watch it go up and down and we get all nervous and go, oh my gosh, I'm gonna pull out my money because it's gonna but drop out to the bottom. Stocks will usually always recover if we would just leave it alone. That's what I don't know a lot about stocks, but like the one thing that gets pounded by like the people that I am around is let it sit. The if you keep poking and prodding and moving things around constantly, like you're you're doing yourself a disservice. So let it stay, let it build, let it grow. And we don't have that with real estate. If we bought our house and we kept it, we lived in it, and then we rented it, we're not like okay, I can sell my house today and then tomorrow I can purchase this other house and then I can sell that house tomorrow. Like it doesn't work like that. It's not where you can just like swap things, liquidity like very, very fast, which creates a level of consistency, right? And growth. There's gradual appreciation, and we are not even seeing it happen. You truly don't know the equity in your house until you start looking at the comparables for that given time. And just a reminder in our world, we see cycles every 90 days, right? So whenever I am looking at giving you a price range, doing a comparable market analysis for your property, my golden rule of thumb is to see what has sold within the past 90 days. And then if I'm not finding what I need to find, like I cannot find really good comps within that range, then I'm either gonna go a further distance within 90 days, or I'm gonna try to stay tight and go a little bit further out. Appraisers can use up to a year out. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense for us to look at a property that sold last January to right now. That that doesn't make a lot of sense at all. Completely different markets. And so we want to try to keep that time frame as tight as possible. That's going to ebb and flow. And that is why realtors also often like to give you a quick update, a quick outlook on like annually, hey, this is where your house is sitting right now. Is this surprising or is it not? Is something going on in your world where we should have a conversation and see if you have the capability to utilize this tool as an investment or to be able to get some liquid cash and be able to go a different direction? Or is it just like a cool little checkbox? Like, hey, I'm sitting pretty, like my house is working for me, it's doing its thing, and I'm gonna leave it alone. Either way is a great option, it's awesome. So just know that if you have a realtor that is like sending you an annual update, that it doesn't mean we're fighting for your business. It doesn't mean that we're telling you you need to sell. It's simply a tool to say, hey, here's where you are. What does this feel like to you? And oh, by the way, if you need anything, if you need more information, then you know, reach out. I'm here. It's just a reminder that we are a tool, a resource to be utilized. So, all in all, moral of the story is real estate is a fantastic investment anytime and always, right? Now, just a reminder that not all buys feel like goodbyes, right? So this was a good buy. And if we could go back and do it again, we would have lived on a different side of town of Clarksville, right? We we absolutely would have. We were in a very busy side and thought that we were like being closer to the base, and it just did not pan out that way. We could have been on a different side of town near where our kids were doing life and a lot of my stuff was going on, and it would have been at a cost. We would have paid a lot more money to be on that other side of town. Would everything have appreciated just the same? Probably. But when we purchased, we were scared, we were nervous. We were going from buying a $109,000 house to a $300,000 property. That's a huge jump. That's scary for anyone. So we got a little bit cold feet and we were a little bit concerned about could we handle it? Could we do this? Could we do that? So also just realize that you're human, as are we. And sometimes you have to weigh out your options and figure out like what's the meat in the middle that you are comfortable with. And our meat in the middle still served us pretty well, if you ask me. Remember that real estate can be a tool. Is it your home? Yes. Is it emotional? Yes. But is it a resource? Is it a tool? Is it a business plan? Yes. And it can be a combination of all things. So that is where you really need to tap into your trusted resource, right? Your trusted advisor in real estate and say, Hey, I want my home to feel this way. It needs to have this capacity for my family. It's got to serve me now, but I also want to make sure that it can serve me in the future. Future and make sure that we have a really good plan for that going forward. Okay. Now remember when we purchased in North Carolina, we were stuck on the flip side of that of buying high and with a high interest rate. So now we have moved from that house again. So that's we made two moves in two years and a little detour along the way of staying in Missouri for a couple months in a hotel. But, anyways, all that to say, that one wasn't so peachy, right? It wasn't, I can just turn it into a rental and do whatever I can do. We had renovated the whole first floor, didn't matter. It wasn't gonna have enough equity in for us to be able to sell it and get out from underneath of it. So we had to shift and think a different way. And we did. And it's a furnished rental and it's doing beautifully. And we are fulfilling a purpose for our community. We have had nothing but military families staying in there that have needed a safe and sound place to go. And honestly, three, this is a third time. We've had maybe five families stay with us now. This is the third family that has continued to extend to stay in our home because they're waiting for repairs to be done to theirs from a flooding incident in their house. And they are so comfortable that they're just like, I almost just don't even want to go back to my house. Like, I hope that it'll be fixed and I hope that it'll be right. But like we're really happy where we're at right now. And that feels amazing to know that we did a really nice job providing a safe and sound home, be it temporary or not, for someone for a little while is just amazing. Take your hardships, turn it around, find the pathway forward. And if you need a resource, if you need ideas, if you need to run the numbers, I'm here. I would love to be your trusted advisor and help you every step of the way. Hey! I just wanted to say thank you for being here and listening in on this episode of Closing Chapters with me. I truly enjoy putting this content together, and I hope that you enjoy it too. If so, could you like, subscribe, and share this episode with somebody you know that will enjoy it just as much as you did? Thank you so much.