Buying a house in the current market here in Central Kentucky requires a lot of patience and perseverance. Houses are often sold within a day or two of being listed, and gone are the days of negotiating the price down and having the seller pay closing costs.

In the year plus that Alicia dedicated to buying a home, she said the most difficult part was not the loan process but actually having an offer accepted. So what was the driving force that kept Alicia going? As Alicia and I chatted in her living room – which was so well decorated it could have been from an HGTV show – he peeked around the corner at me, her five-year-old son, Sy.

While it took almost a year and a half and over 15 offers, Alicia did find the right house and seller, who accepted her offer, something she was skeptical about at first. “I had been disappointed so many other times prior to this, so [when the realtor called] I was like, ‘did I really get the house?!’ But it was great! I felt like this is going to work; I’m going to have a home now for me and my son. I was still nervous, though, because we still had a ways to go, even after the acceptance of the offer.”

Having an offer accepted means a buyer is little more than halfway through the process. It took another three months before closing on the house, but finally, in March, Alicia and Sy moved in to their charming 1.5-story home in the heart of downtown Nicholasville.

For those looking to buy a home, Alicia has some advice to help. “First off, reach out to someone at USDA Rural Development about a loan. It was seriously the easiest part of this whole process for me.”