Every soldier was excited to come home this past summer, but for one young officer, redeployment meant actually getting a home - even if it was one he'd never seen in person before.

Prior to his deployment in May with the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Lt. Steven Whitham served on rear detachment for six months and spent his free time house hunting. He knew he wanted to find something within the DuPont area, but he'd already lost out on a short sale and hadn't found what he wanted when he was handed orders to deploy.

Fortunately, his close-knit family was up to the challenge, so prior to leaving he had a power of attorney given to his mother and his grandparents so that they could continue his search. With his research and requirements in hand, his mother, Becca, and his grandparents, Olga and Neil Smith, took on the challenge of making his home ownership a reality.

According to his Realtor, Angie Sherman of RE/MAX Professionals in Tacoma, soldiers buying homes while deployed is becoming more common.

"This is the third home we've sold to a person while they were serving overseas; except this time, there was an entire family on hand to help," Sherman said.

"We walked in, and we knew this was the one," said Olga. "There was so much potential. We immediately started taking pictures to send to Steven."

Though photos were taken, the bandwidth downrange made prolonged viewing impossible. Smith even drew out the floor plans to scale on graph paper to send to his grandson, but eventually, the 24-year-old relied on his family to make the right decision. His grandparents even loaned him $25,000 for a down payment after he was unable to qualify for a VA loan. Although he has a grace period, the intent is to pay it all back at a fair interest rate.

"My husband had left for Afghanistan in July, so for me to have a project that was so time-consuming was great," said Becca, who spent a month creating this home for her son. "Plus, I know my son, and I knew he would be so grateful. It made all the work worthwhile."

Whitham's father, Chaplain (Capt.) Nathan Whitham, is stationed at Fort Carson and is deployed with the 4-42 Field Artillery Battalion.

In anticipation of the house needing some things, Whitham left the women in his life with six blank checks with a $10,000 limit and the guidelines of "don't make it too girly."

"All I wanted was to walk in and have it feel like a home already," Whitham said. "And it did."

Once the paperwork on the house was signed, Becca began hitting the stores - from local shops to thrift stores - to purchase furniture and decor. They repainted the entire 1,450 square foot house, which had all white walls when they received the keys, and decorated every last room, often with sought out deals and finds.

"I came in under budget and on time. How about that?" Becca said with a laugh.

Though Whitham is unsure when he will need to PCS, he plans to keep the home as an investment property and rent it out indefinitely. Due to the location in downtown DuPont, as well as the fact that the house is a coveted Centex cottage model, he anticipates the renting process being smooth.

"The basic story is that I trust my family 100 percent with everything that I have," Whitham said. Lucky for him, his family came through, and this Christmas, when he hosts the entire family for the first time, the best gift may just be the very halls they're decking.