It didn’t get any easier to afford a home in 2025, but week after week, we followed the stories of homeowners who, through a variety of means, made their home-buying dreams reality. This year, the Hunt visited 17 states and journeyed abroad to Canada, France and Morocco. With a median purchase price of $596,000, the properties ran the gamut, from a Moroccan riad to the first-ever search for a boat. Among the apartments, bungalows, rowhouses and all the structures in between, these are the Hunts that stuck with us.

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LESS THAN $200,000

Rebuilding a Life Outside Nashville

When Katie Israel got the help she needed after tumbling down a yearslong chasm of drugs and alcohol, her first priority finding a safe home for her three children in Tennessee.

“I got my twins back when they were 8 months old and got my son back after I lived in my apartment for a year,” she said. “I was sleeping in the dining room so the kids could have the bedrooms. I never had any privacy at all. I had this dream of buying a house someday.”

LESS THAN $300,000

Returning to New York and Her ‘Authentic Self’

Though a native of Chicago, Faith Pennick considers herself a New Yorker. She lived in the city on and off for two decades, renting in different Brooklyn neighborhoods.

“I was unable to purchase an apartment in Brooklyn during the 1990s,” said Ms. Pennick, who had accrued student loan debt after earning degrees from the University of Michigan and New York University. “If I had done that, I would be sitting pretty right now. I know I have to get over that, but I probably never will.”

LESS THAN $400,000

They Dreamed of a Traditional Marrakesh Riad

Wendy and Marshall Bailey each had visited Marrakesh, Morocco, long before they met. Years later, they came to love exploring the city’s medina quarter (or old town) together, enchanted by its tangle of narrow streets, cafes and bustling markets. The walled district, which dates to the 11th century, is filled with traditional homes and palaces known as riads, many with sunlit mezzanine levels, garden courtyards and roof terraces.

“Where else can you buy a property in a UNESCO World Heritage site that’s 1,000 years old?” Ms. Bailey said. “It’s remarkable, really.”

LESS THAN $500,000

Buying Sight Unseen From Across the Globe

Jeremy Turous and Harper Luke enjoyed their year together in Japan, where Mr. Turous worked as a design engineer in the auto industry. When it was time to return to the United States, they knew it would be to Columbus, Ohio, where they’d met and had a strong network of friends. But if they wanted to have a house ready for them when they returned, it would mean searching from 6,500 miles away.

“We were both nervous about buying a house that we hadn’t seen in person,” Ms. Luke said.

LESS THAN $600,000

After 50 Years in One Rental, She Grabbed Her Chance

Shortly after arriving in New York in 1972, Sara Sugihara landed in a rent-stabilized studio on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and stayed there for the next five decades. Along the way, she pieced together an eclectic career as a choreographer and instructor of modern dance. One production, “Window,” was inspired by her dim Manhattan apartment.

Though she works as a professional translator, in addition to other freelance gigs, “I haven’t had a straight job for most of my life,” Ms. Sugihara said. After her mother died, she used the inheritance to fund her first new place since the Nixon administration.

LESS THAN $700,000

Finding a Gem in the Connecticut Woods

Rahul Barua and Winnie Wong were living in Los Angeles when they decided to buy their first place together. They started looking locally, but when a wildfire ravaged an area where they’d recently been camping, doubts began to creep in. On a subsequent East Coast road trip, they swung through Connecticut, where Mr. Barua had grown up and his parents still owned a rental property. The house was in rough shape, so the couple tackled the project themselves.

“We thought we’d be here for three months,” Mr. Barua said. “We’d renovate, get a tenant in, and move back to L.A. And then, during that time, we’re like, ‘You know what? This is great.’”

LESS THAN $800,000

Looking for a Project in Pennsylvania Dutch Country

Claudia and Chris Beiler don’t shy away from fixer-uppers. The couple, who own a home design and renovation company in Honey Brook, Pa., had spent nearly 12 years renovating their three-bedroom house as they raised their rapidly growing family, which had gone to include five sons between the ages of 2 and 10.

“The more children we had, the more we just felt really crowded there,” Mrs. Beiler said. For their new home, she wanted enough land so the kids could “run and roam and catch snakes.” The couple found three homes that offered the indoor and outdoor space they sought. Each had at least one major flaw that would cost a lot to fix.

LESS THAN $900,000

Upsizing to a Brooklyn House for Three Generations

When Crissy Spivey bought herself a one-bedroom, one-bath co-op in Brooklyn’s Ditmas Park neighborhood in 2018, she had all the space she needed. Then she met John Richie, who had just moved up from New Orleans, and before long he joined her in the apartment. The following year, the couple’s daughter was born and they transformed the place into a two-bedroom. During the winters, they were joined by Ms. Spivey’s mother.

Feeling cramped, they started looking for a single-family home where everyone could feel comfortable. “I’ve lived in New York for 22 years and never had a stoop to sit on — nothing more than a bench,” Ms. Spivey said. “I never even had a fire escape that felt safe enough to stand on.”

LESS THAN $1 MILLION

After London Fell Through, a Deaf Couple Tried N.Y.C.

For years, Adam Stone and Jordan Fenlon worked and lived among assorted cities in the United States and Britain, their respective homelands. Eager to set down roots, they decided to buy a place in London and settled on a two-bedroom, ground-floor flat. But when the sale was derailed, the two men, who were both born deaf, revamped their plans and opted to settle in New York — roughly equidistant between England and California, where Dr. Stone grew up.

Working with a broker who was also deaf, they aimed for a location near a subway station and a park. “We didn’t need interpreters,” Dr. Stone said. “It was wonderful having full access, and that’s how it should be for everyone.”

LESS THAN $2 MILLION

A ‘Miracle’ Gave Them a Second Chance in Berkeley

Maria Francis figured that she and her husband, Mike, would be permanently settled in Florida, where he was the senior pastor at a Presbyterian church. But when Mr. Francis had a heart attack that left him with severe amnesia, “everything changed,” Ms. Francis said. After returning to Berkeley, Calif., where the couple had met in the 1980s, they made a stunning discovery: An investment account created by friends after Mr. Francis’s heart attack had made enough gains to allow them to buy a home.

“I don’t even know all the people who contributed to that fund,” Ms. Francis said. “That’s why I call this a miracle. It was all because of their generosity.”

MORE THAN $2 MILLION

Two Friends Joined Forces to Buy a Harlem Rowhouse

Claire Breedlove and Charlotte Renfield-Miller met a decade ago while working for a nonprofit in Washington, D.C. When the native New Yorkers returned separately to the city, their friendship never faded. Soon, they started batting around the idea of buying a townhouse together in Harlem, where they both lived.

A two-family home would work best, though a three-family would allow both women to bring in some rental income from the third unit. “It was important that everybody understood we were not roommates but had two distinct units connected in a home,” Ms. Breedlove said. “We plan to live as neighbors, not roommates.”

[Did you recently buy a home? We want to hear from you. Email: thehunt@nytimes.com. Sign up here to have The Hunt delivered to your inbox every week.]