The Bachelor alum Ben Higgins and his fiancee Jessica Clarke have purchased their first home together in Denver, Colorado, where Ben has been living for years.
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Ben, who starred on Season 20 of The Bachelor, recently announced the big news by posting a photo of the couple enjoying some pizza and wine on the floor of their empty new house, which features light hardwood floors and gray walls.
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"Jess and I now own a house together (staying in Denver)! We don't own any furniture but we are hoping Mr. Claus and Mrs. Claus send some our way this Christmas!" Ben, 31, captioned the image on Instagram last week.
"Until then, our and probably next many dinners in the new house will be on the floor, just the way it should be!"
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But Ben went on to clarify the couple -- who has agreed to abstain from sex until marriage to ensure their first encounter will be special -- won't be living together in their new place until after the wedding.
"Also, before you start blowing up the comments this will be Jess private VIP party pad until the wedding, then I move in to crash the place! Let the fun begin!" Ben concluded the post.
Jess also gave fans a glimpse into her new home when she uploaded a photo of Ben and herself cozying up to each other in front of their lovely stone fireplace.
"Last week I started the moving process to Colorado and Into our FIRST HOME! The house is empty, but it's ours!" Jess wrote on Instagram last week.
"I'll be living in it and making it into our little home until Ben joins me after the wedding. I can't wait to share all of the little projects."
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Ever since they began dating in December 2018, Ben and Jessica have been making a long-distance relationship work, with Ben being in Denver most of the time and Jessica living in Nashville, TN.
Before proposing marriage to Jess at her family's home in March, Ben told Us Weekly that Jessica planned to move into his Denver home after they toured the U.S. together for his The Bachelor Live On Stage Tour with Becca Kufrin. (The early 2020 tour, however, was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic).
"She's going to move to Denver. She started a little company in Denver that she launched this week, actually. So she is starting to make plans to build a life out there, and I'm very thankful for that," Ben shared in January.
"We've lived apart based on our own moral and personal choices and history of what we've done in relationships -- what's worked and what hasn't. So the tour bus will be close confines, and then the next step will obviously be moving in together."
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But the couple's plans changed over the next several months.
During a July episode of Ben and Ashley Iaconetti's The Ben and Ashley I: Almost Famous Podcast, Ben revealed he and Jess decided to wait until marriage to live together.
Ben explained Jess had gone back to esthetics school to educate others on skincare while he still remained in Denver.
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"I'm sure there's going to be a time when it hits us, but we are going to be seeing each other often," Ben explained.
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"But we will be apart until that day, and I want to believe and trust that in five years, it will almost be a distant memory -- how much time we spent apart -- and we'll have a lifetime together... Things are great for us."
Ben also discussed at the time what's on the horizon for him in terms of a wedding.
"Unfortunately we are [waiting until 2021 to tie the knot]," Ben said, later adding, "We've now planned it to be around November 2021."
Ben clarified, "Ideally, it would have been this year we would have gotten married... November [2020] was the idea. COVID, you know, kind of stopped those plans."
Ben and Jess had agreed to work around the schedule of Jess' brother who plays professional baseball in the spring and summer.
"Hopefully by then, you know, COVID is -- cross our fingers -- it's far enough gone that our family can be there and celebrate with the freedom of knowing that, you know, there's a solution to the COVID virus," Ben said at the time.
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The couple's relationship began in late 2018 when Ben apparently saw Jess' photo from a hockey game she went to with her father and decided to direct messaged her on Instagram. After chatting on FaceTime, the pair met in person and Ben asked Jess to be his girlfriend.
Jess said her relationship with Ben progressed quickly and became serious fast.
Ben recently told Us that he'd like to start a family with Jess in less than three years and probably adopt at least one child.
After competing for Kaitlyn Bristowe's heart on The Bachelorette's eleventh season, Ben starred on The Bachelor and famously fell in love with both of his Final 2 bachelorettes, Lauren Bushnell and JoJo Fletcher.
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Ben ultimately dumped runner-up JoJo in favor of winner Lauren, who accepted Ben's marriage proposal during the Season 20 finale that aired in March 2016.
After starring on a Bachelor spinoff called Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After? on Freeform, Ben and Lauren split in May 2017.
Following his breakup with Lauren, Ben announced he was in a new relationship in January 2019, but he waited several more weeks before revealing his girlfriend's identity and going Instagram official with Jess.
Meanwhile, Lauren married country singer Chris Lane in October 2019 and the lovebirds are currently living in Nashville and expecting their first child together.
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