Part 1 - In the Beginning...
PIA. Its the abbreviation for the Peoria Airport. It's also the abbreviation for Pain In the ASS!!! That pretty much sums up the vibe of our hometown. We had a wanderlust the cornfields of Illinois could never squelch and we knew that we were not meant to take root there.
Scott was working as a microbiologist at a local hospital and had been playing in an Irish Band that was part of the Peoria St Pats festivities for the last 6 years. Jenny had been at the same job as an Environmental Lab Technician for about 6 years as well.
Even though we were fortunate enough to have decent jobs and great friends/family, we just weren't happy. We lived in a trashy town full of trashy people. We wanted out. By we wanted out, I mean we could hardly think of anything but leaving that town far behind. We worked on updating the house on our minimal incomes. Board by board, weekend by weekend, we worked away. Painting, paneling, and tiling.
In the spring of 2017 we felt confident in listing the house ourselves. We took our own pictures and uploaded them to websites like Zillow, just like a real estate agent would. After about 8 unsuccessful months with a realtor, we managed to find a buyer with our very first showing.
A long awaited journey, but we learned a lot by selling ourselves. We also were able to save thousands of dollars. We cut out the cost of a realtor. The buyers had their own realtor which was a small fee for us, but worked out well considering they had the necessary documents readily available. We paid $100 to a lawyer to go over the documents and that was it. Super easy and selling the house by owner was the only way we were going to make any money. In fact we talked to 3 real estate agents that didn't even want to list the house as high as we sold it for.
We had less than a month to get out of our house, but we couldn't be happier.
We bought a pull behind travel trailer and picked it up the same day we had to hand over the keys to our house. We got a small storage unit for furniture and moved the rest of our belongings into a 37 foot camper.
We parked at Jen's parents "farm" with crude hookups for water and electric. It wasn't ideal, but it was cheap. We spent the summer saving money and kayaking with family and friends. Our 6 year anniversary fell just about one week after moving into an RV full-time, so Jenny got flowers at work to commemorate the moment.
The next few months were dedicated to Scott applying to several staffing agencies for traveling Med Lab Tech work. This allowed us to be a "free agent" and contract with facilities for 13 weeks at a time, instead of just signing up to spend your life in one place. It would be the beginning of a new life for us as a couple of air conditioned gypsy adventurers.
If you want to read more about us, and get to know us better, you can read our first 3 blog articles here:
Act 1 - They Meet
Here is a link to the next entry:
Part 2 - Road Trip!!!
PIA. Its the abbreviation for the Peoria Airport. It's also the abbreviation for Pain In the ASS!!! That pretty much sums up the vibe of our hometown. We had a wanderlust the cornfields of Illinois could never squelch and we knew that we were not meant to take root there.
Scott was working as a microbiologist at a local hospital and had been playing in an Irish Band that was part of the Peoria St Pats festivities for the last 6 years. Jenny had been at the same job as an Environmental Lab Technician for about 6 years as well.
Even though we were fortunate enough to have decent jobs and great friends/family, we just weren't happy. We lived in a trashy town full of trashy people. We wanted out. By we wanted out, I mean we could hardly think of anything but leaving that town far behind. We worked on updating the house on our minimal incomes. Board by board, weekend by weekend, we worked away. Painting, paneling, and tiling.
After an unsuccessful round of dropping all our plans to the whims of potential buyers, we gave up trying to sell the house with a realtor. We thought about selling by owner, but with no experience we figured it would be too complicated for us. At the urging of a friend that had recently let go of their realtor and sold by owner we followed suit. We bought a book, called "Check, Check, Sold", and continued house renovations.
In the spring of 2017 we felt confident in listing the house ourselves. We took our own pictures and uploaded them to websites like Zillow, just like a real estate agent would. After about 8 unsuccessful months with a realtor, we managed to find a buyer with our very first showing.
A long awaited journey, but we learned a lot by selling ourselves. We also were able to save thousands of dollars. We cut out the cost of a realtor. The buyers had their own realtor which was a small fee for us, but worked out well considering they had the necessary documents readily available. We paid $100 to a lawyer to go over the documents and that was it. Super easy and selling the house by owner was the only way we were going to make any money. In fact we talked to 3 real estate agents that didn't even want to list the house as high as we sold it for.
We had less than a month to get out of our house, but we couldn't be happier.
We bought a pull behind travel trailer and picked it up the same day we had to hand over the keys to our house. We got a small storage unit for furniture and moved the rest of our belongings into a 37 foot camper.
We parked at Jen's parents "farm" with crude hookups for water and electric. It wasn't ideal, but it was cheap. We spent the summer saving money and kayaking with family and friends. Our 6 year anniversary fell just about one week after moving into an RV full-time, so Jenny got flowers at work to commemorate the moment.
The next few months were dedicated to Scott applying to several staffing agencies for traveling Med Lab Tech work. This allowed us to be a "free agent" and contract with facilities for 13 weeks at a time, instead of just signing up to spend your life in one place. It would be the beginning of a new life for us as a couple of air conditioned gypsy adventurers.
If you want to read more about us, and get to know us better, you can read our first 3 blog articles here:
Act 1 - They Meet
Here is a link to the next entry:
Part 2 - Road Trip!!!
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