2020 has been a wild and crazy year for just about everyone I know. For us, it has been no different–an emotional roller coaster to say the least. So why on earth did we decide to sell both of the homes that we own and buy another home that is need of a complete makeover? Because we are gluttons for punishment, that’s why. We also needed more room. This past June Stephanie decided that we had simply outgrown the home that all five of us loved so much. And she was right. It was time to move on. The boys are getting bigger fast and two of them were still sharing a bedroom–or trying to share a bedroom. It wasn’t working well at all.
To listen to Jeremy and Stephanie discuss how their RV saved them during the craziest week of their lives, click on the media player above, or listen to this week’s podcast in iTunes or wherever you get your shows.
The RV Atlas Fall/Holiday Merch Shop is Open until Nov. 9th! Grab your mugs, magnets, stickers, hoodies, t-shirts, and more! Click here to enter the shop!
We were also sick of being landlords and wanted to sell a rental property that we own. The rental was the first home that we bought after we got married. It was time to move on from that house as well.
The real estate market has also been hot in our part of the country, and interest rates are at record lows, so we wanted to take advantage of those two trends as well. What we didn’t know was that buying and selling during a global pandemic would be far from easy. Particularly when it comes to arranging closing dates when multiple banks and buyers and sellers are involved.
We ended up having to sell our home and moving out before we were able to buy our new home. Our dream of packing up a U-Haul and driving it up the road and unloading it did not materialize. Instead we ended up packing up the RV and heading to the campground for an undetermined amount of time–not knowing if we could close on our new home or not. It was also not easy to find an open campsite at the last minute. I drove the Eagle to a local county park the night before we had to leave the house and they only had one site left which they keep reserved for emergencies–like if the water or electric stops working at another site. I told the Ranger that my family was the EMERGENCY and begged him to give us the site. Thank god he did–he even let us book it for a full week.
Thankfully the weather was perfect. Stephanie and I woke up every morning and brought the boys to school or to their sports games, and we spent each afternoon working at the campground and calling our lawyer and mortgage broker trying to close on the new home! I’m looking back fondly at this crazy week now, but it was sooooo stressful in the moment.
Our local school board even called us because they had received a tip that we had moved!! We were under contract at the next house in the same town, and technically homeless, so we had an absolute legal right to keep our kids in school! So we got a little cranky about that to say the least!
Thankfully we were able to close on our new home about six days after we “moved” into the campground. It was a crazy week but it was well worth it! Our new home is going to be incredible after we renovate it, and we have amazing RV parking on the side of the house–which is something I have always wanted and didn’t think I would ever get.
On our second day in the new house we had our local electrician come over and install a 50 AMP hookup as well, so now we can run the Eagle at full strength right at the side of the house! I ran the AC for a few hours that day JUST BECAUSE! We can also run our electric fireplace in the evening. If you haven’t installed a 50 Amp outlet at your house yet you should consider it. It’s affordable and opens up the possibility of using your RV as a guest house or office, even in hot weather.
While I was writing the electricians a check someone from the school board pulled up in front of our house and started asking me questions. I was like, “hold on a minute–I’m paying these guys for the 50 AMP hookup I just installed at MY NEW HOUSE.”
I may have lost my temper for the next 30 minutes and threatened to call my lawyer–but we are not going to talk about that….
Wish us luck with our new house and the demo and we will send you best wishes back for good health and as much happiness as possible during this wild and crazy year!
See You at the Campground!
Jeremy & Stephanie
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
