FORT WAYNE, Indiana (WPTA21) – In early December, a house on Parkland Drive went up for sale.
Its owner and designer, architect James Sherbondy had the house built in 1975.
And for nearly fifty years, its interior remained intact – a time capsule for the style of that era.
The images inside, taken by Art Home Photo, quickly went viral and made national real estate and media coverage across the country.
At the same time, Nathan and Alysha Jackson were living in Florida and not in a home market across the country.
But when they saw photos of the house, located in the town where Nathan grew up, the couple had some serious conversations.
“We made an offer, and on Monday morning it was accepted,” Alysha told us. “I think we just looked at each other and expected to find buyer’s remorse, like ‘what did we just do?’ But we were really just excited. “
“It’s really surreal,” Nathan added.
At 2,476 square feet, four bedrooms, and three bathrooms, the Parkland Drive property is much larger than their Florida home, but they embrace all the updates they make to the property.
Shortly after the purchase, the Jacksons packed their bags and headed to Fort Wayne, Nate’s hometown, with their two children, who they adopted during the pandemic.
It is an adventure in which the whole family embarks.
“With a background in foster care, there is trauma and you really want to be careful about how you deal with change,” Alysha said. “They are like heroes. They are resistant and have just been rolled with.
One of the characteristics of the house?
“Everything is carpeted, even the bathroom,” Nathan said.
“It was difficult with the 2 and 3 year olds to have carpeting in the kitchen, but we made it work,” Alysha told us.
Like their home, the Jacksons are also unique.
Former school teachers moved away from education to engage in e-commerce using Amazon.
It’s very successful for them.
Now they are teaching others online how they did it.
Their lifelong goal is to achieve financial freedom and retire early by creating passive income.
They are on track to get there.
They are now using Instagram and other social media to document their journey to update the home, even connecting with the architect’s son, to make sure their changes pay homage to his origins.
They also reached out to photographer, Dustin McKibben, who took the real estate photos, to create a ’70s-themed photoshoot.
These photos helped their Instagram grow from hundreds of followers to 30,000.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CJL9PtLhDve/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
They will split their time between Florida and Indiana, renting out either home on Airbnb as part of their passive income plan.
“A lot of times I tell people that things are scary for a reason, but they usually pay off,” Alysha said.
Nathan added, “Thinking outside the box is such an underrated and underused skill that isn’t really taught. And so show people how to think outside the box, how to live life a little differently? It’s important to us, and a great lesson to teach others.
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