The VanNess Vagabonds

Well, lets start with how we even got into the housing mess.

We purchased our house in 2007 during the housing burst, looking to make a ‘secure’ investment to later use toward our trip.   We had high hopes, planning to completely renovate our 1960’s split level in an ‘up and coming’ neighborhood of downtown Raleigh, North Carolina.

A home inside the beltline of Raleigh is a tell tail sign of a high mortgage payments and old construction.  Homes located just on the other side of the highway jump in price dramatically (sometimes by hundreds of thousands of dollars).  Our neighborhood was the last section of  ‘inside the beltline’ housing that had not been overhauled, with prices still affordable for the average individual (under $200,000).  All the surrounding neighborhoods boast homes in the high $300,000; we figured, at the time, with neighbors like that where could you go wrong.

Before we even moved into the 1800 sq ft home we went through and began to tear out the mauve carpet, wood paneling, & floral wallpaper replacing them with a clean modern décor that suited our taste.  Over 2 years we went through every foot of the house, floor to ceiling, and completely re-landscaped the back yard & modified the front.   Two rooms in the house were taken down to the bare studs then completely revived with tile, sheet rock, fixtures, literally everything.

We really believed in the opportunity to make ‘big money’ taking note of the California & Florida professional house flippers on every television channels own version of a home improvement reality TV show.

It is hard to sell a piece of your soul:

We experienced a lot in the house, as most people do.  I graduated from college, we were married, our best friend (lobo) passed away in the house.   We had a lot of memories there, great parties, Christmas with the family . . .  So, when it came time to decided whether to sell the house or attempt to rent it while traveling, we were pretty overwhelmed as to what would be best.  After much discussion there were a few key factors that came into play when making the final call.

What made us sell:

1.We had an in-ground pool.

For those of you who have never had a pool- it is a money pit, requires a lot of work, and you have to be somewhat knowledgeable about the money hole in your yard or you can get yourself into a big mess.  For those of you who have had a pool, I am sure you feel our pain.  Pools are awesome for people willing to take on the burden.  We loved, loved, loved having a pool, but when it comes to placing the responsibility of upkeep on a renter (that may or may not care what happens to your home because they will just move out) we felt that we would be entering into a huge gamble.  Even if the renter did care about keeping the house nice, they may not know enough about the pool to recognize when there is an issue.  The last thing we would want is to get an email at an Internet café in Rwanda that the pool pipes had exploded . . .and have to take a huge chunk of our travel fund to take care of the problem long distance (because of a lack of knowledge on someone else’s part).  Not to mention if someone was hurt in the pool.  We would end up having to fly home to deal with it.  Once we thought about this we were really starting to see our decision clearly.

2.The mortgage on our home was higher than what we could charge for rent.

While we could charge rent to cover the mortgage, where would the maintenance money come from to fix things, to pay a fix-it man, to pay the rental company collecting our rent?  We would have to pay these costs out of pocket (dipping into our trip savings).  Yes, we may make that money back once we return and try to sell the house, but when we were trying to make this decision the entire housing market had crashed.  What was to say that when we returned from our trip things wouldn’t be even worse, we would have paid out of pocket & shortened our travels for a house that was worthless.

3.What if the renter flakes out, destroys the house, doesn’t pay rent, or disappears.

Now these statements are a little drastic, but my mother has rented one of her homes for many years.  She has been through hell and high water with renters completely destroying her house, making absurdly late payments (the rental management company even makes late payments to her, making her pay the mortgage out of pocket and wait to be reimbursed).  Renters have left in the middle of the lease; she has been to court for rent and lost, and on and on.  She has trouble keeping an eye on all of these things from New York where she lives (the house is in North Carolina).  If she has difficulty in the US, how are we going to be able to handle all of the crap that goes along with renting while traversing the globe?  We could put the responsibility on a family member or friend, but then we would feel obligated to pay them, which then goes back to #2- will we make that money back on the house . . .who knows, at this point it is a gamble.

4.What would we do with the house if we decide not to come back to Raleigh?

Keep renting it; try to sell it abroad- what if we stay in Australia- manage renting a home from the other side of the globe?  Yes, it would be possible, but would it be worth it?  We don’t think so, especially when the rent doesn’t cover all the expenses.  Yes, if we kept the house for a long time the neighborhood MAY have improved enabling us to charge more rent, but who knows when that would be and who knows if the neighborhood would plummet like so many others in the USA right now.

5.We needed to save money.

Our rent & bills at an apartment were a fraction (over 50% less) the amount we paid to maintain the house.  Even more when you factor in things like keeping the front & backyards maintained or fixing things that break.  If we sold our house and put that savings toward our trip we would save the amount we need more than 50% faster than if we kept the house.  Yes, that is a temporary solution to our savings issue, and yes slow and steady wins the race.  But honestly, we would have had to stay for another year to save what we could save in 4 months.  If we did stay for that year to save slower, we would still have all the concerns listed above to contend with while we were gone.  Like I said- huge gamble.  At that point we had no idea what was going to happen to the economy, were we in for another great depression- was this the last chance we would have to get out from under the house?  What if we couldn’t get the house rented, because no one could afford it due to the lack of jobs?  We would have to put the trip on hold and wait, for who knows how long, for someone to rent the house.  Then what if they lost their job and had to move out?  Our savings would bleed money to mortgage payments and our year long adventure would turn into a couple month disaster.

So with all of these things in mind we made the controversial (with our friends and family) decision to try and sell our house during one of the biggest housing crashes in US history.  Was it the right decision?  We think so.  At this point (3 months after the sale), we have saved what we had accrued in 7 months when living in the house.

One major drawback of this whole thing was the amount of work that we put into the house.  According to our real estate agent, if we had not done the work to the house we would not have been able to sell the house for what we owed- that means we would have had to pay out of pocket to sell our house.  Different world than the 3-month $100,000 profit, housing boom of the year prior huh?  So thankfully with Mark’s awesome handyman skills and our elbow grease we were able to do almost all of the improvements to the house without paying a contractor or subbing out the work.  The only work we had to pay for was plumbing and electrical (which a portion of that was paid for with the barter system- Mark tattooed them for free, they did the work for free).

Even with us saving through doing our own work, Mark trading out for tattoos, and using materials wisely (our backyard was entirely landscaped by splitting plants that we already owned and re-planting them with a few plants purchased and split)- we came out only making the money we invested in items added to the house.  When I say invested I mean the money we used to buy materials- that DOES NOT include the mortgage payments we made.  We ONLY made back the cost of materials we used back- like the granite counter tops, the stainless appliances, etc.  We didn’t make back any money that we had put into the pool (because it does not add value to a home, go figure- the thing that sucks up the most money isn’t worth anything).  We had to replace the pool liner right before we sold the house- $3000 down the drain or should I say sand filter.

Even with losing the money we paid into the house in mortgage payments, no compensation for the labor we put into the house (which if we had paid for labor, the cost for improvements would have doubled and we would have LOST a lot more money than we did) we feel like we made the right decision.  How can you truly feel free- free to travel, go where you please, land where you like, and live without a fear of responsibilities if you have a mortgage, renter, and a home (the most expensive thing you will ever buy) looming over your head the entire time.  Even with us barely scrapping out over what we owed for the house, losing all that time invested, selling those memories to someone that doesn’t care what you did in the house, we feel free.  We live in a 500 sq ft apartment and we save extraordinary amounts of money doing that.  Yes, I may not have a convection oven, a French door refrigerator, or a workshop to make my art, but by giving those things up I have gained the possibility to live my life.  By not being consumed with taking care of those things, paying for those things, fixing those things, I am free to focus on fulfilling a dream, exploring the world.  We may have lost some money, but we have gained what will be the experience of a lifetime.

So to answer- Should I sell or rent my house while I am gone- I say SELL, SELL, SELL!