In 2012, we sold our house in Johnson City (arranging to rent it for a few months while we figured things out) having no idea where we would be going next. Terry had two job possibilities in the Tri-Cities, two in Knoxville, and one in Etowah. One by one these were eliminated because he either didn’t get the offer or the offers were too low to practically consider. So we decided that now was the time for Terry to try his hand at flipping houses full time. We felt that Knoxville was a better area to do that, so we decided to move there.

We considered renting a place, but it really went against our frugal nature to rent a place when we already owned a flip house in progress. It was close to finished - enough so that we could live in it while Terry finished it up. Our plan was to live in it until it sold.

It sold so quickly that this time in our lives went by like a blur. But living in an older house in a gentrified part of town was an eye-opening experience for all of us. It was a shared trauma of sorts as while living there we witnessed a drug bust, a naked inebriated man walking down the street, and a homeless man coming into our dining room during breakfast and asking for a dollar.

But we also had sweet times sitting on the front porch and getting to know our neighbors. I also had always wanted to live in an older home. Now I have!

We also found out that Terry was pretty good at this house flipping thing! This property sold at asking price to the first person who looked at it.