Adventures in Housing

In 2020, Jillian VanTuyle racked up $60,000 worth of credit card debt paying for childcare and other expenses during the COVID pandemic. In 2026, she sold her home, paid off all her debt, and didn’t even have to move.

Chris Sorbe worked with his father to turn their home into a vacation rental a decade ago. Business boomed for a while, but it hasn’t been so hot lately.

Drea Parker in North Carolina now lives on the property she grew up on, but in her own custom-made tiny home.

“I didn't fall in love with the house when I walked in,” said Ashley Pincenti, a first-time homeowner in Bartlett, Illinois. “I had signs telling me: ‘This is your house.’”

After deciding to leave behind city life, Janet Kile settled in a vintage park trailer on a flower farm in Saluda, South Carolina.

“It was just a matter of being there, realizing OK, I can't experience this place unless I'm here,” said Brian Evaul, a maintenance supervisor at Big Bend National Park in Texas.

Kiki Leigh bought a historic home in Mussomeli, Sicily. This summer, she hopes to finally move in.

Redoing her home’s landscaping led Sara Southwick to start her own native plant nursery in Provo, Utah.

After using an online estate sale business to sell her late mother’s goods, Amy Byer knew she’d found a new career path. Now people wait for hours to attend her estate sales.

Louis Tsien and Carole-Jean Smith bought their home in Watertown, Massachusetts in 1983, and, despite hiccups with the house over the years, they stayed firmly planted.