FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA21) – In early December, a home on Parkland Drive went up for sale.
Its owner and designer, architect James Sherbondy had the home built in 1975.
And for nearly fifty years, its interior remained untouched – 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 news outlets across the country.
At the same time, Nathan and Alysha Jackson were living in Florida and not in the market for a house across the country.
But when they saw pictures of the home, located in the city in which Nathan grew up, the couple had some serious conversations.
“We put in an offer, and by 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 kind of surreal,” Nathan added.
At 2,476 sq. ft., four bedrooms and three baths, the Parkland Drive property is much bigger than their Florida home, but they’re embracing any and all updates they make to the property.
Shortly after the purchase, the Jacksons packed up and headed to Fort Wayne, Nate’s hometown, with their two children, who they adopted during the pandemic.
It’s an adventure the whole family is embarking on.
“With backgrounds in foster care, there’s trauma involved and you really want to be careful with how you deal with change,” Alysha said. “They’re just like heroes. They’re resilient and have just rolled with it.”
One of the features of the home?
“Everything is carpeted, even the bathroom,” Nathan said.
“It’s been tough with the 2 and 3-year old having carpet in the kitchen but we’ve been making it work,” Alysha told us.
Like their home, the Jacksons are also unique.
The former school teachers stepped away from education to pursue online commerce using Amazon.
It’s been very successful for them.
Now they’re teaching others online how they did it.
Their lifelong goal is to achieve financial freedom and retire early by creating passive income.
They’re well on track to make it happen.
They’re now using Instagram and other social media to document their journey to update the home, even building connections with the architect’s son, to make sure their changes pay homage to its origins.
They also contacted the photographer, Dustin McKibben, who took the real estate photos, to create a 70’s-themed shoot.
Those photos helped grow their Instagram from hundreds of followers to 30,000.
They’ll 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 things are scary for a reason but they usually pay off,” Alysha said.
Nathan added, “Thinking outside the box is such an underrated, underutilized skill that isn’t really taught a lot. And so showing people how to think outside the box, how to live life a little differently? It’s important to us, and a great lesson to show other people.”