| Reprise: A real estate story as we near the end of summer in Wisconsin.
I’ve traveled around Wisconsin, the country and Europe and have seen many interesting homes and settings wondering of the inhabitants, “Why do you live here?” Sometimes I ask.
The MacBook Air, PC, iPad, iPhone or Galaxy, doesn’t make the sound. You must be of a certain age to recall hearing it, the keys, the carbon ribbon and the consistent tap, tap, tap. The Smith Corona – the writers’ “piano” – sat on a table on the deck.
The deck was part of a 27-foot O’Day sailboat. It had a name: “Rock ‘N Roll.”
 Docked in the canal on the Florida coast, it did rock and roll. I was on my bicycle so I stopped, watched and listened. He sat and wrote – tap, tap, tap, ching. I asked.
I sailed in a previous life almost sinking in the middle of Lake Michigan, so I knew the formal ask for access: “Permission to come aboard?” “Yes” he replied. Ryan was the owner. Why did he live here?
(Speaking of Lake Michigan, a recent great read: “The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald,”)
It was his home/office, the sailboat. Simple in design, the V-berth forward slept 4 comfortably and the galley stainless steel sink, Formica countertop and 4’ cubic icebox met his food needs. A cramped space for 4 but he was living solo. Well 2, as he had a dog. It worked for them.
I often ask strangers a question that annoys my wife, Terry. Here’s the thing. Journalism major that I was, I like to know what people do, so I don’t dance, I simply ask, “Whaddya do?” Terry tells me there’s a more polite way to ask. So I asked Ryan, “Whaddya do?”
For many years Ryan worked a 9-5 job writing manuals for a Fortune 500 company. Over time it felt like shift work, not meaningful – at least not meaningful to him after 33 years.
Dumb luck, sometimes it intervenes. Ryan’s luck? He purchased a home in his late twenties in the Midwest. After time, even accounting for bad real estate times, he had equity. “When I bought the home, I didn’t know what the word equity meant, I just wanted my own place to live and not pay rent,” he told me.
 Ring, ring…life. Phase 3 was calling. Ryan, nearing 65, was looking for options. He told me the equity allowed him to downsize from his 2,700 square-foot home to his 27’ O’Day. The boat costs substantially less than his home to own and maintain. He invested his home profit and lives on Social Security and 4% from his investment account.
He no longer writes corporate manuals but continues to tap. He does some corporate freelance and Substack work. His drafts are on the Smith Corona but his writings are now finalized on his MacBook Air.
Why does Ryan live here? His short answer? Because he can. It beats the Midwestern winters and he has what he needs. I think there’s a ying and yang for what defines success for many. I prefer John Bogle’s definition in his book Enough.
(At a party given by a billionaire, Kurt Vonnegut informed his pal Joseph Heller that their host made more money in a single day than Heller made from his novel Catch-22 over its whole history. Heller replied, Yes, but I have something he will never have…I have enough.)
 As to real estate, if dumb luck helps put you in a good place in Phase 3 of life, that might be a good reason to buy a home in Phase 1 or 2. Since we advocate for an informed homebuyer, not luck, contact us if you’d like to have a coffee and talk about real estate. (Can’t help you with the O’Day.)
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Thanks for reading,
Michael D. Holloway
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