In the fall of 2025, we knew we needed to be looking for a new place to live. Our rent was going to go up by an amount that made it prudent for us to consider finding a different place to live. We hopped onto Zillow.com and started looking for the kinds of houses we could afford and enjoy. Nothing showed up in Carson City that wasn’t a single-wide modular or vacant land. We expanded our search to all of Nevada, then Arizona, then all of the West, and still we could not find a place that would feel like a home we wanted to live in at a price that we were comfortable living with.
If we couldn’t live in Nevada or the West, we decided to look for places close to family. That led us to consider east-central Iowa where Bev’s sister, Melanie, and her husband, Peter, had retired a few years ago. Zillow showed us many potential homes with desirable features and affordability within an hour of their home in Williamsburg.
In October 2025, Beverly and her sisters met for their annual Sisters Week, this time staying in a cozy place in Missouri near Beverly’s sister, Rosie. After their multi-day retreat, Bev, Melanie, and youngest sister, Grace, drove up to Williamsburg to spend some more time together. While there, Peter drove them around to different little towns near their hometown where Zillow red dots landed during our online search. One day they toured some homes in those towns with a Realtor. After looking at several places, some of which were scary “fixer-uppers,” Bev recalls stepping into 300 E Hilton Street in Marengo feeling like “this could be home.” The home felt welcoming and well cared for, with much character and charm throughout. I (Rob), still back home in Nevada, got to take the tour with them through the magical wonder of FaceTime video on one of their iPhones! I liked what I saw transmitted through that virtual transcontinental lens.
In late November we made an offer, and after some back-and-forth over details, we had made a deal to purchase the Marengo house. We set a closing date of February 17, 2026, to allow time for us and the seller to get through all the end-of-year holiday obligations, pack, and make all the moving arrangements.
And that’s where we are as I write this, sorting, tossing, giving way, and packing what we will take with us to east-central Iowa in just a couple of weeks.
