Job Transfer Leaves Family Miles Apart
Laurie Rioux shutters to think about what last Christmas would have been like separated from her husband. That's because the scenario was all too real for this professional nurse and her two-year-old daughter.
In July 2007, Laurie's husband was unexpectedly transferred from Arlington, Texas to El Paso. The couple was not ready to pick up everything and move, and not ready to sell their home in a soft housing market, the couple decided to live in separate cities.
"I couldn't just pick up everything and go. My business was in Arlington, my career was in Arlington and my home was in Arlington," she said. "We knew if we sold our home and then had to move back, we could never afford to purchase this kind of home again."
Laurie's husband began living alone in El Paso. Laurie stayed behind with their daughter.
Miserable being a part from her husband and with Christmas just over a month away, Laurie knew she needed to do something - anything - to bring her family together again.
After perusing the Internet, Laurie stumbled upon CorporateHousingbyOwner.com where she learned that she could temporarily rent out her fully furnished home as a corporate housing rental. Within two weeks, Laurie packed up her personal effects, turned her home into a CHBO Complete certified listing (which meant her property met corporate housing standards of completeness) and then listed her home for rent on CorporateHousingbyOwner.com.
Within one month of advertising on CHBO, Laurie found a quality renter who wanted to lease her home for three months. That renter was Laurie's ticket to El Paso so she and her daughter could spend the holidays with their husband and father. Months later, Laurie continues to use CorporateHousingbyOwner.com to find a continuous stream of quality tenants. In fact, she even rented her home to a family displaced by Hurricane Ike.
Laurie likes the new arrangement, although she still dreams of the day when her whole family is living in their cherished Arlington home again. She says, "CorporateHousingbyOwner.com gives me the flexibility of having my Arlington home available every so often so I can come home to take care of my patients and do what I need to do in Arlington. I like knowing that the home is still there for us when we're ready to go back."
In the meantime, Laurie will earn passive income from her Arlington home while enjoying living as a family unit in El Paso. "I don't know if we'll ever move back to our Arlington home, but I know that we just weren't ready to let go of it," she says. And thanks to CorporateHousingbyOwner.com, she doesn't have to let go.
