They moved to the Atlanta area in the summer of 2021. Big fans of Netflix's "Stranger Things," the husband and wife often drove by the two-story brick residence in East Point, Georgia, that serves as the exterior for the Wheeler house in the science fiction series.
The wife told her mother they would move into 2530 Piney Wood Lane one day.
"It was a running joke ever since," the wife told Homes.com in an exclusive interview.
They aren't laughing now. The couple, who asked that their names not be used, are the home's rightful owners, paying $365,000 — $15,000 over list price — in the sale that closed Oct. 27, Homes.com data shows. The seller was Netflix Studios, which paid $425,000 for the home in 2021, according to public records.
"We didn't think it would ever be possible," the wife said.
"Stranger Things," set in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, debuted in 2016 and became an immediate hit for binge-watchers drawn to the 1980s pop culture references, compelling storylines and season-ending cliffhangers. In the series, Karen and Ted Wheeler live in the home with their children Nancy, Mike and Holly, although the show's interior house scenes are shot elsewhere.
New owners moving in slowly
More than two years ago, the house's new owners bought another place in the same East Point neighborhood, but the call of the five-bedroom Wheeler pad is too great, they said. They intend to rent their existing house and are slowly moving into the cul-de-sac home on Piney Wood Lane.
They expect to be settling in for good over the long Thanksgiving weekend — only two or three days after the series' highly anticipated final season is released on Nov. 26.
For now, it's just the two of them, two dogs and two cats, but they said they're hoping little feet also will walk the house's hallways before long. The couple is in the process of adopting a child or two.
"Our hearts are open," she said. "Our mindset is for kiddos."
The native Texans, high-school sweethearts, are both in their mid-30s. He's a middle-school teacher in the Atlanta area, and she's a retail worker and the assistant manager at an acting studio.
Couple wrote a letter
In January 2024, she spent two days as a "Stranger Things" extra in Atlanta. She won't know whether her scenes made it into the series until the final season comes out.
While perusing social media recently, she saw Netflix was looking to sell the house now that the series has finished filming. She figured she and her husband had to at least try and buy it, even though they already had the other home.
Working with real estate agent Giovany Gonzalez-Rios of BHHS Georgia Properties, they went above the list price with a $365,000 offer, hoping to stand out from what they figured would be stiff competition.
"That's what we felt like we could do comfortably, or maybe a little uncomfortably," the husband said.
Trying to make an even more compelling case, they wrote a letter to Netflix, explaining why buying the house would be so meaningful to them.
"We are growing our family through adoption and hope that our children will enjoy their childhood just as much as the Wheeler kids did," the letter said. "We will honor the neighborhood and the legacy of this house and will be available for any future projects and/or reunions."
Primary offer fell through
Gonzalez-Rios informed them that they had made a strong offer, but Netflix selected one other bid ahead of theirs.
Typically, only 10% to 20% of backup offers ever get the property, he said, but somehow the primary offer on Piney Wood Lane fell through.
"Once I got the confirmation, they were ecstatic," Gonzalez-Rios recalled in an interview. "Everything happens for a reason."
They would like to think their letter made a difference, but they didn't find out. When Homes.com contacted listing agent Hall Carey of Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby's International Realty, he asked for emailed questions but did not respond to them.
The 2,466-square-foot property built in 1963 sits on just more than two acres and is a "quintessential (1980s) time capsule," according to the listing.
It goes on to say the new owners could make home improvements to smooth over some "upside down" features, a reference to a phrase the Wheeler children used in the series' first season to describe an alternate universe.
Still will look like the Wheeler house
The main living area has retro wood panel walls, a brick fireplace and sliding doors leading to the back patio, the listing says.
A panel-matching kitchen has lots of counter space, "a waffle breakfast area, and leads to a separately framed dining room, adjoining another living room on the front of the house where you can keep an eye out for trick-or-treaters," the listing states.
Aside from redoing the downstairs bathroom and installing vinyl plank flooring and carpeting, the couple said they plan no other interior or exterior renovations.
"We still want it to look like the Wheeler house," she said.
They even created an Instagram page this month to keep "Stranger Things" aficionados apprised of the house's new owners.
And, yes, they said fans who are respectful of boundaries (and who honor daylight hours) are welcome to drive past the iconic house and dream, just as the new owners themselves once did.