Out with the old, in with the new

It has been a crazy past few months. 😅 At the end of July, I made the decision to relocate to Florida since remote work was becoming more of a long-term possibility with everything going on with the pandemic. There really was no reason for me to stay in the DC area since I can do my job from anywhere so I started looking at houses in the Navarre, FL area and I gave myself a goal to be in my new location by October 1st.

Once I started house hunting virtually, I asked my bosses for approval to continue remote work indefinitely and less than 24 hours after I received verbal approval, a house popped up on the market that I knew was “the one”, so I jumped on it.

The housing market in Navarre is fiercely competitive just like everywhere else around the country since everyone is looking for more space and relocating closer to family and loved ones. Navarre was also recently listed as one of the best places to live in the U.S. due to all of the outdoor water sport activities, laid back atmosphere and low cost of living. So back in July and August when the market was white hot, you really needed to make an offer within the first 24 hours of a house being listed or you’d miss out on it.

After viewing just photos of my house on Zillow, I called my realtor and put in an offer within the first few hours of it being listed. Multiple offers came in as expected in this crazy market and ultimately mine was accepted after a second round of offers were put in for the best and final selection. 🙌 🏡 🏝

I couldn’t be happier with my house and finally have a yard and outdoor living space after being in a second floor condo for 15 years. I’m really looking forward to hosting friends and family here and having movie nights in my Florida room! I’m also looking forward to playing more sand volleyball since I’ll only be 10 minutes away from Juana’s where they host leagues and pick-up games year-round. Juana’s is also the place to watch NFL games and I know I’ll be able to watch the Steelers play anytime now. I love my new neighborhood too. ❤️ Everyone is so friendly and as I was cutting my lawn for the first time, I couldn’t help but smile and wave to everyone who drove by. 👋 😊 I will be so much happier not having to deal with an HOA or having my bedroom window right beside a parking lot. I’ll also have the freedom to make my house my own and make any renovations I want. 🥰

The other piece to this relocation puzzle that was filled pretty easily was finding a tenant for my condo. When I bought it back in 2006, I knew I wanted to eventually keep it as an investment property but I never knew I’d actually be there for so long before actually renting it out. After showing it to just 2 interested parties, the second person wanted to sign a lease for 9 months so that was a huge weight off my shoulders since I was already under contract with my house without having a tenant in place.😅 This past week I gave my place a huge facelift by getting new carpeting installed, resurfacing my bathtub and repainting a few areas to freshen everything up so everything looked great for my tenants.

After I handed over the keys to my very first tenant, I got pretty emotional in my car. 😭 I know it wasn’t my childhood home or anything but there were just so many memories in my condo since I bought it when I was only 25 and now I’m 40! I know what I have to look forward to in Florida and I’ll actually be paying less for twice the square footage and outdoor living space I’ve always wanted, but it was bittersweet closing that chapter in my life. ☺️

I’m so thankful for everyone who helped me with this relocation process. It all started with my boyfriend linking me up with my lender Albert Sousa and realtor Natalie McClure who actually both sing in the choir at St. Mary’s which will be my new church 🙌 . Natalie helped me snag my house and strategize our offer to win it in this competitive market and Albert walked me through every step of the numbers game. Both were so awesome to work with and I highly recommend them to anyone who is looking to buy in the Fort Walton Beach/Navarre area.

Next, planning the logistics for this move was a challenge but I’ve had people step up to help me every step of the way which made it so much easier and I’m so grateful for everyone who took time out of their schedules to help me. Especially loading the truck in VA…that was a huge challenge and I had people show up that I hadn’t seen in years to help and even friends of friends came to help that I had never even met before. 🙏 ❤️ I want to give a special thanks to my dad who drove with me in our moving truck all the way to Florida and back and helped me set up my house for a few days after closing. 😅 Also, a special thanks to my boyfriend and his parents and also my lender Albert who came over to help unpack and set up furniture right after closing.

I’m so excited for this new chapter and new adventures. It was the right time to make the big move south and I can’t wait to build my life in paradise. Next up, decorate and furnish my house so that I can host family and friends and start a pick-up basketball and sand volleyball league at my new church in Fort Walton Beach. Also, now that I’m only 10 minutes from the beach, it will be much easier to produce content for my growing YouTube channel. 🙏 💃🏽

xoxo,