A moving journey
In my last post I mentioned the story of us moving. I may not have ever explained the crap we went through when we decided to move and how everything came about. So go grab a snack, a drink, and buckle up!
Let’s start with the very, very beginning. James was living in a townhouse that his mother owned. He was on the deed, but not the the loan for it. The place was falling apart. Literally. There was a spot in the living room where there was no ceiling. The carpets were needing to be replaced in all the areas, the basement was unfinished (not a huge deal). It just needed a LOT of work. Work and money that James didn’t want to put into the house after his mom passed. His siblings all had their own places. When James called the loan company about the house (because he’s on the deed), they told him that since he’s not on the loan he couldn’t sell the place. He could keep paying for it though. So he opted to stop paying and decided to buy a house of his own. Now at the time we were just dating, but living together (it was just too much for us both for me to keep driving four hours round trip each weekend to visit for a couple of days). Whether I was with him or not, he was moving into another place. That’s something not a lot of people understood at the time.
February 2015
The house hunting began! We found a realtor and started looking at house after house. We weren’t super picky, but we had an idea of what we wanted/needed. A fenced in backyard was a must with Gunner, Legacy and Fat cat. A place that wasn’t tiny either. After searching for a bit, we did find a house we loved. It was in La Plata, MD. Huge fenced in backyard, a shed that half of it was like a man cave with a pool table already there, a screened in back porch with French doors leading into the kitchen, a hot tub, laundry room. I mean despite it being only 1200ish square feet (at the time, it was a good size for us) it was perfect.
And then it wasn’t. Before the home inspection could be done we had to clean out the crap left in the shed, and fix the hot tub (was about $100 to fix). Home inspections with VA loans are a bit more difficult. The inspection took all day, but went well. Then things went downhill.
The title company didn’t file the paperwork when they were supposed to and then when they finally submitted it, they found out that there was a second mortgage on the house that was sold (after when they were supposed to submit paperwork – so if they had done their jobs, it wouldn’t have been a problem). The second mortgage company wanted more than what the house appraised for. They wouldn’t budge and with a VA loan we couldn’t get a loan for higher. We didn’t have the funds to pay the difference (about 40k). We were angry, defeated and just sad.
So we took a weekend away to Williamsburg, VA to just recharge and figure out what we wanted to do. We decided to look at more houses. There had to be another one around there that was just as perfect, right? Wrong. We spent so much time looking at houses online or in person and nothing felt right.
Finally one day I just joked, “we should just move to Florida. Be closer to the cruise ports.” To my surprise James replied with, “let’s do it.” HUH? Was he serious? Over the next couple of weeks, we kept looking at houses online in Maryland while I asked him, “are you being serious about the Florida thing? It’s hot down there you know.” We talked and talked, and talked some more and he was serious. So was I after looking at some of the houses there.
September 2015
That started our search for Orkin’s in Florida. We picked a few places that were hiring, James made some calls. We were planning on visiting Florida in October for our cruise, so once he found a branch (in Winter Haven, FL) we extended our trip before the cruise.
BREAK TIME! Take a break. This is long and we are only a quarter way through!
October 2015
We drove straight down to central Florida. Stayed at a hotel in Kissimmee near Disney. The next morning we woke early, got ready, checked out and headed to Winter Haven to meet a realtor who was showing us houses. We had a LIST of houses to look at. Two houses stuck out to us. A yellow house that I thought was weird since it had two sinks, and a brown house that was decent. We agreed to think it over while on the cruise and go from there. (Now let me know we weren’t thrilled with this realtor. We told her we didn’t want to look at any houses for rent, only for sale. Half our list she couldn’t take us to, some were already pending so I get that. She showed us a few houses and when we expressed how much we liked them, she informed us they were for rent. What the heck? Needless to say that we didn’t like her at all – which you will understand why we went with another realtor to actually buy the house we wanted).
We cruise out of Jacksonville. Got engaged the day before the cruise so it turned into our engagement cruise. All week we talked about the houses. The yellow or the brown. Both ugly ass colors, but both we really liked. When we got back we knew which one we wanted. The yellow one.
James and I headed to Mount Dora where there was a realtor that was suggested to us by our current loan company. She had all the paperwork ready to roll when we got there. James signed the papers (I couldn’t at the time as we weren’t married yet). And that was it. We had put an offer in on a house.
We headed home excited about our next chapters. I mean hell, two big things had happened for us in a week.
A day later our offer was accepted. Now there was a small hiccup because the seller tried to deny allowing VA loans, but since it was on the original listing (they removed it after our offer came in), they had to at least consider the offer. We were moving to Florida! Our realtor went to the house for the inspection (since we obviously couldn’t). All went well and we were onto the next steps. The title company was quick and actually did their jobs!
We started packing because closing was in LESS THAN A MONTH! We told our family, friends and jobs. The jobs believed us, but the family and friends didn’t at first. We packed, tossed trashed, gave away items no longer needed or wanted. Booked a hotel in Winter Haven, booked a truck and trailer. Packed some more. Spent time with family members before we moved.
November 2015
The day before our trip came and boy was I nervous. We picked up the truck and trailer, friends and family came over to help load it. We drove it down to the Hills house (since it couldn’t sit in the complex parking lot for an extended time), and that night we did our best to sleep on the couch and floor of the townhouse. Our last night there.
Up way earlier than the sun the next morning (like 3am early), we drove down to the Hills, picked up the truck and were on the way. James drove the Uhaul towing my car with the cat in the Uhaul, while I drove his truck with the dogs. The drive was INSANE. We were all over it by the time we got to the Orlando area. Gunner didn’t want to get back in the truck, James couldn’t listen to music or anything because Fat Cat would meow and wouldn’t stop, I was tired and ready to just sleep. 45 minutes later we were pulling into the Howard Johnson in Winter Haven (the only place that accepted pets at that time). Checked in, got the animals into the room and ordered dinner. We definitely weren’t leaving until morning.
The next morning we were up, ready to go, animals in the cars, checked out and headed to the house for one final walk through with the sellers realtor. We were able to leave the animals in the house while we went to sign paperwork. The signing was quick and easy and we were officially homeowners!
That whole process was rough from trying to buy a house in Maryland to finally settling in Florida. It was absolutely the right move though.
BREAK TIME! Take a break. We are about half way through now!
June 2019
Leaving Florida. Not something I expected we would do after only being down here for a few years. But I’m an idiot so this next part is on me.
My oldest cousin on my mom’s who I was close with since I was little was having a baby with his girlfriend. She had been with him for many years prior, so I knew her well. While James and I were on vacation in September 2018 they asked us to be Godparents to their unborn son. I was thrilled, James was meh. But we accepted. Then I felt bad because we would be over 800 miles away. We needed to be closer (or so I thought).
We both talked about it and agreed we should move closer. Somewhere cooler but not with a ton of snow and somewhere we can visit family, but not be close enough that people can show up without notice. We picked North Carolina. Raleigh and Wilson were our two options for Orkin branches. We both agreed Wilson was the best. Then Wilson stuck us in Elizabeth City because the employee out there got into a car accident and was on several different drugs. Idjit.
We packed up our house. This time with three dogs (Gunner had passed away and Fat Cat was living with James’s brother CJ because my allergies were just going nuts). We said goodbye to the friends we had made and were on our way to our new adventure.
Elizabeth City SUCKED. There was nothing there. The rental house we had was small and out so far from town that cell service didn’t work until we were about 20 minutes away from the house. James hated that if something were to happen, he wouldn’t be able to get a hold of me if our internet went out (that was the only way to use the phone). The rental company was horrible. I hated them.
March 2020
Thankfully, one of James’s customers owned a large house with a garage apartment in the back. He asked her about it since it was empty and she told him that he had to bring me to see it first. I did. I loved it. It was tiny (very tiny), but it wasn’t with that rental company and the rent would be cheaper. We took it. That was probably the best part of living in North Carolina. Meeting Sarah. She became like a mom to me (especially since I don’t seem to have one anymore). She was always so excited when I shared a new book I had written with her. She was so proud of me and told me all the time. We’d have dinner with her, we even did a late Thanksgiving and had Thanksgiving with her since she worked on Thanksgiving.
Then we started visiting Florida more. Every. Single. Month. For several months in 2021 we would be in Florida for a weekend every month. We were missing our friends and they seemed to be missing us as well. It was a lot. Ten hours or more in the car with dogs. No thanks. The conversation started. Should we move back? It’s hot there. Yeah, but we like it there. We miss it. So we planned it. Another move to Florida. Back to the same area. Close to our friends. This time though we said it was for good (haha!)
Telling James’s job and Sarah were the hardest things we did. His job HATED losing him because James is pretty amazing at his job. Plus they could count on him for whatever they needed. They liked him. He liked them. Hell, I even liked them! I cried telling Sarah. I didn’t want to move away from her, but she understood.
August 2021
We packed, again. Said our goodbyes and once again on the road to Florida.
Thankfully we were able to store our stuff in storage for a couple of months and stay with a friend while we found an amazing house in a place we thought was a great neighborhood. This was it. This was going to be our home for the foreseeable future!
Just kidding! Here we are.
January 2024
It’s January and we are ONCE AGAIN packing up our house. This time though it for various reasons that are OUR OWN. When we first moved to Florida we moved for us. No one else, but us. When we moved to North Carolina it was to be closer to family (mostly our Godson, but that didn’t turn out how we wanted it). When we moved back to Florida we moved to be closer to our friends (but that didn’t even turn out how we thought).
So this time? This time we are moving for US. Just James and I. No one else is a factor in our decision (as it should be). Where we are moving is still in question (we’ll know more in the next few weeks, so I’ll update you all). But we are definitely going. Maybe this will be it. I hope so. I do know one thing is for sure though. We will never, ever move back to Florida. The Florida chapter of our lives is coming to a close.
A few notes:
I 100% do not regret moving to North Carolina. We met Sarah and she’s amazing and completely worth it.
I 100% do not regret moving back to Florida. We met our amazing friends Jen and Jeremy and that was completely worth it. We also realized how much Florida just isn’t for us.
I am glad we were able to live in different places. We have been able to learn what we like and don’t like. We’ve learned more about ourselves and what we want. We’ve learned who we can trust and who we can’t.
Am I sad to move? Sad to leave my house that I love. Not sad to leave the area or the neighborhood.
I’m hoping that this move is good for us health wise and soul wise.
If you’ve made it this far, yay! If you didn’t read all of that, I don’t blame you. It was long, but worth it. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for some updates!
Happy Eight Years!
