A Big Life Update
Well, this might be a long one! Over this past year, we’ve had a lot going on behind the scenes that I wasn’t really sure how to talk about. I fee like I’ve been holding a lot in, afraid to voice opinions and emotions because 2020 was already messy and complicated enough. But I don’t need to tell you that! Obviously there was a lot of good and bad over this past year, but today I’m going to share a couple pretty exciting things with you!
Number One
I thought I’d start by sharing what the kids have been up to this year! Natalie (our oldest), attended virtual high school through a local charter school and (surprisingly) loved it. Natalie was homeschooled up through 7th grade and then in 8th grade we enrolled her in public middle school. She will be finishing off her freshman year of high school without attending a single day of in person classes and she has truly made the best of it. It’s not how we envisioned this year going, but that’s life. We are so proud of her dedication to her studies, and she will be finishing the year off with a 4.2 or something that I didn’t even know existed.
Carissa did a homeschool/collage hybrid approach to school this year. She did dual enrollment in an online university with a program designed for students in 8th grade on up. She has shown amazing determination and is finishing her 8th grade year with 6 college credits to her name! Her current career aspirations involve studying culinary arts in France. She is our resident chef!
Taylor and Olivia both continued with their homeschool studies and Asher has learned everything he needs to know in life from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (J/K). Olivia did virtual ballet lessons all year and Taylor kept busy playing basketball, building forts in the woods, video editing, studying to be a world famous magician, you name it. They are each fun and creative!
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Number Two
We bought an Airstream! Well, we actually bought and sold several RVs over the course of this past year. We purchased a brand new travel trailer last Summer, which we fixed up and enjoyed on a couple memorable trips. It was the largest camper we have ever owned and we upgraded our vehicle to a Suburban so that we could tow it. Last month, we decided to sell it and downsize!
I have had my heart set on a vintage trailer ever since selling Gidget. We found the perfect vintage Airstream Argosy and I have big plans for it. The Argosy is known as the “painted Airstream” and was manufactured using slightly less expensive materials that made it more affordable for families. It has all the charm of an Airstream, but I get to paint it!
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Number Three (the Big One)
Drum roll please….
We bought an investment property/vacation home in Florida!!!!
Spoiler alert, it needs some work.
That’s right. RV renovating is so much fun, why not renovate a house?
It’s kind of a long story, so bear with me.
Last Summer when things were real crazy, we started thinking about investing in something. We currently live in a home owned by our church (traditionally referred to as the “parsonage”) which many churches provide for their Pastors as part of their compensation package. While living in this home has been a huge blessing, and being so close to our church is super convenient, we’ve always had a desire to own our own home again.
We started working with realtors here in Michigan and in Florida, playing around with the idea of buying something. We didn’t really have a plan, other than taking advantage of the historically low interest rates and investing into something for our future.
I pictured one of two options:
A. Buying something here in Michigan with a heated barn to work in during the Winter
OR
B. Buying a vacation home in Florida that we could rent out to generate income.
Either way, we figured that since we aren’t currently paying on a mortgage or paying rent, we might as well be investing into something that could benefit our family long term.
The market was hot last Summer and it just continues to get hotter. We had no idea what we were getting into, but as door after door was shut, one finally opened… kind of. We saw the opportunity to make an offer on a short-sale home in Florida. We made the offer sight-unseen and then we waited, and waited.
When things did start moving, they moved fast! It all still feels like a whirlwind, but here we are, home owners again! I’ll share more about the property in the coming weeks, as things start to come together. We don’t have any concrete plans for if we’ll rent it out, use it just for our family and friends, or flip it. Either way, I’m excited to share the before and afters with you! It’s like an RV renovation, but way bigger!
Tips for Purchasing a Home: If you are considering the purchase of a home or investment property in the current market, I highly recommend having your finances in order and getting pre-approved for a mortgage ahead of time. When a home hits the market, you will have very little time to make an offer, so move quickly. Be prepared to offer asking price or higher and come with the largest down payment you can afford. If you are looking for properties in the Orlando area, we HIGHLY recommend you contact Mike Collier with exp Realty!
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