Episode IX: The Move

Episode IX: The Move

We are T-48 hours from our first big married move. Where did we end up? Camden Town Square. :) 

So I woke up this morning and spontaneously cried. Wonderful, right? I have been de-cluttering (courtesy of Living with Less by what's-her-face) and packing slowly and systematically so as to not jar myself or stress. I thought I was doing a good job--apparently my body disagrees. 

I called one of my mentors (my job comes with two yoda-like Master Jedis of the teaching field to guide me in the ways of the FLVS force) and she told me to runaway with my husband as soon as the last box is in our new place. And you know what? My stress level went from a 13 (on a 1-10 scale, of course) to a 5. 

Anna Maria Island, Sanabel, or St. Augustine? I think it will end up being St. Augustine. :) The boxes will still be there and I'm sure I will systematically and slowly unpack them the same why I packed them during all the "free time" I have while my husband is working late nights at the restaurant. (Sigh.)

Just wrapped up my first year as a teacher, counting down to my first wedding anniversary, and I will be 25 way before I'm ready for that all in the next two months. Life goes fast. I'm kind of over it. Faith and reflection have unburdened me from the frivolous pursuits of big houses, designer clothes and "living the life." I long constantly for more simplicity, more slowness, more of less. And I think to myself how much time, energy, and money I'm saving by grasping that concept now and not in my 40s while my distanced teenagers are locked in their rooms with electronics. I have a chance to change that. 

I don't have to raise my family in a home that centers around cable TV and losing hours to mind-numbing Facebook wall reading. I don't have to raise my kids feeding them foods that business have spent billions of advertising dollars on to make me feel like their products are healthy and more than the over processed and over sweetened synthetics things they truly are. Maybe this is my version of the "young idealism" that my age group is accused of. Or it's the their way of deflecting so they don't have to admit they are falling for all the tricks. 

Ending my weird mental rant. The hubby is home and we're going to plan our trip! 

Episode VIII: Which side of the tracks will we live on?

Episode VIII: Which side of the tracks will we live on?

Watching American Ninja Warrior with Zucchini Fries baking in the oven courtesy of our weekly trips to the Celebration Farmer's Market. Love it! 

We've all but given up on buying now. The only condos that are accepting FHA loans are the Water Street Condos. We're no where near a 20% down payment. So we have compromised and decided to paint our apartment at Camden Town Square to make it more "homey." 

I was pretty sure we were settled on that. We stopped looking at properties, checked out two more Celebration history books (which we are reading in tandem along with a book on minimalism as a lifestyle choice), and are excited to move. 

This week, the hubby FINALLY has secured a job in our new town working in the Italian Restaurants at EPCOT Italy. What a huge relief!! And it is almost $2 more an hour than he was making at his old job. Yeehaw! God is good! 

Now for a new temptation--this weekend we saw a $1300 apt above the garage of a custom home. It's a 2/2 and 1000 sq ft, easily one of the largest we've ever heard of...large enough to make living in Celebration another possibility. 

I wonder if that will pan out. And would it be worth it to give up the amenities of apartment life for private single unit living. 

Zucchini fries are ready! I'm off to EAT! More on our exciting new developments later. 

Episode VII: Getting smarter

Episode VII: Getting Smarter

It's been a while since my last post. Let me catch you up to speed. 

It's graduations season for my students, so I'm making sure all my little ducks graduate high school...while fighting off some sort of strep/mono hybrid that "just  has to run its course" according to my doctor. Ugh. 

Still have managed to keep up with Celebration and Cinco De Mayo. :) 

The short sale is out, no FHA loans for the distressed condo. Turns out the condo association the place was in is currently in a lawsuit with the construction company for building errors. Glad we know this now before we bought. We are ruling out those condos almost entirely as an option. 

That being said, we are realizing we may want to bump up our budget for a home be about another 100k. We want a  potential forever home now, not just the skinniest slice we can slink ourselves into. We like Spring Park and the East Village the most now. 

We have started checking with the town hall to pick up the "open house schedules" that are printed for guests on the weekends and hitting those up. Informative because each one gives us a deeper glimpse into what is out there. There were 3 $600,000+ homes for show. Gorgeous and out of our price range, but still fun and we got to feel out the realtors who had the listings. 

We may see a few places during the week. My husband is in full job search mode for our new future side of town. They are opening Sweet Escapes this month--he would be perfect for that place. Just perfect. 

Things we are dreaming of now:

--Husband's New Job 

--Getting through Graduation Season

--Winning the lotto to get one of the 4/4 3500 sq. foot homes we saw today

--Drooling over the new Brighton bracelet I was surprised with today! 

Episode VI: Short Sale on Deck!

Episode VI: Short Sale on Deck! 

So it's been a week since we saw that distressed short sale. After debating it thoroughly and playing lots of devil's advocate between each other, my husband and I actually have decided that it may not be a bad play at all to move forward on this listing. 

Lots of fuzzy math has been involved in our talks; what we would offer; if the asking price is worth it; how much money would we want to put into it if we got it; and what other hidden surprises could be in store for us as we move forward. 

It's not likely that we'll get any farther than a big fat no from the seller/lender "team" since we heard they are going cash or conventional only, but at least we could put it to bed knowing we tried. 

Under all the distress, there lies the blank slate and low price we are looking for. Our mindset now is that the distress has kept other offers away. For us this is an advantage because the lack of investments or upgrades has kept the price down enough to be in our price range with room to fix the cosmetic changes that had others turn away. 

I have emailed the agent who has the listing directly. Let's see what happens when I check my mail tomorrow. 

Wish List for a starter home: 

• 2/2 
• in Celebration
• a bike ride away from Downtown Celebration
• Balcony
• Dedicated Parking (Attached Garage preferred)
• Open Floor Plan 
• All appliances included (washer, dryer, microwave, oven, dishwasher, etc)
• Close to 1500 square feet
• under budget with room for improvements (paint, flooring, lighting, etc)

Episode V: Schwinning!

Episode V: Schwinning!

Today was a beautiful Sunday in Central Florida. Mild, sunny, and breezy. Seems like we have had an unusually long period of perfect weather this year (maybe two "cold days" even in winter). 

We decided this would be a great day to finally cash in some Pottery Barn rewards certificates from our PB Credit Card toward lamps for our living room. 

Pb Moroccan Table Lap + Shade found on clearance for $7 from $54

A quick word on finance, again. I hate credit cards. I hate interest. I think it is ridiculous that our society is set up in a way that you have to PAY money to show that you know how to manage your financials. So I am determined to build my credit without paying any fees or interest. 

After publishing my last blog, my husband and I had a pretty long chat about the lifestyle we want to create and all the opportunities we'll have once we are in our new place. Now that we have a dedicated outdoor balcony coming our way in about 3 months, we realized that we can now get one of the coveted possessions of a Celebratee: Schwinn bicycles. 

We decided on His & Her Clairmont Cruisers...oh, who am I kidding with links? I gotta show you these things! 

So we loaded our new bike rack and attached lights for night riding and headed toward Celebration to christen their first ride on Celebration soil (I'm being dramatic here). We stopped for dinner at Pei Wei and ate with grins on our faces like teenagers. We could not wait to try our new bikes!

We rode around East Lawn, Aquila Loop, and took nature trails back to Front and Market Street for about 2 hours. We hit Starbucks to refuel--seeing some remaining tourists and exotic cars still milling about from the weekend's events. 

Highlights of our ride: 

• We saw about 6 deer on the front lawns of homes. 
• Near Aquila Loop near the Conservation area, we saw fireflies! 
• Seeing others admire our new bikes. 

Household items we are pining for: 

• a new crazy awesome showerhead
• outdoor furntiture
• barstools for our breakfast bar

Episode IV: A New Hope

Episode IV: A New Hope

After feeling a little bummed about our ability to locate something in our price range, today we hit a breakthrough. Read on...

The Celebration Exotic Car Show : Tens of millions of dollars in cars and Patrick Warburton (so sexy) floating around surely made for a successful time. My husband was explaining why the cars were so cool (beyond the price tags) as a "labor of love." 

Alfa Romeo 8C

Jaguar XJ220

Ferrari F40 Front

Ferrari F40 Back

Property time: $130,000 short sale that has been listed for almost a year. The place was certainly distressed--no doubt about that. But it seemed mostly cosmetic. Looked like someone was living in the garage, there were dirty underwear all over the place (ew) and there were definitely parts of the place that smelled like (Warning: not for kids) marijuana. Even if we wanted it, the lender is only taking cash or conventional loans, so its out unless they want to accept an FHA and about $40k off the price since it is in such shape, we can cross it off our list. It was a 2/2 and had a garage and balcony--almost unheard of among a sea of 1/1 condos selling above even our price range. Overall, the state of the property and surrounding condo association popped some of our Celebration bubble and opened our eyes more to some of the harsh realities of trying to live in this city and others who have tried and failed before us (like the previous owners).

Camden Town Square: We had an appointment today after the showing to see the brand new Camden Town Square apartment complex that opened yesterday. We toured the place for about an hour and a half, went and got lunch to talk it over, came back and signed a lease as one of the first new tenants to ever live here. We are fabulously excited to know that no matter what happens in our search--we are perfectly positioned literally across the street from the entrance to Celebration. This will allow us the highest quality of life and the maximum amount of saving so we can enjoy the journey. I found another Celebration Stalker last week when we drove by the apartment while the gates were still chained up. We exchanged emails. WE NOW HAVE A TWO PERSON SUPPORT GROUP! Any takers? :P

So to wrap up, no, we are not settling for outside of Celebration. We just made a commitment to changing cities and counties and zip codes to get more Celebration in our lives. The Art Fest and Pie Fest are coming up fast. Count on us to be there, we are considering volunteering for the Pie Fest....mmm...pie and Celebration, FL--does it get more intentionally and wonderfully American than that?

Properties we are dreaming of:

• Our new apartment

Episode III: We can afford to live in Celebration

Episode III: We can afford to live in Celebration

At least, that is what the loan officer at our bank made it sound like today after asking, "Why?"

We were surprisingly on target for what we thought we could afford and how much we could get a loan for. 

              Here's the kicker: I am a traditionalist. My parents taught me sound financial principles that have thus far got me through college debt-free and the proud of owner of my fully paid off car (at 21). I know that a Conventional Loan is the best way to go because a 20% down payment avoids PMI.  BUT! We are low on time while the market is ~HOT~ like this and also low on making a 20% down payment--that alone would take another two years of steady saving just to get our foot in the door of any Celebration property....

             So! I ran the numbers for an FHA loan "just to see." I hoped that this would further affirm my solid standing in the conventional loan camp...it didn't. Not only did it not, but it rocked me entirely to see that it ends up being marginally more per month and we could get the down payment by the end of July. JU-LY! 

            After my happy dance out of the bank, I zombied my way through the rest of the work day til I could run to my parents and have my husband meet me when he got off of work to go over my findings. We are excited. More importantly, we firmly believe that now is the time to move. 

Properties we are dreaming of: 

• 162k for a 2/2 condo on Market Street above the Market Street Gallery
• 169k for the 2/2 above Thai Thani that has a 40 foot corner balcony (if its not under contract already)
• 155k 3/2 in Georgetown (spacious and first floor...but near the expressway so I don't know if that is a pro or a con)

See y'all at the Celebration Exotic Car Show this weekend! :) 

Episode II

Episode II: Find out how far off the mark you are so you know where to tighten up

Just because I am a glutton for punishment (and the short sales and foreclosures look so appealing), I will be meeting with a mortgage officer at our bank to see what kind of pre-qualification letter we could get. Just curious...

A pre-qual will help see if we are even in the ballpark of getting into one of those 1/1's that are <600 sq. ft. or if we can actually find a home large enough for me to work in comfortably. And it seems to be one of those first steps you do when buying a home, something we are learning as we research. 

My husband is anxious to hear about my blogging while he looks up properties, rentals, and maps it out on Google Maps.

Properties we are dreaming of now:

• Rental in the "tiny neighborhood" for $1800/month. It's a 2/2 for 1381 sq. ft. but the neighborhood houses are really close together. Trying not to end up there or in a Granny flat above the garage of a multi-million dollar home in our desperation to make it into the Celebration bubble. **Edit: I am so pretentious.

Episode I

Episode I: Move as near as you can while you wait. 

Our lease is up in July, so we have decided to move within 10 miles of Celebration. Other CBs (Celebration bloggers) talk about picking up and hauling across country--why not us?

To be a little more realistic before you stop reading thinking I'm a nut, my husband is going to school and his classes will be at Valencia West Campus. I work from a home office and am closer to my company's main offices. So we would have done this anyways, right?? 

T-71 days until we are away from where we grew up and went to school for our first big breakaway as a married couple. I feel like our first year hardly happened. 

More on our move as we get closer. 

Properties we are dreaming of: 

•   2/2 Condos in Georgetown and Market St. with gorgeous balconies from 119k to 129k. 

•   Renting on Water St just to live there and avoid the egregious HOA fees (something to the tune of $400 to $600 a MONTH)

I wanna live in Celebration! I wanna! I wanna!

How in the World Did it Come to This?

I need an outlet for all of my pinings, and thus, "I wanna live in Celebration" is born!

This blog will attempt to chronicle one woman and one man's love of a intentionally sleepy little town called Celebration, FL.

My husband and I are newlyweds. We married at Disney and have had annual passes for 2-3 years. Our kitchen is subtly speckled in Disney.

Neither of us can recall exactly when it happened, but we have realized recently that we drive 35 mins from home almost every weekend to get coffee at the Celebration Starbucks and walk around Celebration. We realized it was getting extreme when we starting meeting "neighbors" and "regulars" when we don't actually live there. We are proud to say we are "faking it 'til we make it."

Unfortunately, just starting out like we are, we're not able to make it out there...yet.

So we are stalking sites like Zillow and Trulia and saving our butts off to get there.