He Was Bitten, Bitten By The Bug! A Nov-Dec '12 TR **WRAP UP 7/26**

[ronnmel]

Have a great trip!!!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Have a great trip!!!

Thank you! I'm getting ready to leave right now!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Hello all!

Well, I'm back home. Got home LATE last night after a bad drive home. I really, really, really wish I was still in Florida. It was a good trip, not my best but I enjoyed it and it helped me a lot. I could have done with a few more days down there though!

I'll be uploading the pictures I took tonight and do a sorta Mini-TR on the trip. I actually took 0 pictures on 2 of the 5 days, but I'll do a quick something on the trip still.

Anyone know any tricks on winning the lottery so I can move to Florida now, and not have to wait til at least the end of the year????



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[mickeystoontown]

Hello all!

Well, I'm back home. Got home LATE last night after a bad drive home. I really, really, really wish I was still in Florida. It was a good trip, not my best but I enjoyed it and it helped me a lot. I could have done with a few more days down there though!

I'll be uploading the pictures I took tonight and do a sorta Mini-TR on the trip. I actually took 0 pictures on 2 of the 5 days, but I'll do a quick something on the trip still.

Anyone know any tricks on winning the lottery so I can move to Florida now, and not have to wait til at least the end of the year????



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Good gosh! Time flew by, didn't it?!?! Honey, if I had any tricks on winning the lottery, I'd be a multi-millionaire right now.

 

[afwdwfan]

Welcome home! If you do figure out a good way to beat the lottery, please let us all know.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Good gosh! Time flew by, didn't it?!?! Honey, if I had any tricks on winning the lottery, I'd be a multi-millionaire right now.

Yes it did!!!! And I won't be able to go back down until at least September as we are too busy during the summer for me to take time off.

Wait, you mean you aren't independently wealthy???

Welcome home! If you do figure out a good way to beat the lottery, please let us all know.

Thanks!

If I ever crack that code I will certainly let you all know.

 

[Pluto0809]

Welcome home! Glad you had a sort of good trip.

I'm holding out to win the lottery so I can move to Florida too.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Welcome home! Glad you had a sort of good trip.

I'm holding out to win the lottery so I can move to Florida too.

It was a good trip, but some crappy stuff happened too that I will get into when I do a recap of it. But I'm definitely happy I went!

I keep trying, but the lottery gods don't like me.

 

[ronnmel]

Welcome back!

We all live in different states/country, so maybe we can all win the lottery. We already have all our plans laid out.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Welcome back!

We all live in different states/country, so maybe we can all win the lottery. We already have all our plans laid out.

Thanks!

If we all won the lottery that would be creepy, but cool.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

LIFE UPDATE:

First of all, sorry I haven't gotten any updates done in a while, I've been busy and tired since I got back last week. I will hopefully get started on the mini-TR tonight/tomorrow, then finish this TR. Until then, I though I would share a decision I made while driving back from Florida last Monday:

I've shared on here before that I want to move to Florida and plan on doing so soon. I was actually originally planning on moving down there this spring, but between the health issues that Sweetie had earlier this year costing me over $1000 and loaning a friend who was injured and couldn't work for 2 months some money I can't afford it right this minute.

At the same time, this trip really confirmed for me that I absolutely want to live down there, and I was miserable the entire drive back to MD. Since my first trip to FL 10 years ago I feel at home while in Florida. It just feels right, like I'm meant to be there, I'm content while there. I don't know exactly how to put it in words. So, I gave myself a deadline basically. I'm going to stay up here and work my butt off this summer saving as much as possible (which with summer being our busiest time is a lot of potential $$ coming in!). After Labor Day I start working on getting a job down there and buying a house. I want to be living down there by the end of the year.

I know I'm going to be working 7 days a week, at least 12 hours a day for the next several months, but I also know it will be completely worth it when I can move with my own home and a job, in the place I want to live. I'm very excited about it, knowing in 5 months I will be looking at houses and jobs!!!! If anyone has any advice for a first time home buyer and/or moving out of state, I would so appreciate it.

I'll be back soon with updates, I promise.


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[mickeystoontown]

Good for you setting a goal for yourself! If you are anything like me, a goal is just the motivation that I need to get myself going. I think that you're making an excellent decision in moving to a place that feels like home to you.

 

[Pluto0809]

Yea for moving to Florida!! I can't tell you how jealous I am of you right now.

Of course if I moved to Florida I would probably never leave Disney. Not sure DH would appreciate that.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Good for you setting a goal for yourself! If you are anything like me, a goal is just the motivation that I need to get myself going. I think that you're making an excellent decision in moving to a place that feels like home to you.

Thanks! That is what I am like too. Having that deadline and goal motivates me to keep going and just plain makes me happy to think that in 6-8 months I'll be living in Florida!!!!

Yea for moving to Florida!! I can't tell you how jealous I am of you right now.

Of course if I moved to Florida I would probably never leave Disney. Not sure DH would appreciate that.

Thank you. I'll be living about 1.5 hours from WDW, so it's far enough that I won't be tempted to always be there, but close enough that it will be easy to go when I can!

 

[skylizard]

If anyone has any advice for a first time home buyer and/or moving out of state, I would so appreciate it.

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I lived in Florida for 10 years (Orlando, Fort Myers and Sanibel Island) so I can definitely give you advice about Florida living if you need it.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

I lived in Florida for 10 years (Orlando, Fort Myers and Sanibel Island) so I can definitely give you advice about Florida living if you need it.

Thank you very much! I'm moving to the Bradenton/Sarasota area. I do have family members and friends down there already to ask for help with Florida living, but I will certainly ask if I have any questions!

 

[ronnmel]

I'm happy that you have made a firm decision about moving to Disney. I'm excited for you, it will be such a fun new adventure to embark on. Good luck!

 

[taaren]

I know I'm going to be working 7 days a week, at least 12 hours a day for the next several months, but I also know it will be completely worth it when I can move with my own home and a job, in the place I want to live. I'm very excited about it, knowing in 5 months I will be looking at houses and jobs!!!! If anyone has any advice for a first time home buyer and/or moving out of state, I would so appreciate it.

What a great feeling, to make a decision like that. Since I moved out of state since my trip, I do have a bit of advice ... start looking for a job at least 3+ months out. The job market is tough, and many good jobs are taking their time in selecting people. I told my husband this when I got my job offer in January (after 13 months of searching, fora job I applied for in Dec 2011, but my field is particularly tough, yours probably isn't) and he didn't listen because his field has much fewer qualified applicants, but he started looking for jobs in March thinking he'd have something by May. At his top three choices of companies, all three said they just got done hiring for his position. If he had applied in January, he could have started in April ... fortunately he's moving up next month and has a few months worth of vacation to burn from his previous job while he looks for his new job, so we should be fine, but the earlier you can apply the better.

Because housing prices are so comparatively low, as are loan rates, its also a very tight market housing-wise. We thought we'd be able to buy a home to move into and leave ours rented out at a profit. After 2 months of living with friends, and not seeing a single house in our price range I'd be okay with living in (and watching all these mediocre houses entertain bidding wars from multiple prospective buyers), we moved into the home we bought in 2008. So, before you go down, have your loan pre-approved by a lender. A good mortgage broker can help you with this. You need to be pre approved before you even think about making an offer on a home, and you'll need to have an offer on the table as soon as you see a home you like since they're moving so quickly atm.

That being said, getting to the area you want to be in is totally rewarding. I love my new job, and really feel like I'm home again being in California instead of Hawaii. I'm not sure why some place speak to us more than others, but when you find a place that does, it can make all the difference to your psyche. And it doesn't hurt to be that much closer to Disney ... even though I won't have the money to head to DLR until December, its nice knowing that its a 5 hour drive away instead of a 5 hour plane ride ...

 

[afwdwfan]

Congrats on making your decision to move and good luck with the process. I'm sure the end result will definitely make all the hard work worthwhile.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

I'm happy that you have made a firm decision about moving to Disney. I'm excited for you, it will be such a fun new adventure to embark on. Good luck!

Thank you! I'm very happy to have set this all in motion, even if it's still the very beginning stages now.

What a great feeling, to make a decision like that. Since I moved out of state since my trip, I do have a bit of advice ... start looking for a job at least 3+ months out. The job market is tough, and many good jobs are taking their time in selecting people. I told my husband this when I got my job offer in January (after 13 months of searching, fora job I applied for in Dec 2011, but my field is particularly tough, yours probably isn't) and he didn't listen because his field has much fewer qualified applicants, but he started looking for jobs in March thinking he'd have something by May. At his top three choices of companies, all three said they just got done hiring for his position. If he had applied in January, he could have started in April ... fortunately he's moving up next month and has a few months worth of vacation to burn from his previous job while he looks for his new job, so we should be fine, but the earlier you can apply the better.

Because housing prices are so comparatively low, as are loan rates, its also a very tight market housing-wise. We thought we'd be able to buy a home to move into and leave ours rented out at a profit. After 2 months of living with friends, and not seeing a single house in our price range I'd be okay with living in (and watching all these mediocre houses entertain bidding wars from multiple prospective buyers), we moved into the home we bought in 2008. So, before you go down, have your loan pre-approved by a lender. A good mortgage broker can help you with this. You need to be pre approved before you even think about making an offer on a home, and you'll need to have an offer on the table as soon as you see a home you like since they're moving so quickly atm.

That being said, getting to the area you want to be in is totally rewarding. I love my new job, and really feel like I'm home again being in California instead of Hawaii. I'm not sure why some place speak to us more than others, but when you find a place that does, it can make all the difference to your psyche. And it doesn't hurt to be that much closer to Disney ... even though I won't have the money to head to DLR until December, its nice knowing that its a 5 hour drive away instead of a 5 hour plane ride ...

Thank you so very much for the advice. I actually plan on starting to look for a job down there in late July with the hopes of moving in October or November. The job market down there is pretty bad, though my field is not as bad as most others. I will also be getting pre-approved for a mortgage in August so I can make an offer right away when I find a house I love.

I agree with your phrasing that some places just speak to us. Florida, and specifically the Gulf coast, definitely does that for me!

Congrats on making your decision to move and good luck with the process. I'm sure the end result will definitely make all the hard work worthwhile.

Thank you very much!