Greetings from Charlotte, North Carolinaaaaaaaa!

While spending the week in North Carolina, I’ve tried to make constructive use of the free time that I have. I could spend this whole post talking about how much cheaper the cost of living is down here, or how we could buy a house built in 2002 for the same price we paid for our house built in 1952, but that wouldn’t be very productive. I’ve never been too crazy about the touristy stuff or the big city travel. For the most part, cities are generally the same all over this country. Unless you live there of course. What I’m more interested in is the day-to-day life, where people live and how they get by. Maybe our blog is a look into that aspect of our lives. I’ve thus far avoided Uptown Charlotte and instead ventured outwards to check out the suburbia and the sprawl. It’s interesting down here. There’s lots of new construction, but unlike in most parts of New Jersey, it is very modest. I’ve seen lots of town homes, smaller new style ranches and what seem like strangely self-contained planned communities. (Check out Ayrsley if you’re interested.)

I think my point to all of this is that you live where you live for certain reasons. Maybe you think it will further your career, or you have always wanted to try something different, or maybe you just want to be somewhere to feel at home. In the case of our house, we’re kind of heading back home for me in a way. I would have never planned it like that, but that’s the way it happened. I bet you I could ask anyone here in North Carolina why they live where they live and I have a feeling they’d give a similar answer. We chose this house because of the area and in hopes that it would make our commutes a little easier. Also, there aren’t many other parts of the country that would be ideal for our careers. Not only that, but there are amenities out the wazoo. So maybe we’re making sacrifices with our cost of living, but it’s all worth it to be where we want to need to be.

We negotiated the price of our house from the beach in Ocean City. (Yes)! I couldn’t think of a more appropriate way for the two of us to make a real estate deal. There was some back and forth and we were nervous, but ultimately, not backing down or leaving our comfort zone paid off. For me, being somewhere very relaxing in an ultimately tense situation gave me the confidence to stick to our guns. So here we are, set to close and I can’t wait to get back to New Jersey.