A view of the new house
After I returned from crewing aboard Celerity, Chris received a call from a recruiter about a position with Rybovich in W. Palm Beach. He went for the interview and returned excited so....
HERE WE ARE!
We packed up some belongings in Chris' car and drove it down to West Palm to leave it at the plant site and flew home a few days later. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Airport and spent most of the next 3 days looking for a house to buy. We found one that "fit the bill" in Tequesta and made an offer. They verbally accepted, but by the time that they received Chris' signed agreement which was sent overnight delivery, they had unethically accepted another buyer's offer for more money. Our realtor asked us if we wanted to outbid the "new" buyer, but Chris declined. He was justifiably upset! Everything happens for a reason is what we told ourselves.
Chris began his new position as Director of HR for Rybovich on August 10 so we left New Bern on August 8 in my car. Rybovich owns the Four Fish Inn and Marina in Jensen Beach and graciously put us up in a "Key West" cottage on their property. It's adorable, painted sky blue with a tin roof. The best part is living directly across the street from the marina so we can obtain our "boat fix" by walking across the street which is what we do nightly. We pour a glass of wine when Chris arrives home and walk the docks. On the first night of this "ritual" we spotted 3 manatees and I was SO excited!!!! I just wish I had our camera with us!
We spent the entire weekend looking at houses in Jupiter and Tequesta and nothing seemed to fit the bill and we were becoming discouraged. The prices were high and none of them felt "right" and like home.
On Saturday, August 8, we decided to ditch our realtor and struck out on our own. We turned on the trusty GPS and headed for water. We ended up in Sewall's Point and found a house across the street from the water with its own dock. We called the realtor who was the listing agent and she agreed to meet us on Sunday, August 9. She showed us the Sewall's Point house first and it was nice but still didn't feel "right" even though the dock was "calling to us". The second house she took us to was in Stuart, FL and near the I95 exchange (a big plus). We walked into the house and it felt PERFECT. Honestly, we just "knew". We looked at a few other houses, went back to the "perfect" house and ended up back in her office making an offer 2 hours later.
Our offer was accepted and the owners (Ji & Dennis) are sailors too. We bonded immediately and Dennis drug out his sailing photos of when he used to crew for Neil Young (yes, THAT Neil Young). Dennis & Ji are rennovating a house so we cannot close until October 29 but it is definitely worth the wait. We are excited!
Now...if I could just find a job, all would really be perfect!!!!
