Playing Real Life Monopoly (aka Retirement Home Search)

Back Deck
Finding our retirement home has been quite an adventure.  Tony announced his desire to retire to "a place where I can sit in my wheelchair and overlook big water."  I disagreed, stating that I hoped to never sit in a wheelchair!

Our initial search started in 2006 - in Ireland, shortly after Tony left Delta.  We made 4 trips to Ireland in 2006 and 2007, searching for a home or a nice lot where we could build.  We thought we had found the perfect lot, and made an offer, but as we did our diligence, we discovered that the cost to build was prohibitive.  It turned out to be a good thing we didn't settle there because Delta cut back on service so travel back and forth to see friends and family would have been difficult.
Once we gave up on retiring to Ireland, we started our search in the United States.  We looked at Coastal North Carolina and Beaufort, South Carolina.  We made an offer on a property in Beaufort but were unable to come to an agreement.
To read more about our quests in the Carolinas, you can click on these links.
http://www.bjandtony.com/2007/200706NorthCarolina.html
http://www.bjandtony.com/2009/200901BeaufortSC1.html

We decided to look around Florida for a place to settle.  Key Largo was very inviting but we learned the houses were out of our price range and it was impossible to get a building permit for a lot.  You have to buy two and agree not to build on one of them, or win a permit lottery.  We started looking at places on the panhandle.  We ended up buying a lot in Carrabelle and drawing up house plans but when we investigated the building cost, we found that we could buy an existing house on St. George Island for less than the cost of building, so that's what we did.  We bought Beauty and the Beach, a tall-skinny structure right on the beach!  We loved it!  We kept it in the rental pool with "Resort Vacation Properties" until we were ready to move there.  We made a few trips a year and ultimately decided that the island was just too remote and undeveloped to live on full time. We sold Beauty and the Beach in 2016.
To read more about Beauty and the Beach on St. George Island, you can click on this link:
http://www.bjandtony.com/2011/20111205StGeorgeIsland.html

Our search finally took us to Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island.  We hadn't really gotten serious about it yet when a friend called and told us about an incredible deal on an oceanfront condo.  We weren't really looking for a condo, but didn't want to pass up a great deal.  We planned to look at it and two other condos but when we found out the other condo buildings were not pet friendly we didn't even tour them.  We bought the condo at Sand Dollar Villas and named it "Paws Awhile on Fernandina Beach".  We decided it would make a good home base for us while we looked for our perfect retirement home.
To read more about Paws Awhile on Fernandina Beach, you can click on this link:
http://sewmuchlately.blogspot.com/2014/02/paws-awhile-on-fernandina-beach.html

We visited Paws Awhile frequently from 2013 until 2016 while we searched for the perfect beachfront lot.  We looked at a number of houses and lots and made offers on several properties.

Our first accepted offer was for a 50 ft wide lot just South of the "Log Cabin" at 510 S Fletcher Avenue.  We had a 30 day due diligence period.  Following several meetings with the city planners, we feared we would not be able to build on the lot due to a dune located in the middle of the lot so we retracted our offer.  Someone has since built a home on that lot!

We made a backup offer on an empty lot at 708 S. Fletcher Avenue and when it ultimately closed, we made an offer to the new owner to no avail.

I got some experience bidding on a foreclosure on the courthouse steps. The property at 2910 S Fletcher was advertised as a "Distress Sale".  We were not allowed to see the inside before bidding on it.  We came up with a maximum we would be willing to pay which was somewhat less than what was owed on it.  Tony had to work so I was on my own for bidding.  It was very exciting but I never really had a chance.  The representative from the bank outbid me by $100 each time I bid until I reached our maximum.  I walked away with an incredibly speedy heartbeat but no house!

Our next offer was a fiasco!  We saw listings for 3 lots (listed as lots 4, 5 and 6) on South Fletcher Avenue. We found the 3 adjacent lots.  Building had started on lot 4, but lots 5 and 6 (identical 75 foot wide lots) were still for sale.  Lot 6 was priced much higher than lot 5 so we made an offer on lot 5 with no due diligence period since we could see that it was a nice flat buildable lot!  The offer was immediately accepted and we celebrated with friends on the site of our new home.  A few days later, we discovered that we actually had an accepted contract on a different lot!  The lot we celebrated on was Lot 5, Block 24, a beautiful flat 75 foot wide lot.  The lot we actually had a contract on was Lot 5, Block 10, a 50 foot lot just 2 doors down from the first lot we had decided was unbuildable.  This one had a dune even closer to the street.  The sellers were kind enough to let us out of the contract and even gave us back our earnest money. Whew! Meanwhile, the lot we thought we had purchased was under contract.  We asked them if they wanted to sell, but they didn't.  We made an offer on Lot 6 but could not agree on a price.

Image result for Spongebob house Fernandina Beach, FLWe looked at the "Sponge Bob" House. The location and view were fabulous but it was just too weird.  First there was the outside - painted a different color on every side (reportedly because of a dispute with neighbors). Then there was the inside.  It was essentially a 1 bedroom, 5 bath house with a 6 burner cooktop and no oven. The master closet was a rod in the master bathroom next to the toilet!  Someone has since purchased it and painted it powder blue and there is some construction going on, so hopefully they can make it livable!

Charming Lighthouse Right on the Beach!FINALLY, we found and closed on our retirement property in February 2016!  It was the property known as "Green's Light" or, affectionately just called "The Lighthouse" at 706 S Fletcher Avenue.  It was a rental property that was built in 2000 but looked much older.  We kept it in the rental pool through the end of 2016 and provided a vacation home to a number of guests.  We took it as our primary residence for homestead exemption in 2017 while we worked on finalizing house plans and getting a building permit!
To see more pictures of the Lighthouse, click on this link and then select "View Photos":
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/11818145

Getting a building permit was a huge hurdle!  Because our lot is behind the Coastal Construction Control Line we had to get permission from the state.  Before we could submit our plans to the state, we had to get a favorable opinion from the city.  There was a time crunch because a new flood zone map would place our property in a flood zone with different building requirements.  Our architect and engineer worked hard to get us a set of plans we could submit to the city and then the state.  The minimum amount of time the state will take to review the plans is 3 months but we heard horror stories of approvals taking a year or more.  We were thrilled when our approval came in only 3 months.  Our builder was able to get the plans submitted to the city in July prior to the new flood map going into effect on August 1! 

While we waited for our permit, we looked into what it would take to clear our lot.  We put an offer on Facebook to give the house free to anyone who could move it off of the lot.  The local newspaper picked up the story and Action News JAX came out to interview us.  We got lots of interest, but in the end, nobody was able to afford to move the house.  Even if we had been able to come to an agreement, it probably would have fallen through since the house took on some damage with Hurricanes Matthew and Irma. 

In 2018, we demolished the lighthouse to mixed reviews from Fernandina Beach residents.  Some thought it was a landmark while others thought it was an eyesore.  We thought it was a cute beach rental but we wanted a real home on this beautiful lot. It was a hot topic on Facebook.  I put a notice on the Amelia Island Fernandina Beach Network Facebook Page the day before the demolition to give everyone a chance to take one last look.  The post got 412 "reactions", 109 comments and 105 shares! The Fernandina Beach News Leader showed a photo of the rubble after the demolition and Action News JAX did another story on it. 

Stay tuned!  I'll be posting more about the building of "Sand Torini", a house inspired by our wonderful vacation to Santorini, Greece!

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