As you know we are making a big life change. Ralph and I have been together for almost 2 years and he now has orders to get stationed in Camp Lejeune, NC ( approximately 4 hours away from me and his kids) for the next 2 1/2 years. He just purchased his home 2 years ago so he didn’t have alot of equity to pay for realtor fees. We had alot to accomplish in 6 months in preparing for this.
How do we make this relationship work? Dating and growing our relationship even 30 mins away for the past 2 years has been a struggle. We have 5 kids with very busy social and sports schedules. And now we are adding an even longer distance between us for a very long time. I am very fortunate to be able to work from home and we have decided this is worth it. So, I am going to do one week down in North Carolina ( and work from home) Then spend a week in Virginia Beach with my kids. This scares me and I know it will be very difficult. However, when you find the man you are meant to be with and he is just as committed to making it work, then I know we can do this. First thing to ask as a work-at-home-mom is find out how well the cell phone reception is and who the internet provider is. Want to check to see if fastest and most reliable internet provider is in your area? Check here
Do we sell or rent his home here in Chesapeake? Ralph just purchased his home in April 2014 so he doesn’t have alot of equity or room to pay a 6% realtor commission. But the thought of having to deal with renters in a Chesapeake home, maintain my home in Virginia Beach and having to find a home to either rent or buy in NC was alot to manage. We want to make things as simple as possible. So we decided to try the Military For Sale by Owner. I wouldn’t suggest for everyone.. it is very difficult to do if you aren’t organized. We had to market the home, hold open houses, deal with coordinating showings all while maintaining a blended family with kids schedules back and forth. Again, we are fortunate that I work from home and in my job I help realtors and mortgage professionals market their businesses so I already knew the process and what to do. #1 suggestion…keep a Google Calendar and a shared “To Do” list.
Finding a new home in NC for him to live? Again do we rent or buy down in NC? Knowing that his kids and my kids are here and that he will be gone for 2 1/2 year the most logical thing would be to just rent and then move back to the Virginia Beach area when he retires. We spent a weekend down in the Jacksonville, NC area to look at the area and check out some potential property locations where we would want to spend. We used Military by Owner, Zillow and Craigslist to find rentals and finally found what is going to be the perfect home for us for the next 2 1/2 years while we are doing the long distance for the next 2 1/2 years.
Being away from home for long periods of time – how do we keep our homes safe? Did you know that Verizon offers a variety of smart home products? I LOVE our new Canary all in one home security system!
I am not looking forward to the next few years of a long distance relationship…but I am very excited and lucky to have Ralph Gargiulo in my life not just now, but forever. Thanks to technology, internet and the desire to be together, we will make it work. And then afterwards, we will find a new home together!
Here is another: How-to-guide-for-stress-free moving
Disclosure: I am a member of the #LifeOnFiOS Influencer Program. This means every month you’ll see a technology focused post from me. I come up with the topics. I write the words. The thoughts are mine.
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