House Adventure

James here! After we matched into the Florida program we quickly discovered that there are very few rental opportunities in the Ocala area. There never seemed to be more than 10-15 options and most were on the high end of our budget or located in areas we wanted to avoid. After talking to some of the current residents and watching a few Webinars about buying a home in Residency, we decided to go ahead and buy a home! We quickly found a good Loan Officer/Company (SunTrust) and Real Estate Agent (Patricia Kilgore-seen below). 


We went house hunting on April 7th-11th. We ended up taking the boys, but fortunately Karrah's Mom was able to drive down form Atlanta to watch them as we were out with our agent. I'm not sure we could have done it without her help. Both Karrah and I feel extremely stupid because during the entire trip we didn't think to take a single photo other than a few we snapped while driving to and from the airport. 

We ended up only needing to see houses for 2 days. We actually really liked the first house we saw on the first day, but decided to look at a few more in case we needed a back-up. Oddly enough it was a home we did not like when we were looking online. It has a really bright teal outside paint and the inside has a dark green carpet. The colors made us dismiss it, but as soon as we walked inside we really liked the set up of the house, the spaces, and the neighborhood. Obviously we would plan on make some adjustments over the next few years (i.e. flooring, paint, add a fence, etc.).

We decided make an offer for full asking price, but did request that they cover some of closing. They accepted later that day which we are so happy about. Since then it has been a whirlwind of activity. We had to sign the contract, set up a Home Inspection, contact loan officer, send a mountain of paperwork, and much more. The plan is to close May 31st, which is good timing, because we plan to be moving down that same week. Here are a few pictures that James snapped while we were signing the contract. 

Match Day Adventure

James here! I am horrible about keeping a journal and wanted to find a way that our family and children could see some of the many adventures we are experiencing. Karrah suggested that I become an author on her blog. So, I thought I'd give it a try!

On March 12th we found out that we matched into a Family Medicine residency program! For those unfamiliar with the process, you interview at numerous locations and then rank them from your top to bottom choice. The programs do this as well with the people they interviewed and the lists are submitted into a computer algorithm that finds the best "match".  The way it works is after finding out IF you matched you have to wait 4 days to find out WHERE it is. On the 16th we found out we are going to Ocala, Florida. It was not our number 1 choice, but was very high on the list of 15 that we submitted.

The closer we get to moving down to Florida the more excited I am about this opportunity. If we had not matched into a location in Florida I'm not sure we would have ever moved there. And there is just so much there I am looking forward to experiencing!