If you missed this week’s podcast or the transcript, we wanted to share our big news here in a proper blog post. This is one of the most significant changes we’ve made in years, so we want to bring you up to speed. Thank you for all the support and encouragement—we’re excited to simplify our lives, spend more time outdoors, and (yes) eat even more fresh-caught shrimp. We’ll be sharing plenty about downsizing, moving, renovating, and how we make a new place feel like home.
Wait, Is This An April Fool’s Joke?!
Not a joke—we’re officially moving to Florida full-time. It might sound sudden, but this has been on our minds for years. We’ve lived in Richmond for 14 years and in our current house almost seven, and leaving friends and family here won’t be easy. Still, after repeated conversations and weighing priorities, it finally felt like the right time to make a change. As Sherry put it on the podcast: it was time to act.
Where In Florida Are You Moving?
The top question we’ve had is where exactly. We’ve chosen a location in the Florida panhandle on the Gulf Coast. The water there is that beautiful blue-green hue we love, and the climate is milder than farther south in the state—though our family is plenty happy with warm weather. We’re not ready to share the exact town yet since the purchase isn’t fully closed and the house is currently vacant and a bit of a fixer-upper. We’ll provide more details once the timing is right.
Many of you guessed Destin because that’s the airport we used and a place we’ve vacationed before—the photo above is from that trip. We looked at homes there, but ultimately we found something that fit our goals a little better in a different nearby area.
Why Move? To Simplify!
What convinced us was the idea of having one house that meets our needs year-round. Summers at our Cape Charles beach house taught us we thrive near water and in walkable, small-town environments where errands are simpler and days feel more relaxed. We love being near local shops, parks, and restaurants—those walkable, everyday conveniences matter to us.
We considered living in Cape Charles full-time, but the seasonal weather there limits outdoor living for much of the year. The part of Florida we chose offers many more months of warm, walkable life—more time outside, more community activity, and fewer months of hunkering down indoors. If we could extend the feel of the Virginia summer for most of the year, we’d be much happier.
Beyond weather, we hoped to find a place that retained benefits of Richmond—good schools, dining, shopping, and conveniences like a hardware store or movie theater. Consolidating to one home also means fewer expenses and less upkeep: fewer utilities, less yard maintenance, and fewer rooms to clean. For us, owning less truly means simplifying life.
Why Move? Also To Downsize!
This move gives us the chance to reduce square footage and yard work. We’ve said before that our Richmond home—around 3,200 square feet—feels too large. Our beach house at roughly 1,800 square feet often suits us better. The new house is much smaller—closer in size to our first home of about 1,300 square feet—so it represents a meaningful downsizing. We know it will be an adjustment to pare down possessions, but our beach experience this summer proved we can live with less.
Choosing to downsize isn’t just about a smaller footprint; it’s about intentionally choosing what to keep and what to let go of so we can focus on experiences rather than stuff.
Why Now?
A big recent step that helped us pivot was selling our duplex. Letting go of that property showed us how much lighter life could feel and made the idea of other changes easier to consider. The timing also ties to our kids’ schooling: we want them to transition to a new community while they’re still in elementary school. In some Florida districts, fifth grade sits in middle school, so moving before the new school year made practical sense for continuity.
We’ve considered Florida repeatedly over the past few years. After a couple of scouting trips and lots of thought, this year everything aligned: timing, family needs, and our readiness to act.
Why The Timing Isn’t Perfect
We recognize the timing isn’t flawless. We just finished a bathroom renovation we love, and there are still projects we’d planned to do at our Richmond house, including a hall bath and a back patio. It’s bittersweet to leave a newly finished space, but renovating reminded us that we can always refresh another house in the future. There are also deeper, less visible reasons people choose where to live—community, schools, routines—that matter beyond how pretty a home might be.
In short, even though we’ll miss finishing projects here, the long-term lifestyle benefits feel worth the change.
How Did You Find The Neighborhood?
Earlier this month we made a private reconnaissance trip to the panhandle and spent several days driving through towns, walking neighborhoods, touring houses with a realtor, and meeting a contractor about fixer-uppers. We avoided posting on social media because this felt like a deeply personal family decision. Online listings can’t fully convey neighborhood character or walkability, so seeing places in person was essential.
The neighborhood we fell for surprised us: it looked unremarkable on street view but felt lovely in person—wooded, walkable, close to the beach, shops, and restaurants. We even saw a deer near the beach, which felt like a sign that this place combines the things we love about both Richmond and Cape Charles.
Once we loved the neighborhood, we unexpectedly found the house that felt right. We toured it twice, consulted a contractor, and put in an offer. Within hours of returning home, we learned our offer was accepted.
Tell Me More About The New House!
We’re waiting to share photos and specific details until closing is complete, but here’s what we can say: the house is less than half the size of our current home, so it fulfills our downsizing goal. It’s a fixer-upper that needs work—there is currently no running water, the HVAC needs replacement, and the layout requires updates—but it has great bones, charm, and a location that checks our boxes: warm climate, walkability, and proximity to the beach.
The lot is small—about one-tenth the size of our Richmond property—which means far less yard maintenance. It’s lush and wooded, private, and perfectly suited to a walkable life where the park and beach feel like extensions of our yard. Long-term, we hope to add a pool and a small guest house so visiting family can stay comfortably, since the main house will be compact once renovated.
Beyond the renovation work, the biggest benefit is finding a place that supports a small-town, walkable lifestyle year-round.
You’re Selling Your Houses?!
Yes—this move means we’ll sell both our Cape Charles beach house and our Richmond home. It’s bittersweet to close these chapters. Each house holds memories and milestones for our family, but we feel ready to honor those memories and move toward a simpler life in a new community. We’ll remain in Richmond through the end of the school year (mid-June) to get both homes ready for sale and to give our contractor time to prepare the Florida house for our arrival.
What About Your Family & Friends?
Leaving friends and family will be the hardest part, but we plan to visit Richmond often and host people in Florida. Our families are used to living in different places, so we’ve already seen how connections can endure across distances. Support from loved ones has been incredible—parents offering to help with the move and family members excited to visit the beach house.
How Do Your Kids Feel About It?
Our kids are thrilled; they’ve been asking to move to a warm, beachy place for years. We wouldn’t make this change if it weren’t right for our whole family, but seeing how much they thrive in outdoor, simpler settings made the decision easier. Right now we’re teaching patience, because their excitement is high.
Overall, we feel a mix of emotions—nostalgia for what we’re leaving behind and excitement for what’s ahead. Friends who already made similar moves have encouraged us, saying this suits our family perfectly. We don’t have every detail nailed down yet, like exact listing dates for our current homes, but we’ll share updates as things progress. Thanks for following along—now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to see if BeachDeer is an available license plate in Florida.