>> This is more of a family update than a medical Emma update:
Things have been crazy, yet very exciting, over the past few months. Michael has been working from home for a company called Echo Healthcare since January, and since April, he has no longer been working part time as a makeup FX teacher at the Vocational Academy of Makeup and Prosthetics (VAMP). He helped create the criteria for that program back in 2015 before the school opened the following year.
At the end of June (maybe?) Michael's boss, Kevin, came to check out the sculpts and molds that Michael had been working on in the garage, as he came to check on every couple of months. The company is based out of Sarasota, south of Tampa, and each time Kevin visited he would mention how great and detailed Michael's work is and say he wished that we lived closer. The next day Michael asked me, "Hypothetically, if we did move to Sarasota, and I was able to work there full time with insurance and benefits, and you could stay home with Emma (my dream for the past two years!!), is that something you would be interested in?" My answer was, definitely yes! Fast forward about a month later, between us coming up with several budgets to figure out how much we would need since the houses there are more expensive, and negotiating salary and waiting for Kevin to get back to us, etc, the move was a go!
On July 27th, I contacted our realtor, Anita, who helped us find our Orlando house, and she was excited to work with us again. We met with her for a few hours, we came up with a price to sell our house, which amazingly had a current sale value for way more than we bought it for! Two weeks later it was for sale. Because of Emma and her medical needs and all her equipment and how it would be much easier to be out of the house for a few days while people looked at our house, rather than leaving for 30 minutes each time a family wanted to pop by, she set that up for us.
It worked out so perfectly that during the three days we needed our house to be toured/ shown, my parents were going to be in Daytona Beach and have a room available at the condo they were staying in because when they booked it they thought my brother and his daughters would be going, but then their school started early, so the room was available for us! :)
When we got back, Anita told us we had at least 30 families come through the house and 23 offers, all saying they could pay over asking price!! We had a phone conference with her and picked a buyer and moved forward with signing all the documents electronically. Not too long after, a man came by to do the inspection, and that same day, I was happy that we got to meet the buyer who is really nice, who brought her friend, another really nice girl our age. She apparently didn't even get to see inside the house before she put an offer on the house because her realtor's code to unlock the lockbox wasn't working. That's how amazingly we cleaned inside the house and also how incredible the photographer's bright pictures were!
Last weekend (August 20th-23rd), we were down in Sarasota with Anita. We had previously gone down to see some neighborhood and areas, but had not gotten any tours without Anita. It was time crunch this time because we needed to find either a pre-owned home, or a new build (what we wanted) and then also an apartment to live in while the house is being built, all within four days. No pressure... The areas we looked around were Lakewood Ranch, Parrish, Ellenton, and Bradenton. We talked about Riverview a lot at the beginning, but that is over an hour away from Echo/ Michael's job.
The first day, Friday, was pre-owned homes. On Saturday, I could not contain my excitement and literally burst out laughing at how beautiful and open the hallways, kitchen and living room was. And I loved the 9 foot ceilings. I apologized to the nice guy helping us out, and told him that the model house was gorgeous and "I just can't believe this is our life right now!" I too quickly got used to the fanciness and did not laugh inside any of the other houses, but believe I said "Wow a handful of times" and took a lot of pictures. Michael has had his eye on the M/I Homes Daintree model for a long time, and I also really liked it when we got to walk around inside of it. It was two stories, with two bedrooms downstairs (which is definitely what we need- one for us and one for Emma!! and not many other houses had that), as well as an office area. Upstairs had a large loft and guest bedroom. The house had a total of three full bathrooms, and a separate laundry room! The model looked extra beautiful with a pool, but we aren't getting that.
There were two Daintree inventory houses in two different neighborhoods where we didn't have to be on a wait list. The neighborhoods have to build a certain amount of inventory houses so they can set the price by the amount of upgrades they put in so the house, so it is worth more, and then the neighborhood is nicer overall. We picked the house we did because it had the elevation (front house style) and house color that we wanted. Unfortunately, we won't get the fun day of picking out all the details, like every tile and handle and light fixture, but we feel that it will look really nice and have been picking out some new furniture. We have paid the deposit and will be in contract on September 1st.
We were lucky to find a 2 bedroom apartment as well, especially one on the first floor, even though it was more than we were expecting to pay. But everyone in the area seems to be doing the exact same thing we are: building a house and needing to stay in an apartment for a little less than a year. Every complex we called (besides the one we are going to be living in) said they didn't have availability until January!! We are moving next week and Michael starts working at Echo Healthcare on September 20th. He has been hired as their Creative Director, in charge of research and development.
The biggest issue we have had is with insurance and getting Emma's medical supplies switched over to a new company. They can't do that without everything being written as a prescription by a local doctor. However, we can't get an appointment with a local doctor until Michael gets his insurance card, but he won't get that until maybe the second week of work. And that's not for another four weeks. But Emma needs the supplies right when we move down or how is she supposed to breathe without the ventilator. Michael talked to our company in Orlando and I think they *have to* let us keep their ventilator until we get a new one and then Michael has to drive the old one back to their Orlando warehouse? It will all get worked out, even though it's a hassle with too many phone calls to doctors offices and insurance companies right now.
**I'm sorry that I don't have a way to add any pictures right now. Michael and I both still only have our old laptops from 2009, and the browsers are all out of date due to the lack of updates we are able to do, so we can barely do more than use Word. One day we will get a new laptop type of device, but not sure when. Side note: Emma turned four years old on June 12th, and her Bilateral Distal Femoral Osteotomy surgery is still scheduled for both legs at the end of October, in Delaware. Please say lots of prayers for her for that!!
**Update on 12/2/21: PICTURES!!
The house went up for sale on Monday, August 16th I think and by Saturday, after three days of tours, it had been sold!! Our realtor, Anita, kept saying how it really is a seller's market right now, and she was right! We had about 40 families come through in those three days and sold the house for $15,000 over asking price!! A lot of people loved the house, and even said it was so nicely decorated that it looked staged. Michael did make a new wreath to put on the front door, and I did buy fresh flowers to set out in the kitchen and living room. We actually sold the house before we found a new one! Living on the edge!
The timing for the tours worked out perfectly because we figured it would be easier to be out of the house for three days than to leave each time someone came to tour. My parents just happened to be vacationing in Daytona those three days we needed and were renting a two bedroom condo. So we spent the days with them. Here are some pictures from then:
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| ^^ it's a tight squeeze in the beach wagon with all that medical equipment! |
At the end of August, we went down to Sarasota for the weekend with Anita and luckily found an inventory house to be built, the same model and front elevation that we were wanting, and an apartment to live in until next summer! We bought Lot 81 from M/I Homes. Not sure when they will start building our two-story house (scheduled to start in December), but our closing date is June 30, 2022.
