Why The Virginia Beach?

The first time I wrote Virginia Beach on some form of a utility document or a letter to someone, I remember thinking how surreal the moment felt. “We live at the beach,” I thought. Memories of not being able to sleep as a kid days even weeks before beach trips to Sandbridge swarm my memory now more than in the past. 

Sean even asked me a few weeks ago as we were driving down the one road to get to the ocean front if I was afraid that living here would ruin all the childhood memories for me. Besides, everyone says the sweetness about vacation is that it ends right? 

I thought about it for a second. I have never been the type of person to “live for the weekends.” I have always felt sad for people who survive Monday through Friday, relax Saturday, then take Sunday to gear up again for the long, mundane work week ahead. Mentally, I guess I’m just not that strong. My threshold of waiting on days or hard things to pass probably lands somewhere dangerously close to my four year olds capacity to wait for anything. I feel that I am very “present moment”, almost to a fault. I can be forgetful about plans in the future or often find myself late for events or pushing the boundaries of “on time.” Another fault of mine is that I struggle with connecting with others far from me and often forget to check in or call those I may not physically close to in proximity. These are some of the few tick marks on my laundry list of “traits to work on.” With all this being said, when Sean and I jumped into real estate full time we felt a tug toward the ocean where our EVERYDAY would be “weekend-like.” 

Don’t get us wrong, Sean and I love pain. In fact, I’m working on my second year of Crossfit and find myself thinking about how I can improve my athletic performance in the gym almost as much as designing houses. I have never connected with another type of workout for the actual pain and difficulty that the workouts bring on the daily. Pain is not something that we shy from. In fact, daily struggles and life’s pains are a part of being human so no matter how hard you try, things are going to hurt. 

Let’s talk about what moving to the beach wasn’t. 

Moving to the beach wasn't an escape from hard things like “real jobs” or “normal life.” Sean and I never imagined sitting on the beach everyday with coconut drinks and sunglasses while someone else watched our children and money washed up on the shore. While this thought can be dangerously tantalizing while watching my 2 year old finger paint my refrigerators with strawberry yogurt, this is not our reality nor was it our mission. The beach for most people is vacation, this is a fact, but we did not move to the beach for vacation ALL day EVERYDAY day, more like, a few hours a days or random days sprinkled in throughout a week. The beach is still a well deserved reward after a hard day's work.

Moving to the beach also wasn’t a persevering of a sick beach brand or a tattooed “appearance” to give Sean and Ann a leg up into the blogging industry or online community. In other words, we didn’t do it to look cool. There is a movement within millennials or young adults to buy tiny houses or live full time on the road in station wagons or Airstreams with no belongings. With that being said, I believe that if this is your dream and you long for that kind of lifestyle then run, Forest, run. Our brand and mission is to influence and encourage others to do what their heart longs to do and do it to the fullest while living out a life that you can be proud of financially while simultaneously becoming the best version of yourself. Oh yeah, and the path better be taking you to your final destination of financial freedom as well.

Thirdly,

Moving to Virginia Beach wasn’t a search for settling down in the “sexiest” beach city we could find. We actually we get a lot of looks and doubtful expressions when we tell people that Virginia beach was the location we decided to settle down and make our home. If the search for the most beautiful beach was our drive and goals, we had an amazing hand to choose from. There is Charleston, The Outerbanks, and probably any of the Florida beaches would have fit the mold if “beach” was the end game. Sandbridge Beach located in southern Virginia is, in our opinion, one of the most special and unique places on the planet. Our goal is to exploit all of its many, many wondrous features and hopefully uncover its magic to y’all.

What moving to the Beach was, was an opportunity to have a life that Sean and I only thought was attainable after retirement or when financial freedom had been already achieved. After sitting down and discussing our goals, dreams, and what place spoke to us both, we realized that one could achieve financial freedom AND simultaneously live where and how we thought only possible for somebody else. We realized that we want a life of FREEDOM BUILDING. When we listen to Brandon Turner and Bigger Pockets podcasts, we know the ultimate goal is financial freedom aka not being tied down to a lifestyle that makes you unhappy because you feel that it might pay the bills or it’s what everyone HAS to do for 40 years until you can retire. We realized that ok, financial freedom is the goal, BUT what are you doing in that intermittent period? What are you doing WHILE you are trying to achieve financial freedom. You are freedom building. 

This is what Freedom Building looks like for us. It looks like a one way road into a one market, two street beach town. It smells like the salt from the ocean, early morning fisherman’s bait, and Banana Boat sunscreen. It feels like sandy feet in your flip flops and gasping for air after escaping the burning hot sand from the beginning of the beach path to the safety of your shaded tent. It sounds like the shrieks from loved ones after that first submersion into the freezing, satisfying ocean waves from the one who was brave enough to go completely under. Most importantly it feels like breathing in the peace of mind and anticipation for each and everyday knowing that you don’t have to wait 40 years before you feel emotionally and financially in control of your life.