We’re Officially Moving – Can You Guess Where?

Guess what! We’re officially moving… but can you guess where?

If you’ve been following along for awhile now, you know that we’ve been looking to move outside the city to get us some more space for our growing family. We were originally looking at North Shore, Chicago area because of the great schools and the larger homes. We were committed enough that we even put in an offer on a home! Unfortunately, the market is literally quite crazy right now. People are waiving contingencies, paying all cash, and offering way above asking price, so it is extremely hard to win a bid.

Leaving Chicago?

Then, we recently found out that my husband now can work remotely. This is when our wheels started turning – we didn’t necessarily have to stay in Chicago. I can work from wherever too, so we started exploring options out of state. We kept good weather at the forefront of our minds because the Chicago winters really wore on all of us. It was really hard going from Los Angeles where the weather is nearly perfect year round to Chicago where I felt like I had to be locked indoors for half the year. Not that the winters aren’t magical here – it was just such a total 180 from what I was used to.

We considered the west coast, but another high priority for us was to get closer to our families – especially for child and pet support. Bryan’s family lives in Hilton Head and my parents are considering moving to South or North Carolina when they retire. We decided it was a good opportunity to go look at the area and see if we could imagine life there.

Well… we fell in love. We’re officially moving to Charleston, South Carolina!!

Charleston sits on the southern boarder of South Carolina and has an old world charm, yet modern city amenities to it. It is only two hours from Hilton Head – aka a short drive to Alina’s grandparents! It is going to be such a game changer to be close to family. Navigating motherhood by myself has been tough and I cannot wait to have some extra pair of hands when needed.

You might be thinking – why Charleston?

Apart from being so close to family and more consistent year-round weather, Charleston is so charming and absolutely beautiful. Travel + Leisure has ranked the city the #1 Top City in the U.S. nine years in a row. It also ranked #18 on the Best Cities in the World list. It was the only American city to make it!

On top of its beauty, the city is much more affordable than Chicago. We are saving over $10k on average in property taxes alone, which is insane! We are also going to be saving on car insurance and average overall living costs. Overall, a great financial decision for us as well.

Because we already sold our Chicago home so quickly, we are moving SOON! Like, as in NEXT MONTH. We will most likely be moving to Hilton Head with Bryan’s family as we hone in on where in Charleston we want to live. If you have any advice or suggestions, I’d love to hear them! We cannot wait for this next stage in our lives. While we absolutely love Chicago, this feels right. I am excited for this change and I can’t wait to bring you all along with me as we’re officially moving to Charleston!

xo,