It is about time!

This beginning actually is happening in the middle of our lives. After 12, no 13 years, of living with lots of people in a small townhouse we are building a new home! It will have more than twice the amount of square footage of our current home. Each of our four children will get their own room. Needless to say, everybody is very excited about our move. You can follow our ups and downs as we post updates about our newest adventure along with some of our older ones.

We are having a house built by Mercedes Homes in a community called Victoria Lakes. It is located on the Northside of Jacksonville. Since we've always lived on the Southside, this will be very different for us.

Why the Northside? Well, thanks for asking. You've heard the old real estate adage: location, location, location.... Well, forget that. In our case, it is price, bang for the buck and square footage. It is simple, really- we want the most house for our money and the developments on the Northside are comparable with Mandarin, except that they cost less.

I moved to Mandarin with my parents when I was in 4th grade. At the time, Mandarin was at the stage that the Northside is now- mostly undeveloped with beautiful views of the river and lots of land. State Road 13 (San Jose Blvd) was two lanes going south after 295. At night when we were driving home, my sister and I used to lay down in the backseat because there was nothing to look at.

So the plan is to build here now and in twenty years our kids will move to the just being developed area of town because the Northside is too crowded and expensive. Wait, I moved to Mandarin 30 years ago! We must be getting old...