Whe we left Tampa my wife, Kristin, wanted to move to San Francisco or New York so we compromised and moved to Leland. Yes, I’m well aware this doesn’t sound like a fair compromise, but we should probably start at the beginning.

I grew up in New Bern, playing soccer, camping with the Boy Scouts, cooking in the kitchen and fishing with my father and two brothers. After high school, I left New Bern for UNC-Chapel Hill and graduated four years later. After college, Raymond James hired me and I moved to Tampa. While I worked in the Raymond James Equity Research department, Kristin worked in Raymond James Transitions department (although I did not know that at the time). When I first saw Kristin, I knew I didn’t need to look any further, and after we met for the first time Kristin told her friends that I was the guy she was going to marry. What else do you need?

As for Kristin’s story, she grew up near Tampa and started dancing at an early age. The youngest of four siblings, Kristin found her niche on stage, moving to music and performing for an audience. During the summers, Kristin clogged on stage at Dollywood, although she had not yet achieved her childhood dream of being a Tampa Bay Buccaneers cheerleader. In 1998 Kristin went after her dream, tried out for the Tampa Bay  cheerleading squad and made it! Over the next five years Kristin was selected as team captain and represented her team while touring Germany, Egypt, Turkey and Uzbekistan. She was also selected to go to the Pro Bowl in 2000 and traveled with the team to San Diego for Super Bowl XXXVII in 2002. At present, Kristin is still dancing and has begun performing with Forward Motion Dance Company on occasion. Forward Motion Dance, led by choreographer and friend, Tracey Varga, is a local non-profit whose mission is to provide the local and regional communities with quality modern contemporary dance.

Although we liked our life in Tampa, the corporate life became stressful and tiresome for us (13 to 14 hour days, traveling, etc.). Meanwhile, my brother Andrew had started his own landscaping business (Armstrong Landscapes) in Wilmington and was primarily working in North Brunswick County (“where the growth was,” he said). My father, a Certified Financial Planner™ with Raymond James in New Bern, was also excited about Brunswick County’s growth prospects and asked me if I was interested in opening up a Raymond James branch in Leland. He believed the area needed another financial planner and was willing to help support the new business. Kristin and I evaluated our lives in Tampa, thought about what our lives could become in North Carolina and decided to make the move.

What excited us about Leland was the close proximity to downtown Wilmington and the beach. We love the people, restaurants and local businesses in downtown Wilmington and frequent many of them on a weekly basis. One of our favorite spots is Bottega Art and Wine. Bonnie England and Steve Gibbs, Bottega’s owners, are easy to talk to and fun to be around (and they have loads of good stories). We love to go there on a Friday or

Saturday night, sit with a good glass of wine (or specialty beer) and drink in the artwork and atmosphere. As for the beaches, Leland seems to be equidistant from Wrightsville Beach and Oak Island (although we tend to drive down to the Oak Island beaches more often). The Oak Island beaches seem a little less pretentious and allow us to bring our dog with us year round.

Upon arriving in Leland, we initially rented a townhome in the Three Oaks section of Magnolia Greens while we scoped out the area. We first looked for existing homes in many parts of Wilmington and Leland (including Magnolia Greens and Waterford of the Carolinas). We compared literally hundreds of homes on price, neighborhoods and school districts but never found anything we considered compelling. Eventually we started comparing the price of a new home to the prices of the existing homes we’d already considered. Finally something clicked into place.

When we started looking at new homes, my brother Andrew introduced us to Page Robertson and Brookside Homes. Page had a few models going up in the Jefferson Landing section of Brunswick Forest, so the three of us  drove out and walked through four patio home models. The last model we walked through was the Fairfax and when we saw it, we knew we were home. The Fairfax footprint is approximately 1,700 heated square feet(approximately 2,200 total square feet) and includes a two-car garage and a screened in porch in the back. Although there were many upgrade options available to us, the Fairfax seemed to have everything we wanted and nothing we didn’t. In the end, we added hardwood flooring in the great room and a paver patio in the backyard, but everything else was standard.

The building process began in June 2007 and we moved into our new home at the end of October. Because we were excited to move into our first home, the months crawled by at first, but near the end everything was moving at a steady pace. We had many, many questions, and each time someone from Brookside was there to provide answers. Brookside’s construction team was helpful, and the design team, who helped us select cabinets, wall colors, fixtures, etc., gave us great advice when we were stuck on a certain choice. (Do we go with brushed nickel or satin nickel accents on the bathroom cabinets? Believe me, I was no help.) We were continually astonished by the wide array of choices.

Kristin spent more time making design decisions than I did. I recall saying the words “Yes, dear” over and over again (Kristin has always had better decorating ideas; I just wanted to move into the new house already). You know you made the right decision when if given the choice, you’d do it over again exactly the same way (and we would in a heartbeat).

When we agreed to buy in Brunswick Forest, the majority of the common areas and amenities were still under construction. Now we have a fantastic Wellness Center (exercise equipment, tennis courts and pro shop and pools) and we will soon have a Garden Center.

Initially we worried what effects the national housing crisis would have on a neighborhood banking on a steady influx of new home buyers. However, it seems like more families are moving in each day, new homes continue to be built and the developers appear to be going forward with their plans regardless of the housing market. Every new neighborhood has its growing pains, and Brunswick Forest is no different, but Kristin and I are looking beyond the present and into the future (and we like what we see not only for Brunswick Forest, but for Leland as well). We believe Brunswick Forest and the surrounding areas will be a perfect place to raise a family and settle down for the long term. We are here to stay.