six months in puerto rico

Wait… 2015 is already over? It certainly doesn’t feel like we’ve been living in Puerto Rico for six months already!

Time absolutely flies by. The speed at which the Earth revolves around the sun seems to increase with each passing year.  Before we get too far into 2016, I want to take a look back at how we got here.

In March 2013, we decided that our 2014 New Year’s resolution would be to move to Puerto Rico by June 2014. We knew that it would take at least that long to sell our house because there were a lot of aesthetic and maintenance issues we needed to address. Our kitchen needed to be freshened up so we resurfaced all the cabinets, put in granite countertops, and installed stainless steel appliances. We repainted the house inside and out. We replaced the roof, floor tile, and dated light fixtures. The house looked better than ever when we put it on the market right on schedule, in the last week of February 2014.

Unfortunately, the house still hadn’t sold by June, making it painfully obvious that we weren’t going to be able to stick to our original schedule. I was forced to slash our asking price and make up the difference by continuing to work for another year while living with my parents. We finally did sell the house in October of 2014 which was when we moved in with my parents.

We had failed in achieving our 2014 New Year’s resolution, but in hindsight, I can see it was better that it happened this way. If we had sold our house right away at full price, we would probably be living on the east coast of the island in Palmas del Mar instead of here on the beautiful west coast. We would probably be renting instead of buying with a monthly rent payment substantially higher than our current mortgage payment. Furthermore, during the additional year, we paid off debts, saved more money, and made better decisions overall concerning our move. We also enjoyed eight months of quality time with my family in San Antonio for which I’m very thankful.

In 2016, our goals are more modest. My focus this year is primarily on improving my trading skills and writing posts here every other weekend. Holly’s primary goals involve learning to speak Spanish and gardening. We also look forward to many more fun and memorable experiences for our family on the island.  Feliz Año Nuevo! 🙂

(4/28/2023 – Sorry, the video of the boys popping firecrackers was taken down because it was deemed to have violated Youtube’s “child safety policy”)