Working for a Fortune 500 company in OH resulted in many business trips to Northern CA. As luck would have it, I have family in Monterey who were happy to show me around the area whenever business brought me west.

One day I came to the realization that each time I stepped off the plane, CA felt more and more like “home” to me – this is where I needed to live every day – not just every 6 weeks. And not just anywhere in CA, but in Monterey County where the choices of activities are endless – Where the ocean and the mountains meet to provide surroundings of unequaled beauty.

In 2009 we took the first step toward realizing our goal – A colleague of Susan’s at Alain Pinel helped us find a home in South County that met both our space and budget needs. The location was perfect for my husband’s requirement for warmer temperatures while still providing proximity to the ocean to feed my desire to walk a beach. We rented out that house for 2 years while we put together the rest of our plan. We found just the right business opportunity for my skills, and in 2011, I quit my corporate job and we moved 2441 miles west to our home that had been waiting for us.

Today our business is thriving and when we are ready to retire, we will have no need to move somewhere else – we’re here to stay. I saw my agent a short time after moving here permanently. I was going on and on about how happy we were with our choice to make Monterey County our home – he said to me “Well, you know you’ve moved to heaven, don’t you?” Amen to that…