Home Sweet Home

By Hattie Foote

Life update, we are officially homeowners!

Buying a home in Coronado seemed like a pipe dream, I would often look at the local real estate websites for funsies. I got to the point where my sensibilities were skewed when browsing, $2.8 million for that cottage? What a steal! Only $8 million for that house on Ocean Blvd? A bargain! After living here over 13 years I was content renting. Even now that we are settled in our current home, I love helping friends find homes. I constantly check Coronado rentals on Facebook, and I keep a running list of friends on the move. Here is a hot little tip for you and in fact I found my best friend’s house during the height of COVID no less this way. Check the Coronado Eagle classifieds; believe it or not, not everybody uses social media to advertise their home. Our first apartment in Coronado was Bella Mer on Orange Ave. We were so excited, we felt like official adults. I have such happy memories there. That’s where we lived when Chris started Coronado Fitness Club and it’s where we found out we were pregnant with our first baby. We outgrew that space as my due date quickly approached and we started renting a little cottage on B Ave, a quintessential Coronado home. The rent was a bit of a stretch at the time, looking back on it now, though we didn’t know how good we had it compared to the rent prices these days. I drive by that house now and smile thinking how I survived postpartum depression and a rat living in the wall there. Meanwhile my mom was now an empty nester and was wanting to downsize. She suggested that we rent her house from her and honestly it was a dream situation. We would have a little more

room and she couldn’t kick us out because I’m her precious baby girl. It was perfect timing because a few months after moving in we found out we were pregnant with our second baby.

We happily rented the house for years, really getting our money’s worth during COVID lockdowns. Then in 2022 we were able to buy it from her. We sat down and had a serious talk about if this was the right thing to do. At the end of the day this is where our roots are, and this was the right choice for our family. When I tell you, I had no clue about the process of buying a home I mean I was completely overwhelmed. So. Much. Paperwork. I am eternally grateful to Kathleen Hanlon our realtor (and dear family friend) and our loan officer Kory Kavanewsky and his team at CMG. They made the whole process enjoyable and smooth. I will say I went in and out of consciousness when we signed the papers, I couldn’t believe it. Will we be eating ramen noodles the rest of our life? Maybe. But at least I can eat them by the beach.

We are now in the beginning stages of remodeling and making this our forever home, which is a whole new journey. We are adding a bathtub, so the kids don’t have to soak in a large Tupperware container! We are adding insulation, so the house isn’t 50 degrees every morning in the winter and 90 degrees every afternoon in the summer. Heck, we might even build a house for the opossum in the backyard, you know just Coronado things. We are home sweet home. I feel so lucky to be small thread in the fabric of our beautiful community. Now it’s time to pop the champs and celebrate! Who’s coming over?