Working from Home and Loving It

Two couples relocate from the D.C. area to Woodside in Aiken, SC, during COVID

“Being able to work from anywhere has been one of the biggest benefits of COVID. My business went totally remote. Even as things are opening up, people are re-evaluating their lives because they can work from anywhere. Like people in Washington, D.C., they are thinking, ‘Let’s get out of the rat race,’” said Lou Ann Brossman.

In 2018, the Brossmans bought a house that they had never seen in a town they’d never been to and haven’t looked back. They had purchased the home in Woodside to eventually retire to while maintaining their residence in the northern Virginia area. Lou Ann (63) and Doug (68) would visit Aiken periodically, but when COVID hit, they decided to stay.

Lou Ann says, “We had planned on keeping our house in northern Virginia because I have a business there. But then COVID hit, and when everything started closing down in March 2020, we decided to just go to Aiken and stay for two weeks and never left. Doug was a financial advisor for Wells Fargo and was able to work from home (he just retired last week). We kept thinking we were going to go back, but everything kept getting pushed back month after month.”

The Brossmans then received an unsolicited cash offer for their home in Virginia with one caveat – they had to be out within three weeks. So they packed everything and moved to Aiken full time.

“This was kismet, it was meant to be,” continues Lou Ann. “The number of people we have met, even during COVID, and the level of engagement (all COVID-compliant) has been great for us. Since it’s a golf course community, things never stopped here.”

Both Doug and Lou Ann are very active in the community. They are both avid golfers. Doug wants to play pickleball and Lou Ann has developed a new routine of working out at the village fitness center three mornings a week at 6:30 am.

Even if you haven’t been very athletic, you can start a new routine to live a healthy lifestyle when you relocate. Lou Ann is a prime example of this. She says, “I hope to retire sometime soon, but my goal is to come into this new phase of life healthier than I have ever been… mind, body, and spirit. I am learning to breathe and slow down. I’m eating healthy and walking all of the time.”

And, she’s encouraging others to do the same. She has brought several of her friends with her to Woodside, including Scott and Theresa Hoyt. Lou Ann and Scott met at a luncheon in Washington, D.C., where Lou Ann mentioned that she had purchased a home in Woodside.

“It felt absolutely perfect the moment we drove into Woodside. We bought a lot here the weekend we visited,” said Scott. “We wanted a unique, warm, friendly community. Theresa (57) works for the federal government, and she will probably work another four to five years. COVID accelerated our plans by a few years. Ironically, the pandemic forced us to make the move since my wife was able to work from anywhere. We are renting for a year while we are building a new home.

“I may be 66 years old, but my mindset is still 46. I did not want to be in a retirement community, and Woodside is not a retirement community. It has everything you need from health and medical facilities in Aiken to eclectic restaurants and shops just outside of the gates of Woodside. There is never a dull day for me. You will stay active and be as busy as you want with golf and pickleball, hiking trails, and travel.

“The Southern hospitality is off the charts. You just don’t get that in the big cities. It was the perfect storm.”