Moving From California to St. Pete for the Boat Life
She messaged me on Facebook about moving from California. A year and a half, 20 houses and two hurricanes later, she pulled up next to me at the sandbar in her own boat.
About the Author
Carly Majorana
Waterfront and luxury real estate specialist at NextHome Gulf Coast in St. Petersburg, Florida. CLHMS Guild Member, specializing in the technical side of waterfront: seawalls, boat lifts, bridge clearance, and flood zones. Serving buyers and sellers in St. Pete Beach, Tierra Verde, Treasure Island, St. Petersburg, Bayway Isles, and Pinellas Point.
One day a friend from my high school swim team messaged me, of all places, on Facebook. I put about 0% effort into Facebook. Basically my leftover content goes there when I remember.
She was two years older than me, lived close by, and drove me to school every day. We were super close. Then she went to college in a different state, I was a junior, and we lost touch.
She and her husband were considering moving from California to Florida. They could transfer their jobs, and she wanted to know if I’d help them find a house. At the time I was 5 months pregnant and had just pulled our boat up to our Airbnb in the Bahamas.
Her timeline was something like a year and a half away. I remember being like whoa okay, this chick is a planner. I’m sure it will never happen. I literally can’t even book a nail appointment because who knows what life will throw at me in the next 20 minutes.
But if you’re in sales you know follow up is key. I reached out a year later and she was like yes, I’ll be there in 2 months.
What they were looking for
I didn’t even know their budget until about a month before they were coming. When she finally told me, I was like, whoa. Okay. We can work with that.
Turns out we weren’t casually looking for a little Florida vacation house. We were looking for a waterfront home with a budget up to $2.5 million.
They wanted the whole setup. Pool, dock, boat lift, access to the Gulf. Too cliche for me to even repeat, but they wanted the Florida dream.
Pretty sure we looked at about 20 houses.
Then Hurricane Helene flooded almost every house we’d seen
And then Hurricane Helene showed up.
Almost every house we had looked at flooded. Even homes that had been standing for half a century without taking on water.
Turns out, not buying any of them was the best decision they could have made. They could have closed on a multimillion dollar waterfront home three weeks earlier and watched it flood. I would’ve been sick.
Unfortunately, the rental they were staying in wasn’t so lucky.
Four feet of water went through it. Clothes, furniture, childhood pictures, memories. Pretty much everything they’d brought from California was destroyed.
At this point, I thought there was absolutely no chance these people were staying in Florida.
I was practically planning their going-away party. See ya, Florida. It’s been real.
How did one house stay dry when the neighbors flooded?
Instead, I got a message asking if we could go look at another house. In Shore Acres.
For anyone unfamiliar with St. Pete, Shore Acres has had its fair share of flooding problems. Three days after Helene, we rolled up and people’s entire lives were sitting on the curb.
It was awful.
But the house we came to see sat considerably higher than the surrounding homes. And somehow, it was dry. Same neighborhood. Same storm. Completely different outcome.
They loved it.
Then, less than two weeks later, Hurricane Milton showed up.
And after that one, they were like, let’s put an offer in.
I think I actually spit out my drink. Come again, you want to what?
Literally their lives are in shambles and they’re ready to buy a house. In this neighborhood.
But I guess once you get a taste of Florida boating life, it’s hard to go back.
Even when Florida is doing its absolute best to convince you otherwise.
What to check on elevation before you make an offer
That house is why I look at height before anything else now. Here’s what I check.
- The elevation certificate. It tells you how high the lowest floor sits compared to the flood level FEMA expects. More on elevation certificates here.
- How the house sits next to its neighbors. You can see this from the street.
- Whether it has flooded before. Ask. Then ask how high the water got.
- The flood zone. AE and X are very different conversations.
What about the boat?
Then we had the brilliant idea to invite them to the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show. Which is kind of a gamble when you haven’t traveled with someone in 20 something years. Throw in two husbands who barely know each other and an entire weekend away without kids.
We had the best time. Our husbands got along, and it honestly felt like we hadn’t skipped a beat. Except instead of getting into trouble at swim practice, we were walking around looking at boats that cost more than most people’s houses.
They figured out what kind of boat they wanted, I made sure it would work with the lift at their new house, and they eventually bought one.
They got the house. They got the boat. And somewhere along the way, we went from Realtor and client back to being actual friends.
Why she moved here
We were having drinks one night when she started talking about my marketing. She told me how good she thought it was.
And then she said something along the lines of,
“You don’t understand. Watching you guys out on the boat, going to the Bahamas, doing all that stuff literally made me want to move here.”
Not because of my just sold, coffee and contracts posts. Because of my boat videos.
I was kind of shocked. I knew she followed me. I knew she’d reached out because I was a Realtor in Florida. I didn’t realize I’d basically been giving her a years-long sales presentation for a life I wasn’t even trying to sell.
A few years ago, someone I really respected in real estate asked me if I was trying to sell houses or become a boating influencer, and he was dead serious.
So I guess I was selling houses after all.
And then one day, she pulled up next to me at the sandbar. In her own boat.
Living the exact life she’d spent years watching us live.
Twenty-five years ago, she was driving me to high school. Now we go to each other’s houses by water, spend holidays together, and we’re planning a Bahamas trip.
Frequently asked questions
Did waterfront homes in St. Pete flood during Hurricane Helene?
A lot of them did. Almost every house I had shown these buyers took on water, including homes that had been standing for half a century without flooding. The house they ended up buying sat considerably higher than the homes around it and stayed dry.
Can a house stay dry in a neighborhood that floods?
Yes. Elevation is house by house, not neighborhood by neighborhood. In this case it was the same neighborhood and the same storm with a completely different outcome, because the house sat higher than its neighbors. Ask for the elevation certificate before you make an offer.
How long does it take to buy a waterfront home when you are moving from out of state?
These buyers first reached out about a year and a half before they planned to move, and we looked at about 20 houses once they got here. At that price point you do not want to settle because everyone is tired of looking.
Should I check the boat lift before I buy a boat?
Yes. Every lift has a weight limit and a width it can handle, and not every boat fits every lift. These buyers picked out their boat after they found the house, and I made sure it would work with the lift there before they bought it.
