We moved to the Bahamas, and I'm finally sharing our story!

In January 2023, we packed up our family for a 5-week holiday in Nassau, Bahamas. Myself, my husband, and our two daughters, 6 and 4. Before getting too much further, you’ll need some context. I met my husband Dallas in 2007 in London, where we were in graphic design school. I found out later he was from The Bahamas. However, for our entire relationship, dating, engagement, houses, kids, etc., we lived in Canada. We had built our dream life… a beautifully renovated dream house, the perfect school district, a safe and charming neighbourhood, a community we loved, friends and family close by, the girls had friendships and activities. But I had always dreamed of living elsewhere. The weather in Canada wasn’t ideal, but we loved the summer. And with Dallas’s family in the Bahamas, we were often travelling each winter. This winter was different, though. We extended our time and did something we’d never done: rented a condo for those 5 weeks.

During this vacation, we fell in love with the island in a different way. I had been there probably 40 times before this trip. We went to the beach every day, grocery shopped and cooked our own meals, met up with friends, did get-togethers with cousins, boat days, and nights out away from our kids. It was perfect. We enjoyed the gated community we were living in and started to look at units to purchase, thinking we could split our time 50/50, winters in Nassau and summers in Canada. We’d figure out school for the kids. We left with the notion we were going to do this.

We got home and didn’t see the sun for 6 weeks. It was hard. We had felt this almost high when we were in The Bahamas this time. And it wasn’t the vacation part, we were still working. The sun, the vibrant culture, and just the overall vibe felt intoxicating.

The more research I started doing, the more I realized if we were going to do this, we had to go all in. Our kids were too young to pull them from school to school. It wasn’t fair to them to split up their year. That would get harder the longer we did this. So we looked at putting our house up for rent and purchasing a townhouse in Nassau. We were on a plane to The Bahamas to look at it one more time before offering, and it sold, literally on the way there. We pivoted, because we wanted this, and started looking at houses. East of the island, where his family and most of our friends lived, and west of the island, where more expats and newer homes were located. We looked everywhere.

We walked into this one house and, when we drove up to the gates, I got a wow moment. Not of the house itself, but the feeling: a wide white gate, a long driveway lined with palm trees, a large property, and a traditional Bahamian estate. Then reality hit. The house was like a sauna, the windows were old, the floors mismatched, and everything needed love. The stove looked like it was from the ’80s. The walls had texture. It was hard, and my perfectionist eye just kept rolling up the dollar signs. This was a ton of work. Then we walked outside, with a massive outdoor patio off the kitchen and dining room that wrapped along the backside of the house. We were met with a large rectangular pool (my dream), palms, fruit trees, space. It was beautiful.

We looked at a few more homes and then decided this was the one. We viewed it one more time and flew back home. It was the right choice. However, with all the work that it required, an acre lot, a 4,000 sq ft house, and literally everything needing to be redone, we knew we couldn’t float two large homes. Especially if this move was going to be permanent. So we met with a realtor, decided to fully finish our house with a quick basement renovation, and list it before May. The market was dropping, and I had this really strong urge that it needed to sell before June to get the max dollars.

We listed the house, and it sold in less than 24 hours, for asking. Which was way more than we ever thought we would get for it.

During this time, we put a low offer on the Bahamas house and went back and forth until we landed on a price. Buying a property here is not for the faint of heart. It took almost 6 months for us to close on the house. On top of this, moving our business, our money, all of our belongings, applying to schools, getting insurance, dealing with the banks, packing, buying a new car to take with us, selling our two cars, donating everything we didn’t want to move, loading two containers, handling the paperwork for our dog, airline tickets, and then moving officially before the school year started, with no house to live in. You have to really want this. It was a lot, but it actually wasn’t as stressful as I thought it would be. I was excited, the kids were apprehensive, and Dallas was along for the ride. Pretty true about our entire relationship and marriage.

We arrived on August 28, 2023, 8 months after our holiday, and moved to The Bahamas. We had no paperwork, no house, and 2 containers to clear with nowhere to go. I mean, we lived at Dallas’s parents’, but it was weird to not have a house of our own for such a big move.

Finally, after endless emails, calls, signatures, deals, etc., we closed. But not the way we wanted to. Being a Canadian with no status, everything had to be in my husband’s name. They also wouldn’t accept our income, so we had to get a co-signer. Which felt backwards. We had enough money to buy the house outright and a strong 12-year business history, no debt, and assets. But still. That felt weird, as I’m independent and never envisioned needing a man to do things. That actually stayed true to many things. When I called to set up accounts or to have people come to the house to help, they wanted to speak to “the boss.” Uh hem… that’s me. That was a culture shift.

Part Two, I’ll be sharing what happened to our moving truck, how we lived in a non-AC house in 100-degree heat, what work looks like, our kids’ schools, meeting new friends, and renovating our home.