David McLean looked here, there and everywhere before landing at Orchid Island.

David McLean and his wife Tammy have lived in NYC, LA, and several places in-between but when the thought of another Northeastern winter became just too tiresome, it prompted a years-long search for another home. With a little luring from New Jersey neighbors, they visited and eventually fell in love with Orchid Island.

Choosing a new place to live is like “Freshman rush week in college,” explains David, who scoured the Florida coasts. “You hear, ‘This house is best on campus.’ ‘No, this one is.’ We’d go to Florida for three, four weeks to see…”