You may have noticed the little vacation rental signs with the bare feet logo around the island.  These are in fact the Barefoot Amelia vacation rental properties.  Now that I’ve interviewed Matt, I see these cute signs everywhere!

It’s always fascinating to here the story before the business and Matt’s story is no different.  With a background in accounting Matt and his wife settled in Atlanta Georgia with the typical 9-5 life that most of us are familiar with.  Matt became involved with commercial real-estate which led to the first purchase of a multi-plex – they were now landlords.  A bit later a second acquisition happened and now a real business began and they learned about rental properties, what it takes to be successful and how to manage multiple properties at the same time.  

As with life, their family grew with the arrival of their son – a baby changes things and they soon felt the urge to be closer to family.  Matt grew up in Jacksonville Fl and Jenny in Fernandina Beach (grandparents make great baby-sitters).  Before relocating things fell into place where the sale of their properties in Atlanta just made sense.  Luckily for us those sales gave rise to Barefoot Amelia. 

The vacation rentals are both short and long term, pet friendly (where allowed by HOA’s), decorated with beach living in mind and their vacation rentals are stunning.  In fact the one we met at had views that were just breathtaking, I can’t think of a better way to wake up while on vacation and having meals to that view!

Each one of their vacation rentals has a name and the name fits, I love the Flamingo Loft – and yes it is loaded with pink accents, even the tile in the kitchen is a great shade of pink.  I love themes and they have really made it a fun part of their business. 

Matt & Jenny are hands on owners and treat each guest more like family than just vacationers, their attention to detail, prompt service when needed have made them a favorite with great reviews.  If you are thinking you want to vacation in Fernandina Beach don’t wait until the last second to book one of their vacation homes.. as you can imagine they do stay booked. 

Matt shared some really fun facts with us in the video interview – be sure to watch that below.  There are a few surprises there that I sure wasn’t expecting but it only added to the real charm of Matt.  This is another example of a local business that has love and heart embedded in our community.