Taking the plunge

Almost four years ago, in 2006, I bought a lovely little piece of property in St. Mary's, Georgia, in a newish gated community called Cumberland Harbour. It was a giant step for me, because I was finally acting on a dream I had had for a long time: to have a home near the water (ocean) where I could retire and say goodbye to the dreary, cold and snowy New England winters I've endured for over 30 years. But in my dream there was always someone else to share the planning, the expense and the risk. The giant step was deciding to do it on my own.

I had evaluated the options of buying a home vs. building one, and quickly decided that if I was going to do this I'd go all the way. I discovered that I didn't want to buy someone else's idea of a dream house; if this was going to be the place where I would spend the last big chunk of my life, designing and building was the way to go.

The first big gulp was taking on another mortgage to buy the land. Where was the money going to come from? My financial advisor was essential in giving me the confidence that I could actually do it. Although he's a good friend, he didn't have an emotional investment in the decision. His clear-eyed objectivity, based on an intimate knowledge of my financial situation -- and my dreams -- put him in the perfect position to assess my ability to take this on. Plan A was to buy the land, then leverage the assumed appreciation on the lot and proceeds from the sale of my Connecticut home to finance construction.

For two years I dutifully made my mortgage payments, and then I got really anxious to start building the house. Once again, my advisor was there to help me figure out whether I could actually move ahead without selling my CT house. My thinking was that, after a number of visits back to St. Marys, I still was excited about the community; but if I could actually spend time there, in my own home, before I pulled up stakes in CT, I would know for sure.

After doing a fair amount of research (which I'll share in a future post) I settled on two potential architects, and in September, 2008, I made a trip south, where I interviewed both of them in person and saw their actual work. Ahh, but we all remember September, 2008, right? The weekend of my visit was several days after Lehman Brothers collapsed -- generally acknowledged to be the start of the economic meltdown that still lingers today.

My immediate dreams came to a screeching halt. What lay ahead? Like so many others, over the succeeding months I watched my 401k and my investments go into the tank and property values plunge, even in the desirable coastal areas where every other Boomer wants to retire. And in October, the formerly well-respected developer of this attractive community declared bankruptcy amid allegations of financial shenanigans. So I hunkered down to wait...... and dream.....