Leap(s) of Faith

Upon awakening this morning, J. asked 'how did you sleep?'.  I replied 'pretty good, how about you?'.  'Good until around 5:15 when I started ruminating'.  'Ditto' was my reply.

Yesterday, we put a deposit on a just shy of a quarter acre lot to build our next home.  We met with the realtor and the builder - very nice people.  The realtor called the owner/manager of the golf course (who owns all the land the houses are being built on, all the golf course land and the surrounding undeveloped (but will be someday) land) - and he was happy to meet us in the parking lot of the golf course and drive us around in a golf cart to see our lot up close.  We also got a wonderful tour of most of the course, were able to visualize the future development and were very impressed with his very welcoming demeanor.  Really, think about it - how many people would drop everything, hop on a golf cart and spend time with two strangers - when you are the owner of all the property?  We were very impressed - he was very nice and easy going.

And the land owner and realtor are also building homes - they will be our neighbors - so that is really cool, too.

We went in thinking we would buy one lot and quickly decided to buy a completely different lot - because the first lot we chose was much smaller and given the size of the house we want to build, there were concerns it wouldn't fit.  Price difference was only $20K so we were fine with the (much) larger lot.  It also made us rethink the original lot to see the plot map for the next round of homes being built - what currently looks like open space would have been houses across the street - so we opted for a lot that is sure to stay 'open space' since it's overlooking one of the golf holes.

The great thing about this development is that semi-custom means 'you pick'.  We can (literally) find any floor plan we like, send to them and they will design the home with those features to fit on our lot.  The possibilities feel a bit staggering at the moment - but we already have a 'tentative' plan and will continue to look over the next month or so.  They confirmed we will need to come up here quite a few times in the planning phase and the house should be completed in about a year.  That sounds like a long time but is actually 3-6 months sooner than we had been thinking?  So now we've got to regroup around me (possibly) retiring even earlier - and is that feasible.

I'm psyching myself up to retire from my current job, get moved to CC and settled, have a few months of sleeping in and being at home and then finding work somewhere.  Probably not 'needed' but would certainly help smooth out the rough edges of our budget.  That leads to lots of ruminating about health insurance, etc. - I can pay out of pocket to stay on my current plan if I retire - but if I ever stop that coverage, I can't come back in.  So....I'll have to be careful about that 'cuz I truly don't want to work until 65.

I'm hoping I can find some part time work - and/or even substitute teaching - to bring in some $ but not have to change benefits.  I'm sure there are tons of jobs in this area - so I'm not too worried.

And then I ruminate about 'and if you start collecting SS at 62, that will limit what you can earn...' .  Do I work and wait to claim?  And if yes, how long?

So many things to ruminate about.  And we're just beginning.

I moved up to Northern California in 1984 on a wing and a prayer.  Felt led here by a force that kept reassuring me 'it's OK.  This is where you are supposed to be'.  I feel pretty much the same about this move.  It is a leap of faith to leave California and start fresh somewhere completely new.  It's easy (super easy) to over think every little thing and end up in total 'mind meltdown' about all the moving parts.  But we can do this.  I'm sure we can and I'm sure we will be fine - and we are going to have an absolutely beautiful home in a beautiful city.

We're heading home from Reno today - thank you to Atlantis for the free rooms - we're counting on those rooms to continue for the next five months.  I can't wait to be considered 'a local' and play here often.  Sitting at a machine betting 50 cents a pull is fun and entertaining and my goal is to get to Black Diamond status - Atlantis' player loyalty tiers are based only on time at machine - not dollars in.  So I just have to keep hanging out here.  Not a problem 'cuz it's a very nice, fun place.

More later on some locals I met this trip.