2 min read

Building a House of Cards

Building a House of Cards

Crippled by decision paralysis that naturally accompanies any major life change or purchase, we drove away from the boat agreeing that the responsible, adult decision would be to run the numbers just one more time to be sure. It only took 15 minutes to do that while driving until we pulled over, called back the owner and told him we’re in!

For the rest of the weekend, we worked on the logistics. We signed our contract, paid our deposit, and began the process of scheduling our surveyor, haul out and sea trial. Much like buying a house, there’s an inspection period. Because we are not working through a broker, we are working directly with a title company and responsible for finding the right surveyor for us and scheduling all of the logistics.

While it’s been stressful, especially because we don’t know how this process typically works, we have been able to figure it all out, so far.

We researched surveyors and the cruisers forum consistently recommended Cecilia Potts of Set Sail Marine Survey. After an initial discussion, she asked us to send her the listing of our potential boat. She laughed, telling us that she’s seen this boat before. In fact, a friend sent her the listing earlier this year saying that this is a really nice Lagoon. The sailing community is small, so this isn’t surprising.

So we’re under contract for our house, scheduled to close at the end of the month. And, we’re also under contract to close on the boat of our dreams four days later. If one single thing goes wrong in either sale, the whole plan could crumble. For the next 20 days, we’re living in a house of cards.

Not to mention, we’re also selling/donating most of our belongings and moving everything out of our house into a temporary place. I’m also leaving my current job and starting a new remote job.

We’re trying to take things one step at a time but it’s certainly overwhelming. Usually, people with common sense try to space out all of these major life changes. We just decided to do them all at once.