These dreams go on when I close my eyes

Owning a shore house has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember. One day I'll own a shore house and ... Many a daydream started like that. When MFD and I got together we spun those daydreams hard. Over the years we've spent what I'm sure amounts to months talking about what we'd do if we owned a shore house. When we own a shore house, we can...go down in the off-season, check in whenever we want, bring the dogs, have an outdoor shower, see the sunrise over the ocean every weekend, go fishing, ride around on beach cruisers, stay late on Sundays. If we can just get our foot in the door, maybe we can...upgrade to a house to the beach or the bay one day, sell more shore real estate, buy a boat, retire down here. 

But I didn't really believe the dream would ever become a reality. Due to various circumstances over the years it seemed so far out of reach that it was destined to remain what it had always been - a daydream.

As of today, it's no longer a day dream. We own a freaking shore house. It doesn't seem real to either of us. Is this our life? Is this happening? How did we get here?

The abbreviated version: MFD wanted to move out of our Philly row home into a house in Bucks County with more land and privacy, keeping our current house as an investment property. I was amenable to a move, but everything was too far and too expensive. I casually suggested looking for an investment property at the shore, nothing crazy, so we did that for a while. Nothing was clicking...until it did.

I'm so many things right now...grateful, excited, overwhelmed. For the past three months I've been those things plus anxious, worried, distracted, counting pennies, indecisive, uncertain, scared of the risk, doubtful, and afraid of failing in this venture. I spent a lot of time looking for the adults to figure it all out only to find out we were the adults in the scenario. This is part of our retirement plan. Planning for retirement is an alternate way to spell adult, I think.

I asked myself if we were ready...then I thought what a dumb question to ask... I never know if I'm ready for something until I take the plunge.

It's a quirky, old, well lived in and loved shore house (my favorite kind) in the town I love the most, the town I grew up going to - Ocean City, NJ. I almost cried at the settlement table when the old owners talked about how great it's been for them for the last 20 years and how hard of a decision it was to sell. 

We'll rent out the main house during the season (and off if there's interest) and use the efficiency on the bottom. If you're looking for a rental four short blocks from the beach in OCNJ, contact us.

Thanks to the universe for the opportunity and the few good bounces when we needed them, to MFD for once again representing his most difficult client in a transaction (me, his wife, with incessant questions he has to answer immediately even if they have no actual answer and are still up in the air), to those closest to us for their support and encouragement during this stressful ride, and to the benefits of hard work. I never in a million years thought I'd be sharing any news like this and I'm beyond grateful to find myself here, but I know it wasn't magic. It wasn't something that happened to us, it was something we made happen with hard work from both of us, professionally and personally. And I'm damn proud and really excited. I'm also nervous - I've obviously never done this before and I know there will be a steep learning curve. But I think we're up for the challenge.

So those generic house projects I mentioned on my fall goals post will be happening at the shore, and I'm sure you'll be seeing them in snippets on TWTW posts as there's a lot I want to get done before we start renting it for summer 2016. I hope you'll come along for the ride.

Edit: this property is now listed to rent on VRBO.