A few years ago, we purchased a 5 acre piece of land that already has a foundation and septic, hoping to eventually obtain a construction loan and build a home. The property has a pretty low interest rate with a 15 year land loan. Although it's made our cash flow a little tight having this additional monthly mortgage on the land, we have not been in a huge rush to build. Part of the reason we've been taking our time is that the costs for building materials like lumber were highly inflated at the time we purchased the property.

Our primary residence, is here in the same state and we'd like to keep that home indefinitely and eventually it would be our home part of the year during retirement, rather than to sell it and move. Our goal is to (eventually) have a second property where we can spend time at our retirement, and that can generate some income as a short-term rental for a portion of the time when we're not using it.

In the meantime, we have set our sights on a different geographic location (also in the same state) for our retirement, and trying to figure out the best strategy to afford to ultimately purchase a property there. In order to make that happen, we are considering selling the land and taking what little profit or equity from that sale, and saving up to purchase property in this other location we decided would be more suitable for our retirement. But realizing it may be difficult to sell a lot with just a foundation, we wonder if we would be making an error or missing an opportunity. So, we are considering whether it would be better to forge ahead with building a home as soon as possible on this piece of property we already own, and then either selling it immediately after construction or living in it for 2 years and then selling. And THEN rolling the profit/equity into purchasing either land or a fixer-upper home in the other location we would like to retire. The real estate prices are high in this state and unless some miracle occurs, it's unlikely we'd be able to purchase anything other than land or a fixer upper.

Looking for any advice and inspiration on what to do. We are stuck in a cycle of indecision and for lack of a better word, fear, of making a fumble. We're not exactly loaded with money like many real estate investors-- this is about security in our retirement. And we have a lot to lose if we make a mis-step. We are, conservatively, about 10 years from retirement age.

Seattle, Washington

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