This is a tough question, not easily answered. The best I can do is share our situation and let you decide what you can apply to your life.
We had lived in Little River, SC for 32 years. After we retired, we moved our sailboat to Myrtle Beach Yacht Club which is in Little River. We had bought a 46’ boat slip there many years before, while we were working. Our plan was to have a home base that we could give the location to the kids. (We met a couple who sold their house and moved aboard and wouldn’t tell their kids where they were. That is one way of getting them out of the house.) When we were settling in Little River, we decided to buy some property. I knew we wouldn’t sail forever, and it was a good investment. We bought it in the River Hills Golf Community, just across the street from our sailboat.
I went to school at night and got my builder’s license. We decided to build the house as a spec home because I didn’t know if we could afford both the house and the boat. This was when I experienced a ‘God Moment’. I had just finished building the stairs to the second floor and I was thinking about how to get them up. We observed someone walking across our newly seeded yard from the window. He just came in, looked around, and we started talking. I told him my problem and he said it was nothing. He had worked on stairs for 30 years. In a few moments he had the stairs up and fastened in place. Then he left, just left and we never saw him again. Thank you, Lord.
A holiday break for Christmas was necessary. When we got back, I took the For Sale sign down and we planned to move in. We ended up getting our Certificate of Occupancy in February 1992…