<----- Bought a five acre wooded tree farm on a motorboat lake in SC a few years ago to build our retirement garage mahal.
The mortgage on our modestly-sized house in upstate NY will be paid off in December, so we can sell up here at any time and throw all of that money into the construction fund for down yonder and come out with no mortgage. Much different financials than you are working with.
If retiring by a lake is your goal, my vote is to make it happen now while you can still appreciate it. I have not even walked down the path to the dock since the day we closed on the tree farm, because I can't walk the hill back up.....
