The Lot on the Lane and How We Got Here

First, an update. We took a drive today to peek at the lot we have on hold on the Lane.  A realtor was showing our current house to potential buyers so we needed something to do while that was going on.  Here it is, the spot where our home on the Lane will hopefully be.

And forgive the weird photo.  My camera's been doing this to all the pics I take lately and I can't figure it out! 

See all those pine trees at the back of the lot?  They need some TLC (hello, Robert! use your magic touch on those guys!), but they'll provide a great buffer between the dead-end street behind them (it's extremely low traffic so we have no worries about it being at the back of our lot) and our home.

Our lot is narrow at the back, so it's only a few trees wide--that's not all our land. You can also see the house to the side of our lot and the house that would be across the street from ours.  The lots are long and narrow so we'll be cozy with our neighbors, but have an amazing backyard. Here's a view standing at the back of the lot by the pine trees and looking to the front of the lot.  See that dip and rise in the background? That's about where the house would end and we'd have the rest of this space as our yard. 

And here's the golf course, which is what the front of the house will face.  There's a road between the lot and the course.  See Eric standing there?

Second, a little more background of why we're at this point. As I mentioned in the last post, we have gone back and forth on this decision a whole awful lot.  Here's some of our thinking:

Pros for selling and building a new home                

-Eric's life-long dream of living on the course could become reality                                       
-We could get our dream house (plan and most of the features we want)             
-In the long run, this is a better fit for our family (at least we think so--we're not certain)
-In this area, homes hold their value better and actually increase in value more than our current location (this is based on our own research and after speaking with our realtor)  
-Selling is the best it's been in 10 years while interest rates are still low as are building costs, so it's a win-win and we feel like all the right ingredients are in place
-There are parts of our house that are not working for us (teeny, tiny master bath; closed off kitchen; small bedrooms; unused space)

  Cons for selling and building a new home

  -It's a whole lotta work! This was one of my initial reasons for not moving, which I have now overcome
 -We'd be leaving a home we like in an area we like with neighbors we adore (this one I'm still struggling with)
 -I'm scared.  Scared of not liking the new lot, the new house, the new neighbors
 -This home is the only one my children know and we have so many memories here

And that's basically how we ended up where we are.  I still question this decision every day.  Even while I was feeling excited being at the new lot, I felt a lot of trepidation.  Are we doing the right thing?  Will we be as happy in the new house as we are in the current one?  Time will tell and I sure hope it's good news.