After spending the weekend looking at a variety of boats in Virginia and Maryland, we used the 5 hour drive back home to do a whole lot of talking!  Pros, cons, strengths and weaknesses – we covered it ALL in those 5 hours!  Where we ended up was pretty simple – considering our current plan for our next few years of boat ownership, the 2003 Hunter 426DS met all of our requirements, most of our wish list items and was perfectly below our budget.  We felt like the Hunter 426DS that we saw would be a perfect way to transition from land-loving life to water-happy future and, with the price below our budget, we would be in a good position to make some upgrades before doing any major trips.

After getting home on Sunday, we sent Spencer (our pretty awesome broker) an e-mail, letting him know that we wanted to make an offer on the Hunter 426DS.  We really liked the boat and didn’t want to fiddle around for too long before making an offer in case anyone else had similar intentions.  Sunday evening faded into Monday and Monday was a WHIRLWIND!  After some discussion between Josh and Spencer on Monday, we settled on an offer that we felt was reasonable considering the age of the boat, asking price and comps that Spencer was able to pull for us.  A few quick signatures later, the offer was sent to the owner’s broker for review and response.

The seller had some time to consider and respond to the offer, so we talked about trying to temper our anxiety, anticipation and excitement about the seller’s response, trying to prepare for not receiving a response until at least the next morning or even afternoon.  At just about the time we finished our conversation about things being out of our hands and trying to stay optimistic while preparing for possible disappointment, Spencer called Josh to inform him that the seller had not accepted our offer, but had offered a counter offer.  We were ecstatic to find out that the counter offer was only $5,000 more than our original offer!  We immediately signed the counter offer, effectively putting the boat under contract, contingent upon the survey (or inspection) and sea trial (or test drive) which will be scheduled as soon as possible.

This whole process has been a bit surreal for us.  We’ve spent so many years planning and scheming ways to get our debt paid off and how to put ourselves in the best financial position to be able to, eventually, make our dream come true.  We’ve spent so many hours talking and dreaming about the day that we actually find our boat and put it under contract.  And here we sat…having found a boat we really love and having it under contract.  Oh, and, did I mention that closing was set for 4/2/2019?  Just 28 days from the day our offer was accepted?!  This is going to be a WILD ride!

Want to see some photos of her?  Who am I kidding, of course you do!  Here she is…a Hunter 426DS currently named Fandango.