Friday Move Update (Part I)

People have been asking me about our impending move, so I thought I'd take a moment to give everyone an update.

Our house has been on the market for about 2 months now, and we've been holding open houses every Sunday the whole time. I think the kids enjoy that aspect of house selling - we always have something planned to keep us out of the house on Sunday afternoons. Hmm, just had a thought, what am I going to do when football season starts? Can't miss my 'Skins on Sunday afternoons! Well, I'm reasonably sure we'll be moved before the season starts.

;-)

We have had one offer, but it fell through in the end. We have now reduced the price, lopping $10k off our original asking price.

We keep the place neat and tidy, just in case somebody comes by for a looksee (I think I've mentioned before how the house has never been so clean for so long). And that is actually really helping the kids get a better grasp of chores and household responsibilities. They clean their own rooms, make their own beds, put their dirty clothes in the hamper, help put the dishes away, etc. They're pretty good for 4 and 6-year olds!

On the other end of things, my wife took a few days and flew down to Austin to scout about for a house for us. I stayed here with the kids (she could do a lot more, a lot faster without the kids in tow and she's a lot more picky about things than I am). She took the digital camera and called/emailed me with news and updates and pics of houses. The first few days she was kind of disappointed, especially with the small size of the yards most of the houses in our price range had (what happened to everything being bigger in Texas?).

However, a few hours before her flight to come back home I got an excited call from her. "I just bought a house," she said. She didn't actually buy it, but she did put down an earnest money deposit to at least hold it for a while. The house itself isn't even completely built yet, just the 2x4 frames and some electrical wiring, but the floorplan matches our needs and it has a very large back yard that backs up to a preserve area with hiking trails. There's a pool nearby. Nice! It will take the builder another couple of months to finish the construction, which leaves us time to concentrate on selling our house up here in Maryland.

So, to recap: We're still here. The house is clean. The new house doesn't have walls. We're pretty excited and the kids are having fun! That about does it. Anybody want to buy a house?