Update in brief…
7th October 2007
I know I know, it’s been forever since I’ve posted anything… I’ve been completely consumed by various things including selling our old house, working on a project for a client and life in general. It seems I’ve gotten out of the habit of posting (or gotten into the habit of NOT posting) and have ignored you all for too long (again)… For this I apologize.
Anyway, to make a longish set of stories short here’s what’s been happening in a nutshell:
1 - We sold our house in Detroit…for 60% of our original asking price. I am happy to be rid of it though as it represented a $2,700 a month cash drain. The new buyers got a great deal, and my premise that real estate is not an investment was upheld. 
This is not taking into account the ‘dividend’ value of having a place to live though.
2 - Just finished a big project for one of my clients. This represented what will end up being close to 25% of my income for the year. Now to get paid… They have additional work they’d like done as well so it should turn out to be quite lucrative over the long-run. In general, business has been terrific. I’ve been hiring out some of the work just so I can keep up.
3 - My wife and I spent 10 days in Maui to relax. Our first vacation in three years. It was nice but I think I would have preferred to relax more and do activities less. More on this later.
Posting more over the next few days. My biggest personal finance issue right now is to set up a long-term asset allocation. Should be an interesting journey.
Until then…
October 10th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
Long-term asset allocation is a big pie on my plate now too - defining what exactly that is was the biggest hurdle I think though - good luck~!
October 12th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Geez…60% of your asking price? I guess I would be your type of buyer..
-Raymond
October 13th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
60% of the original asking price - ouch, but it is becoming more and more of a buyers market - I think that’s good if you’re looking for investing property, but a pain in the a$$ if you’re looking to move to a new one. You can feel the crunch in the sell, but feel good about the buy - guess it’s an even trade if it’s the house you live(d) in - but congrats on selling!
November 7th, 2007 at 9:38 am
To be fair, it is possible we started too high (well - actually that goes without saying, we didn’t get any offers near that price…)
In the end I feel lucky to have sold the place.