Our house in Michigan sits empty (aside from a bed and TV I left there for my visits for work.) It is on the market and priced competitively with other properties in the area but the housing market in and around Detroit is very slow at the moment. Between the Big-3 laying off workers and salaries stagnating or falling there just isn’t a lot of demand for housing. Many people are leaving the area as well (as we have) which has had the effect of increasing the supply of real-estate on the market. To top it off, foreclosures are at double the rate of the nation as a whole so banks are dumping these homes on the market as well, at much lower than previous market value.

We’ve had several people interested, but nobody with enough money to buy the place, or even justify a showing. It’s a great property and I know it is just a matter of time before it sells, but uncertainty is something I’ve never liked. I’d also like to have the cash to put into stocks as I think we’re on the verge of a very good market for the next year or two.

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Whew…

I had thought that once we’d moved into the new house that things would calm down and I’d be able to write. I’ve really missed tending this blog, more than I’ve had time to realize in the past few weeks. Anyway, I’m back and hopefully for good. There are still some things going to that will pull me away but I should at least be able to get back on schedule.

So, first things first, an update on where we’re at. I will likely post more detailed news on many of the topics below, when I do I’ll link to them from within this entry.

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I’ve been working for the last couple of days by driving down town and borrowing a WiFi connection from a business in town (don’t worry, I got permission). Today I had a lot of interactive stuff to do so I set up a little office in the back of my truck and parked next to the town square. (A little park with swings etc.) I swear people must think I’m some sort of pervert by now…

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I’m home today dealing with a bad case of poison ivy… :/ Probably got it from all the landscape cleanup we’ve been doing. Going to the docs in a little bit in the hope that they can give me some steroids and get me functional by tomorrow.

Tomorrow we’re packing up a U-Haul with all of the stuff that my wife’s new employer won’t pay to move (mainly horse tack, some hay fencing etc) as well as some clothes for my wife and the cats. Then early Friday we hit the road to Peoria, Subaru in tow. We close on our house at 2:30, then go unload the truck and settle in. Saturday morning we start putting up fencing then I fly back to Detroit.

I’ll be staying in Detroit until early-mid September. Want to finsih getting the house ready to sell and we’ll need to keep the horses here until the new place is ready for them.

Needless to say I probably won’t be posting much over the next few days. Maybe on Sunday if I wake up.

One of the realtors we’re considering to sell our home did some comps. She had a hard time putting a value on the property, mainly because of the amount of land we have (10 acres) and the lack of properties quite like it. Eventually she came up with a suggested asking price of $530K. This seems high to me but we’ll try it out and see. If we get anywhere near that we’ll be thrilled. Our current mortgage balance is just over $230K.

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Many people (both readers of this site and in my day-to-day life) have been asking what I am going to do once we move. Well, I’m happy to say I was offered another position within my existing company which will allow me to work from home most of the time.

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Whew, it’s been a crazy couple of weeks to say the least. I actually got myself sick (some sort of sinus infection) this last week which isn’t helping any either…

Anyway, here’s a quick update…

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Made it back at about 3:30 this morning… The flight out was a disaster. Ended up not arriving until 8PM after being delayed by weather in both Washington DC and Boston. I also ended up flying to Burlington, VT instead of Saanac Lake, NY. About the same drive for my dad to make to the airport there…

After a 13 hour drive home last night I’m whipped. The car was great, got 27 MPG.

I’ll try and write some posts later today to detail the house we’re making an offer on etc.

Heading to New York state tomorrow to pick up the Subaru from my father. Flying from Detroit -> Washington DC -> Boston -> Saranac Lake…

Brief update, I think we’ve found a house in IL we like. Going to put in a bid. I’ll post pics when I have a second.

I should be back late Saturday night/Sunday morning. Will try and get an update out then.

Actually we got back Monday morning but I’ve been tied up with some of the side-work I have and spending 7+ hours a day in meetings. (something I will not miss…)

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