A New Home!

We haven't posted in a while, but we've been looking at lots of houses in Portland. The market is greatly depressed compared to the last few years, but still much more expensive than Knoxville. The sticker shock is tough, but the low interest rates are helping to offset the high prices.

Nike and I had a lot of goals for our new house - close to the city ($$), close to the high-tech areas in the west, good schools, big kitchen, nice master bedroom suite, close to parks, etc. Probably too much to ask for with a reasonable budget. My Rule #1 for Nike was: "Don't fall in love with any house!" - we need to find a good deal in this market.

A couple of weeks ago we visited a house that was out of our budget range, but it is bank owned due to a foreclosure so the price might be very flexible. Rule #1 got cast aside as Nike fell in love with this house. After our realtor talked to the bank's realtor we decided we should probably make a low-ball offer to see if the bank might take it. While we were considering this, the bank lowered the price about 10%, so we quickly sent them an offer and crossed our fingers. They accepted! So, in late June we move again. We're really looking forward to setting down roots in Portland.