The big news

This is a photo over Fiji. On our last trip to Australia in September we were diverted there when heavy fog prohibited our landing in Brisbane. Everyone in Guy's family was shocked because apparently Brisbane never gets fog. So do we mark off Fiji on our world map of places we have visited? We saw it from the air and the plane window when we sat there for about an hour and a half. Pobably not...

Guy received a letter from the Gilbert police department letting us know he was not selected for a position about two or three weeks ago. We were very dissapointed at first. One thing we realized right away is this was the first big dicision we made without praying about it. Oooops. I'm not so sure we would have received a yes answer has we prayed about it.

After much thought and consideration for our next step we decided and got a yes answer to staying here in Raleigh. We also decided to sell our home here. The big debate for a while was if we should rent something or buy a less expensive home. We are going to buy a less expensive home. Most likely we will be here in the Raleigh area at least 3-5 more years.

Our house officially went on the market last Monday. No showings yet, but we aren't surprised. This is a pretty slow market this Spring. Normal traffic in our area is 1-2 showings a week. With the market being a bit slow right now we will probably see a showing every other week. The last three Saturdays our agents have been taking us around to look at the cheaper homes. While every home is a compromise compared to our current home we have not felt depressed or upset by our choices. There are always definite 'NO' homes in our search, but there are also heavy contenders each time. The first few homes we looked at that were acceptable are now all under contract. A big odd in this market, but they were the best of the best in the price range. Yesterday there was one home in particular I was interested. We definitely would need to evaluate everything very carefully and put at least $600 into inspections before buying it. The home is huge and in a very nice neighborhood with a very solid structure. The issue is that it has been vacant for 2 years. The back door had been kicked in at one point leaving the home open to the elements right there. There is some smell of animal urine right by that door and also water damage right around that opening. The carpets and vynal flooring had been removed. The back fence, deck and front steps need repair. If all of the major systems work the rest would be rather cheap and well worth about 10k under the current list price. Our agents estimated off hand (they will do the research) the market value if fixed back up would be about 35-40k over the list price. Guy and I had always said we didn't want a rehab house, but this one is certainly appealing.

Only time will tell and we really need a buyer on our home first. Here is the link for our house listing. http://trianglelistings.marketlinx.com/SearchDetail/Scripts/PrtBuyFul/PrtBuyFul.asp?prp=mls&AgentId=R6508&EmailKey=23805525

So with the big news we are staying in Raleigh my poor mommy is so depressed about it. Now she wont get as much baby time, and my mom is surely baby obsessed. She will love her grandbabbies bunches and bunches. Tawni's husband is probably going to be deployed to Iraq this coming September. Tawni is planning on moving in with my mom and grandma while her husband is gone.