In the Middle of the Housing Market Meltdown....

Sooooo.... Last Spring when we first discussed the possibility of moving out of Georgia, the housing market was a little slow. Regardless, Rodney accepted a new position in Jacksonville, Florida at Medtronic as we felt good about moving ahead with the next chapter of our lives. A relocation package was offered, the only snag: they were not willing to assume our home should we not sell it. That's OK, we've been through this before, right? Rodney left us in Georgia (thank goodness for Grammie's help with the kids!) in the middle of July. By the time we got our house up for sale it was August. The housing market began showing more signs of a slow down, but in our neck of the woods people were still out house hunting. We were still cautiously optimistic. The only downside to our subdivision was the nuber of houses still being built - buyers already had plenty to choose from. Rodney began his new job and life a single man for almost 3 months down in Jacksonville. I teased him and told him to get all of the golf, gym and beach outings out of his system so he that he would be fully recharged when the rest of us joined him! (Truth be told, he missed the kids terribly. OK, and maybe my chocolate chip cookies :-)

We decided that we (the kids, Grammie and I) would stay in the house until the first week of Ocotber (with hopes of it selling) and then head South. We showed the house at a fairly steady pace, and then as expected it slowed a bit with the approach of fall. We packed a Uhaul with a few belongings. Leaving most of the furniture to make the house look cozier. My sister Megan is currently staying in the house and watching over it for us.

So here we are....in a 3 bedroom, 2 bath apartment in the Mandarin area of Jacksonville. Living quarters are a bit cramped, but when Rodney and Grammie are at work and the 2 older kids are at school it's not too bad (thank goodness they head back to school in 3 days) We continue to show our house in Georgia and have already had one price reduction. It's been on the market for almost 5 months. The average list-to-sell time in our area was 4 1/2 months when we started this process, so hopefully we are getting close!

Here is the bottom line. We are still glad we moved here, housing mess and all. We continue to love the area and all it has to offer. My kids are loving the beach. Did I mention we've had to have the AC on this past week due to warm weather? A warm Christmas is always strange. So here we are, confident that our home will sell in time to get a good deal on one here - there are some bargains out there!

We are certain after many days and nights of prayer that we are moving in the right direction and that all will work out. This Christmas season, we are especially glad for the gift of family and remembering what is really important in this world....