Well, as some of you know, I got the job in Eugene. This is the biggest thing I have ever had happen to me (other than my children being born). So what this means is I'll be up-rooting my family and moving 1 1/2 hours away for a minumum of 5 years (that's the commitment I gave my boss). My wife is... happy, yet upset that she has to move. She (and I) love the house that we currently live in. She is very close to her mother and sister, both of whom live within 10 minutes of us. My parents also live in the area, and we would not be close to them anymore (I don't realy care that much, I love my parents, but I needa break). So now, until my company finds a replacement for me here, I have to travel back and forth between Eugene and Portland a few times a week, starting this Friday. The other dilema we are in... since my wife loves our house so much, she doesn't want to sell it. She wants to rent it out to her brother and sister. Together, they can afford to pay our mortgage, but if we don't sell it, we have no money for a down payment for another house. Unless we take out a second mortgage or something. I don't know how all that works, but I promise by the end of the year I'll be an expert at it. I've been doing alot of research on the internet lately about renting an existing home and buying another, and I really can't get a lot of info on it. It's all mostly people's opinions. Sounds like renting is a bad idea to me. The other thing is, when you rent a house, you should rent it at a price that is 125% of your mortgage payment, and my wife only wants them to cover our current mortgage payment. Then, if we do rent it out, but not to her brother and sister, we have to deal with tenants we don't know, that could call us in the middle of the night to come repair a broken pipe, or they might not pay the rent on time (or at all), or trash the house, or whatever! Ugh, what a bind. I want to sell it and move on. My wife is just too attached I guess. The good part of renting, is that when we move back in 5, 6, or 7 years, we'll still have a home to come to, and we'll (hopefully) make BIG money on the house that we sell in Eugene. We'll have to figure this all out real soon too.

Anyways, this means that I'll have limited time on GS, so please excuse my absence while the family and I rush around trying to figure this all out.

Take care, and I'll still poke my head in every now and then to see what's going on.