OK, so I've been lax in updating

The house has not sold. There were a fair number of people who checked it out, but no one was interested in making even a low-ball offer.

I attribute the lack of success in selling it on a few different factors:

1) I put the house on the market just as the mortgage industry collapsed. While loans were (and are) still available, buyers are spooked and don’t want to make a move.

2) The house is too big to show bare. I think people didn’t know what to look at, so their wandering eyes settled on the few cosmetic issues such as no shower curtains (someone actually said that in their feedback) or the bland curb appeal. I should have staged the house with a bit of furniture, artwork, and silk plants.

3) I was greedy and priced it too high and took too long to adjust it downward. I should have stuck to the original plan and sold it at a small profit when I might have had the chance in early July.

4) Insufficient marketing, though I’m at a loss of how to fix that.

So in late August, when I realized that my very-high-interest-rate construction loan was about to get even higher after the six month point, I decided to do something different. I could have rented the place, but I didn’t trust tenants with the house. I wanted to refinance, but the only company that would underwrite me insisted that it be owner-occupied. So the approach was pretty clear: Move in.

So in mid-September we moved into the house and put the other one up for sale. We had to leave some of our furniture at the old house (remember my lesson about leaving a house bare?), so the new place looks kind of bare. Huge house with nowhere to sit.

Next entry I’ll report on the Craigslist furniture search….