Another reason for the skimpy blogging lately is I am spending a lot of time shopping to buy a house in Texas. I have gone on showings on four of the last seven days.
It is a seller's market in my town and it is just crazy with activity. The sales have jumped up in the last one month. Houses in our price range are getting sometimes three and four bids on the same day. The priced right homes in great condition are being snapped up in days one, two, or three. Some are going for full asking or over asking price.
We have had to resort to looking at locations that are farther away (adding twenty minute drives each way to my husband's job and adding more time to me driving the kids to various activities or to go shopping). We have had to resort to pondering about buying a fixer-upper.
In the end I think we will wind up spending more than we thought in order to get a closer location and a move-in condition home so we can avoid big house renovation projects. I just can't handle large projects like that while homeschooling my kids and doing everything else I choose to or need to do. The downside though is less houses are available in that range, but the upside is that they are not always moving as quickly as the lower priced houses.
The first home we loved but disliked the location was sold two days after we started debating about being so far west. I hoped the next one I fell in love with would not go so fast.