A week has passed since the last entry here. In a way, nothing much has happened. In a way, a lot has happened.

On Monday we were looking at on-line listings of homes in Fort Collins again. The same day, we received an email from the realtor we have been working with there. Having spent a couple of weeks mulling over my Merida visit, I found myself growing less certain, not more, about the practicality of liquidating everything and committing ourselves to that track. Note that today, while it is a balmy 97 degrees there, the typical 50% plus humidity makes it 'feel like' 111 degress.



Over the weekend, we explored a new housing development near our Alameda rental to have a look at what new homes looked like. They were nice - big places on tiny lots only slightly larger than the house footprint, and really close together. Full of nice upgrades as the models were, they were selling for between a million and 1.2 million dollars. We did the math, and even with a huge down payment, and considering the tax benefits deductability of the big property tax bill and the mortgage interest, the outflow to live in one of those places was over $3,500 a month - for the next thirty years. If we bought one and decided to bail in three years, we agree that because of the housing bubble and shaky economy, there would be a high risk that we would have nothing to show for our monthy outflow (not to mention the big chunk of retirement savings parked in the down payment), and might even lose money in a sale. Some people are still speculating on continued double-digit appreciation, but my bet is on a leveling off at best and a more likely gradual and years-long decline.

Living in a paid-for Fort Collins home would probably cost about $200 a month for for insurance and property tax.

So then we really started plowing through the inventory of Fort Collins homes - probably looking at brief descriptions and photos of over five hundred of them over the past few days. Of all of those, we spotted maybe a half-dozen we could seriously see ourselves being feeling comfortable with. One especially caught my eye yesterday, but it proved to be under contract already.

Then, last night I ran aross a house that Pat had spotted earlier, which we both sort of liked but hadn't really examined closely. The more I looked at it the more I felt like it had many attributes that would finally make us feel at home again.







We expected to find a place that suited us to be in the mid-300's price range, but in fact the places and neighborhoods that appealed to us the most were in the mid-to-high 200's. That would allow for some upgrades and furnishings, and also correcting any number of flaws.

The place above is listed for $259,000.

Mona has sensed that we really aren't ready to commit to Mexico yet, and votes for Fort Collins for now. Other sister Becky wants us to blaze the trail for her to come and buy horse property - she has been priced out in Reno by the California-like real estate hysteria and speculation. We would love to be with in few hours drive of the ranch for weekend or holiday visits.

I'm ready to go work at a grocery store and just earn enough to cover household expenses and be under a good health care plan.

So now you are up to date as to the current direction. Stay tuned for the next development...

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