The dust has begun to settle on the job front. Thankfully, I am still employed. The announcement came on Monday. The same day my wife called the builder we've had on hold for some time and asked them to begin construction on our future home. We still haven't heard back regarding our counteroffer on our current house, but I am hoping for the best. The builder called back yesterday and told us they could begin construction on May 12. Construction should take about 90 days, so we should be moving in sometime in August. If this house sells in the meantime, we will have to rent an apartment or something for a couple of months until the new place is ready. Moving twice won't be fun, but I think we can manage with very little for a couple of months and put the rest in storage near the new house.

Having never built a new house before, I don't really know what to expect. I've heard horror stories from several people about what happened to their construction projects. A coworker who sidelines as a painter hastold me about construction errors he's had to repair before he could paint new homes. However, we have walked through several homes in various stages of construction by this builder. We've seen everything from homes that were just being framed to those that were almost completed, and I have to say that I didn't see any obvious problems. This guy has been building homes in our city for 38 years. He claims that many craftsmen have been working for him for over 25 years. Maybe that's why the work seems to go so smoothly on his projects. About 80% of the subdivision we'll be moving to was built by the same company. Several homes are under construction, and there is only 1 lot left in the subdivision that's unsold. Work is beginning on a new subdivision adjoining ours to the west, and 2 new subdivisions are under construction to the east of us. One of those is a gated subdivision of rather expensive homes. I think the area is going to be one where property values will rise faster than average in our city because of all the new homes in the area.