January 26, 2006

Hi everyone,

Well.....so much time has passed. We're still looking for a rental house. Lori found one in Dallas, but we're haven't see the inside yet. We are scheduled to see the house next Tuesday. It is going to be a little small (1400 sf) but it will work.

We are also in the process of signing papers for a 5 acre parcel west of Monmouth. It's a beautiful peice of property with a southern exposure overlooking the Willamette valley and a great view of the Pacific Coast Range.

The developer purchased 1000 acres in the mid-70's and has been developing the property as time permits. He will own the private road and we'll pay him $300 a year for upkeep. The parcel is surrounded by other parcels that are no fewer than 5 acres in size. At this point, there are three lots that share the ridge with ours, and there are more houses planned for the now-vacant lots on the other size of the road (and down the hill).

Lori and I found plans that we liked, and gave them to the architect (Robert Pauls). He is going to make a first cut at the plans, and should have that first draft ready for review some time this weekend. We'll review and then hopefully he can turn them around in a few days. From there, we'll give the plans to two builders, who will create estimates. That estimating process should take about 3 weeks. After that, we'll flip a coin and see who will be the contractor. We really like the first guy that we met (they were both nice). The first guy is long-time friends with the developer and the banker, so it should go very smoothly.

In the meantime, the developer is getting the final approvals ready for the parcel and is getting septic approved (permitted). We have obtained approval for the loan, and put down a chunk of money so that we could get a floatdown, in the event that the interest rate goes lower. The floatdown ties us to a 90-day window to get everything approved and the loan closed.

Anyway, that's the long and the short of it.......should be a busy couple of months here. In the meantime, Gaylia is getting married - Joelle is coming for the wedding and will stay with us for a week or so. That's all happening right at the same time that we're moving out of the Residence Inn and into the rental house (February 17th).

Another newsworthy event is that Allison found out this week that she has been accepted into the honors program at WOU. That was great news for all of us.