And it's gone

Okay, I lied.

We're not going to get a house anymore. Not right now, at least.

But we are going to move out of my parents' house. THANK. GOD.

Before starting our current house search, we had been cautioned by many MSN articles...Money magazine...the newspaper...our friend Paul, that it is a terrible time to buy a house. Undeterred and in denial, we brushed this advice aside and plunged in the desert wasteland that is the Southern California housing market.

Except, then it didn't go very well. Actually, it didn't go at all. Man, there is nothing--n-o-t-h-i-n-g--out there. At least nothing that we can agree on or mostly like or even get into when we have to compete with 10 to 15 offers on each house, and everything gets bid up like crazy out of our price range. It's not discouraging, it's throw your hands up in the air impossible. And empty.

After only a week, I was honest with myself that this whole thing didn't feel right. The terrifying feeling I felt when we put our offer(s) in was not excitement and nervousness, it was "I don't want this" scared. I mean, getting out of my parents house feels right, but the house hunt was just...wrong. I kinda don't like it when people throw God's will around like it's nothing ("And then I knew that God wanted me to go to Wal-Mart to get my tampons, and I was like, thanks God!"), because who are we to always be so certain of God's will, y'know, but...I don't think God was into our house search. I feel like this is a very clear, "NO. Not right now." And I truly feel that we're not just being discouraged either, but rather reading the signs like sensible people.

Sooo, the current plan is to:

a) Get our freakin' townhouse re-rented & squared away.

b) Rent a house in our desired area. A simple Craigslist perusal has proved that there are plenty of houses for rent out there that will fit our needs. We will live there and nest and start our life until such time as is right to start up the house search again.

This feels right.