So the first thing that almost everyone says when I tell them our house is going on the market is some sort of "ooooh man" or "wow the market is crap" kind of statement. While I agree that we are in a buyer's market, the upside for us is the house we'll be able to buy. 2 Years ago, we couldn't find anything even remotely as good as what we were living in to move to. We're in a nice area of Portland, among some of the most sought after real estate, and schools. When you have two kids, things like good schools are important. If I were living where I grew up as a kid, we'd almost be forced to put our kids in private school, at a minimum of $1,000 a month (maybe more?) is my guess.

The other thing that's great about our location is that everything is nearby. Seriously, anything you could want is within an hour's drive. Mt. Hood, the Coast, ok, Bend is like three hours, but you get the point. Every kind of shop, service, or restaraunt is very accessible and convienient.

Why do we want to sell? We don't have a back yard, a home office, or a place for guests to stay. While our home was great while we had one child, the addition of the second has made it a lot more stuffy. Some of the things we are looking for in the next place are things we already have, and a home office, back yard, and larger common areas.

Yes, the market is slow. But our house has a lot of things going for it, and while I'm trying to remain realistic (pessemistic) there are a lot of bonuses that other houses in our development don't have:

• We back to a green belt. No building back there, ever.  There are miles of walking paths.
• We have a huge park about 2 minutes from our house, you can see if from the deck.
• We have a brand new kitchen, and all appliances. Corian counters, stainless appliances.
• The house is move-in-ready. The paint is tastefully done, and other than the red kitchen (which works) nothing is crazy out of control like you see in some places.
• The house gets FIOS internet and television.
• We have a three car garage with tons of storage. There are other three car houses in our development but they don't go on the market often.

Hopefully the combination of these things will get our house moving! We're prepared to give it 4-6 months, but I'd love to sell it in a week. We have a house we have our eyes on, but they did not accept our contingent offer. We hope that house remains unsold. If it goes, and we have an offer after, it will be a tough decision on what to do.

Here's pictures of our house.

UPDATE: Here's the public listing.