Visiting Texas

We are in Odessa this weekend, getting a feel for the community and hoping some type of rental property will fall in our laps, if that's what God intends. The real estate market is extremely tough down here due to a big influx of temporary workers for rebuilding a refinery and an oil boom in the area. As such, rentals are very hard to come by, and that includes apartments. For the few homes available, prices are at $1/square foot, which is just ridiculous for this area, but it's simply the law of supply and demand, so we understand it. If you're lucky enough to find an apartment, well, for one it's an apartment which is always tough to live in, but prices are not so great on those, either. At least they aren't quite as high. We have a line on a few of them to check out on Saturday, but have prayed about it tonight and feel that if we don't both feel definite about renting one, we won't waste the money on them.

Please pray with us that God will make it clear to us the direction we are to go. With my job not yet beginning, and Katy searching (though she should hear Monday or Tuesday on an interview she had down here today), we can't exactly state we have a specific income. That could be problematic for renting anything, and so it's quite possible that initially it'll be hotel living. If Katy doesn't have a job right away, or the house doesn't sell right away, she'll very likely stay up in Omaha. That'll make the process a bit smoother for when she does come down, I think we're deciding. We've gone back and forth on how we feel about it, but that does seem to make the most sense...at least today. :)

We figure if we don't find a place to live this weekend, then maybe God has a different plan in mind. Could be something else will come available we wouldn't have been able to know about, or it could be our house will sell quickly so we can begin searching for one here ASAP. This is a good time to get into the market down here, I believe, based on the boom and steady incline in prices. The sooner, the better, and if we were in a position to simply invest for later, I suspect we'd just be spending the weekend looking at tons of houses to buy instead. :) God Bless, everyone!