A quick note on my geography, for those who care.
When I was hired by Red Hat, it was by the Engineering department. Previously, my position, as held by the illustrious Max Spevack, was located in the Corporate Marketing deparment of Red Hat. My intention was (and remains) to relocate to New England somewhere around the Westford, Massachusetts office.
My wife and I went so far as to go on a preliminary house hunting trip, during which we quickly decided we really liked New Hampshire. Westford is only a few miles over the state border from Nashua, NH. (Whether this was advisable before we had an offer on our house is moot, given our unfamiliarity with that area.)
Our house has been on the market since late February but the extremely poor USA housing market has stifled our attempts to sell it. We will likely be dropping the price again, but one of the problems we are facing is the discrepancy between the plunge in our local market — roughly 30%+ in the Washington, DC area — and the less precipitous drops in New England. Meaning, if we drop our house price so low that it stands a good chance of moving quickly, we also put ourselves in the situation of not being able to afford housing at our destination.
I’ve been developing somewhat of an ulcer over this issue, but fortunately the folks at Red Hat have been very understanding. We’ll be leaving the house on the market and doing what we can within reason over the next few months, but if we haven’t sold the house by the middle of autumn, chances are we will stay put in Virginia until next spring.
Fortunately, since we no longer have a big hole in our kitchen ceiling, the house is back to its very attractive former condition. We still have repair pending on our master bathroom shower to replace some drywall and tile. The experience of the unfortunate leak and the attendant repairs hasn’t done much to increase my estimation of the general contractor industry, but at least the end of this particular engagement is in sight.