Our Last Chapter "Closed" (and Not a Moment Too Soon)

We finally got word that the sale of our house has closed.  The odyssey of my job change and our move has finally closed its final chapter. 

And not a moment too soon. 

The StarTribune reports today that Twin Cities home prices continue to free fall.  Here’s an extract:

During the quarter, home values fell 12 percent in the Twin Cities metro area compared to the prior year, and Zillow said it was one of the worst quarters since it started tracking real estate trends in 1996.  "It almost seems like what you'd see in Florida," said Mark Vitner, a senior economist for Wells Fargo Securities. 

We definitely took a financial hit by selling out home in the midst of this economic maelstrom, but feel lucky that we were able to sell at all.  If real estate is the bellwether of our economic fortunes, there is still a long way to go.  Fortunately, we have our feet underneath us, the new job is going great, the company is doing very well, my wife has been on interviews, and we appear to be OK. 

If we still owned our home in Minnesota, that definitely would not be the case.  We got lucky, and we remain blessed.