[Rick Lee]

Timing is everything. I bought my house in Fairfax, VA before I was able to list my old one in Alexandria. I borrowed $70k from my folks for the down payment on the new place. The day after I finished moving all my stuff (DIY'ed it all) from the old place to the new one, I hired a cleaning lady to spruce the old place up and it went on the market that day. So I closed on the purchase of my new place on 10/20/04 and my old place sold and closed on 12/18/04. I had to make mortgage payments on both places just once. Got the proceeds from the old house, paid off the folks and all was well.

This last move cut it way closer. I put my place in Fairfax up for rent in late Jan. with a late March avail. date. We signed a lease in Phoenix in late Feb. but with no takers on the Fairfax place. About mid-March we finally found some takers and they wanted it for two years, for which I knocked $100 off the monthly rent. FICO's in the high 700's, 10 yrs. in the same job, real nice folks, came by on the way home from church to drop of sec. deposit and first month's rent. I was in Phoenix a week later. Now, that was cutting it close. Paying the mortgage while renting in Phoenix would have been bad enough, but having to get neighbors or realtors to show the place for me while I was so far away would have really sucked.