I promise once I get everything set in WP I'll publish the URL for the blog and RSS here for a couple days before I propagate the DNS. Also that way anyone still hitting the typepad URL will know where it's been moved to. --Randy

I should mention, I'll work hard to preserve the history of this blog when I migrate. There are over a thousand comments from the "Great Second Life Economy Debate" which I'd like to preserve for at least a while longer. I have a sneaking suspicion that we haven't heard the last about that particular topic...

Hi Megan, I'm afraid I don't have any specific opinion on prices in Livermore as I don't follow that market in any detail. Insofar as whether it's wise for your parents to buy a house as a rental for the next couple of years, I would have them evaluate that on a cash flow basis. Basically, if the rent on the place covers their full-blown costs, then there is no harm in making the purchase. The caveat is whether or not your folks are prepared to be landlords. The negatives of being a casual landlord are many -- it's not the sort of business one gets into lightly. Not only are there day-to-day maintenance and all the administrative overhead that goes along with having a rental income property, but there are also the differences in treatment of investment property under all the current rules, tax incentives, and government programs. Even all that may be moot. Unless you're interested in having your parents buy a fixer-upper, and renting that out, you should be very wary of planning to move into a house that's been rented out. In short, renters never treat a home with the same tenderness as would owners. Even if they don't actively abuse the place, they're apt to passively neglect things that an owner would otherwise pay closer attention to. I hope you and your husband find your way back to the Bay Area safely, and best wishes with law school.