However, with housing prices being what they are, and with our house in Washington completely paid for without a mortgage, we were reluctant to put it on the market.

I hear ya. We had our mortgage paid off after the first year and I sure would not want to look at mortgage payments again!

So bottom line is that we still have our house in WA and go back there for a couple of days once a month or so (in fact, we're going up tomorrow for a few days).

Oh, yuk! Andy and I did that the first year we moved back to the states when we were working for eMedicine - We spent more time at the Embassy Suites than we did at home. I am soooooo glad to be telecommuting.