"So my questions are, since my lawn is primarily KBG and aeration will be again performed around september 1... is a starter fertilizer mandatory and beneficial just after considering I'll be putting down the 4th step come end of September..." Starter fertilizer is high in phophorus and potassium, it's generally used when "starting" a new lawn either from seed or sod. It isn't necessary to use it every year unless you have soil deficiencies. I suggest you get a comprehensive soil test (Logan Labs) to see what your soil needs. "should I be cutting the grass below 3" before putting it to bed here in Michigan and do I need to lose any sleep over the 3 8" diameter "dollar spots" i've aquired over this hot summer?" For a lawns final mowing for the season, it is generally suggested you cut it lower than normal. Fungal disease is pretty common. If all you had this summer was 3 8" areas then consider yourself fortunate. KBG should fill in those areas this fall if it's well feed and your soil is in good shape. "Do I live with the fact that I can't grow grass UP TO the neighbor's pine trees even though I've limed them and rake the needles every month?" This is probably more a function of shade than anything else. If you think it's a soil issue due to the pine trees, then test that area separately. " Will I ever be able to say I don't have to cut it every 3 days but can still enjoy this quality? Does any homeowner really have a PERFECT lawn from all aspects at the end of the day or do they focus on the parts they like... cause i'm getting close!" Seems like every three days is a little too often for KBG. Either you are over-fertilizing, or you are just cutting too soon. If you cut to 3", then you can wait till the grass is 4.33 inches high before you have to mow again. No lawn is perfect, but some people come pretty close. A perfect lawn should be one that you are happy with, and takes the amount of time you are willing to put into it. A golf course might be someone's idea of a perfect lawn, but those have teams of people that provide daily maintenance, a lot of water, fertilizer, and other chemicals. If you focus on improving you soil, then you lawn will follow suit.

diclemeg, In the past I have treated moderate areas of POA that kept coming back. 20-50 sq/ft areas, and some smaller. These areas are a bit shady and damp, very good POA enviroment. I hit the POA with round up. Waited for the death. Then heavily aerated the spots, or vigorously raked them to loosen the first inch or 2 of soil. Seeded with elite KBG, raked in seeds. Well, in weeks these areas were mostly KBG. But by next spring there were more POA spots in different places. I was able to grow mostly KBG in the areas that I killed off the POA. The following year, more POA showed up, but not because of my actions, but the more due to the shady damp area of my front lawn I was trying to grow KBG. I gave up treating this area until I get rid of the trees that shade it. What's my point? I can't imagine your entire lawn shady and damp like my front corner where I keep getting loads of POA no matter what. You may have just been unlucky in your first attempt at seeding...or maybe it was the heavy dosage of the wrong fertilizer that stunted your KBG growth that allowed the POA to dominate. What can you do? Get some RU now, and carefully spray the POA. Hopefully it will kill it, it is pretty late to try, but worth a shot. Next...wait. Wait until the ground is frozen solid. Then spread some KBG seed on the bare spots, dormant seed. Then wait, do nothing. Enjoy the winter and forget about the grass. Wait until at least the middle of May before doing anything. Hopefully the seeds will have sprouted. Oh, there will be some POA, but there will be some KBG there too. This will improve your situation, it won't fix it, but it will help and really is all you can do now at this time of the year. It is better than waiting for next spring to take action.

@OP - You were getting a late start this year. Likely your lawn will still be covered with weeds this summer. I would encourage you to consider "Lawn Solarization". This process takes 4-6 weeks during the heat of the summer, and will kill all weeds, weed seed, and pathogens in your soil. The nice thing is, there is no chemical residue left over, so next fall when you do your overseed you will be in real good shape. One of the things I like about Organic lawn care, is that it forces you to think outside the box. It's easy to pickup a chemical weed spray, or manage a 4-step program... It takes soil knowledge and a buildup of healthy soil to successfully manage your lawn organically. I always tell people, if your really not into it, managing your lawn organically isn't going to work... Even when you are interested, it can be frustrating! That's why the vast majority of people go to the big box store and just throw around whatever they are selling... it takes effort to submit soil tests, analyze results, and apply compost/grains accordingly. This is my lawn, 6 years, no chemicals. Still not perfect, I have some problem areas, and keep learning more all the time.. but my neighbors finally "Get It".. They thought I was nuts when I told them I don't use per-emergence, weed n' feed, 4-step, ect... Lawn Solarization Instructions

Agree. How much do you love that sycamore? Does it add value to the house or did it overgrow the lot and become an eyesore? There are three kinds of plant killers. The Weed-b-Gon and Weed-b-Gon Chickweed, Clover, and Oxalis Killer target broadleaf plants like clover, dandelions, thistle, and even shrubs and trees. It only works when you spray it on the leaves of the target plants. These herbicides leave grassy plants alone. Another type of plant killer is like Grass-b-Gon. It kills grassy plants in the garden and leaves the broad leaf plants alone. Another type of plant killer is RoundUp. It kills all living plants. There are some plants that need special treatment with one or more of these herbicides. We can't know if you have those without pictures. Adding pictures is pretty simple with the tools in the posting window. Click the Photo button and attach the picture. The hardest part is getting the picture onto your computer from your camera or phone. I use Dropbox. If you want grass in the back yard you could use the WBG as Becky mentioned. Keep in mind that plants drop seeds so repeated applications will be needed if the old seeds germinate and take root. What I would do in the back is mow it down, spray WBG, and hope for the best until next fall. Fall really is the best time to seed cool weather grass. If you take care of a weedy lawn like it was grass, it will at least look decent until you can fix it. That's what I'm doing with my new house. I have the kind of grass that spreads about 10 - 15 feet every year, so I'm patiently nursing that process along. In the mean time I love my weeds for keeping the dirt out of the house. As Becky said you are basically on the wrong track for seeding a new lawn. You don't need to aerate or bring in topsoil. The topsoil you have likely needs work. Any topsoil you bring in will need work, too, so you may as well save yourself the extra time, money, and effort and just fix the soil you have. I suspect it is pretty good, though. As long as you have lots of roots in the ground, that's a big step toward good soil. And a diverse crop of weeds does that quite well.