Hi Eosinophil, FIRST of we need to back away from the minutiea... up, up, up to get some bigger picture perspective, like an architect starting with very simple pencil sketches on a blank piece of paper... so that we can THEN come back down to the nitty-gritty and micro-fit the situation to your specifics. What is more important to you; Eliminating your outstanding leverage balances on an accelerating basis, or stopping the monthly bleeding? (These are at counter-points for you currently.) Are you more concerned about the balances on one property versus the other... or about your overall family position on balance? How much accrued liquid cash reserves do you have socked away? How much is your gross family monthly revenue? How much is your current gross (including minimum payments for all debt and homes) family cost of living? You are paying to rent the money you are using for retaining the ownership of the old home (the interest costs.) This interest is a "sunk cost" each month you pay it, if you have no tenants paying you for its useage. Is your continuing ownership giving you *any* appreciation currently? (Keeping in mind that market appreciation is a VERY tentative guess, at best, in the current environment... and if it is negative, you need to honestly figure it that way as well.) IF so, how much is the appreciation when calculated into monthly dollars? How much of your sunk interest costs are being ofset by your potential monthly appreciation gained? Whatever your sunk costs of interest, minus your dollars from appreciation (or plus the dollar costs, if depreciating currently,) is what you can call your "monthly burn." This is the consumption of your net worth you are incurring to continue carrying this property. NOW... this home CAN be sold (gotten under contract with a 30 day escrow period, or less) within a 2-6 week marketing time, AT SOME LEVEL OF PRICE, AND ADVERTISED EXPOSURE. This "price level" is what we call the "quick-sale price value." If your agent were to (honestly) determine the realistic quick-sale price level in that local market... it would likely be lower (perhaps much lower) than where you are holding out right now... and the agent would likely need to ramp up some significant marketing costs... which they might only be comfortable doing with some funding (or guarantees) from you. All of this, naturally, is going to be a revenue burden off of what you were previously hoping to sell your home for. NONETHELESS... this is a numeric exercise that is CRITICAL to do... RIGHT NOW... because it will give you the numerical difference between where you are right now in realistic net worth, were you to do this immediately..... VERSUS how much you are "burning through" on your monthly burn rate if you simply close your eyes, cover your ears, pray really really hard, and just keep waiting it out. KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS IS POWER... and you can't make an objective financial decision unless/until you have the actual facts in front of your face to review and think about. ========================================================= OK... soapbox aside..... *IF* you decide that you have reason to believe that simply waiting longer will actually be worth your while in a higher sale price... then there *is* investment property financing available in the range of 3.5% to 4.5% APR, on an interest-only basis, up to 70-75% LTV, strictly on a fully documented (income, employment, assets) basis... which could very significantly reduce your monthly burn overall. Its something I have at my firm... but not to be 'spammy' there may be other brokers (perhaps your regular loan broker) who have it as well. Its not a retail program, so you'd definitely need to connect with your broker for it. ========================================================= ALL THINGS CONSIDERED... (And in truth, we haven't seen enough details to truly consider all things...) I would *PROBABLY* be leaning toward advising you to take a deep breath, swallow hard, plug your nose... and have your agent re-price the home to the local quick-sale price... and get it over with while we're in the summertime "moving & home-buying season." All the best! Dave Donhoff Leverage Planner

My wife and I were in the same predicament over choosing the color for our pool also. We wanted a blue but didn't want any green shade to the water . We were happy with the "blueness" of Blue Granite but like yourself we didn't care for the rather dull or grayish look in shallow water. We ended up choosing Midnight Blue PS and couldn't be happier. we actually have Sandy Beach in our beach entry for the first 15' of the ramp down, and while we were already paying the upcharge for two diferent colors of pebble application, We had them do our entire spa in Sandy Beach PS as well as we felt the sandy beach pebble looks great in shallow water, at least better than any of the darker pebble choices. We too have the Oklahoma flagstone and I think the Midnight Blue and Oklahoma compliment each other nicely.good luck with your project.

I am following this thread with interest & hope the OP can have their lighting without undue financial hardship & complexity. Yes John her contractor & electrician "should" now the local codes - that said I have seen where old school contractors are perhaps not up to snuff sort or speak with the nuances of codes and/or changes. Same goes for electrician - Last encounter I had with this type of scenario was with a gas range install & the plumber stating the shut off needed to be "within reach" - therefor wanted to cut into my brand new custom made mahogany cabinetry - He is a good & trusted plumber & learned through the fruit of my research that in fact that was outdated code. Think about it, if there is an emergency - smell of mercaptan is one going to go searching for the shut off valve? or head out of the house & let the gas co & emergency responders take care of that. I agree w/DS - due diligence in what is currently on the books with the Town - is what needs to be revealed. This should not be all that difficult. Best to you

I’m going to be the odd man out and say I’d like to see the space above the cabinets painted to match the cabinets do it doesn’t look so choppy. My eye is drawn to that space above the cabinets rather than your lovely cabs. Then pull in that green with the backsplash. Agree with above on the chandelier being out of place here.