I downloaded a free program, Irfanview. I click on my photo, then click on Images, resize, and put the width to 400, or 370 to make the other dimension less than 500. Then I save the photo to my computer. This should work.

I checked more carefully and assuming the existing header is not over-designed (a big assumption) three 2x8's will carry the same design load but the deflection will be right on the allowable limit of L/360 instead of at L/500 for the 2x10's. Two 7.25 LVL's will be very similar to the 2x8's if you use an E value of 1.8. If you use an E value of 2.0 the double LVL's will have a deflection limit of L/400. No one can say if the existing header was sized correctly without knowing the loading. You should check the bottom of the existing header to see if it has sagged. A way to get the header even smaller is to use a Better Header steel flitch plate. Here is a link that might be useful: Better Header

We listed in May of 2007 with a local realtor with a good reputation who had been in the business for a few years. Our asking price was $10k less than the house two doors away which was a bit smaller than ours and did not have a new kitchen, bath, and other features ours had. We saw three houses that were in our neighborhood, one listed at $5k more than ours and the other two listed even higher sell in the first 3 months we had ours listed. I'm very realistic and just knew that ours wasn't being marketed effectively. Also, I could look at the good and bad in our home and knew ours was in much better condition and in a better location than two of the three that sold. Two of them were on a busy street while ours was on one of the most desired streets in our town. We ended up cancelling our listing after promises similar to yours of people who were "really interested" never materialized. We were going to forget about moving for awhile and relax about the whole selling situation. However, I saw an article in a local paper the week after our listing was cancelled about a real go-getter in the RE business. She didn't promise to sell in any specified amount of time but this woman sold houses that others didn't, even after being listed for months. Two months after listing with her and having had three times as many showings as we had in 7 months with the other realtor, we sold our home. The couple who bought our house wanted to look at it after driving by, they hadn't been looking in our area but our home caught their eye. Their realtor called ours after hours and they saw the house at 9:00 P.M. on a Saturday night because they were scheduled to fly home the next morning. When she asked me if I would leave the dining room drapes, I knew we had sold our home. She said she walked in and knew that was it. We had come down in price about $40k, but it was only 5% of our original asking price so I was happy to sell when we did. We had also cancelled a contract we had on another home that we were going to build when our home didn't sell with our original realtor. In the long run, we ended up getting a bit less for our home, but we also bought our new home for less than we would have and received even more builders' incentives so in the long run, things worked out for the best. I know that is hard to hear but I kept telling myself that everything happens for a reason and it is true. We just need a lot of patience to believe that and keep telling yourself that whatever happens is meant to be. I'm not making light of the situation for those who have to sell and haven't been able to but I really do believe everything happens the way it's supposed to in life. If you're not happy with your realtor, evaluate the situation and think about finding a new one if you don't think they are doing their job. Take a good, hard look at your home with a critical eye and ask your friends to tell you what you can do to improve your home. We had friends offer excellent advice but because we lived with it on a daily basis, we never saw our home the way others did. Most of all, your home has to be priced right. I've noticed in the area we left, homes have come down an average of 5 to 7% since we left and some of them were on the market at the same time ours was. If it's not priced right, it won't sell, no matter how nice it is. Good luck to everyone and may the new year bring you a buyer for your home!

Yes, good information, thanks. I have a wide screen monitor (22") so generally I can view larger images without side to side scrolling (which I hate) but every now and then, someone posts an image that is even too wide for me. I stop reading the post at that point, which, yes, is like cutting off my nose to spite my face, but that's how much I hate scrolling from side to side to read the text that is now stretched across the screen because of the large photo. I just posted an image that is larger than I usually post (not one of my images, copied from another website) but I checked before posting and judged it to still fit within the average monitor's screen. At least that was my goal but I could have boo-booed on the eye-balling. If so, sorry! Funny, I have this large monitor and yet I still keep the GW window fairly narrow in comparison at only 10" wide. It's just easier to read if I don't have to scan the whole width, even without side-to-side scrolling. Scrolling up and down is tiresome, too, but I'd rather deal with that than side-to-side, especially if it means that the posted image is so small that I can't view details. And you know us TKOers want details! LOL