canobeans--we don't really know what your market is like as you know, but as I see it you've got an offer for roughly 97% of your current asking price. Your original asking price is not really relevant to the current offer. You made an adjustment because that seemed to be the right thing to do to get your home sold and it worked. The 3500 in closing costs doesn't necessarily seem excessive--it just depends upon the type of financing the buyers' are using. What did seem excessive to me was the cost of the title insurance. I just checked how much that policy would cost here--$528 for the owners policy plus $175-150 for the secondary (mortgage) policy. I thought title insurance was roughly the same everywhere? FYI--In my area it's customary for the seller to pay for the owners title policy and the buyer to pay for the mortgage policy. I wonder if some didn't understand the $500 in repairs--it's a cap. It doesn't mean you automatically have to repair something if it's not broken, but the seller won't have to pay out more than $500.00 Based upon some of the posts I've seen here, that's a pretty valuable consideration. The only thing I didn't see you mention directly is if the buyers come with a preapproval, not prequalification letter. Is your market moving or are things sitting? How soon do you want to move?

Thanks buehl, raenjapan, jakabedy and cotehele for your feedback and suggestions. Here are some comments to clarify the design that will hopefully spark further discussion/ideas: We really want to keep the following in place: -the apothecary cabinet on south wall -the dining table parallel to it -fridge in recessed area -west counter -northern cabinets with theater chairs We have mocked up the shown configuration using our old cabinets and plywood and have been living with it like this for a couple weeks. It isn't ideal. We would consider any changes to the island and the peninsula separating the kitchen from the LR that increases functionality. We are just stumped about what else we can do differently. It would be great to see any ideas that incorporate the constraints above while moving towards an ideal work triangle arrangement. Can it be done? Some more details: 1. What we removed: There was a wall separating the dining room from the kitchen and a wall extending from the new fridge location into the dining area, both separated by a doorway into the dining area. 2. What is gained: Openness, unobstructed visibility and connection to the DR, the LR, to anyone sitting on the sofa, and the opportunity to view the plasma TV over the fireplace. The desired openness also speaks to the downdraft issue - while not ideal we realize, the alternatives are 1) not to have one, 2) have a ceiling-mounted vent that obstructs visibility and is a head-knocker for 6'2" husband, or 3) to have one that's powerful enough and raises up 14" to hopefully provide benefit. Note we have 8 foot ceilings. 3. Measurements for current design: Island: 45" wide x 8'9" long Aisles on either side: 42" wide Across kitchen: 12'9" and 14'9" to the sliding door Width: 11' across from North Wall to start of West counter. 4. The "Barrier Island" comment caused quite the chuckle this morning! a) shifting the island seating to the other end by the dining table makes sense as that's where we have been ending up while we test-drive the mock-up. b) We considered breaking up the length of the island into two smaller islands with a pass through to the fridge - intriguing AND we are also drafting this up for consideration. c) Also considered individual Thermadore or Liebherr columns, for freezer and fridge on either side of the chairs on the north wall, but the effect was rather monolithic. FYI, the walking distance to the fridge is actually the same (~10') to the other side of the island or to the north wall. 5. Theater Chairs: these chairs are replacing 2 recliners we've had in this part of the kitchen for the past 7 years. Similar to jakabedy's comment, we love hanging out in this area to relax, watch the garden, hang while the other person is cooking, or just a quiet place to read, etc. Also, there's an 18" LCD TV on a swing-arm located on the wall above the dishwasher, so it's also an alternative TV/movie spot (synchronized signal with main TV). 6. Traffic Flow: two options, first CCW...come in front entry, down hallway, into kitchen (hang/relax in chairs or cook), dining at island or DR table, hang in LR. Secondly CW, come in front entry and hang a left into the LR, go direct to couch and veg! If the DR and theater chairs were swapped we'd loose the existing desirable connection between the DR and LR and we'd loose a more "quiet area" which the current position of the theater chairs provide. 7. Dining Area & Living Room Area: please see attached photo of antique green apothecary cabinet which is a real showpiece and beautiful anchor on the South wall next to the dining table. The Living Room extends off the dining area and a plasma TV is mounted over the fireplace. Part of the openness and placement of the rangetop is to allow the cook to enjoy the FP and TV too. We are planning a long "L-shaped" sofa opposite the TV for hanging out, movie watching, etc., with additional sitting furniture on the opposite wall. Feel free to mark up our sketch with some other suggested geometry, but we're pretty firm on the constraints listed above. Many thanks!! --Maxine

I have the Bluestar with a griddle, and absolutely love it! Use it all the time, and no, not hard to keep clean at all. ...Unless your hubby's idea of "clean" is looking all shiny as new. Once seasoned, it will develop a beautiful dark patina that becomes as non stick as grandma's cast iron skillet. And honestly, I've never needed more than four burners at once in over 40 years of cooking. The griddle also can be used as a french top where you can slide a pan, while something else is still cooking. Getting the griddle was one of the best decisions I ever made. chris

Just one or two people have said they wanted a finished basement (then why come look at a house with an unfinished walkout? it says so right in the listing!). Buyers usually have to make compromises when purchasing a house, so don't begrudge them looking at your house when it might not tick all of their boxes. If they like other things enough, they likely will choose to live with the unfinished basement and neighbor proximity. With our current house I walked into the back yard and emphatically said "Deal breaker!" because the owner had concreted almost the entire yard. But this house had some strong bonuses, and those caused us to take on the tasks of removing the concrete, replacing the roof, and outweighed the forever annoyance of needing to back one of our two cars into the single stall of the supposedly 3 car garage. It really is not the unfinished basement or granite. It is that the house does not have enough plusses (sometimes that is price), to cause them to deal with their compromises.