Hi All! Yes, I am begining to re-understand about particular style homes. There had been a beautiful mid century modern ranch in our area for sale a few years ago that needed sprucing up inside to bring it back to it's original 50's grandure. The architect on the outside was just amazing! I know the price started high due to it being so unusual. I guess the owner and REagent thought there was a market for it in "Colonial Haven". Well it sat there for ever and the price just kept on dropping. Had I not moved to were I am I might have considered it at the fire sale price it was even though it was too small for us. I also remember a Frank Lloyd Wright ranch home for sale in lower Farfield Co., CT, just after we bought our home. That had a tough time selling (his rooms are pretty small). It wasn't going anywhere until the agent realized he had to specialize the advertising and target the correct buyers. I forgot how long it was on the market and what it eventually sold for though. Thank you all for reminding me that I DO have something different and not everyone is as enamoured with a ranch as I am. I guess you might say "Ranch people are a rare breed!!!!" ;) Well, back to my boxing and sprucing!! One thing I was happy about though was none of the agents thought we needed staging and were happy with the way I decorated (it did take me till this move to finally find my style!). Felt really great about that since when we were selling our last home (THE COLONIAL!) the word "dated" came around a few time and I cringed! We ripped out perfectly good wall to wall and painted brown trim white. Funny thing, I had a brief though of doing that from the begining when we first bought the house, but the carpeting was in wonderful shape, plus I am from the wall to wall generation and I really did find it to be warm and comfortable, ( an aside for the younger generation - growing up the the 50's hard wood floors ment your family was poor since only the well off people had wall to wall, plus it did make your home feel warmer and you didn't have to deal with all those dust bunnies!!!) and the brown molding was great because all you had to do was dust it, there was no upkeep! As soon as we ripped out the carpet, had the floors sanded and painted the trim, the house looked amazing and we kicked ourselves for not doing it earlier. (hence I now am with it and have beautifully sanded wood floors, area carpets and white trim!)

That is a great deal, WOW 80% off. My neighbor bought a similar looking one at Michaels, 90% off...she paid less than $7 for it and it was regularly $70. Stores need to clear their shelves now to make room for holiday items. Michael's especially is offering amazing prices, how can you go wrong with 90% off. I bought a small wall curio cabinet (regularly $35) for $3.50. For that price it's worth experimenting with repainting it.

In my area, the northwest, prices start at about $1,500 for 5 hours of coverage and go up to over $3,000 for all day coverage by a husband and wife team. For those prices you get an album. Most photographers today place the proofs on-line so that family and friends from all over the country can order directly without having to wait to see proofs. If you consider hiring a photographer that works in a studio with others, be sure that you see actual samples of the work of that photographer. The best shots will be on the walls, in sample albums, etc. but they may not have been taken by the person that you are considering hiring. In this area we don't pay extra for photographer's helpers. They are optional. I often fill in as a helper if needed. If a photographer chooses to bring a helper, they usually pay that person out of what you pay them.

Another option is to post an ad on your local FreeCycle. You won't get a tax credit, but you should be able to find a good home for it easily. FreeCycle is much safer than CL because FreeCycle members must register and get approved before they can post or even see messages. Unlike CL, FreeCycle doesn't allow come-and-get-it ads because they waste gas. If you do post it on FreeCycle, be sure to ask people to give you a definite day and time when they will pick it up -- this helps to keep the no-shows to a minimum. Also, don't necessarily offer the item to the first person who replies, because some people respond to every posting that seems to have some value, and then don't follow through. When I give away things on FreeCycle, I try to choose someone who lives nearby because there's a greater chance they'll pick it up promptly. Here is a link that might be useful: FreeCycle