At the end of last season I did use Round Up on it. Also a friend of mine advised me to once it looked brownish to take a razor and scrape it where I could and also spray it with bleach so it would go down into the roots.. I also did that.. I don't think it will come back this year and if it does I'll be on top of it.. Yes if you burn it, It can even be fatal to some. It will go into your lungs and If it turns skin red and causes major discomfort imagine what it will do you lungs. My other plan may be done simultaneously as the planting of the azalea's. I had a large tree stump in the center of my back yard from a tree that was apparently cut down years ago. The removal of it was one of the first things I did when I bought the house. Reason I mention this is because of it, I don't have a Flat yard. That and the fact that I have I'd say 1/4 of the yard with Zoysia grass and the other 3/4 you can call grass or weeds... What I was going to do with this is take the 1/4 that is Zoysia grass and remove it and 2 inches of ground under it and put it on my deck. (yes I know Keep it moist) then rototill the entire back yard and side yard (where the Azaleas will be)... Once I turn it all over, rent one of them 500 Lbs rollers from local Rental shop and drag it across the yard and flatten it. (Yes, I know slight slop away from house...) Once this is done if my wife hasn't killed me for making the largest mud pit I want to take the Zoysia and make plugs from it and spread them around to cover the back and side yards. Once the plugs are all in, I'll take some regular bluegrass seed and spread it over the rest. then finally cover it all with hay. My hopes are that with in 2 to 4 years to have the full back yard in Zoysia and most importantly Flat. From what I've read Zoysia likes 20/20/20 does anyone here know where I can get some cheap?

Fraid you've got me confused with someone else re building a barn on the property and living in that while building the house. DH and I bought our land by refinancing the house we then owned in order to pay cash for the land b/c mortgage interest rates on the refinance were MUCH lower than interest rates on a raw land mortgage. We then spent five years paying down the refinanced mortgage before felt financially ready to start building. We finished paying off our mortgage on the first house while we were in the process of building the second. So even tho we weren't able to sell our first house as quickly as we would have liked after moving into the new dream home, we never had to worry about making two mortgage payments at the same time. I was terribly impatient during that entire five years to just "get started" but in fact, the wait gave me plenty of time to educate myself and to design a home that FITS our property and our lifestyle. So, IMHO, you can't start too soon. Yes, prices will change but the relative cost to build various houses will stay about the same. (i.e., if the build price on plan A is twice the build price of plan B today, five years from now, plan A is still going to cost about twice as much to build as plan B.) Instead of obsessing about costs tho, use your time to learn all you can about the pros/cons of various building practices. For example, while it isn't exciting, spend some time learning about various types of foundations and how each type is PROPERLY INSTALLED as well as all the ways a particular type of foundation can be screwed up by someone who doesn't know what they're doing. Then when you're choosing a house plan, you can make an informed decision about what type of foundation you want. Ditto with framing. Learn as much as you can about how a house is framed up and some of the options you have. Terms like "open web joists," "i-beam joists," "California corners," "sole plate," "king stud," "cripple/jack stud," "ridge pole," "purlin," and "load bearing" should become familiar to you as you learn how framing should be done right and all the ways that bad builders can screw it up. Likewise, get a thorough grasp of the concept of "drainage planes" and how flashing, house wraps, claddings, etc. SHOULD be installed in order to contribute to properly functioning drainage planes. Basically, work your way thru every "system" within a house. The more you understand about how a properly designed and built house WORKS, the better off you'll be when dealing with a builder. Or, for that matter, when trying to communicate with your architect. And, of course spend time doing the fun stuff like thinking about how you and your family actually live. What in your current home makes your life easier and what are the little things that just drive you bonkers. Like maybe, you actually love having the sun wake you up in the mornings thru your east facing windows but hate the way everything always seems to wind up stacked on the dining room table b/c there isn't really any other place to drop stuff off as you come in the door. Or you love your big kitchen island but hate the the way your top kitchen drawers are half-an-inch too shallow to hold rolls of waxed paper and tinfoil. Make notes about these things and, when you're designing your new home, incorporate the good things and find ways to fix the annoying things. And of course, spend time finding and saving "inspiration" pictures for the really fun part which is decorating that brand new space! Three years will fly by!

Thanks, all. The market here is quite hot, though I suppose it could cool in the next year. I doubt it, though-- it seems like more people want to live closer in and have shorter commutes and we are within a couple of miles of a new high-tech employment area, near the university, and not far from downtown. I talked to a neighbor recently with a very similar house. She has a realtor (lets call her Realtor #1) she's worked with for decades who only works in this area. Realtor #1 gave her very specific recommendations for what to do in advance (she plans to sell in August), and told her that her house would probably sell in 3 days. So I'm thinking we won't list until we are truly ready to go, which depends mostly on precisely when we decide to retire. I think we will probably wait a month or two and get some "known" issues taken care of, then set up something will Realtor #1. Then I suppose to be responsible, we'll have to find Realtors #2 and #3 as well. Although to be honest, I wouldn't mind skipping that... I guess I understand the criteria for selecting someone with a good track record of short times on market, etc. But when inventory is low and demand is high, what do you look for in an agent? Is it different?

If it's growing well I'd leave it for now. Re-potting will cause it to pause growing, and perhaps loose a few leaves. However, if re-potting includes placing it in a larger container, and you do it right, it should resume growing pretty quickly with the extra space. For the record I don't have any FLFs, only common figs.