NO, the 'McConnel's Gold' is a Picea GLAUCA cultivar! Look at the habit and it's upright new growth, is has nothing to do with Picea abies... The synonym for 'McConnel's Gold' is 'Mac Golden'. Will, do you've a duplicate now? Luckely for you that you don't have to change your tag and you do have a golden Picea glauca in your collection now :0) Here is a link that might be useful: Picea pungens 'McConnel's Gold'

Susie, First thing to do is take a deep breathe & calm down the emotions. I know you really like this house & the price has dropped; but, it's not the only "dream" house out there. If it's not available when your house sells you'll find something else you like as much, or better. Four months is too long to go without a price reduction. Even in today's environment the market is very efficient. If a property is priced 'right' it will sell within 45-70 days. The big question today is, of course, what is 'right'? That number has no relationship to what you either want or feel you should receive. The buyer determines value. You can't use current listings as comparison. You need to know what has SOLD recently & is comparable to your property. Ask your agent to update his market analysis. Be prepared...it's likely to be 5-10% below four months ago. If nothing has sold then it's because listing prices are not in line with buyer's current perceived value & you'll need to get down low enough to motivate a buyer. If you want to sell quickly...price aggressively...in the range of 95-97% of whatever your new market comparables indicate. The market is all about PRICE today. IMO, a $1K reduction is unlikely to excite anybody into making an offer. Also, take a hard look at your pictures. Are they showing the house to best advantage? Any wallpaper? If so, remove it & take new pictures. Any strong paint colors? If so, repaint & take new pictures. You've done a lot of de-cluttering recently. Do your current pictures reflect the new cleaner look? Curb appeal? It's hard this time of year but soon you can add a pot of pansies by the front door. Don't forget to keep the windows clean. Does the front door need paint? Is your mailbox by the street? If so, is it old & battered? If so, replace it. IOW, do whatever you can to spruce up the curb appeal. Most buyers reject a property within the first 3 minutes. First impression is critical. But, ultimately, today is about price. Bluntly, it may very well be that you can't get the number you'd like. If it's so tight that you're only considering a $1K drop...it doesn't sound like you've got a lot of negotiation/wiggle room. Over my career, I've probably sold close to a couple thousand houses. I've seen lots of buyer types. Enough to know that there's really no telling exactly what will tweak somebody's button enough for them to make an offer. I can say though that the best bet is price. A buyer will overlook many perceived deficiencies for the right price. There are many ways to manipulate price. A buyer's agent bonus is one way but, as Jo has already noted, a good agent isn't that moved by a bonus. They really do try to match a property to their customer's needs/desires. You could offer to buy down a buyer's interest rate by a point. Rates are already low...but, you might catch somebody on the cusp who could afford your house with, say, a 4.5% mortgage but not at current rates. A straight price reduction offers value to the largest buyer pool. You can also offer a redecorating allowance. First time homebuyers are, sometimes, motivated by having their new appliances paid for by the seller. This technique will rarely, if ever, work with an experienced buyer. You can also offer to pay the first 3-6 month's mortgage payments (cost would be escrowed). Again, this is a first time homebuyer attraction, possibly...not the move-up buyer. I've sold some real dogs by just offering a new TV...this only works well, IMO, if you've got the TV in the house so a buyer can see it...and, it has to be something exciting not the cheapest Best Buy close-out. All of these things are just alternatives to lowering your listing price. Ultimately, IMO again, the best is to lower your price 5%...wait 3 weeks & if it hasn't sold...lower another 5% until you find that "right" price. That WILL work almost guaranteed even today. The market is valuing your property at some now unknown price point. To sell quickly you'll have to find that value. In today's market, any other way is just luck. And, I often say I'd rather be lucky than good any day! Seriously though, if you want that house sold...lower the price ! Best of luck! /tricia

I think I got your garden in the wrong place; it's on the side and not the typical rear yard, right? You are lucky to be on what sounds like a double lot at the end of row. I've seen more than a couple renovated straight thru rows that are typically laid out as I mentioned earlier. You don't state a budget but you are looking at a complete gut. It can be a pay now (and enjoy your changes) or pay later (at sale time). If you hang out here, your budget will prolly increase but you will have TKO layout with lots and lots of great ideas! ;) I'm far from a designer and have struggled with how to change my own teeny/small kitchen in a straight-thru. Layout and flow, as well as the need for that nasty little word, storage, in the older philly homes are quite a challenge. I decided on the first option - pay now and enjoy. My changes include moving just about everything except for the door leading to rear yard. I say all this to say, take what I say with a grain of salt. I can just share with you what I have seen in similar rehabbed/flipped city homes. Your garden is to die for in the city. Showcase it. As others have mentioned, move the rear entry door to the side and close up the current window and rear door. That would leave you with an L-shaped kitchen using the current window and door to house cabinetry. I would give up the lower cab that cuts off your kitchen from rest of 1st floor. Depending on how much room you are working with on exterior wall, and size of entry door, and placement, a U-shaped as someone has already mentioned, with open part of U toward living room, has also worked from what I've seen. Go with eat in counter space instead of table and chairs. Use the table/chair space to increase kitchen size. Not sure if the built in fridge area is for structural reasons, assume door leads to basement, but if you could lose that fridge built in, I think it would make the kitchen appear larger. In terms of where each appliance, etc should go, I am of no help there. A room layout would prolly help the TKO'ers here for help. Just about anything can be moved, it just depends on how important it is to you. A couple of things I'd like to mention from my own experience or from what I've seen around the city. A total renovation can be overwhelming in terms of costs. You do not have to do it all at once. It can be done in phases, as I have elected to do. Also some of your items can be re-used. Your French door comes immediately to mind. I'm re-using/re-purposing a pantry door (not sure what I was thinking years ago when I turned pantry into utility sink area) into a sliding barn door where kitchen space is tight. (I like the old original stuff in my house, plus it saves cost). The other thing I learnt is that the design-to-build firms in area were overall more expensive than a labor only company, so I felt I saved there. Yes it means more running around for me, but I like to pick my own materials and didn't want to be tied to an allocation amount or limited by the 'choose this or that'. I also have a tendency to have champagne taste with beer money, so some things to me were worth it; other things, not so much. Dishwasher. If you're on the fence, put one in. It's pretty much expected at all price points. I suspect (but may be wrong) that rehabbing and flipping may be taking part in your area or will be soon. It could be a deal-breaker for many who grew up with such basic creature comforts. 18" European ones typically cost more than comparable 24" ones but space issues may come into play here. Countertops. Minimum of Granite is a must, even in the lower price points. The level of granite often goes with the price point. Every flipped philly home I've ever seen has had granite. It's the 'keep up with the jones' mentality; pay now or pay later. In terms of putting a window above counter, consider a casement window instead of the double hung window. Easier to open/close with the need to lean over a countertop. Now if I was going pie in the sky and looking at my return on investment, I would move side garden to rear if possible and do galley-style kitchen as I mentioned in a previous post. I suspect, but again guessing, if parking is tight, I'd put asphalt down on part of side lot and create off-street parking. It may be doable now with your space. Buyers at every price point in area often want a rear yard and garage, or at minimum, off street parking. Often in the city, you don't get both a rear yard and off-street parking. It can affect number of interested buyers and even appraisal. It seems I've digressed from topic, sorry about that. Gotta run and get some lighting for contractors to install 2mrw. HTH! Hope it makes sense and not too many ipad typos as I don't have time to review.

Hi - on an iMac here - I just click & drag a photo to my desktop - either from the web or iPhoto or any other folder on my computer, then click the photo link in the comments box & browse the desktop, select the file & click 'open' - & done. (just remember that photo will be inserted where the cursor was last - you can remove a misplaced photo by clicking @ the right side of it & using the delete button on your keyboard) When I'm finished, I put the desktop image in the trash or return it to its folder. BTW, you cannot click/drag photos from the messages here @ houzz( & on some other sites as well) - I use screen capture if I want to save & reuse any of them. If you want the steps for that, just ask... HTH