sue - yeah, we go to the beach all winter long too - weekend here and a weekend there. Someday I hope we have a house there. The beach is beautiful all year - the entire maine/nh coast is beautiful all year though. It's the most beautiful place in the world - Nubble on a stormy day with the water crashing up? The giant mansions that line the coast in Rye? (we used to "pick" out those houses as kids, which were mine, which were my brothers) But I'm a summer beach girl at heart and to walk around with sand between my toes and the sun out, and a good outside shower at the end of the day...ahhhh...and the smell of the marsh at night and the sound of the waves...

Doug - the trends you talk about in terms of decreasing buying power, shrinking middle class, etc are real and truly disconcerting. The slightly paranoid side of me made sure I purchased a home that could, if needed, be a mini homestead (enough space and the right light exposure to grow veggies and raise chickens). It's simplistic, because if the economy really does fall completely apart I can't farm my way to prosperity on a mortgaged piece of land. In my local market inventory is tight for homes at or slightly below the median because the available homes have some perceived flaw (too close to the highway, schoolyard, train tracks, busy road, other houses). Or they need significant work. Homes in good condition and good locations are quickly purchased if the price is fair. People are justifiably SO afraid of a house losing value that they are unwilling to purchase something with a flaw because they fear being unable to sell in the future. It actually makes sense, but it makes it almost impossible to sell property that is flawed - even for fire sale prices. There is excess inventory at the high end, homes in the top quartile are very slow to move and people aren't listing unless they absolutely have to. This is one reason that we decided to remodel earlier this year instead of move (it was a big remodel, moving could have been less if what we wanted was available).. Now, back to this issue of potential buyers being leery of homes with flaws ... I think that is what is holding back the sale of this house. There are probably buyers who look at it and, when they see the HOA issues, think to themselves, "Gee, even if the HOA issues are fixed, how long will this taint the value of the home? How many years until the stigma falls away? What if I had to sell in that time?" Buyers can't commit to this house on a long term basis because everything about this economy feels SO unstable right now. Is there a shortage of rental property (SFH) in your area? Because that was the other thing we looked at when we bought. I would have preferred to rent but we have a dog and SFH rentals are almost impossible to find in our area for under $3k/mo. With taxes and insurance, our 15 yr mortgage is under $2500/mo ... So, worst case we could rent this place if we had to move out and we would likely cover the mortgage with the rent (or come close to it). I wonder if renting is an option for the OP? I know it's an expensive home, but still ... It may be an option, unless the HOA forbids it.

I'm not too clear on your details, but it is my understanding that only exposed edges are polished. I would guess that the granite edge that is against the wall is not polished and that is normal. The bigger question is whether or not your counter was scribed to the wall so that there is a tight enough fit so that any backsplash you eventually choose will cover the union of the counter and the wall. I don't think it would be a big deal for a fabricator to remove a 4" splash. It's what is behind it that is the question.

Ok, I follow what you mean now, brickeyee. However, I don't' believe this is an issue with Corian. After the tile is done, I had already planned to have the fabricator refinish the Corian countertop to remove scratches, etc. Corian is pretty impervious to this type of thing and I don't believe sunlight affects it like it might Formica. Also, if I do end up choosing to remove the Corian backsplash, the tile that would replace it would be very close in thickness (most travertine is close to same thickness as my backsplash)so I would be safe there as well. If it wasn't for some of the idiosyncrasies of my Corian backsplash install, I don't think I would run into these issues if I decided to remove it.