In my state, 25% of bats carry the rabies virus. That's not good odds, when you wake up with a bat in your bedroom. There have been enough cases of rabies from bats where they could not figure out if the victim was bitten or just touched the saliva or something else. If rabies wasn't fatal once the symptoms start showing, it would be a different story. But the only way to prevent dying from rabies if you have been infected is to get the shots soon enough. Last week, we found a bat in the kitchen sink one morning. Because we sleep with the bedroom doors open, the bat could have been flying in our rooms as we slept. Therefore, it needed to be tested for rabies. A call to the state department of Public Health brought a Fish and Game official to our door less than two hours later. We had the results of the rabies test four hours after that. (It was negative. However the bat was infected with white nose disease, which is killing off a lot of bats in our area.) At no point did anyone from the state suggest that we were fear-mongering or making a mountain out of a molehill. Everyone was polite, concerned and determined to act fast. They took the bat seriously. So did I. There's no need to panic if you find a bat in your house. But there is a need to take it seriously and get it checked for rabies if anyone was asleep in any of the rooms it was in.

The link is to the "Investment Tool" websiteÂÂ.but I could not find the above mentioned article. That said, the drop in RE value is not a stand alone...much of both the unprecedented rise and drastic fall were both caused and facilitated by loans with absurd terms being approved for people who could not pay themÂÂand in most cases, were not even required to document that they could pay themÂ...especially when the reset terms kicked in. The "great loan give away" meant that an unprecedented number of homes could be "sold"...drastically reducing supply, while drastically ramping up demand....and as the law of supply and demand almost ALWAYS dictates, prices escalate as well. However, since so many of these homes were purchased with loans that did not have a prayer of being paid, a good portion of existing homes could not longer be classified as collateralÂwhich in turn started the devaluation ..aka, price plunge. Now, throw in the get rich quick ability that securitization brought...and it was "Let the games begin!" Now...letÂs play for a moment. IF the prices of homes had either remained steadyÂÂ..or appreciated....all that would mean is that owners could borrow even more $$$$...under equally predatory terms.....with both the lenders and the borrowers merely digging themselves in deeper. Can you imagine a one bedroom 40 year old basic condo in an average area going for 10 mil and beyondÂand lenders allowing the owner to continue to borrow against that value?? Exactly when did the lenders say that they would have FINALLY drawn the line? That said, the fact that there had never been a drop this bad is a pointless fact, if one does not take into account all of the contributing factors that occurred this time around that were not part of any of the previous RE rise and fall cycles. Nothing exists in a vacuumÂ....and to treat it as such is simplistic at best. Also, realize that during the last RE boom of the '86, (remember when greed was goodÂ..and Michael Milkin & co destroyed Drexel Burnham?) interest rates were very high. Friends who bought in Â84 had a 13% interest rate...we bought in '86Â..at 10.75%...and you could NOT buy in NY without at minimum 10% down...and PMIÂÂ..and the 10% could not come from a loan...either commercial or private. AndÂright before closing, we had to supply all sorts of documentation that our financial picture had not changed in any significant manner. IMO...any lender who thought that there was or is any comparison and banked on the past rise and fall patterns was again, either stupidÂ...or incompetentÂÂor both. Last but by no means leastÂÂnot all home values have tankedÂ..many areas have dropped a bitÂ..or remained steady. It appears as if the areas that have devalued the most are also those where the largest number of predatory loans was issuedÂand that pretty much says it all in terms of cause and effect.

We only buy the Sunday paper so DH can get the TV guide. He's not as computer dependent as I am. Still wants the TV guide even though he only watches one show,The Big Bang Theory, when football season isn't here. I look at the ads and sometimes skim the paper. The quality of the print and the paper is so bad I find it annoying. I do read comics online now and then. DH reads them online daily, has a tab on his browser for them. Now I have to go check out Zits. LOL

Autumn, I didn't see your response on that previous thread -- but I read it now -- thanks! I like your built-ins, and when I asked the question I was thinking we'd keep the fireplace in its original position (as laid out in the original floor plan), but then I decided I like the idea of the living room stretching out a bit wiiiiiiider, which meant we turned the living room and lost the solid wall for built-ins. Since I've had no feedback on moving the fireplace, I'm thinking it's an okay idea? Yes, I definitely have things to store in the great room. I'm thinking of an electronics cabinet in the corner by the loveseat; we'll run a PVC pipe through the wall during construction to manage cords. Remember I said I'm married to an engineer? Yeah, we have stuff in an electronics cabinet; however, it currently fits in a horrible-looking 36" wide three-shelf cabinet, so it'll fit in a similar-sized-but-much-nicer-looking cabinet in this position. This cabinet also currently holds our large DVD collection. I don't save DVD plastic boxes; rather, I store them in CD "wallets" like this: We have a case for Family movies, another for Action movies, another for Adult dramas, another for Cartoons, others that hold series DVDs, etc., etc., etc. Then we have a 5x7 binder that lists where everything can be found. It's a system I invented maybe 6-8 years ago, and it keeps our movie collection in a significantly smaller space. Love it. We're also a big board game family. Right now they're stored in the office, which is adjacent to the great room. I have a wall of kitchen cabinets in the office, and our board games (and puzzles) take up three lower kitchen cabinets. Remember I said we're going with a large bookcase in the entryway? I'm thinking closed cabinets on the lower half of that bookcase, and board games (and similar) will live there. Okay, the cut flowers can stay. I can't kill them. The program I'm using is HGTV's Home & Landscape Platinum Suite. I have no idea how it stacks up against other programs, but my husband bought it for me and I like it pretty well. As I said, this room is essentially the same size/shape as my current great room (only I currently have the kitchen to the left, and my new house will have the kitchen to the front of the house), so I can say with confidence that the room is large enough to "float" the loveseat comfortably. I am thinking that I'll have TWO areas prepped for a TV -- one over the fireplace and one on the wall shared with the secondary bedroom. I think I prefer the TV over the fireplace, but this will give me the option to move it later, if I wish. Yes, the initial post showed stairs, but I set out to talk about JUST the great room, so I didn't mention anything about stairs or bonus room ... but, as happens so often, the discussion wandered. Every house I've ever lived in has had a crawl space, so I'm assuming we're going that direction -- but I will listen to what our builder has to say. He will give us input on stairs based upon our specific placement on the lot. Here in the South, HVAC sits outside behind the house, usually behind lattice panels. Easy. We'll have a covered porch on the back side /Southern side of the house. We're going with retractable screens. We like the angle on the bathroom wall. We stayed in a rental condo recently that had a layout very close to this one, and we liked it very much. We like that the angle brings you into the room "angled towards" the most attractive items in the room: The tub and windows (still some discussion on the tub, but this is most likely "it"). We like that the sink, the most-used item in the bathroom, is RIGHT THERE when you open the door (but we're just not into the idea of repetitive sinks). We like that the toilet is partially hidden behind the door when you walk in, but it isn't crammed into a difficult-to-clean small closet. We aren't in doubt about this bathroom layout. We're going with 32" wide doorways, and -- again -- having just spent years acting as caretaker for my grandmother, we know this worked fine for her. We aren't in doubt on this topic. With the covered porch across the back, we're not overly worried about direct sun, but we do care about privacy in the evenings. I'll make my own drapes (I'm an excellent seamstress, though I hate to sew) and will suspend them from ceiling tracks. You're right to say that I should consider where they'll "stack" -- not a term I knew until just now! I'm thinking that if I pull the electronics cabinet back from the wall a few inches, that portion of the curtain will have space to "fold back" ... and the other two sides can scoot towards the grandfather clock. I'll think about that when I next look at the floor plan. I'm fine with the TV above the fireplace. We'll do a couple small, inconspicuous speakers, but they're not a major priority for us. Thanks again for your thoughts, all!