I LOVE google maps. I use them almost daily (currently looking for a non-HOA neighborhood to move to). You birds-eye-view is very pretty. Love the trees but can't really see the garden much. My garden wouldn't show up at all on Googlemaps since it is tucked around the edges of my small yard. Like you though I have a south facing yard so I've got that going for me. Also the Gmaps for my neighborhood looks about 2 years old. Denise

Let's see...hey...it gets there. Bit different, but that's the right idea. The bare bones GPS coordinates out of that long link are 48.410060,-123.364940 And stuffed into that snippet in my first reply, it's like this... (for Google Earth) http://maps.google.com/maps?q=48.410060,-123.364940&output=kml And like this... (for Google Maps) http://maps.google.com/maps?q=48.410060,-123.364940 Google Earth Beacon Hill and Google Maps Beacon Hill Now, if this works right, I embedded the Google Maps code into this image >> CLICK IMAGE TO TRY If that works, here's the code, but I put an "X" to substitute for every "" in the code so it displays...so "XX" is where two tags meet ">Xa href="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=48.410060,-123.364940"XXimg src="http://www.beaconhillpark.com/images/walktour25.jpg"XX/aX And an attempt at Google Earth...

Grandms is right. I was trying to copy it and email to a friend. Jane

Using the car in the driveway next door as a measure, it looks like the frontage is slightly less than two car lengths. An excellent experiment -- it clearly proves what we all suspected; that front line may be mistakenly labeled as 85'. Yes to the idea of a professional survey ... but not before I've made a preliminary decision about whether we are really interested in the property. we have found that being friendly with the neighbors trumps 2 square feet of property. Yeah, I'm definitely inclined that way. IF this comes to pass, I'll definitely address things in a civil manner. I'm not "that neighbor". The most important question is what is the buildable envelope for a house in the mid-section area of the property, outside the flood plain line? The location of the two adjacent houses suggests a significant front yard setback line. Setbacks: So the envelope is something like this -- again, this is without any help from a pro, just having "walked it" once and internet-snooped it over the weekend. The front setback does seem quite large to me, but it suits this piece of property since the front is sloped (the high point being marked with the star ... whereas the middle portion is nice and flat, perfect for building. Please check my math! I received the flood plain information from the listing agent this morning in my email, and it isn't an issue: Apparently the land continues to slope downward towards the lots on the other side of the creek, so they're the ones who must deal with flood issues -- the 40 feet required at the back of the lot seems to be enough for safety ... regardless, the house we're going to build won't come close to that point. We're looking at a house roughly 40-ish feet deep, so we could have 100' or more between us and the creek. I'm thinking the house itself will fit easily; a monster like the 4000 sf house next door would be a challenge. I'm thinking that the driveway is the most challenging part of the project. I'm anticipating it'd be set where I placed the arrow. Such a large growth of trees, however, also means filtered sunlight at best, and a challenge for the growth of exterior landscaping and for useful interior natural light. I think the mature trees are one of the best features of the property. Some would have to go, of course, but it would remain a heavily shaded property, and that would affect landscaping choices. I would definitely look elsewhere. You are not desperate, are you? No, nowhere near desperate. I would also like to see the plats, and possible speak to the (Hoa? city?) about the neighbors encroachment before I was sold on it. No HOA to speak to, not in a city. I am going to call the developer -- I don't know how much good that'll do, but I have a few other Qs for him anyway. The neighbor with the long driveway has her house for sale, so not much point in getting chummy with her. The one advantage of a pie shaped lot is more privacy out back. Yes, and with the trees and slope in front, this would be quite a private spot. Remember, like any real estate the cardinal rules are location, location, location and that grows even more important as we age, Really, really think hard about location for a retirement home. Proximity to services, for seniors. medical, your church if that is important to youmany, groceries and shopping. I'm from this area, so I know the services well -- no shortage of shopping, churches, etc. What we don't have is fast food and chain restaurants; yeah, we're a quirky place. I'm not unusual in that my family has lived in this area since before the Revolutionary War, and this county has the highest savings per capita of any county in NC -- but you wouldn't know it to look at us. But I digress ... as for medical, a new emergency room satellite has just been built 10 minutes down the road. We have a small hospital (which I don't like) 20 minutes to the east, a regional medical center 30 minutes to the north, and the biggest hospital in the state (where my daughter is a nurse) an hour to the west. Excellent services for the elderly, which my grandmother used: home health, Meals on Wheels, two senior centers, transportation for the disabled. No, I think the real estate agent hit the nail on the head when she said that this neighborhood is beyond the point that "the city folks" consider an acceptable commute, and that's why they aren't buying. The town to the west (the one to which "city folk" are attracted because it's literally the first spot over the county line) is experiencing an absolute onslaught of quick-houses-on .2 acre lots, and they're selling like hotcakes. This neighborhood is "between towns", kind of in no-man's land ... but it's on the major thoroughfare that connects the big city and a medium-sized town. I wouldn't like to be on the front edge of the neighborhood /on a four-land highway, but this lot is literally at the very back of the neighborhood. I also think some of the neighborhood covenants are unappealing to the local folks: No livestock, for example; that knocks out all the people who are devoted to 4H and want their kids to raise chickens or a goat. No trailers knocks out a bunch of people too. This would increase our commute to about 30 minutes, and it'd mean my husband couldn't come home for lunch anymore (he would definitely miss that); however, if we could own the land this afternoon and moved fast on scheduling a builder, we wouldn't be able to move in for a year ... and we don't want to move until our youngest finishes at the community college and goes on to university. And that puts us at retirement -- we will be retiring young; it's possible that we'd make this commute for a year. Being properly placed for retirement outweighs a short-term commute increase. I appreciate that y'all're making me think of topics I should consider. At this point, I'd say I'm interested enough to pursue more information -- and I think the driveway is the biggest issue of concern.