I am very surprised, that so many people do not check their trade partners name before posting a review. Are you saying that members are posting reviews under the wrong member name? Have they posted incorrectly under your name? I do know that reviews on members who have made trades on other sites are not to be posted here on the GW forum. If there are problems, they should be worked out through the other site(s). If non GW trade reviews are placed on the forum, one can request that they be removed via the Contact Us link at the bottom of any page here. I see 2 reviews (same member) in your thread refer to a trade at another site. There should be no problem with getting them removed. Sue

Yes...but...the search is now out again. GW updated us though about their ongoing efforts to get it fixed. This is the banner on the main page here under "What's News at GW. January 31: We are continuing to work on search engine issues. You may get incorrect results on all forums. We are also aware of broken links on some forums. We are continuing to make repairs and appreciate your patience. If you are having other issues, not related to search or broken links, please contact us. I know lots of folks collapse the message there, so they may not even be aware of the update today. Sue...rbb

We've rarely been "in-state" when we've purchased our homes. The homes/neighborhoods that have worked the best have been in areas where we had several trips to check things out. The one house that ended up not working well was a last minute situation and we really didn't have any time to visit the area. My suggestions for neighbors/neighborhood is visit the area - don't rely solely on the internet or your realtor. If the neighbors are out in their yard, go talk to them (I did this for our current house in Louisville - they were great and gave us a wonderful assessment of the neighborhood). Drive around the area and find the local houses of worship, groceries, Target, Costco, etc. My DH and I had so much fun driving around during our first trip to Louisville, looking at all the different neighborhoods and finding stores that when we moved in July, I already knew where most things were. If you have kids in school, do your homework on-line before narrowing down possible areas. There are a ton of web sites measuring schools' success (although I'm not a big one on just looking at test scores). For our latest move, I was checking on high schools so I looked for graduation rate, # of AP classes available, etc. States typically have an on-line education department so you can find out a lot of info from them. Another valuable tool we found was asking future colleagues for their suggestions. So we asked them about places to live, easiest way to get into work, doctors, dentists, etc.

Hi! Just wanted to let any newbies know that there is a page where you can review (and rate) exchanges with GW exchangers and members. Just FYI. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/raterev