If everyone hates HOAs like I hate them, why do all new neighborhoods have HOAs? Becoming a homeowner, I never imagined someone could tell me what to do with my property. Isn't that the point of homeownership? Planting "too many" flowers, painting the door the wrong color... can all lead to fines, a lien on the house, and foreclosure. It is a huge myth HOAs preserve property value. For example grass that is a little long will not impact a property's value no matter how they say it will.... the appraisal form does not have a spot for "long grass" and how can it affect the value when it can be cut at any time. But it may lower values (1) whatever fee you are paying to the HOA cannot be put towards the mortgage, and even a small amount per month adds up to a larger mortgage. (2) many people avoid HOAs because of their unfair, rigid, and arbitrary rules. One of my friends' garage door got stuck partway down when he left for work in the morning; he was late to work and was going to fix it when he got home... when he got home there was a violation notice. Another friend lives in an area where homeowners MUST keep their garage door open all day! To ensure no one is living in the garage, which shouldn't be a daily witchhunt. Of course this leads to thefts of things in the garage. Arbitrary, all arbitrary! Some places allow only certain fences, no sheds... if it's not illegal why are they so bossy?

We have the same laminate in our entry, hallway, kitchen and family room and are putting slate in our sunken living room (which is adjacent the laminate hall) and carpet in our bedrooms. All the bedrooms will have the same carpet. The two bathrooms have different tile. Having each room with different carpet might be a bit disjointed. How about using different painting or decorating techniques to bring individuality into each boys room? i.e. granite or leather look painted walls or wallpaper. I don't think two different types of wood next to one another will look good. Most times people try to match the wood floors - not use different types. If you really want a different look in one of the rooms that will have a wood floor - you can use an area rug to partially cover up the wood floor that looks better in the other rooms - or choose a wood floor that looks good in all the rooms - something more neutral grain. Just my two cents worth.

I also use paper towels in the kitchen. I have dishtowels that get used while cooking occasionally, and dishrags, that I use to wash dishes. But if I am washing my hands, or cleaning up the counter, or cleaning up after handling meat, etc, I use paper towels. Some judge it as environmentally unfriendly. But these are my personal thoughts: 1) Laundry also consumes resources (water, energy), and outputs wastewater into the system that must be handled. 2) I use choose-a-size paper towels, and I find that often, a half-sheet does the job. 3) It's healthier when cleaning up after handling meat. A lot of people use paper guest towels in their company bathrooms. That's something I have not really gotten into yet. But it is an idea to mull over. :-) This has been a VERY interesting topic!

We actually closed yesterday (finally) asking price: $129,000, sold for $121,000 plus we paid some of the closing costs and added a home warranty. Days on market was right at 6 months. We had 2 offers, first one we took at $126,500 but their mortgage app fell apart. Put back on market and accepted second offer a few weeks later at $121,000+ other addins. 3 bed 2.5 bath in Knoxville tn. About 12-15 years old. Just put in a new 8ft privacy fence and other upgrades just to get more attention for it and help it sell (yes we took a loss, but at least its gone) We had approx 15 showings in total over the 6 months before we got it sold. I asked my realtor about feedback many times (by the way my realtor really sucked, she worked for the buyers it seemed more then she worked for me, and the buyers had their own agent!) Anyways, we did get feedback about painting one of the rooms that we had and another buyer had mentioned a loose railing at the top of the stairs. Nothing that we weren't able to fix for a few dollars and a couple hours on a weekend. We did take a large loss on the home, only in it 2 and a half years and put in tons of upgrades but sadly the company I work for shutdown and we had to move to a new job I found. I was told without the upgrades it would still be on the market.