Honest, you shouldn't get all caught up in Google's street views. I love Google as much or more than anyone (heck, it's my home page, I use it so much) but believe me, a LOT of their photos are very out of date. They have an ongoing program asking for volunteers to drive around with a Google camera attached to the top of their car, which helps them to update their street views. Frankly, the house across the street doesn't look that messy to me. I don't see unmown weeds 2' high, or discarded trash, or rusting cars set up on blocks. So what if their chairs don't match? A BBQ grill isn't an unusual sight, even if they don't use it much (heck, I don't use mine either). Neighbors change all the time, in our area. Lots of rental homes. Yes, it brings down the value a little. But my home is not a part of my investment portfolio. To me it counts a lot more that I have great neighbors on both sides of me: considerate, thoughtful, willing to look out for others and help. You can't appeal to EVERYBODY. You just want to appeal to the widest number of people possible. Best to concentrate on your own property. As pointed out, you can't control what your neighbors do. Stressing out about it is a waste of time and energy, better spent on your own sale.

We've always said it's never too late to post to a DAT, and I'm testing that theory. I've been working on this one since May. The house is another Oakland hills home, but definitely a nicer one than the one I previously posted. This one is on the uphill side of the road and so has an exterior elevation worth looking at. Here is a shot of the living area with the dining room in the background. The kitchen is through the door at the back of the dining room. The living room is all neutrals, but the kitchen walls are green and the bedrooms were all painted shades of blue, green and aqua. Here's the kitchen and the room past the peninsula: It looked to me as if the homeowner spruced up the kitchen for sale by painting the cabinets white and putting in new black counters. But the black and white seem too stark to me compared to the rest of the house, and with the large west-facing window, the kitchen gets a LOT of light, and it just makes the black and white more stark. Now, if I really bought this house, I would probably live with the kitchen indefinitely. This design is more about what I thought the homeowners should have done if they were staying, and I riffed off their design choices elsewhere in the house. I wanted the kitchen to be a bit softer, and transitional between the neutrals of the public spaces and the water colors of the rest of the house. The cabs read a bit pinker than I wanted; I was going for a creamy neutral. I took out the uppers on the outside wall and the suspended cabinets over the peninsula. I left the layout the same otherwise, including the cooktop on the peninsula, however questionable that may be, although if it is feasible (couldn't tell) I would look to moving it to the interior wall. The adjacent space beyond the peninsula looks like it was intended as a breakfast nook but with the dining room and peninsula seating already, more space for eating seemed like overkill. Since the deck is off that room, it seemed like it would be nice to have a space that worked for indoor/outdoor entertaining. So I turned it into living space. What I wanted to do, but didn't have enough energy to do a board for, would be to do a wet bar at the far end of the room, behind where the white loveseat is. The room also has what looked to me like mirrored closet doors, which I replaced with something I liked better. So below I did board for the window wall, a view of the peninsula, and the living area facing the interior wall. Kraftmaid cabinets, maple in canvas Counter: Silestone Unsui Kohler Iron/Tones sink in Palermo blue Heath tile robins egg blue Kohler Purist faucet Maytag dishwasher Paint Benjamin Moore Acadia Green White oak wood floors woodfloorsonline.com Wolf gas cooktop Rangecraft Landau range hood angelo:HOME Ennis Shoreline 3 piece sofa collection (Overstock.com), only used 2 pieces C.R. Laine Pendleton chair in Kyoto Wasabi Abaca ottoman (Overstock.com) (this is just like the one in the existing LR, although I didn't do that consciously) Target Andres seagrass barstools (I picked these before the ottoman and now I think it's too much seagrass, but I didn't have the energy to look for replacements) Closet door pic from door.clutchot.com Both paintings are from 1stdibs.com, Energy, and The Rose and the Nightingale.

DS just moved out of a Trinity in Philly that wasn't as nice, actually it was downright dismal! It was about the same size but had 1 Bedroom on the 3rd floor, the laundry area and the only bathroom were on the 2nd floor, and the basement kitchen didn't have any windows, the only daylight was from a recessed window well 7' off the floor - so no view either. It had standard renter's appliances and barely enough room for a tiny table and chairs . Since it was in a narrow courtyard it was always in a shadow. He only had windows in the front because there was another trinity behind him sharing back walls. It was in Northern Liberties which is a hot area of Philly and I think the rent is now $1500 a month - no parking, no yard but it was in a gated complex with a common courtyard. He was actively looking for to buy but as Pal states the market is hot. He'd make appointments to see properties after work or on the weekend and more than half the time there was already a bid placed before he could get there. It didn't help either that his agent was so busy that she seldom returned calls. He finally found a condo that he really likes but it took about 10 months. DD and her BF searched for almost 2 years before finding something that they could afford and wasn't in need of a complete rebuild. They found a great row home that was totally redone 10 years ago - it's 18' wide, 10' ceilings, almost 1900 square feet, a rear yard, available on-street parking BUT it's in N. Philly near Temple. Their block is nice, it's quiet and stable. Most of the neighbors have been there for many years and they've told her how happy they are that a young couple bought the house because apparently before that it had been a rental for 4 college guys. Some of the areas around her are sketchy and others dangerous. My other DS and his wife have finally decided to leave the city after 10 years and like so many others in their age group are moving to the suburbs because of the schools. Unless you can afford private school most of the schools in the city are abysmal. I mentioned this on another thread but there are only 9 librarians for 218 city schools - and those schools are also lacking nurses, guidance counselors, art and music teachers too. Tuition at Friends' Central ( A Quaker school) in Center City is $23,000 to $30,000 for grade school and $35,000 for high school. Mayor Kenney's initiative to tax soft and sugar drinks was originally touted as utilizing the proceeds to improve Parks and Recreation, expand pre-K and neighborhood schools. If only they had followed though on that and used all the money for schools, parks and recreation. Instead Council is planing on keeping a portion of that money for the fund balance. There have been several studies published that show millennials and empty nesters are buying properties. And Pal's right too about the increase in New Yorkers moving here for the lower prices - they can ride Amtrak or a bus into Manhattan - although that can get rather tedious on a daily basis. There is also a significant number of New Jerseyians moving into Philly and PA to avoid the high taxes on the Jersey side of the Delaware. The city has also granted 10 year tax abatements for certain areas of the city as a lure to improve those areas. I'm not a pro but it looks like the demand will continue for a while - especially as long as mortgage rates remain so low. My kids have trouble believing me when I tell them that when we bought our home in 1983 mortgages were 17%. While the market is hot there are many developers putting up additional housing units - I don't know what the demand will be like when the majority of them come on the market. Maire

3katz, i think the house looks solid even though there are things that could certainly be changed to fit your personal style. Paint, light fixtures, those curlicues in the kitchen and most of the drapery. I could go on but those would be at the top of my list. It has many great features and being on an acre would be nice. As to living in the south, I’m a native, so probably not the one to ask, but many have likely experienced different treatment, depending on where you settled. I have been embarassed by the way some in the south act. I think Mtn wrapped it up best by saying “…the South is not an easy social choice unless it is clearly a retirement community or a major city.” There is some truth to that I believe. A truly small town can be brutal, or quite nice. Our medium sized city (we live rurally nearby actually) is and for many years has been, very diverse with the influx of many military and scientists who have settled here. We’ve had several periods of growth, the most recent being the past 5-10 years and with the transfer recently of jobs from the DC area of over 4000 jobs with more to come. It has brought many here for employment and has stressed housing, roads and services. Things are beginning to catch up but we’re not there yet. I find many ’transplants’ are often unwilling to try to acclimate sometimes. I witnessed this at work before i retired. People are either one way or the other. Some jump right in, join the Newcomer’s club, seek out opportunities to meet their neighbors or others, or they sit back and complain about how awful everyone treats them.