My son recently found a house that he really liked, but was overpriced and the owners were not budging. The house had been on the market for 5 months, the owners had taken jobs in another area and vacated the property. The agent claims the home, which is in a great neighborhood in a desirable location, had above average number of showings, but only one offer, which owners declined. Given these factors, common sense would tell you the house was overpriced. My son had determined what he felt was a fair price for the home, based on other similar properties and work needed, all cosmetic but necessary because of the unusual color choices(think college team colors). The agent could not justify the asking price compared to the comps, just kept saying that is what the owners felt the home was worth. Unfortunately, if they are intent on selling, the owners don't get to decide what the home is worth to a buyer, the market does that! After several rounds of offer/counteroffers, they were 1.5% apart in price, my son had had enough and told the agent he was moving on. At that point, owners agreed to my son's offer and they went under contract. When the appraisal came back, the home appraised for $1,000 more the than the contract price, more than 10% less than the price the owners were adamant about! So even if they had sold at the higher price, the deal would have crumbled because of the appraisal. If I were you, I would get an accurate appraisal of your home and price accordingly. The house is only worth what the market will bear and the appraisal will give you the information you need to price your home appropriately.

OK. I admit it. I am a secret wannabe moveaholic. I am an Air Force brat who moved every two years while growing up and came to love it. I crave change just for the sake of it. New views, fresh perspectives, wide-open opportunities. Alas. I am married to (and in love with) a content-where-he-hangs-his-hat man. So... I paint rooms, make drapes, work on many projects at once, refinish furniture, create oil paintings. But, I do not feel totally satisfied with where we live. I want to move. The house we are living in is 10 feet away from our neighbor's house---we live in a historic district in a small, Southern city. I CRAVE a view and a lot more privacy. So, yes, cricket0828, I think it is fine to move if you are bored, if you can afford the move and your DH is in agreement. paint chips, you came very close to how I feel when you said, "Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that sometimes you just have to let life pull you along for a ride."

Thank you everyone again for your thoughtful comments. Many comments gave me some perspectives I had not considered. As far as my SIL's visits, they are not an issue for me. At least not an issue, that I am willing to alienate her over. There would be no way to limit her visits without her being hurt beyond belief. (If she had stayed mad at me for losing my temper, I was willing to let the relationship go, rather than grovel, but since she apologized, all is okay as far as I am concerned). I don't think we are enabling her as she is who she is. If we changed our response to her, it would just hurt her--it wouldn't make her suddenly realize that she is the one with the problem. My motto as far as many things in life is to never fight a losing battle--its just a waste of energy. If I can't change someone or something, then I find a way to change me so that I can be happy with it. I only have control over myself and my reactions. We have a very open door policy as far as guests, and we often have overnight guests. BIL stays with us at least once a month for a few days as he has clients in our area. When he first moved to USA, he stayed with us for several months. As mentioned, SIL is here regularly. My sisters and family often stay in the summer as we have a pool and are close to the beach. And on a weekly basis, I host a playdate with sometimes as many as 15 kids and moms. SIL can be a PITA, but most of the time (minus times where cake is involved LOL) I can tolerate her just fine---although after the cake debacle, my tolerance for her is lower. She does make some very rude comments about our house and the guest room, but my husband just tells her that if she doesn't like it, to go stay with their parents, and that normally shuts her up. I just go about my normal life even when she is here--that is why it never occurred to me to specifically plan my daughter's party when she is not here. She has been here numerous times for my older daughter's party as well, as it falls around MLK Day, so she makes the trip up as her daughter is out of school. Anyway, now that you all know more than you ever wanted about my relationship with my SIL, I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Our guide/driver explained the guard towers on the road to Tulum. IIRC, it was something about Mexican laws and squatters. If people make their way onto the land and put up a shelter, they have some rights to stay? so the "land owners" are pretty proactive about keeping them off. ETA: I added quotes around the term land owners to reflect that this is a very political/touchy subject in the Yucatan. I don't know much about it, but I do know that, as mtn indicates below, landownership issues are complicated there. Of course, we took it into consideration when travelling with our family, but we love Mexico and I'm glad our kids got to see another part of it. We are planning to go back to that general area of Mexico, but will probably visit Merida and Isla Holbox.