Our house is on a corner lot and the backyard doesn't offer much privacy. That confirmed my thought we need to plant a wall of privacy Evergreens all around the backyard perimeter. Not sure I would bother putting plants in, depends. I'm a plant person but wouldn't want bushes lining my property. Depending on how you plant, how big they are; they could be a safety issue at some point. People around here have taken bushes down because kids can slide through them & hide in the yard. Same for small animals. I'd rather have a fence, one that I can plant in front of if I choose. Pretty sure you have fencing all the way around, dress it up some, make a small garden on the left (right if you are looking out the back door), where the patio meets the fence, start on the fence, then bring it to the patio a few feet. My best planting, you can see photos here (1st 4); I used a climbing rose & 2 clematis plus 3 fence posts. You could get ones that match your fence. Next, keep one long, cut 2 down a few feet, put them in the ground as a V, one where the patio & fence meet, one to the left one to the right. Plant the rose, then bend the canes around the posts, securing with a twist tie and staples. This will give you some interest in that corner, maybe pick up a cute little statue from Walmart to go in front. Plant a few perennials in front of it. Veronica is nice and blooms a lot. You can then put a few other perennials & annuals in, giving the back some color. I strongly recommend seat cushions in a BRIGHT, cheerful color. Think primary colors...you know, the ones the doctor told you to show your kids as babies to stimulate them. Primary colors create life. On the wall, opposite your kitchen island (to the right of the D/W)...something kitcheny should be there. I suggest an inexpensive set of BRIGHT mixing bowls. The bright color will attract people's eyes & act as a "stop" so they take a couple seconds longer to actually see what a great kitchen it is. Been thinking about the suede brown & mustard. What did you pack up? I'm having a few visions here, I can see a dusty blue, some pinks and greens. I can also see a few vibrant colors, like going to Target, they have brown with teal. I looked at the photo tour, while at 1st I wondered about the walls, I could now see my stuff matching it. I think if you brought some stuff back in, others will see their stuff can go with it too. What are the colors people use to decorate with there? You may want to play on that. Linens & Things has a few large wall pieces for $100, they usually have a 20% coupon. JC Penney also has art, you can get it 1/2 off. I've also been looking on ebay for floral art, although I haven't bought yet, I've found a few nice pieces. Depending on what you have in storage, you may decide to bring it back out or go to Target, walk over by the bedding / housewares. You may find something that will do the trick.

Mary, I'm reading more and more people are going to opens because they don't want to commit to an agent to let them in; their frustrated at not finding something, etc.. The pick your time wisely.. My last agent did an open house starting at 10:30 until 2:30 IIRC, instead of the 12-5. An agent from his office that does OH's said he had a lot of luck with that time and that he'd catch people on the way to other ones, and that after 2ish, it pretty much dried up. I know a lot of realtors really poo poo open houses but as a buyer I really like them. I'm one of those people who just doesn't like dragging around a realtor unless I'm practically sure I'm going to buy it. Of course realtors are always saying they show people things that the people said they wouldn't be interested in and then the people buy something they said they wouldn't. So why wouldn't a looky loo fall in love at an open house? I think more people may be in "my boat" now with the economy. Maybe they were thinking of buying but now have decided to wait. So they don't want a realtor but they do want to look and see what's out there. Since they aren't spending all their time at the mall maybe they have more time for open houses? Who knows maybe I'm wrong but what does it hurt? A little money for advertising, signs, balloons. Pick your weekends and times carefully - not during any big regional football games or other large community events. If church is big in your area, maybe right after? You might ask your realtor if you can do some yourself if you feel comfortable with that - or maybe he/she has a junior apprentice that can fill in. Price aggressively, advertise your open house well, if you've priced aggressively state that first thing in your open house ad - people are looking for good deals.

Just make sure removing an island doesn't leave you with bigger problems (no workspace, replacing flooring -- especially if that could lead to larger or other changes). An isolated change is one thing, but project creep is the one thing you want to avoid in you situation. If your solid surface counters are in good shape, I wouldn't change to granite. Some folks don't like granite and would rather have the alternative. A lot of folks might prefer their choice of granite over the generic one chosen for resale. And the folks who might rather reno the whole kitchen if they aren't paying for the updating too have already been mentioned. You see a fair number of whiners on HGTV who want move-in ready, but even they seem to be willing to paint a couple of rooms, change a floor before they move in or even have granite put in to make a good house their own. The higher the market, the more people seem to want something to make it their own. I also wouldn't paint the cabinets white. My next door neighbors hired painters to paint their oak cabinets white, then paid a contractor to resurface them. We gutted our kitchen and changed out to frameless cabinets with more drawers, added organization and function and a lot more usable space and our kitchen probably took less time in the end -- we wonder if they spent much less or even more than we did. We know it took longer. First thing I would do is look into refurbishing the finish on the cabinets. I'd remove the hardware on a couple of those drawers and see what you can do with them. First thing is to give them a good cleaning using a cleaner intended for wood finishes and make sure you don't leave any residual cleaner on the surface. Products to try once clean would be Old English Oil and/or Scratch Cover (look at their website for more info before you shop, but you can probably find these at your grocery store, Walmart or Target), Restor-a-Finish in a color to match the cabinets (both this and Scott's Liquid Gold have some solvents that will smooth out a worn old finish -- they are meant for solvent based finishes, not a poly based, so test if you aren't sure). Formby probably has some similar products, but the point is that if you give the cabinets a good cleaning and then make the best of the cabinets as they are, you will probably come out way ahead. Working with what is there is almost always the best bang for the buck. Go from there.

Chispa - we did some of this. The past few days we visited some family in the area where we hoped to buy. We spent a few days just going around the area and familiarizing ourselves with the market and with the areas we had identified as possible. We were able to rule out a couple of potential areas. We visited some open houses which was helpful in getting information about each potential area. I have a good friend in lives in one of the potential areas and I went to see her and talked about the area and she drove me around to see some things. I also have the advantage that I have family in the general area (some living in or near the areas we are considering) so I talked to some of them and got feedback. It is clear that this process is going to be challenging. This is a hot market and houses often go under contract very quickly. In the last few years prices have risen considerably. It may be difficult to get a contract on a house even after we have a contract to sell our house. Given that it will be difficult for us to go long without a house once we sell our house this will be challenging. Another challenge will be narrowing down the area we want to buy in. The area we like the most has little inventory that meets our criteria. Many of the houses are older than I want (I want something no older than 1990) and prices are rising quickly in these areas. Even houses that need renovations can go under contract very quickly. We did look at some new construction while we were there at it seems to be a bit more consistent in terms of availability and pricing (but most of it is not in our preferred area). It is fairly clear at this point that most of our looking has clustered in two areas so we will probably need to have 2 buyer's agents. For one of them, I know some people who live in the area so will ask for feedback (one bought only a couple of years ago) on buyer's agents. For the other area, not really sure how I will find a buyer's agent. I have ideas on how to find seller's agents by looking at listings on closed properties, but finding a buyer's agent seems a little more difficult. Given the difficulty of the market and the need for us to move quickly once we at least have our house under contract (best case scenario), I want to get buyer's agents quickly so I can start monitoring the listings.