I'd want to live near to my work so I could bike or walk there. That is, unless I'm telecommuting or even supporting myself from my garden (the best, of course, but with my back may not be practical). My house would be made of cob and be solar powered or powered by a mini-watermill. My water would come from a natural spring. All the runoff would be collected and used in the summer, and I'd have composting toilets that would also be used in the garden. A greenhouse would be attached to the house so it would share the heat of the house (if the house was heated, that is), where I'd grow as tropical of edible plants as I could (mainly lemons, ginger and bananas). I would have wormbins near the kitchen door for scraps and compost bins for garden waste. I'd love to have a shredder, but I'm not sure how I'd power it (solar, biodiesel, or petal-powered?). The vegetable garden would make up the central part of the yard. It would be broken up into 1/3 legumes, 1/3 leaf and fruit crops, and 1/3 root and grain crops that would be on a 3-year rotation. I would also try to have it 70% seed crops, 20% root crops, and 10% other stuff. And of course rotating the botanical families as well. Sounds complicated, but I think it could be done (or at least approximated). It would be managed in an organic, intensive, low-till way. I would try to keep it pretty clean, however, to discourage slugs. It would be bordered by a perennial edibles garden, including fruit, edible flowers and herbs. Plenty of edible natives would be included for myself and for the birds and bees. Both the perennial edibles and natives would be left messy to encourage a diversity of insects. A separate bed would have medicinal plants and other useful plants like ones for fiber, dyes, soap, and preservatives. Another small bed would have plants for fresh and dried bouquets. Since these aren't edible, they would be separate from the edible part of the garden. I would not allow weeds to run rampant, and I'd be careful what I plant, because some are very invasive and endanger native species. Invasive species (both animals and plants) have endangered almost 40% of endangered species in the US. Most of them were originally deliberately introduced. St. John's wort and comfrey are two very invasive plants that are commonly used in permaculture books that I would never plant or encourage. Having shade in the perennial areas and keeping the vegetable beds covered with crops would keep them to a minimum. A few weeds would be allowed though, if they were particularly useful and were not very aggressive. I would also have chickens near the house, which of course I'd use in the garden in chicken tractors, and sheep or goats in a little pasture (perhaps under fruit trees) for their meat, milk, and fiber. Who knows how much space this would take up...I'd try to make it as small as I could...

I remember Homicebrin very well. My mother, an RN gave it to me daily in the 1950s, and when she wasn't looking I took more of it. I loved it. It was a delicious viscous yellowish liquid in a dark amber bottle with a black screw-top lid with a sky-blue label on the front. It was made by Eli Lilly Company in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was invented by Mr. A. Lee Caldwell, a pharmaceutical chemist. From 1937 to 1950, Dr. Caldwell, Sr. was head of the nutrition and vitamin research department at Lilly. He developed Homicebrin liquid vitamin for children and was a patentee. I found some bottles of it as an adult in Tommy's Pharmacy in Redondo Beach, California. Tommy's was an old school pharmacy, and Tommy himself was quite old.

I know what you're up against because I have a unique property too. Mine is actually a little horse farm. I would say don't worry about buyers expecting you to go lower on that $499,900 price. When I was shopping, I found a place for $209,900. I found out it had been lowered from $229,900. It needs a lot of work, the owner needs to sell, nothing is selling in the area. So I expected I could get a better deal. I offered $180,000. They wouldn't even respond. I offered $190,000. They still wouldn't respond. I offered $200,000. Finally they answered and they said okay but they made some demands. The point is, I was SURE I was going to get it for a lot lower than it was listed for but I found out you can't assume that every seller is going to drop even if there are reasons to. I loved the house and made the deal anyway. In fact, I would have taken it at her full asking price. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Smith Mountain Lake Horse Property

I am familiar with the area and recently bought a home not terribly far away (not in the Woodlands and we have acreage so not comparable). That said, I think your price is too high just looking at the other houses available in the area. Whether an offer is lowball or not doesn't have much to do with how much you paid for it. We bought a house within 20 minutes or so from your house and the sellers sold it us for less than they paid for it 4 years ago. In fact, last year we sold a house that we bought in 2006 and we sold it for less than we paid for it. Yes, the Woodlands is a nice area but there are a lot of homes available in the Woodlands and quite a few of them back up to a greenbelt, are on a cul-de-sac and are landscaped and have granite, etc. Now aside from the price, you need to improve your pictures. You have 14 and I think you can have 32. I would put up a lot more pictures. I would want to see pics of the secondary bedrooms and maybe secondary bathroom, even the utility room if you have one. On your listing you show a 11x15 extra room. What is that? I would put a picture of it (or is that the sitting room attached to the master). Also put captions on the pictures. On picture 2 I don't know what that room is. Is it a study (desk is very small) or what? Picture 3 - I guess this is the dining room. Frankly with the half walls and the dining table that takes up so much space the room looks really small. Also the white is overwhelming. Just not a flattering picture. Pictures 4-6 -- great kitchen and breakfast room but the pictures are awful. They are too dark. Picture 7 - I guess this is the living room? Or is this the den? I would take a picture of each, but you only have a picture of one of them (I assume that the den and the study are different rooms. If they aren't the listing needs to be corrected). Room looks small in the pics. Pic 8 - I guess this is the master bedroom with a sitting area? Again, put captions on. The angle for the master bedroom doesn't show much. Don't try to show the master and the sitting room in one picture -- just makes the room look small. I want to see more of the master bedroom. Pic 9 - Looks bluish. Also angle of the pic doesn't do much for me. Pic 10 -- OK but I would take trash can out and retake the pic. Pic 11 and 12 -- These just serve to make your yard look really small. Pic 13 - Fairly nice but I would vary the angle a bit so you see more of the spa and less of the plant. Pic 14 - blurry