thank you thank you everyone; this is all great! I shall print this all out and share it with my friends, I am sure most of it will come in handy in the next few months!

BTW, when I say we are looking for a two-family, that means SEPARATE flats in a two-family house, NOT sharing the living space...hence the advice re: "traipsing thru a bedroom to get to the bath" does not really apply...

They (a couple) will live in one flat and I shall live in the other. We all have cats and so want something with hardwood floors, not carpeting (I hate carpeting anyway!!!) porches and a yard outside (but fenced in).

We want an older house. We are looking in the Jamaica Plain area of Boston (which saw a HUGE increase in home and rental prices over the last few years). The market in Boston is still insane, one of the most inflated in the country at present; but the economic situation and detritus of September 11 seem to be making it a bit easier to find something...not as many people want to live in the city now...