CHICAGO - Fresh paint, a new front door and colorful landscaping are often surefire ways to tease potential buyers over the threshold of a home for sale. Yet sometimes, no matter how perfect your pansies, nothing can draw their gaze past the tired-looking two-story buried in weeds next door.

More than 60 percent of 900 people surveyed by contractor-referral site ServiceMagic.com said they have or have had neighbors who make the street look bad by not taking care of the outside of their homes. Twenty-one percent of respondents admitted to being the culprit.

Even the dog walkers in Highland Park seem to know where George and Laura Bush will be moving when they leave the White House in early 2009.

“They’re building a house on a piece of property around the corner,” said a young woman, pointing south of Beverly Drive as she struggled to control two oversized golden retrievers.

“It’s going to be a big pain in the neck with the Secret Service there all the time,” she predicted of the president’s future abode. “When Dick Cheney visited a home in the neighborhood last spring, even the owners couldn’t get to their houses.”

Question: I own a rental property that is 12 months from having its mortgage paid in full. I am considering an Internal Revenue Code 1031 tax-deferred Starker exchange for a rental property closer to my home. Must all the cash realized from the sale be used as a down payment on the property to be acquired, which will be of higher value, or can I take some cash out and just carry a larger mortgage?

Answer: The general rule of IRC 1031 is that you must trade equal or up in both price and equity. That means if you take out any cash, it will be taxable to you.