Neighbors
A little over two years ago, our neighbor passed away. She and her husband had owned a lot of restaurants in a particular franchise that were quite popular back in the late 70's and 80's and were quite wealthy I think so they have a nice property which sort of dwarfs our modest house. Most people probably considered our neighbor sort of a snob from conversations I overheard but perhaps because we shared a physical property line denoted by those small bushes in a row, we got to know her a bit better. She was actually quite nice and often brought over chocolate chip cookies for our girls and I reciprocated with garden vegetables when they were in season. We occasionally talked over the "hedge" when we were out in our respective yards and any property line decisions we had to make were always made quite agreeably. But due to her economic status I guess, she was a private person and I respected that.
Unfortunately though, dementia took her mind and we drifted out of contact the last few years as she could no longer remember us. We stayed in touch with her daughter who was her mom's caretaker but then the daughter died tragically. I wrote a post when that happened of my wife going over to "help" and finding the daughter dead on the couch and her mom, our neighbor not understanding she was dead. Fortunately, she had enough money to hire live in staff until our neighbor died maybe four or five months after her daughter.
She didn't have any living children and had only two nieces through a brother and I'm guessing they were the ones who inherited the estate. They seemed to be running the estate sale that happened two years ago when we met them for the first time. After the sale concluded, the house went up for sale on the market and has lingered there ever since. Whomever is running the estate has continued to pay some people to maintain the lawn so other than the house never having anybody around, it certainly hasn't made an impact on my life.
While the house interior looks nice and well cared for, the interior is a bit rough. It hasn't been updated since it was built in the mid 70's so is a bit dated. Due to dementia and lots of cats, the carpet was all but destroyed so whomever is managing the estate had it all ripped out down to the subfloor. The real kicker though is that they were asking a couple hundred thousand dollars over what the market probably dictates it is worth in our area meaning it is out of the price range of 99.5% of the population. The other 0.5% of the population who might afford it are likely the same ones who couldn't live with the dated interior so would likely have to spend several hundred thousand dollars to remodel it to make it livable, putting it further out of reach of more people.
And so it has sat empty, and gradually the price has slowly started to come down. I personally know of a couple people who have made what I felt were reasonable offers, as late as last summer, but were turned down. A couple weeks ago though, I noticed that there was a pickup in the driveway, the first vehicle I had seen in 7 or 8 months and the for sale sign was gone. This morning when I stepped out on my front porch, I looked over and saw the above sight. It might be that the estate trustees are opting to put more money into the place to make it more modern inside, but since they have been comfortable enough to let it set vacant for two and a half years, I'm inclined to think that perhaps we are going to have new neighbors.
I'll likely wait awhile to see what unfolds but will do as I have always done and go and introduce myself to the new neighbors and perhaps leave a loaf of freshly baked sour dough bread. The last couple times I have done that to new neighbors in our neighborhood, that was the last contact we have made other than the occasional wave as they drive by and we happen to be out in our yard. Neighbor to neighbor verbal and face to face contact has seem to gone the way of the rotary dial phone and VHS player. But maybe we'll hit the jackpot and there will be someone who likes to talk over "the hedge" from time to time and swap cookies for vegetables.
Updates are the big thing right now and of course our first home was that way and we slowly fixed things up while living in it.
ReplyDeleteWith my rural neighbors we usually stop and talk to each other if we see the others outside while we are driving by or walking down the gravel road.
Lots of veggies and treats trade hands often in the summer time.
Being a good neighbor is so great.
That looks like a pretty nice place. Hopefully you get some great neighbors!
Growing up on a farm, my experience was almost always like yours. However in the town where I now live on the very outskirts, things have been transitioning away from something that was similar but not alike to now having little if any contact.
DeleteI hope that you will be able to have good, friendly chats.
ReplyDeleteThat is certainly better than the alternative!
DeleteI have excellent neighbors who are supportive and bring over treats sometimes. I hope your new neighbors are friendly and easy to deal with. It can go both ways!
DeleteI still have one set of neighbors who we talk to regularly. The others have moved or died over the years and their replacements have thus far seem to prefer keeping to themselves.
DeleteI hope someone is occupying the house. It's never good to have a house sit vacant for long periods of time.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly isn't. I see houses fall apart really fast when they are vacant.
DeleteNice neighbors make it a good place to live. Our street is one that we all know and watch out for each other. It isn't fancy or high end but it is the best neighborhood, imo.
ReplyDeleteThat is sort of our neighborhood. Back when our neighbor's house was built, there were only two houses on the street, ours and the one directly across from us. So when the wealthy people built their house, it was all open oak savannah. However since then, another half dozen more modest houses, though bigger than ours have been built on the other end of the cul-de-sac.
DeleteI hope you will get some nice, friendly neighbors. We are on good terms with our closest neighbors, always waving at each other and occasionally texting or having a fact to face when we have dog, snake, or other issues.
ReplyDeleteI find it much more common on the outside of city limits.
DeleteIt's funny how with home sales, a seller can get a price fixed in their head and can't let it go. Ultimately, the value of something is only what a buyer will pay for it. I knew of someone once who went into bankruptcy, rather than take a lower price on his house. I hope some good folks got it for a price they were happy with.
ReplyDeleteIn Iowa it is public record so I’ll find out eventually what it sold for. But it usually takes 2 to 3 months to become record.
DeleteI hope you get some good new neighbors. While I don't have any close neighbors but there are a half dozen houses within 1/2 mile. One of them was owned by an old guy not in good health who disappeared. Another guy and I looked in on him, but neither knew what happened. I checked hospitals and nursing homes, he ended up calling the sheriff. Three of us took turns mowing the yard this summer. After months, we learned he had died. Thankfully, before winter, someone came in and got the home ready or it would have been a disaster.
ReplyDeleteDespite not being close to some of our newer neighbors, living on a cul-de-sac, we do keep track of coming and goings and I occasionally wheel empty garbage cans back up near the house of neighbors who aren't around and it has been done to me as well. I find it reassuring that if something were to happy to us, others might notice at some point.
DeleteI hope you get nice neighbors!
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard any sounds at all from their direction so at least they are quiet!
DeleteSad tale about the neighbor, Ed. Cookies for veggies over the hedge seems like a fair exchange to me. Smart move ripping out the cat‑destroyed carpet, but yeah, mid‑70s dated + overpriced = tough sell. Fresh sourdough welcome basket? I like it and I hope the new folks chat over the hedge like old times.
ReplyDeleteIt is more effort but I think well worth it.
DeleteI am sympathetic, Ed. It is hard to sell a house when you have an idea in your mind what its value is and refuse to bring it down.
ReplyDeletePosting more soon, but it looks like our saga may be nearing its end.
I hadn't thought about your situation in awhile but I do hope you are able to get a fair price for the Ranch. You are different though in that you likely don't have many comparables to go by where in my cul-de-sac, there has been nearly 90% turnover in the last five years. I imagine that makes the Ranch harder to come up with the fair market value.
DeleteThat's an interesting story and especially significant that you built a good relationship with the lady people thought was a snob. Assumptions are often incorrect and unfair. I grew up with neighbors being some of our best friends. I had next-door neighbors who pretty much adopted me as one of their own. We have good neighbors where we are now, but it's more about kind of looking out for each other than getting overly involved in each other's lives. We have phone numbers for the ones on either side of us and ones directly across the street, and during the recent ice storm, we all checked on each other.
ReplyDeleteYou definitely made an excellent point. I'm not chummy with any of my neighbors and I don't think any of them have even stepped foot in my house. But we do have each other's phone numbers and do stop to talk when we see each other out and about in the lawn and have the time.
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