The brutal truth is that my wife and I could not afford to live where we live if we hadn't bought our house over 30 years ago. Our town, which goes back to around 1800, has been completely built up for decades. We're a few miles from former woodlands and farm lands that are now the happy hunting grounds for developers building subdivisions like Harbor Fields Estates. Houses out there are fairly expensive, but in our neighborhood real estate prices have hit the moon. Houses that sold for $50,000 fifteen years ago are now going for ten times as much--and are likely to be bought as teardowns, bought as land for another 6,000 square foot faux Tudor monstrosity.
Our house goes back to 1812, part of it anyway. It was in fairly rough condition when we bought it, but we take pride in our stewardship. What was once only lawn and a few shrubs and trees is now a more than passable garden. Termite damage was found and remedied three years ago (costing more to fix than we originally paid for the entire house). A dismal little kitchen was remodeled into something we live in. Decks on two sides of the house--one with a hot tub--give us a lovely transition between indoors and outdoors. A pergola covered with hardy kiwi vines gives us cool shade in summer. Planting bamboo 20 years ago was basically a mistake, but it does give us privacy from the busy road we live on, and we manage to control it every spring by stomping down new shoots where we don't want them.
At twilight yesterday I noticed a couple of men walking back and forth on the sidewalk next to the driveway. Finally they wandered up, introduced themselves, and said they were builders. Were we interested in selling our place? It would make a wonderful tear-down, they explained. We would get at least half a million just for the land. We could then buy a new house "out in the country" (where former corn fields now sprout mini-mansionettes), and have a couple of hundred thousand left over.
Not interested, I said, but these guys weren't easy to discourage. They had another idea. We could move our house 40 feet closer to the road, and subdivide the lot so that two houses could sit where only one now stood.
I said I wasn't interested, and besides, this old house had a great advantage over "out in the country." It sat on a busline. When gasoline reached $5 a gallon, our location would be splendid. If need be, we could get by without a car.
Gasoline prices are bound to fall soon, they told me. There was plenty of oil in Alaska, but our worst enemies today were the tree-huggers who put obstacles in the path of developing resources.
Already, there are quite a few tear-downs in this old neighborhood. As long as I am alive, this old house will stand. I know most of its history, and I know over thirty years of its most recent history with intimacy and with love. I don't know, however, what its ultimate fate will be. Bulldozers can take it down in a couple of days, killing the past in a lucrative real estate deal.
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"It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in an argument." William Gibbs McAdoo. US Vice-President under Woodrow Wilson.
Will never understand destroying viable property to make room for rubbish!
You did the right thing!
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Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable. -- Sidney J. Harris
They're doing that in some of the great old neighborhoods in Houston. I saw it most in the neighborhood where my grandfather lived. It is a story much like what you described.
They lived in the house for 50 years. Slowly, one by one the charming little houses with character were replaced with these zero lot line monstrosities.
It's a shame but no one would fault you for if you took the money. Eventually someone will.
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Past performance is not indicative of future success.
Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
How much enjoyment can one have going for a drive through a neighborhood where every house, and every postage stamp sized yard are the same (but incredibly expensive), right down to the mailbox? Cheap homogeneous construction at its best, how can one NOT love it!
Thank you! for saying no. There is a neighborhood here in Little Rock where nice old homes (not as old as mine or yours) are being torn down to put up McMansions. It is rather disgusting. Why can't they stay in the new developements, you know where all the houses are the same distance from the road, the same design with garage in the front, the same landscape, the same mailboxes...
Our house was built in 1913 if I recall correctly. We are still fixing up. I didn't have the desire to start my kitchen just yet, three youngins, full-time work, the gym, it all seemed like too much to take on yet.
Although I now live in a planned development, I will always miss our turn of the century home back in Pittsburgh. High ceilings, stained glass, a foyer, bay windows, french doors, the works. Glad to hear you will hang in there.
Mahler
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______________________________ __________________________ There is no light at the end of the tunnel. You carry the light with you.
That phenomenon had taken place in L.A. years ago. In my neighborhood it's hard to find a house more than 20 years old.
I have no hope of ever being able to buy in this area, but have heard stories from others who are unable to afford to live in their homes due to the McMansion trend. It's commonplace here for sellers to get $100,000 MORE than the asking price.
My parents live an a 130 yr old house in the Midwest, in an area that has until now escaped this trend as the moneyed from Chicago and elsewhere haven't yet bought up everything. But that's changing too. They wouldn't trade their home for any new house either. They know the quality of many new places. My oldest brother recently went for a new McMansion and ended up having to nearly sue the contractor for such poor quality. The kitchen floor had to be redone 3 times before moving in.
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Working "hard," or the perception of working hard, doesn't really mean anything. Sweating, vomiting, and breathing hard could be a good workout or a tropical disease kicking in.-Dan John
"Not interested, I said, but these guys weren't easy to discourage. They had another idea. We could move our house 40 feet closer to the road, and subdivide the lot so that two houses could sit where only one now stood."
Had you sold to them, they would have subdivided and sold 2 lots for a half-million each.
If it was me, I'd subdivide and sell half of your lot for a half-million. Then knock down your old house and rebuild on the other lot with the other half-million.
Then you get to stay in a location you like with a brand new house and a half million bucks in your pocket.
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I want to be pushing weights when I'm 70 instead of a walker in an old folk's home.
Good going, Gardener. You have a lot more history in your house than I have in mine, and I would have a problem with it if someone wanted to do that to mine. Although, not to be too altruistic, I do have a price, and if offered enough I would probably take the deal and go buy another old victorian to renovate, and have the budget to "do it right" (which I don't now... Just doing it room by room for years).
I'm glad to see that developers don't always win out. My family lost our homeplace a few years back (been in the family for 200 years). It makes me sick to think about the place now and the changes it has gone though. It saddens me that I cannot go back to the farm where my ancestors walked and lived. My aunt and uncle sold out for the money to live out their retirement years. Can't really fault them for that, we just couldn't match the offer that Mr. Millionaire made them.
Good luck with the old house, Gardener.
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'8 replies before the gutter! Good job Clubhouse!!!!!' Ninjabookey
Rest and relaxation can be a powerful “nothing” to propel us to greater achievements. Mahler
Stop listening to your wiener. He may want to go for a swim, but you haven't checked if the waters are shark infested yet. Ninjabookey
Where my folks live it's the same way. Out in the country a bit, 800k homes going up. One neighborhood about 1/2 mile away from them is u shaped - one person wouldn't sell his house (it was old). He has an even OLDER place behind it that hasn't been lived in since the 60s, it's falling down. Look past it and there is a home that sold for 900k. No yard, the house comes within 10' of the fence.
My folks have a little ranch (1100sq ft) that is on a 1/2 acre lot. Dad and his neighbor are going to sell them as teardowns then move to another state where the teardown phase hasn't hit. He figures he can get around 250k for the lot and maybe sell the house to someone for cheap and let them move it.
In my 'hood prices are horrible. It's an ok part of town (west asheville). Some drug activity that is slowly going away, the rentals are being fixed up and sold. The place across from me sold for 329k before it was even listed, my neighbor just sold for 278k to a friend of theirs. I only owe 43k on this place, we have a huge yard and should be able to get 285. Like my folks we're going to move to a nicer area. I don't see how people can afford 200k (avg price here) for a place when the avg family income is 34k. I have a 3/8 of an acre lot that I could see to a developer for 45k (last offer they made) but I like having the extra space for a yard. I might complain about mowing this mess, but there is something cool about being able to walk around your yard and it taking more than 3 minutes.
Thanks for the responses,folks! The more I think about it, the more it seems that last night's visitors were tempters of an almost Satanic nature.
Question: when we bought our house 30+ years ago, the asking price was roughly my annual salary at the time. And in under 30 years the mortgage was paid off.
Lots of houses in new subdivisions are around $300 K or more. How many people are bringing in that amount annually? And...really scary...some "buy" a house with an interest only loan.
This has a familiar ring. At the early stage of the dot.com craze I bought Qualcom for chump change. If I'd sold it at its peak, I could buy my whole city block. As it is, I did fine with it. But the poor bastards who bought it at, what, $400 a share, lost their shirts and socks too.
Good reading for this question of real estate speculation, boom and bust--Thomas Wolfe'sLook Homeward Angel.
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"It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in an argument." William Gibbs McAdoo. US Vice-President under Woodrow Wilson.
When we bought ours the price was 3x our income. We could afford to buy our place at the price we want, but man, I couldn't fathom having a 280k mortgage hanging over my head.
I bought my house for about twice my yearly salary (about 1.6 off income with wifes). I've had to change jobs since then and don't make as much as I did. But the house is now appraising for about 1.5 times what I got it for. Now if I sell to get a smaller house I can't get anything I could fit into for less than my mortgage payments now. So we hang on to it.
Mine was built in the 50's. I actually knew the architect (he went to my church and passed away about 2 years ago). My next door neighbor has lived in his house since before mine was built and tells me stories of the lake that used to be behind my house and how he had to chase off hunters all the time. My neighborhood is considered mid-town, I have a double size lot (over 1/2 acre) and lots of trees. This would be a hard house to give up. Thanks for not giving yours up Gardner. Of course at some point my house was considered sprawl to people who lived in JP's house.
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Today's mighty oak was once just some nut who held his ground!
Originally posted by Bond007: Conspicuous Consumption. It's disgusting.
My dad used to own a townhome in Sea Pines on Hilton Head Island. He'd tell me stories of people paying millions for a knock-down on the beach. UGH!
I know exactly what you mean, having spent August through April down there, along with many summers working. In fact, I worked in Sea Pines (Harbortown) for a while so I know exactly what you mean with real estate in that area, *especially* Sea Pines and the South Forest Beach area. It's pretty sad. Unfortunately, since HHI is now so packed, uber-development is now happening right off the island in Bluffton. Additionally, there is only one road that goes out of HHI, and now there is actually lunch rush hour in the area in addition to morning and evening! WAY too much development.
When I return to Canada, I will probably by a McMansion- not my first choice, but there won't be any choice but McMansions. In SOuthern Ontario there is a huge developer boom and there really aren't many older homes left. I grew up in a 3 storiy brown stone victorian style with a carriage house (served as a double garage) and hayloft above. What are the chances of finding a home like that again.
So please everyone, go easy on the mcmansion residents, there really isn't much choice in a lot of places
Peter
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Peter
After all, diamonds are a girl's best friend…
Originally posted by plutes: When I return to Canada, I will probably by a McMansion- not my first choice, but there won't be any choice but McMansions. In SOuthern Ontario there is a huge developer boom and there really aren't many older homes left. I grew up in a 3 storiy brown stone victorian style with a carriage house (served as a double garage) and hayloft above. What are the chances of finding a home like that again.
So please everyone, go easy on the mcmansion residents, there really isn't much choice in a lot of places
Peter
Ok, we'll only give you a hard time for a couple of months, then.
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