End of chapter, parents house is sold.
dedtired
15 days ago
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The 'I sold house, new owner ruined garden' blues
Comments (34)I'm so sorry for all who have lost gardens; it's something I think about from time to time as I consider maybe moving ... and yet keep on gardening! Here's another "flip side" story. When we purchased this home 31 years ago in August, there wasn't much growing except a few clumps of "ditch lilies", a pair of poosly azaleas, one sorry boxwood, some leggy mountain laurel, and enormous plain green hostas ringing everything including the many tall old oak trees. No grass to speak of in this sandy soil, not even weeds! As eager as I was to start planting, I insisted to my dear young husband that we wait at least until spring, preferably a full year, so as not to disturb anything dormant that the previous owner might have planted. Well, we waited and were rewarded with ... nothing ... except the aforementioned undernourished specimens. Not even one daffodil. So ... I set about enriching the soil (I'd had a year to get some compost started, after all, and lots of oak leaves to shred), much to the amusement of one of my neighbors who insisted nothing would grow here. Have been amending and planting, failing and succeeding ever since, and the recent front yard re-do is finally the garden I'd always dreamed of, with roses and perennials shoulder-to-shoulder, jostling, embracing and supporting each other and peeking over-under-through the white picket fence. Today, for the first time in my life, I walked under - UNDER! - roses blooming on my own arbor (ok, there were only three up there, but there are more where those came from). That neighbor would never recognize the ol' place [big smile]. Did I say something about moving? There are some beautiful thoughts expressed in this thread to help any of us cope with that eventuality, particularly catsrose comment, "Put your love into your new garden and let it grow" and hoovb's paragraph that begins "The garden really is the gardener." Thank you all. Diane...See MoreBLA - the final chapter
Comments (2)I'm a bit late at seeing this Audric but thanks for the update. It is indeed unbelievable that it was four years since you went up to take your passion seriously, seriously. I have no doubt that you will take your enthusiasm with you to any job that comes your way, the Tim Horton's gig might be a game changer as they say or it might just look good on your resume. You parents garden has certainly taken on a different look from the one you presented (jeez how many?) years ago. Bon chance Audric....See MoreYEAH!! Next to last chapter (?) on neighbor's oil tank on my prop
Comments (54)Yes, I would think so. Attorney is on the phone now with the Department of Health to let them know of his lack of cooperation, and urging them to slap him with violations and fines. The neighbor's attorney has not answered his calls. What this man does not realize is that in order to go straight up on my property, there would be about $3000 worth of damages, which he is responsible for taking care of. Of course, this is meaningless, in light of the fact that he was also responsible in terms of letting them access through his property. He should also be responsible for paying the salary of the three men who were sent here to excavate, and who still had to be paid by the company they work for. This may turn into a long drawn out process, and the guy is 94! Still working, by the way, and sharp as a tack, but still, 94....See MoreTips for getting this house sold asap!
Comments (25)Wow! thanks for all this advice! sorry for the delayed reply, I was out of town and offline for the weekend. I made the trip to SC to help my mom with finalizing the finishes on their new home--and last night we met with two potential new agents, One of whom seems to be a perfect fit! They have one more interview set for tomorrow, and then will move forward with one. Unfortunately the prior agent seems to have a serious vendetta against my parents for pulling their listing from him. One of the agents last night let us know that he put a comment in the MLS (agent facing side) that said they were terrible clients to work with and going to be an impossible house to sell--when in reality he never marketed the home, listed it WAY too high initially despite my parents notions on where it should be priced(which is what it is now priced) and he never communicated with my parents unless they made contact. some serious professionalism is lacking there....I hope he has better luck elsewhere. Both agents last night felt like the current price was good and wanted a few small issues addressed in the house, but wanted to re-do listing description and photos to highlight the house better, so that they would be successful when marketing (more aggressively than the first agent--who apparently didnt do much) They did both suggest to offer closing costs or a reno rebate at closing for 10k or so as a buyers incentive. My parents are fine with that or simply another price drop. On the bright side- they still have a little more wiggle room in their budget to drop the price more if needed. Its currently at 375k and they would be fine with 350 bottom line. As far as the pool is concerned, new neighborhoods here have neighborhood pools, older neighborhoods don't in this area (and being a smaller town, there isn't a community pool to join), So it is not uncommon to have a private pool, even if it is only used 1/2 the year. One agent pointed out that this house would be the only house on the market with a pool in the school district. Speaking of schools though, I was mistaken on my prior post. They are in fact zoned for the newer/better schools. so that's great. While i'm glad to have the maintenance of a pool in my own yard, I can see both sides of this as a buyer. @izzymin- their wooded area is hard to tell fully from the photos above. their lot is .75acre, with only a portion (maybe .3 acre) of that fenced in the back yard. and another .2 front yard and the remaining .25 is wooded for privacy from the lot behind, which also has quite a bit of wooded area for privacy. The fenced in portion out back is cleared with exception of one beautiful double oak tree all the way in the back corner. The grass and landscaping back there grows well but does get leaves blowing over from neighbors tress and trees behind the fence line. The front yard is what has sunlight and water issues. The house sits up on a hill, so when it rains, water runs down the front yard and takes new grass with it. They have French drains, landscaping nets to try to hold the grass, but it all fails eventually in heavy rain. They do have the canopies raised every few years and it is just about that time again, but costs quite a bit to do as the trees are so tall, so i think they were hoping the house sold before they had to fork out the money for it again. The "protected" area thing is not uncommon here in the established neighborhoods. The new construction neighborhoods all got leveled and cleared totally though.. So on to a new agent, more aggressive marketing, probably another price drop, and finding the right buyer! thanks all!...See MoreKitchenwitch111
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