ry surprised first by the price and second that we had seen this property on one of our drives. It is in foreclosure and we thought if it was all cosmetic stuff we might go for it in spite of it being two story...which we don't really want, but we really liked the location. When we had first seen it we were surprised at its size and that the windows were boarded up and for a newer house it looked really rough...so we wondered what the heck happened...seemed sad. What a beautiful location...it is in over a mile of smooth gravel road that is well maintained and there it is on the left.As we drove up we disliked that all the natural vegetation had been removed on the front part of the property, but that was hardly the biggest issue. The siding looked bad and all the window trims were clearly rotting. Odd for an only 14 year old house and the garage frames were bad, but as we walked around the outside we
could see that it had drainage issues with the water that comes from the hillside behind it and the initial builder didn't build a wall to support the hill nor a drainage system to direct the water away from the house. There has been some bad erosion and undermining of walkways and water has penetrated that cinderblock wall of the garage at some point.
As we got around to the back the windows weren't broken and we could see inside...what a dirty sad mess. The last "owners" had written on the walls and dirt covered everything and so did wild animal droppings. The back french door didn't have a door knob and just swung open. The threshold was all rotten and so was the floor. The floor was tiled but with the worst grout job we have ever seen.
We found holes in the walls that we couldn't really figure out and as we crept through the house and up the stairs we knew that this house had serious problems besides what we could see.
The windows had been open to nature for a good long time, not too many homes sport a real b
irds nest on a blade of a ceiling fan. I was so afraid we were going to startle some wild animal in there somewhere. It is 4 bedrooms and 3 baths and over 2,000 square feet and we didn't really like the lay out of it, but we just couldn't get over how much work would be done and we were having our doubts about the builders work. Also our concerns with the water causing problems with the foundation seemed right on because there were some very interesting cracks in a couple of ceilings and walls.
We just keep finding homes that just have one or two more issues that send it out our comfort range. We do not want a money pit and this place was clearly going to be that. By the time we were done looking it over, we weren't sure we would even take it if it was given to us. The property was nice enough, but the house we felt really needed to be torn down. It would have to be taken down to the studs with all the animals..who knows what icky stuff is behind the drywall and in the insulation etc.
Our biggest concern was that at least 3 big retaining walls would have to be built to keep the building site from eroding away and should have been done initially.
I forgot to mention it was a little over 11 acres.
A lady with four beautiful greyhounds was walking by and she talked to us at length about the crazy people that had lived in the house and that they quit paying on their mortgage about 10 months after moving in...they paid far more than the house was worth when they bought it and it wasn't disclosed to them that the bathtub upstairs had a crack and leaked and did a lot of damage and then during the drought years all the people in the area had to dig their wells deeper...they were shallow to begin with, but these people didn't do that and basically disliked and fought everyone and blamed everyone for their own short sightedness and according to a few people these homeowners were seriously nuts....in fact the woman is in an institution now.
Any way, they needed to be forcefully removed and when the police arrived, these "owners" started shooting. Swat came in and shots were exchanged for over four hours....Swat sent in a remote robot and drug the lady out by her leg and the man had shot and killed himself ...he had been holed up in the driveway behind a vehicle.
Well now we had an explanation for all the holes in the garage doors, windows and the walls inside the front rooms of the house...bullets. Nice.
The nice neighbor lady shared all the dirt on the house and property with us and we would have to just mow the house down, dig a new well and like I told Larry, these people were so angry that the septic system was probably compromised somehow too. Some friend of theirs even came and took everything they could...even the large water storage tank for the well.
We thought the house was filthy...dirt on every wall, ceiling and surface, writing on walls and doors, but she said that it was so bad that the cleaning crew that had to go in to remove these peoples personal effects had to put slices of Irish Spring soap in their face masks. The man had ammo, weapons and an arsenal that had to be removed.
I could write another lengthy chapter on what these people put all their neighbors through for the 5 years that they lived there...the neighbors from hell....so sad. She also told us about the man who built the house...the siding is masonite and the reason it looked so bad?....it had never been painted, it was just the primer. The cement between all the cinder blocks didn't look right either...so the house was just scary.
So that was the bulk of our day. We walked up on the ridge of the property and the views were awesome...I'll pos
t pictures of that tomorrow. We also took a drive out another of the canyon roads where the rocks and plant life and scenery were gorgeous...so pictures from there later too. I forgot to mention that after we got home Larry got on the internet and confirmed the story of the property.
I apologize for any typos here...it is late and I am just going to hit the publish button without the 5 re-reads I usually give a post. I'll read and fix tomorrow....maybe...laugh!
could see that it had drainage issues with the water that comes from the hillside behind it and the initial builder didn't build a wall to support the hill nor a drainage system to direct the water away from the house. There has been some bad erosion and undermining of walkways and water has penetrated that cinderblock wall of the garage at some point.
As we got around to the back the windows weren't broken and we could see inside...what a dirty sad mess. The last "owners" had written on the walls and dirt covered everything and so did wild animal droppings. The back french door didn't have a door knob and just swung open. The threshold was all rotten and so was the floor. The floor was tiled but with the worst grout job we have ever seen.
We found holes in the walls that we couldn't really figure out and as we crept through the house and up the stairs we knew that this house had serious problems besides what we could see.
The windows had been open to nature for a good long time, not too many homes sport a real b
irds nest on a blade of a ceiling fan. I was so afraid we were going to startle some wild animal in there somewhere. It is 4 bedrooms and 3 baths and over 2,000 square feet and we didn't really like the lay out of it, but we just couldn't get over how much work would be done and we were having our doubts about the builders work. Also our concerns with the water causing problems with the foundation seemed right on because there were some very interesting cracks in a couple of ceilings and walls.We just keep finding homes that just have one or two more issues that send it out our comfort range. We do not want a money pit and this place was clearly going to be that. By the time we were done looking it over, we weren't sure we would even take it if it was given to us. The property was nice enough, but the house we felt really needed to be torn down. It would have to be taken down to the studs with all the animals..who knows what icky stuff is behind the drywall and in the insulation etc.
Our biggest concern was that at least 3 big retaining walls would have to be built to keep the building site from eroding away and should have been done initially.
I forgot to mention it was a little over 11 acres.
A lady with four beautiful greyhounds was walking by and she talked to us at length about the crazy people that had lived in the house and that they quit paying on their mortgage about 10 months after moving in...they paid far more than the house was worth when they bought it and it wasn't disclosed to them that the bathtub upstairs had a crack and leaked and did a lot of damage and then during the drought years all the people in the area had to dig their wells deeper...they were shallow to begin with, but these people didn't do that and basically disliked and fought everyone and blamed everyone for their own short sightedness and according to a few people these homeowners were seriously nuts....in fact the woman is in an institution now.
Any way, they needed to be forcefully removed and when the police arrived, these "owners" started shooting. Swat came in and shots were exchanged for over four hours....Swat sent in a remote robot and drug the lady out by her leg and the man had shot and killed himself ...he had been holed up in the driveway behind a vehicle.
Well now we had an explanation for all the holes in the garage doors, windows and the walls inside the front rooms of the house...bullets. Nice.
The nice neighbor lady shared all the dirt on the house and property with us and we would have to just mow the house down, dig a new well and like I told Larry, these people were so angry that the septic system was probably compromised somehow too. Some friend of theirs even came and took everything they could...even the large water storage tank for the well.
We thought the house was filthy...dirt on every wall, ceiling and surface, writing on walls and doors, but she said that it was so bad that the cleaning crew that had to go in to remove these peoples personal effects had to put slices of Irish Spring soap in their face masks. The man had ammo, weapons and an arsenal that had to be removed.
I could write another lengthy chapter on what these people put all their neighbors through for the 5 years that they lived there...the neighbors from hell....so sad. She also told us about the man who built the house...the siding is masonite and the reason it looked so bad?....it had never been painted, it was just the primer. The cement between all the cinder blocks didn't look right either...so the house was just scary.
So that was the bulk of our day. We walked up on the ridge of the property and the views were awesome...I'll pos
t pictures of that tomorrow. We also took a drive out another of the canyon roads where the rocks and plant life and scenery were gorgeous...so pictures from there later too. I forgot to mention that after we got home Larry got on the internet and confirmed the story of the property.I apologize for any typos here...it is late and I am just going to hit the publish button without the 5 re-reads I usually give a post. I'll read and fix tomorrow....maybe...laugh!
2 comments:
Holy cow! That's just insane!! I'd tear the house down just to get rid of the bad karma.
HOLY COW! That is really some situation you found, isn't it? I'm sure every property has a story, but this one is for the record books. How very sad, it is really a pretty setting, but I'm not sure you would ever get past the 'history'.
How's Larry's heel? Thanks for the info on the knitting! Most of the scarves I make are with the simple garter stitch. Unless it's a very plain yarn where more involved patterns would show.
I need to post some of the baby sweaters and hats that I do. I just finished up a set for my sister in TN, she has a friend in her office who is having a baby. Such fun to make.
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