an era comming to an end

[61falcon]

back in '97 my wife and i purchased our house from my parents. (the only place i have ever lived btw). a small house with a nice garage. i made the garage my personal work space, got it just about how i wanted and spent countless hours out there building my 61 falcon and other various projects. well, the neighborhood didnt fair well with housing market. alot of foreclosure. now those houses are rentals and the people renting just dont care about the up keep, yards look terrible, alot more traffic on the street with booming bass from their subs. so its time to move on we have decided. so the task of dismantling my work space, and finding a new home with a house my wife likes, a garage i like and a school system that will provide a great education for our daughter. all with a mortgage we can afford. i know im not the only one dealing with this and this isnt a poor me thread. just telling my story for those who care and maybe have a simular story to tell in this crazy economic time. i gotta get of the journal and get back to painting, gotta make the house look good for the next owners.

Dave.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Dave,
Sorry to hear you feel the need to move but neighborhoods change character for both the better and the worse over years. Rather than look at this as a negative maybe you can see it as a positive. Maybe you'll meet new neighbors/friends and find a house that better suits your needs. Not to mention getting a shot at completely remaking your garage and address all those"little things" we all have in ours we wish we could do over. Best of luck and HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!

 

[bazzateer]

If you can I'd advise selling your place first then renting while you search for your next home. This way you'll be in a better position to make a quick deal on the right place. Maybe look for somewhere out in the country? More land and maybe lower prices.

 

[61falcon]

we are defenitly looking at someplace with more property, where the houses arent on top of each other.

 

[jethro29]

I know how you feel,if i could ,i would buy a hundred acre lot and put my house it the middle of it and put an electric fence around all of it.

 

[OccupantRJ]

I guess I'm a pro. I'm living in house number 20 now.

 

[JCQuick]

Sorry to hear but bear in mind by nature people do not like change. Bu a lot of times change can be very good. I wish when i was younger I would have done more. fear of the change held me back.

 

[61falcon]

change is often good, but not the change around here. what was once a very quiet area has now become a busy area. the police are called out here more often, where as we never had to call. the only time we would see a police car was on a routine patrol. the officer would drive by and wave, sometimes stop to talk about anything but crime. that has changed and its not the kind of setting i want my daughter to grow up in. sooo, looking at the positive, my wife and i will get a house we can call ours (not my parents old house, we still get that ). looking forward to it. just gotta sell our house in this crazy market. maybe i will make it a rental too . nah, couldnt do that to the good neighbors we will be leaving behind.

 

[jamesemery728]

Move to the country.
Get as much land as you can afford.
Move where there is no Home Owners Association.
Find a house/school that you like and you can add
the shop (thats why you need the land).
Never say never. Things always are changing.

 

[Scout Driver]

Make the change an opportunity. Best of luck to you.

Scott

 

[1984GMC]

Just a note I live 23 miles outside of the city and still have the idiots with the boomy cars drive by my house, I don't know who they think they are impressing out here.

 

[Indy_500]

Good luck with the change. This stupid urban forestry group planted a forest next to my house and it looks absolutly terrible. I live in the middle of a neighborhood next to an elementary school and middle school, and there's this triangular plot of land on the other side of a creek that the school has to own because of the creek, and they never upkept it because no one knew it was the schools, i always mowed it and now they planted a forest, and plopped down a TON of mulch and weeds are growing thru the mulch like crazy. There continues to be more and more "troublemakers" coming into the neighborhood. My house is 13 yrs old and we built it. My parents biggest mistake was the garage. We needed an addition added on our house and 5 years ago, my parents chose a sunroom instead of adding onto the garage (they had all the plans done for the garage then changed their minds... SHAME ON THEM!) and now we got a tiny garage and nowhere to build another one. We get to stare at an ugly forest. And so on and so on. Just too much money to move and plus my sister is going to be a senior in High school next year and i'll be a sophmore so my parents see no point in moving. Ohhhhh the joys of life.

 

[61falcon]

i'll take the ugly forest over the unmainted rental house i have next to me. at the least the forest is quiet.

 

[nolatoolguy]

Sorry to here, it ***** ime sure. I have lived on the family farm my whole life, as it dates back over 100 years. I canot even imigane what it would be like if I had move. I honestly dont know what I would do.

I cant blame you for wanting to move. I would reccomend moving to the outskirts of town, that way your still near a larger school. Sometimes schools in small towns are so small there is not a buddget large enough for alot of high tech stuff such as "smart boards" or other stuff like that. At the same time at a small school were I went I could tell you everyones name and there familys names.

 

[tcianci]

Wow, that's tough butlike others have said look at it as an oppurtunity to make things better. One thing you have in your favor is that mortgage rates are really low right now. And don't totally ditch the idea of keeping your old house as a rental. I know you are thinking of the neighbors you will leave behind but you are probably assuming that your tennant will be the same type of scum that's forcing you out of the neighborhood in the first place. That's not totally unrealistic but not necessarilly a given either. In any event I wish you the best. It was refreshing to see some other guys post that they would put their new place int he middle of 100 acres. I'm in a great neighborhood, 3/4 acre, great neighbors and all but If I had to do it again, it would be a smaller house, a bigger shop, a very hungry dog all in the middle of that 100 acres and the next time I would venture out of it would be when they carry me out.

 

[onewaydave]

Focus falcon. It's about your daughter. Provide for her and the rest will fall into place. Or you can force it into place with a big hammer.

Dave, who raised 2 daughters.

 

[51rider]

I understand exactly how you feel.

I had my home & garage exactly as I wanted it. The kids were in a good school & commuting to work was quick & reliable for both my wife & I.
Then a couple of people moved out, sold their homes to renters & I ended up with a brothel and illegal immigrants just opposite

We got that lot gone eventulally only to be replaced by more of the same who also had a drug habit. Final staw for me was finding needles about the place.

They went too & the house was stripped out & put on the market. I thought hard about what might happen (again!) & sold up & moved out.
I got a much nicer home-ok, it will be when I'm done , great nighbours, a superb area and a not bad school for the kids but with a much better option for the next stsge of their education in a few years time.

The downside is a very small-9'x12' garage But... with great potential to build a new one

Hard as it may seem, it will be worth it. You will have the memories & that has no price & cannot be repainted or remodelled.

Good luck & happy home hunting.

 

[61falcon]

brought this thread back so the backstory can be read. update, the landlord has been elusive all this time. my wife and i have been working to get our house to market and our finances to where we are comfortable to make a purchase of new home in a better area. the rental house issues have been the same the last 6 months with no response from the property owner until yesterday when he had no choice but to respond and be present at the house. i came home from work yesterday and found water flowing out of the house through the back wall where the kitchen is. the fire dept was called and they had to enter the home by forcing open a window as nobody was home. turns out the power was off due to lack of payment by the tenant and the pipes froze. long story short, major water damage throughout the first floor and basement. i had a nice chat with the landlord and informed him of the goings on at his house and how it ruined my neighborhood. he acted shocked, i didnt buy it. my councilman was there and lectured him as well. he denied knowing anything bad was going on, i called bs on that and supported it with evidence that i called him and left voice messages. turns out the rent was paid 100% by cmha and he was getting a check every month even after the tenants bailed, which is estimated they left a month ago maybe longer. now the house is uninhabitable and the next step is to determine if it is worth fixing. the councilman told me if its condemed, it will be torn down immediatly and turned into a place for the local kids to play. so now his free money house is shut down, cmha has been notified and most likely he is about to lose alot of money. aint karma great. and yes, we are still going to move.

 

[ScottG]

I was going to relate my experience working for a community development organization in a Cleveland neighborhood that was literally wiped out by foreclosures, absentee landlords and thugs. But since you mention CMHA (Cuyahoga Metro Housing Authority), I suspect you already know the story...

I do laugh when I hear your councilman telling you the house will be demo'ed and turned into a park. Again, if you're in Cleveland (or anywhere in Cuyahoga County's inner suburbs), getting a house condemned is not easy and with the current backlog of OVV houses (Open, Vacant, Vandalized) in the city, it's going to take a long while. Also, money isn't readily available for a house demo which costs the city about $7K per unit. Granted, there's more cash available now than there was when I still worked in the city (2007), but certainly not enough to address every blighted property. Lastly, to tell you about a park is laughable. If it's demo'ed it'll become a seeded/weeded lot if you're lucky. Playgrounds aren't cheap and the city is broke (besides, if they do build any more in-fill playgrounds the play grounds will outnumber the houses). I hate to sound so negative, but I have a feeling your councilman was just blowing smoke (as most of them do).

Good luck to you, though. One of the saddest things I saw working in Cleveland were good families stranded in bad neighborhoods because they didn't act quickly enough to move out. At a certain point you get locked in because the property loses so much value you just can't afford to go. From there it's a downward spiral with decent people living like soldiers in fort under siege. Like an earlier poster said, do it for your daughter and do it quick.

One last thought, if you can I'd forget looking for a house anywhere in Cuyahoga County. Taxes are too high, corruption is out of control (even after the FBI sting), and property values are continuing to tank. It just isn't the same as it used to be...

 

[Junkman]

I just got a letter from the town today. They are setting up a redevelopment area, and my home is going to be the first to go. The letter said that they intend to tear it down and build a slum in its place.

 

[BUGTHUG]

Move here to Kansas, its a good place to live.

 

[nissan_crawler]

Move here to Kansas, its a good place to live.

Shhhh, we don't want to become the next colorado/montana.