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There is little question that when my dad dies, the family home will be torn down for a subdivision of McMansions. All my little time capsules, the graves of Fred the Cat and Snoopy the dog, the tree we planted to scatter Moms ashes under, the towering giant maple trees we dug up as saplings at grandpas house in Iowa and planted here and there in the 1970s, the decades in the making rock garden, my old Gi Joe fortress, the wooden shed/barn we built for the horses, the pond, dozens of apple trees, those now huge pine trees we brought home from school as little sticks to plant on earth day, all the memories will be leveled and buried under hideously ugly giant houses placed window to window. The feeling of warmth and safety when we visit. Knowledge that no matter what, we will always have a warm comfortable familiar place to sleep. Gone gone gone.
It makes me sad, but there is really nothing to do about it. For various reasons, none of us kids are in a position to buy the others out and live there. Those who have the financial ability already have a house (or live in Europe), Those who would like to live there, could not even pay the yearly taxes.
I once thought my current house would become a family heirloom. I even thought i might will it entirely to whichever kid would and could live there and keep it in the family (and hopefully available as a safe haven for siblings and their descendants). I wonder if that was my dad's hope? It is not going to happen for me either. The kids are moving to other states. It is unlikely any of them will be able to pay taxes and maintenance on our house, or to have any use for a house that is so big. It will go to another family and they will likely gut our oh so careful and oh so costly restoration effort and "modernize" it into some hideous bastardization of a modern subdivision McMansion with granite counters, cheap cabinetry, and soon to be filthy polyester carpeting nailed to the floors and a few remaining vestiges of a historic home. Or just tear it down.
We went through this with our last house. The buyer lied to us about how much he loved it exactly as it was. We had restored it perfectly and he loved it. (It was stunning). He then gutted it and replaced the high quality (and uber expensive) original and reproduction materials and fixtures with Home Depot garbage, covered the hardwood floors with pergo,ripped out the irreplaceable 16" ornate moldings and casings and the five panel historian doors (and Eastlake hardware) to replace it with flip house junk. It made me sick to see. At least I felt less bad when he tried to sell it and people were appalled by what he had done and he ended up losing a half million or more on it. I do not want to see that again. When we sell our current house I hope to either move away and never come back, or die before they ruin it.
How big is your Dads place? Maybe the family could go ahead and divide the land up, and sell and acre or two here and there? That would make it less desirable to a developer since they want large acreage.
We built our house and my family was very happy in it for almost 30 years but eventually, I ended up being the only resident and it was too big for one person. I sold it to a young family with two little girls and was happy to pass it on...it needed a family to grow up in it as ours did.
Mom's family home goes back to the late 1700's... this is the where it all started.
For generations... it was the place and it is picturesque and very much livable.
My cousin may be the one to end it... he carved out some rental units and no longer farms...
The value has skyrocketed so selling a lot here or there or my Grandparents little farmer retirement home brings big bucks...
During the Depression... Mom said we had it better than most... no one had money... some farmers had lots of debt... but they never went hungry and bartered with other producers...
I lived in my last house for 28 years. I finished raising my family there, and then spent several happy empty nester years with just me and my DH. The house was a money pit, frankly. But I was comfortable and happy in it. It did become more work than we wanted to devote to it though. And it was dated.
But I have good memories of the life I lived there. The new owners seemed to be very attracted to it, and I did hear that they liked the house after they moved in. That was my hope actually. It is not itself all that special, but it is in a pretty location with amazing privacy. I hope they made it their own and are making happy memories there.
As to my present house which I like very well, it has become a pleasant, happy place for me. I have never given any thought to the next owners. I will, by then, be either senile or dead. I don’t think I will care.
How big is your Dads place? Maybe the family could go ahead and divide the land up, and sell and acre or two here and there? That would make it less desirable to a developer since they want large acreage.
It is only 3 acres. However the next door neighbor who is in hospice has 110. Behind her property where the woods and pastures used to be, is now a golf course with about 100 or so window to window McMansions around it. They built a couple of initial groupings of homes, then as adjoining land became available added more and more. THer road frontage is pretty narrow, they willneed my Dad's property for a large enough access to allow 2-300 homes on her property (and probably 6-10 on Dad's property. That is what they do, they build these huge 6000 s.f. homes on 8,000 s.f. lots or smaller. I do nto understnad why people would want to live like that for that kind of money, but they line up to buy them.
Most of the people remaining on our part of the street are old to very old. eventually it will all be bought out to expand the subdivision. that was always the plan. they put in a sewer plant and a well/water treatment facility that is big enough for another 100 plus homes.
There area is subdivision/McMansion central. It is one of two places in Metro Detroit where they kept building subdivisions, even some during the recession. The obvious goal or path for the area is to level everything and fill it all up with McMansions. There is money to be had.
Shame. It used to be really beautiful forests, fields, streams and ponds. Even some hills and valleys. A neat eclectic mix of homes all on several acres (or a lot of acres like our former neighbor)
During the Depression... Mom said we had it better than most... no one had money... some farmers had lots of debt... but they never went hungry and bartered with other producers...
My dad grew up like that. They were sharecroppers in Illinois. The depression did not really effect them and he was barely aware of it when it happened.
When he went to college, he discovered much to his shock that most people had electric wiring and indoor plumbing. He thought that was a rare novelty that a few rich people here and there had and everyone else had outhouses and candles. (this would have been the late 1940s).
He said he never realized they were dirt poor growing up until he left. Everyone else was just as poor and by comparison, they were pretty much average.
My dad grew up like that. They were sharecroppers in Illinois. The depression did not really effect them and he was barely aware of it when it happened.
When he went to college, he discovered much to his shock that most people had electric wiring and indoor plumbing. He thought that was a rare novelty that a few rich people here and there had and everyone else had outhouses and candles. (this would have been the late 1940s).
He said he never realized they were dirt poor growing up until he left. Everyone else was just as poor and by comparison, they were pretty much average.
Similar to Mom's life on a the family diary farm... even into the 50's Mom had to hand milk cows before school...
They did not know they were poor and no one went hungry... no one had money.
They did buy a tractor in 1950... it took two years of selling timber to buy it... my grandparents never owned a car... just the one tractor which meant they no longer needed draft animals...
When I visited the farm... it was very clean but sparse... plenty of space in the farmhouse...
My grandmother's pride and joy was her Wedgewood Stove... it was wood and electric... she cooked everything from scratch... and almost always wood... except on Sunday as they all went to church so little time to make the fire...
When my friends from college came to visit... they asked where is the trash can... my Grandparents really didn't have one... table scraps went to the farm animals... wood and paper was used for heating... they did not even own a can opener as the only things they bought were in bulk... flour, sugar, coffee... she made their own clothes and my Grandfather made ALL the furniture over winters...
One year the blight got her peaches so I brought a case of Del Monte peaches... and this is when I learned they did not have a real can opener... my Grandmother said the peaches were very good and my grandfather saved the tin cans for nuts and bolts...
I would love to be able to have a house that I could fall in love with. I have lived in some I really liked. Others..not so much.
At 56 yrs old, I may or may not be able to make it happen.
I would love to be able to have a house that I could fall in love with. I have lived in some I really liked. Others..not so much.
At 56 yrs old, I may or may not be able to make it happen.
I hear you... came close one time... the property that checked all the boxes and more... it was in 2012.
59 days I was in back up position with the higher offer but the accepted offer came in a few hours before mine...
6 years later and I still wonder what if... the reality is this home has more than doubled in value... and it was a full court press to buy at the 2012 price...
I know because I have known what I want for a very very long time...
A suburban house could be left empty until it falls down, knocked down for farmland, used for storage or livestock, etc. Today's urban crack den could be a home, store, or school in a few years.
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