Beginning of the demise of my neighborhood

Richard · Jan 30, 2006

Seems they feel compelled to build an 8,000 sq/ft house, installing tennis court, pool, horse barn.....Oh, and they're selling some lots so their friends can do same/similar /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

With neighbors like this moving in, who needs some of the punk idiots I've had to deal with over the years?

I'll take these folks anyday! I think this might be called "doing it right?"

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Boondox · Jan 30, 2006

We have a lot of them here in Stowe. They band together to get things they want, like a wonderful library that is only open while working people are earning paychecks, private school quality education for their children at taxpayers' expense, bans on dogs barking, tractors on roads, manure spreading, target practice and even the right to shoot the fox raiding your henhouse.

We have a bitter old woman living in an 8000sf pink granite mansion down the road. We have a childless couple in a 15,000sf mansion further down a side road who drive like they own all roads. I wish they'd go back to whatever big city they came from and leave rural America alone.

Pete

EddieWalker · Jan 30, 2006

How many homes like that until your property taxes go way up?

Eddie

Knight9 · Jan 30, 2006

( How many homes like that until your property taxes go way up?)

That's exactly what I was thinking Eddie!! All of a sudden property values go WAY up and your taxes follow the same trend /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif See that happening around here.

Kevin

LarryRB · Jan 30, 2006

(
With neighbors like this moving in, who needs some of the punk idiots I've had to deal with over the years?
I'll take these folks anyday!
/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif )

I hate to say this,, but, you just might have to eat these words at a later date,.. Where I am in a rural area on the MA/Ct state lines, we are getting a lot of this moving in and building.. Their kids are no better than trash kids, and in fact, can be worse, as the kids have access to money.... The people themselves move in with a downtown city attitude. By next year they will want street lighting, possible side walks and who knows what else.... This isn't always a good sign because some family can build a large home.....

ByronBob · Jan 30, 2006

What I'd like to know is how do they pay for this stuff?? I have a running joke with my wife that they sell crack or something to come up with the money to build stuff like this.

I have what you'd call a starter home and I know what I pay for it and darn if I'm not driving a few rot boxes to do it. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Highbeam · Jan 30, 2006

I'm stuck in my starter home for awhile. I couldn't buy it again for the prices they now want. The good news is that I bought when I did so I can sell high. I like to think I make pretty good money, but without going into debt to my eyeballs I can't buy a home to be proud of.

It must be that folks' tolerance of debt is increasing. I know the banks were more than willing to bury me in debt. It used to be that if you were willing to commute for an hour, you could find a nice place on land in the country for the same money as a nice place on a tiny city lot. Not anymore. Lucky to find an average place o na small lot in the country for a reasonable price.

Something has to collapse and when it does, we can snatch up the mansions for pennies.

California · Jan 30, 2006

( Seems they feel compelled to build an 8,000 sq/ft house, installing tennis court, pool, horse barn.....Oh, and they're selling some lots so their friends can do same/similar

With neighbors like this moving in, who needs some of the punk idiots I've had to deal with over the years?

I'll take these folks anyday! I think this might be called "doing it right?" -Richard)

I don't think the 'punk idiots' disappear, you just encounter a new class of idiots (with attorneys to back them up) as the area urbanizes.

Around here an hour north of San Francisco, the wealthy new landowner completes his house, tennis court, and horse barn. Then he rips out his apple orchard and plants a Pinot Noir vinyard for ambience, whether or not that is economically rational. Suddenly his parcel looks a lot smaller from his deck. (See the left-center in the attachment).

Then he (or more likely his wife and her weekend guests from the City) come over to our side of the canyon to ride in the old orchards. They can't ride over there because its boring to ride in their treeless new vinyard, and everybody else over there is heavily fenced.

The riders I have encountered down in back have challenged me defiantly to define my boundary, and my reply is to ask them who owns the parcels they crossed to reach mine. Of course they dont know, they aren't acquainted with anyone here.

My role in this community is evolving into 'Mr Greenbelt' responsible for maintaining the nice view they bought their parcels to look at. While what I see becomes more citylike every year. Sometimes I've been tempted to paint my water tower with bright stripes and a rotating beacon just to give them a focal point to look at.

dsgsr · Jan 30, 2006

This sort of thing is exactly why I'd like to close the Maine boarders so no-one else can move in. Most of the OUT-of-STATER'S have come here paying high prices for land for peace and quiet and now our population has quadrupled and so has the land,taxes,rules,street lights,fire hydrants, crime from all of their relatives coming to visit and realizing we're easy pray because we TRUST people and on and on, and then is their attitude toward us DUMB Mainers Oh, did I miss anything /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

David

dsgsr · Jan 30, 2006

This sort of thing is exactly why I'd like to close the Maine boarders so no-one else can move in. Most of the OUT-of-STATER'S have come here paying high prices for land for peace and quiet and now our population has quadrupled and so has the land prices,taxes,rules,street lights,fire hydrants, crime from all of their relatives coming to visit and realizing we're easy pray because we TRUST people and on and on, and then is their attitude toward us DUMB Mainers Oh, did I miss anything /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

David