The World encroaching? Move your driveway!

Dachshund · May 9, 2005

Dunno - I live in the plains - and I got TONS of annoying trees! Mostly Cedar. Doing my best to get rid of 'em all! I'm keeping most of the "real" trees (Oak, Maple, Ash, Walnut, some of the Hedge, some of the Locust, Red Bud, Mulberry, etc).

tillboy2001 · May 9, 2005

Just be glad THIS guy didn't move in across the street...true story of a trailer guy on the road I grew up on (rural southwestern OH)...

This guy brings in an older single-wide trailer and plops it on the most tiny plot of land available. Ok, not such a big deal...BUT...he attaches another HALF of a single-wide to the other one! I'm not joking. I wish I had a picture. And yes, it literally DOES look exactly like half of a single-wide trailer chopped off and screwed to the side of another old trailer. I'm not kidding /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif The shame is, it's directly across the street from my friend's parent's house. They've lived there forever, have a nice big lake, etc, etc...and now they're moving because the road has turned into a total dump. No, a trailer/mobile home doesn't make a neighborhood a dump, but when you do stuff like this idiot across the road on my old road it does. Unfortunately, the road has become a dumping ground for cheap trailers plopped in by this rural slum lord. He's well known for sticking every single trailer he can in a square foot of old corn/soybean fields. So naturally, the people that move in totally trash everything. It's not the mobile home to blame - it's how they're installed and who moves in. 95% of the people that moved in on my old road are nothing but trouble. Hopefully that guy on your road will take care of his place. People get upset when you start talking about living arrangements and what someone can or can't afford, but trust me...you don't have to have money to live clean, take care of your place and be a little organised. You can't use the "I've got no money" excuse as a reason to trash everything and act like a fool. There's a nice young couple 2 doors down in a trailer that my in-law's rent out...and they're one of the nicest couple's you'll meet....and they maintain the place very nicely. Other's should follow their example. I doubt they will though...just human nature.

CLinton_in_FL · May 9, 2005

That is why i bought my 5 acres in a deed restricted site. I learned my lesson a long time ago, and I am only 24.

hobbyfarm · May 9, 2005

pz..,
I know what you mean about ruining the area. We have an area down here where auto junkyards (I mean junkyards, not auto recyclers) are popping up like weeds. Sometimes they don't even fence the area and people can see the mess. What a dump. Or, if they fence it, they fence it with old tires. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

tillboy2001 · May 9, 2005

Around here I think there's some zoning law that forces people to put up a privacy fence for junkyards. Every one I've seen has one anyway.

Bird · May 9, 2005

( zoning law that forces people to put up a privacy fence for junkyards )

In most cities, that's true, but out in the country in Texas, no restrictions. That was one problem with our place in the country. To get there, you had to drive 3/4 mile along in front of some small lots (less than 1/8 acre) that were some of the trashiest place you'll ever see, including one full of junked cars and trucks and several grown up in high weeds. I didn't like it, but I knew they were there when I bought the place and I knew there were no legal restrictions, so I had no complaint. Some neighbors did complain, but there was nothing that could be done.

getut · May 9, 2005

( As others have said some mobile homes (prefabs, doublewide, modulars) are better than others, sounds like this guy is on the lower end with the problems of foundation and peers.)

My goodness... its my posts getting deleted by the moderators but it is you guys posting offensive junk like this. Do you not know how wrong it is to judge people by the quality or price of their houses?

The guy did nothing wrong. He lives in a lesser priced house than the ones around him. Big deal. Its the uppity types that are saying they would shine lights in his living room on purpose because he moved in where he did.

I find that view of this whole scenario very offensive, but yet I fear this will be another of my posts that will get deleted. I guess we'll see soon enough.

BXRICK · May 9, 2005

I think that in general, people want an area they purchase land or a house in to remain exactly as it was when they purchased it. In other words, they (and I include myself in this) want to be the "last person in".

Which is not to say that the purchase decision doesn't include consideration of what might happen to property around the property in question. But most people (gross generalization...) are buying the land because they like it now, not because they hope they will like it later.

Land-use rules are great when they restrict the neighbor, but a pain when they restrict me. Our town's conservation rules made our house addition cost significantly more - but I'm not sure that's wrong when looking at the bigger picture.

I do get very annoyed at people who complain about the use of neighboring land when the use of that land hasn't changed since the complainers purchased their land.

I purchased a house on 4.5 acres already surrounded by other houses. While I'd rather be in the middle of nowhere, there's less of an issue with what might become of the land around me.

I think there are people of all economic classes who are too lazy to make their places look neat.

Lastly, I don't think this is an economic class discussion as much as a discourse on how what one values in life is different from what someone else values. Some people would give their first-born to live in a McMansion. They don't value acreage. They like the over-manicured yet small-yard look. Others (likely many people here), prefer more open space, and less contact with neighbors. Neither is wrong.

CLinton_in_FL · May 9, 2005

We are not judging his bank account, just him not thinking things through. Me personally wouldnt want a 10ft front yard and a 300ft back yard.

We are discussing where he decided to place the trailer. I am sure this thread wound not of happend if he just placed the trailer in the BACK of the properity and/or not the center of this guys drive way.

I am not a fan of people stcking things in the center of driveways. The people across the street from me placed there mailbox there. now it is hard as anything to pull out my driveway with a 24ft trailer and a full size van. I need to make a wide turn. and the mailbox in the center hinders that.

slowzuki · May 9, 2005

I think the point of this was the grandfather tried to give the kid a head start and the kid sort of squandered it. I think the idea is the kid could have held onto the land until he was more successful and set down roots there, or he could have sold the land to earn a large wad of cash to get an education or whatnot.

Any case, lets focus on the creative solution to staring at a barren dirt lot and a house. I'll be honest, I would rather look at trees than a house of any type.