Musings from an old codger...

[Snafflebit]

1. I wish when we moved into our home in 2000 I would have never purchased mulch. I spend about $1000-1500 per year year on mulch and another $500-1000 for labor to spread it (in the years that I did not do it myself). I should have purchased ground covers like ivy, vinca minor, myrtle and pachysandra all those years. I would have had to do it for only a few years and never had to again.

Great advice! I am in process of adding landscape and weighing the mulch vs. ground cover debate. California is dry and hot for portions of the year, so ground covers can be tricky. There is some periwinkle from the neighbors creeping into a shady spot. I may transplant some of that. In the front that gets full sun I want to try creeping thyme, but it may not be happy.

 

[Obbnw]

Buy it, add the extra piece of land where he was going to build onto your existing lot plat, then sell the house on the remaining lot that's now too small for another one to be built.

He declined the offer, but I think it did at least trigger some retrospect and that I'm serious. He finally agreed to meet with me. We walked around the yard point out some of the main problems.

His values are definitely different than mine and basically said the view isn't worth anything and that he wouldn't mind if someone put a 14' wall on his property line. He implied I'm the exception and that most people would be fine with it.

That said I do think he will lower the structure 2' to 4', which is a big help. They put together a plan and didn't realize the slope of the existing grade varies by about 2' under the building and there is another 2' drop in grade over about 30' to tie into the driveway. 4' to 6' lower is probably where most people would have started.

I'll still lose my "worthless" view, but at 4' lower I can probably work it into the grand landscape plan. He thinks the god-awful mess of wires makes the view suck. The wires are bad but if you look past the wires the view behind them is all I see. Even in the attached zoomed in pick focused on the wires the view is still nice. That one transformer box does suck though. In one part of the yard that box is exactly covering the peak of Mt Olympus (the less snow covered slab mountain below).





He didn't like my vegetable garden - too much dirt.


He said my "little" wine patio



and the view from sitting at the blue table looking at the camera to the peak in the pic below adds no value to my property.

I was a little hurt ; ) I've purposefully framed that view with specific branch pruning of the maple tree. I'm not good enough of a photographer to truly capture it, I think it is much nicer in person.



I will admit, in its current state my garden does have a solid "junk mans garden" vibe.

So it goes. Unfortunately for me, my wife is already looking at other properties and rethinking my whole retirement plan. She was never really fully on board with my "I want to die in this house mentality". If it is worst case we will probably move. The new owner won't care because they won't know what they lost. If I can't work in the garden without letting go of what I lost I'll be on board the move train too.

I would miss my wall of grapes, but I can just start a new one.

My kids are both in the northwest (corvallis and seattle), lots of grapes in the Willamette valley.

 

[jswordy]

He declined the offer, but I think it did at least trigger some retrospect and that I'm serious. He finally agreed to meet with me. We walked around the yard point out some of the main problems.

His values are definitely different than mine and basically said the view isn't worth anything and that he wouldn't mind if someone put a 14' wall on his property line. He implied I'm the exception and that most people would be fine with it.

That said I do think he will lower the structure 2' to 4', which is a big help. They put together a plan and didn't realize the slope of the existing grade varies by about 2' under the building and there is another 2' drop in grade over about 30' to tie into the driveway. 4' to 6' lower is probably where most people would have started.

I'll still lose my "worthless" view, but at 4' lower I can probably work it into the grand landscape plan. He thinks the god-awful mess of wires makes the view suck. The wires are bad but if you look past the wires the view behind them is all I see. Even in the attached zoomed in pick focused on the wires the view is still nice. That one transformer box does suck though. In one part of the yard that box is exactly covering the peak of Mt Olympus (the less snow covered slab mountain below).

View attachment 112974
View attachment 112975


He didn't like my vegetable garden - too much dirt.
View attachment 112978

He said my "little" wine patio
View attachment 112979


and the view from sitting at the blue table looking at the camera to the peak in the pic below adds no value to my property.

I was a little hurt ; ) I've purposefully framed that view with specific branch pruning of the maple tree. I'm not good enough of a photographer to truly capture it, I think it is much nicer in person.

View attachment 112980

I will admit, in its current state my garden does have a solid "junk mans garden" vibe.

So it goes. Unfortunately for me, my wife is already looking at other properties and rethinking my whole retirement plan. She was never really fully on board with my "I want to die in this house mentality". If it is worst case we will probably move. The new owner won't care because they won't know what they lost. If I can't work in the garden without letting go of what I lost I'll be on board the move train too.

I would miss my wall of grapes, but I can just start a new one.

My kids are both in the northwest (corvallis and seattle), lots of grapes in the Willamette valley.

Great that there is some movement on his part. I disagree completely with his opinion that the view is worthless, as would an agent if you were to put your place up for sale.

I can relate to longing for other properties. The sale of the 1-acre lot off our farm by a previous owner 45 years ago that allowed the house to be built immediately next door definitely negatively impacted our place. I own 25 acres, yet this is my kitchen window view.


Other than that one glaring item, we like it. The new owners have already asked me if I want to sell any of my land. "No." I worked for 15 years to buy the house and lot next door that they now own! But I have been jinxed with that property. Actually was high bid twice at foreclosure auction, and the bank rejected my bid both times. It is never going to be, especially now that they have a Mexican crew working on it. New owner has stars in his eyes about how much he'll spend and how much he'll clear selling it. We'll see.

 

[Obbnw]

He declined the offer, but I think it did at least trigger some retrospect and that I'm serious. He finally agreed to meet with me. We walked around the yard point out some of the main problems.

His values are definitely different than mine and basically said the view isn't worth anything and that he wouldn't mind if someone put a 14' wall on his property line. He implied I'm the exception and that most people would be fine with it.

That said I do think he will lower the structure 2' to 4', which is a big help. They put together a plan and didn't realize the slope of the existing grade varies by about 2' under the building and there is another 2' drop in grade over about 30' to tie into the driveway. 4' to 6' lower is probably where most people would have started.

I'll still lose my "worthless" view, but at 4' lower I can probably work it into the grand landscape plan. He thinks the god-awful mess of wires makes the view suck. The wires are bad but if you look past the wires the view behind them is all I see. Even in the attached zoomed in pick focused on the wires the view is still nice. That one transformer box does suck though. In one part of the yard that box is exactly covering the peak of Mt Olympus (the less snow covered slab mountain below).

View attachment 112974
View attachment 112975


He didn't like my vegetable garden - too much dirt.
View attachment 112978

He said my "little" wine patio
View attachment 112979


and the view from sitting at the blue table looking at the camera to the peak in the pic below adds no value to my property.

I was a little hurt ; ) I've purposefully framed that view with specific branch pruning of the maple tree. I'm not good enough of a photographer to truly capture it, I think it is much nicer in person.

View attachment 112980

I will admit, in its current state my garden does have a solid "junk mans garden" vibe.

So it goes. Unfortunately for me, my wife is already looking at other properties and rethinking my whole retirement plan. She was never really fully on board with my "I want to die in this house mentality". If it is worst case we will probably move. The new owner won't care because they won't know what they lost. If I can't work in the garden without letting go of what I lost I'll be on board the move train too.

I would miss my wall of grapes, but I can just start a new one.

My kids are both in the northwest (corvallis and seattle), lots of grapes in the Willamette valley.

It went up. It's about 5' lower than the initial plans. He lowered it so he could put it closer to the lot line. For every foot above where it is the zoning code required an additional foot of offset, and for our narrow lots that would have been a problem.

I still hate it but it could be worse.


We'll see. What bugs me most now is how little value he got out of the height. Plus the taller section could have been at least 2' shorter (with changing any interior dimensions) if they thought for 2 minutes about how the final grading would tie in.


The next picture is a cropped pic of the above pic, It is cropped to match the last pic in the quoted post above.

 

[jswordy]

Here's my update. Yup, the flipper turned loose a Mexican crew who fixed up the house and he is still working on it. I would not buy it for love nor money, knowing what he left underneath. The house is now Hardy board and painted. It will look like doo-doo in 5 years under the Southern sun here. He has spent a lot of money on it and he had been talking about pricing it at $275-$280K... with an abandoned trailer next door on an overgrown lot. I dunno, seems way high to me.

Earlier, I had said it was cheaper to build a privacy fence, and I do intend to build an 8-footer. I had mentioned the fence to him, and now he keeps bugging me about it. Yes, I do plan to build it - in my time. I guess he has also realized it might be hard to sell a house so damned close to mine, where I have a total view of the place and also easily can see the back yard from my deck. He did take out the bedroom window on this side, so it no longer looks directly into my kitchen, lol... That's where this shot was snapped, from the kitchen window. It will be interesting to see how well it sells.

God, I hate that place! I was high bid on it TWICE at foreclosure auction and the bank turned down my bid. After that, it was just one of those things where I kept trying but I was never gonna get it. I would have torn it down.



And here's what happens when the country turns city... The estate farm behind me got broken up into 5 and 7.5 acre parcels. Guy bought one and promptly tore down 200 feet of line pasture fence. I found this while mowing in October. Saw him over there, introduced myself and asked if he was planning to replace the fence. "I wasn't planning on it but I guess I could. I thought I was doing you a favor. It wasn't much of a fence." Say what? It held a 2,200 pound bull.

Why did he really tear it down? The flattened grass said it was so his equipment could get to my side to push out all the beautiful, 2-foot trunk persimmons that were growing there. That way, he could run his drive right along the line.

I am trying to be good neighborly about it and see if he will replace it. But tearing down a line fence is a misdemeanor in Tennessee, and if it is done without 6 months notice to the other landowner, the guy who did it has to pony up to have it replaced. So, now I can't get this 30-year-old to answer my calls. He'd better soon, or my attorney will have the case. It is open and shut.

The removed area is from the post on right to the farthest tree on left. 200 feet exactly.

We used to have good neighbors. Sigh...

 

[Obbnw]

Here's my update. Yup, the flipper turned loose a Mexican crew who fixed up the house and he is still working on it. I would not buy it for love nor money, knowing what he left underneath. The house is now Hardy board and painted. It will look like doo-doo in 5 years under the Southern sun here. He has spent a lot of money on it and he had been talking about pricing it at $275-$280K... with an abandoned trailer next door on an overgrown lot. I dunno, seems way high to me.

Earlier, I had said it was cheaper to build a privacy fence, and I do intend to build an 8-footer. I had mentioned the fence to him, and now he keeps bugging me about it. Yes, I do plan to build it - in my time. I guess he has also realized it might be hard to sell a house so Damned! close to mine, where I have a total view of the place and also easily can see the back yard from my deck. He did take out the bedroom window on this side, so it no longer looks directly into my kitchen, lol... That's where this shot was snapped, from the kitchen window. It will be interesting to see how well it sells.

God, I hate that place! I was high bid on it TWICE at foreclosure auction and the bank turned down my bid. After that, it was just one of those things where I kept trying but I was never gonna get it. I would have torn it down.

View attachment 118450

And here's what happens when the country turns city... The estate farm behind me got broken up into 5 and 7.5 acre parcels. Guy bought one and promptly tore down 200 feet of line pasture fence. I found this while mowing in October. Saw him over there, introduced myself and asked if he was planning to replace the fence. "I wasn't planning on it but I guess I could. I thought I was doing you a favor. It wasn't much of a fence." Say what? It held a 2,200 pound bull.

Why did he really tear it down? The flattened grass said it was so his equipment could get to my side to push out all the beautiful, 2-foot trunk persimmons that were growing there. That way, he could run his drive right along the line.

I am trying to be good neighborly about it and see if he will replace it. But tearing down a line fence is a misdemeanor in Tennessee, and if it is done without 6 months notice to the other landowner, the guy who did it has to pony up to have it replaced. So, now I can't get this 30-year-old to answer my calls. He'd better soon, or my attorney will have the case. It is open and shut.

The removed area is from the post on right to the farthest tree on left. 200 feet exactly.

We used to have good neighbors. Sigh...

View attachment 118451

I had to laugh when I saw the siding. It's exactly the same as is going up in on the one next to me.

My new neighbor wants to talk about the fence too. I think he thinks I should pay for some of it since it's "a really nice fence". I just told him I don't care what he builds as long as its fully on his side of the property line and referenced the city code saying the same thing. Plus I'm pretty sure what he thinks is nice is what I think is hideous, I'm sure our tastes are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

What it really boils down too is that he was too cheap to do a survey and wants to remove the existing fence and replace it with his but doesn't know whose fence it is.

I also told him I would be a jerk about it and that even if I love the look of the fence, if it crosses the property line I'll make him move it.

What I can't decide is if he is so clueless and self-centered he truly can't understand why I'm annoyed or if he knows but is used to people just letting him walk over them.

I wonder the same thing about your fence remover - clueless or not?

 

[Rice_Guy]

Very well said.

I had to laugh when I saw the siding. It's exactly the same as is going up in on the one next to me.

My new neighbor wants to talk about the fence too. I think he thinks I should pay for some of it since it's "a really nice fence". I just told him I don't care what he builds as long as its fully on his side of the property line and referenced the city code saying the same thing. Plus I'm pretty sure what he thinks is nice is what I think is hideous, I'm sure are tastes are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

What it really boils down too is that he was too cheap to do a survey and wants to remove the existing fence and replace it with his but doesn't know whose fence it is.

I also told him I would be a jerk about it and that even if I love the look of the fence, if it crosses the property line I'll make him move it.

What I can't decide is if he is so clueless and self-centered he truly can't understand why I'm annoyed or if he knows but is used to people just letting him walk over them.

I wonder the same thing about your fence remover - clueless or not?

ie , , , , talk to me, , , , ,
, , , , for it will only be tomorrow
, , , , l will not be there, ,

, , , , and the clean up crew will say
, , , , such a wonderful wine,
, , , , I wonder? , , God made this?
, , , , how can we find more?

, , , , and the clean up crew will say
, , , , such a beautiful mountain
, , , , God worked overtime, the details
, , , , if only, , we could share

 

[jswordy]

I had to laugh when I saw the siding. It's exactly the same as is going up in on the one next to me.

My new neighbor wants to talk about the fence too. I think he thinks I should pay for some of it since it's "a really nice fence". I just told him I don't care what he builds as long as its fully on his side of the property line and referenced the city code saying the same thing. Plus I'm pretty sure what he thinks is nice is what I think is hideous, I'm sure are tastes are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

What it really boils down too is that he was too cheap to do a survey and wants to remove the existing fence and replace it with his but doesn't know whose fence it is.

I also told him I would be a jerk about it and that even if I love the look of the fence, if it crosses the property line I'll make him move it.

What I can't decide is if he is so clueless and self-centered he truly can't understand why I'm annoyed or if he knows but is used to people just letting him walk over them.

I wonder the same thing about your fence remover - clueless or not?

There is a type of man who, when you first meet him, offers you a reserved and appraising look that never changes. I see it and note it on first meeting in these guys' eyes, how they look at me in a calculating fashion. I have never had a pleasant experience, EVER, after meeting a man who looks at me in this way. That is how the young man who removed 200 feet of my pasture fence, rendering the entire acreage useless as a pasture, looked at me when we met.

I since have found out he is already in a battle with the real estate agent who sold him the land. Also not a good sign. I have called him twice, the last time saying I am trying to be a good neighbor about this and that I need to hear from him about what he is going to do about replacing the fence. I have offered to provide the posts, cutting his costs in half. He has not called me back.

Neighbors share the costs of line fence maintenance in Tennessee. Unilateral removal of a line fence in Tennessee is a misdemeanor. Tearing down a border fence without first giving the other landowner written six-month notice is illegal, as well, and the person who tore down the fence is liable for all costs to replace it, including construction costs. I have not said any of this to him. I am confident that my lawyer will have to write all that, citing the exact case law, in a registered letter that will be followed by legal action if he fails to recognize that the stakes are being raised. I am completely in the right here.

The way he looked at me, the very first time, said it all. Yet I wanted a good neighbor and offered him every opportunity to be one. I just went back there yesterday and nothing has changed. Looks like I am not going to get a good neighbor. I need to move on this pretty soon.

 

[winemaker81]

The way he looked at me, the very first time, said it all. Yet I wanted a good neighbor and offered him every opportunity to be one. I just went back there yesterday and nothing has changed. Looks like I am not going to get a good neighbor. I need to move on this pretty soon.

WC Fields said: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No point in making an ass of yourself.

You've tried repeatedly ... when someone doesn't take the carrot, all that's left is the stick.

 

[bstnh1]

There is a type of man who, when you first meet him, offers you a reserved and appraising look that never changes. I see it and note it on first meeting in these guys' eyes, how they look at me in a calculating fashion. I have never had a pleasant experience, EVER, after meeting a man who looks at me in this way. That is how the young man who removed 200 feet of my pasture fence, rendering the entire acreage useless as a pasture, looked at me when we met.

I since have found out he is already in a battle with the real estate agent who sold him the land. Also not a good sign. I have called him twice, the last time saying I am trying to be a good neighbor about this and that I need to hear from him about what he is going to do about replacing the fence. I have offered to provide the posts, cutting his costs in half. He has not called me back.

Neighbors share the costs of line fence maintenance in Tennessee. Unilateral removal of a line fence in Tennessee is a misdemeanor. Tearing down a border fence without first giving the other landowner written six-month notice is illegal, as well, and the person who tore down the fence is liable for all costs to replace it, including construction costs. I have not said any of this to him. I am confident that my lawyer will have to write all that, citing the exact case law, in a registered letter that will be followed by legal action if he fails to recognize that the stakes are being raised. I am completely in the right here.

The way he looked at me, the very first time, said it all. Yet I wanted a good neighbor and offered him every opportunity to be one. I just went back there yesterday and nothing has changed. Looks like I am not going to get a good neighbor. I need to move on this pretty soon.

You've done enough. You've been more than fair in this issue. It's time to get tough with him.

 

[Retired teacher]

You done enough. You've been more than fair in this issue. It's time to get tough with him.

I agree. Time to lawyer up.

 

[jswordy]

Thanks, guys. I have all the statutes, have a timeline, have pictures, am awaiting a call from the Farm Bureau, and then I'll have a lawyer draft a letter.

Removal is a Class C misdemeanor

§ 44-8-112. Pulling down fences; opening gates. Any person who pulls down the fence of another and leaves the same down, without permission of the owner, or opens and leaves open the gate of another, without permission of the owner, commits a Class C misdemeanor.

Line fence removal

§ 44-8-208. Removal; notice. No partition fence, or any part of a partition fence, shall be removed without the mutual consent of the owners, unless the party desiring to remove the fence, or part of the fence, shall first give six (6) months' notice in writing to the other owner of the owner's intention to remove the fence. After the expiration of the time of the notice, the party may remove the fence, or part of the fence. § 44-8-209. Removal without notice; crimes and offenses. Any person who removes a partition fence, or any part of a partition fence, without first giving the notice required by § 44-8-208, commits a Class C misdemeanor, and is also liable to the person injured for any damages sustained by reason of the removal.

UNDER EDIT: Unless the court also awards legal fees, I would likely be farther in financially than if I just put the damned fence back up. That's what I am trying to find out from Farm Bureau.

 

[jswordy]

Well, as I suspected and as he is probably counting on, here's the math: An attorney is $300 an hour. The court may or may not award court costs and attorney's fees if I win. (I found out his dad is an auxiliary deputy sheriff here in the good ole boy South, so...) A 330-foot roll of net wire is $249. I have the T-posts on hand (I was gonna give some to him to do it).

I called the circuit court clerk's office in my county and got no information at all, but it turns out she is also the small claims court clerk. TN small claims is done in general sessions. Never mentioned that route at all. I will see what that is all about on Monday.

I completely pisses me off, but unless the small claims court angle works out and I can hire it built on his dime, it looks like I will be buying and building 200 feet of line fence. That's how the world works today.

And people wonder why I drink.