[quote=briansd1]bearishgurl, you make it sound like only people who can afford to maintain their properties to your standards should deserve to be homeowners.[/quote]
Yes, minimum standards. Like, pick up trash, fix broken windows, mow weeds, etc. Most of my complaints are due to neighbors’ laziness more than not having money. And foolish expenditure, like starting cheesy DIY “room-additions” and then quitting in the middle of “construction.”
[quote=briansd1]What’s wrong with weeds and junk cars? If it doesn’t bother the owners, they are entitled to have them on their properties.[/quote]
You are correct, briansd1. I have a low tolerance for crowded conditions. There are only four feet between the homes and side fences where I live. My close neighbors’ termite-eaten and piled-high crap is literally “spilling over” our property lines and in my face, esp. my upstairs “fishbowl-view.” I LOVE my convenient location but would also LOVE to sell if I could recover my down payment and qualify for a 15 yr. purchase-money loan. I don’t think either is possible right now. In addition, I don’t currently have any help to maintain a 1/3 acre + lot I was used to living on. I know I couldn’t manage this by myself. So I will “press on” for four more years and then retire in South Lake Tahoe (CA side).
Nine years ago, I purchased what I could afford on my own and still remain close to my kids’ schools. Properties I am now complaining about were then occupied by their original owners. It’s still affordable to me, but throughout my life I have been used to living at least 35 feet from neighbors who had gardeners, pool persons and in many cases, housekeepers. At that distance (as in the LJ cove cottages you pointed out, which are on an acerage, BTW), a person does not care so much about their neighbors’ issues. My place is peaceful in that I don’t have constant noise from stereos and boomboxes and there aren’t a lot of noisy kids around. For that, I’m grateful.
Briansd1, I daresay I don’t think you would want your life-savings to be invested in properties in which you could not even recover your initial investment. As you can see, I wasn’t a “bubble” purchaser and my purchase-money loan is STILL in place as my ONLY loan. I have paid it down by nearly 45K and put in about 12K improvements, but I don’t believe I could recover all of my down payment today due to what I believe are the environmental factors I have discussed here. That is just . . . SAD!
