While I haven't been doing much to the house, the plants I planted in February are growing along. This year I decided to have more plants more adapted to my feast/famine climate and (who knew?) have needed less water as a result.
Since I didn't buy new dirt again this year for the vegetable garden frame, the plants doing the best are in pots on the deck. There are at least $10 worth in ripening native blueberries and 10 tomato plants in big plastic pots. Corn and zucchini are struggling along in the infill sand/clay mix in the side yard.
The twin house next door is in pre-foreclosure. It seems the silly asking price resulted from the owners taking a $55,000 home equity loan several years back, to redo something at their current house across the river. Adding that loan to its main mortgage of $124000 gave it a hefty price way more than any sane person would pay. One woman driving by saw the price written on the For-Sale-By-Owner sign and asked us if there was a swimming pool made of gold in the backyard. After 1 and 1/2 years on the market, it was listed by a realtor briefly in January, for $155,000.
The lawn hadn't been cut in months and after several calls to Jacksonville city services, an independent contractor (teens working for their dad) charged up a $500 lien, for 10 minutes with a riding lawnmower. They also mowed over the Sale sign since it was buried in weeds.
4 comments:
Sigh... isn't it so. Our neighbors put $20,000 worth of redoing into their little cottage and tried to sell a year later; sadly for them it was at the bottom of the trip down the bubble. They tried to sell for 6 months for $190,000, when we were pretty sure it wasn't worth more than $155,000... they dropped the price a couple times, but finally just rented it out. Three sets of renters later, we are SO sick of renters!
YOur plants look great, by the way. There's something to be said for easy gardening. I plant and see what survives after a year of neglect, then plant more of whatever that is.
Lately I've been driving around office parks and shopping malls to see what's successfully planted there. It's certain their unfussy, low-maintenance plant choices will work in my yard too! Although a little bland and commercial looking...
Somewhere recently I heard that if your house is sold off at auction, banks write off the loss but also file it with the IRS as miscellaneous income (I-9?) under your name. So the neighbors not only have a credit blotch, but will have to pay taxes on the sale price/mortgage amount difference. Ouch! It seems almost unethical somehow.
Is Ralph a Celtics fan?
No, Ralph only watches nature shows. With birds.
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