Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Neighborhood Update

It has been so interesting to watch and observe. For a while, there were signs in many yards in our complex. The house behind us along with two on our cul-de-sac were listed for sale and the one directly across from us was up for rent.

The rented house went quickly. A lovely family from Colorado moved in with two young boys and a dog and made themselves at home. The dad is in high tech and they said that industry is dead in Colorado. He is working for a start up and planning to buy a house in the area so the children won’t have to move schools. It is fun to hear children playing and having fun again. Always makes me smile.

The houses for sale are all still for sale, five months later. There has been interest but none of the owners has been willing to reduce the price of their homes. All are overpriced for the current market. There was another open house last Sunday and some people stopped by to take a look. 

Our hopes that a nice family buys the house from our problem neighbors next door are delayed. They are removing the house from the market for a month then will begin again. 

Just off our street and next door to our friends Rick and Natalie, a family owned a house dating back to when they were new. This was a large 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom home. The parents lived and raised four girls there, the father passed away there, one daughter and her husband moved in to be with the mother then they decided to move to Bend, Oregon. The husband had always wanted to live there even though he was a commercial airline pilot stationed at a far off hub. 

We realized that there was huge competition between the four daughters. The older one clearly won the "Best Married" award as she married into a very wealthy family. Her husband was an interesting nice guy. One daughter was divorced, another never married, and finally another married her pilot and moved into the house. She was very self involved. She also lived as if they were extraordinarily wealthy and demanded only the best. She expected Rick and Natalie to drive her children to school. She always seems to have migraines when she didn't want to do something. She expected them to watch her children on the spur of the moment for hours instead of the agreed upon time. "So sorry I am late!" Natalie felt used but also felt so sorry for her children.

It got to be really awful. She was not a nice person. She was a total user. Natalie was able to draw some lines in the sands but still worried about the kids. They were sweet kids.

To move to Bend, the daughter and her husband decided to keep the local house and rent it out while waiting for the market to stabilize to get the highest price for the house. Several years have passed and the market has continued to drop. We noticed a big sign in the window a few weeks ago and the renters had to suddenly move out.

Word just came in last week that the husband is no longer flying and is on disability. He had developed vertigo. They just lost the house in Bend, Oregon. We now know why the renters had to move out. The family house on the next street from us is now for sale by the bank. 

If they had not been so greedy wanting top dollar for the local home, they could have paid cash for the Bend home. 

Life lessons.

Now that the husband is suddenly disabled, there was not enough money to handle all the debt. They also had huge debt with new cars and credit cards. She talked about it with Natalie. She has announced that she wishes she could get a job but alas, those migraines...They are bankrupt. They are our age. It could have happened to us. Again, the life lesson is to live within your means as you never know what life brings. 

I feel so sorry for their kids.

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