won't you be my neighbor

[kirkcudbright]

Our next door neighbor died a few weeks ago. He was 83, same age as my dad and Francie's mom, but he'd been in poor health for several years, largely house-bound for the last year, except when he was in the hospital.

Anyway, his kids lost no time putting his house on the market. Over the weekend, they emptied 40+ years of cruft into a dumpster. The only things I salvaged were a cheap 4-gallon stock pot (for making beer) and a complete 1937 encyclopedia. And then the dumpster was gone before I got around to checking it again.

Any anyway, it's listed here at $275k, which is cheap for this town. There's an open house on Sunday.

Comments

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

Is that the neighbor who didn't like it when we parked in front of his home?

It's sad when someone dies, but I don't blame the kids for selling the house quickly. They have their own lives, and why leave the house empty when they have no use for it? All that will happen is that it will lose more value because noone's using the house (garden/yard gets overgrown, don't know if a problem develops with fixtures, etc.) It costs money to keep a house, too, even if it's empty - they have to pay taxes.

[kirkcudbright.livejournal.com]

Is that the neighbor who didn't like it when we parked in front of his home?

No, that's the house two doors down, and I'm pretty sure it was the previous owners. Bob was never less than cordial to us, and he used to feed the chickens.

I don't blame the kids for selling the house quickly

Bob had 5 kids, a little older than us, only two of whom are local (one's in Australia). As you say, they have their own lives and their own homes, and the house is the bulk of the estate. Actually, there's also a vaction home in Nova Scotia, which they may try to keep in the family.

They could have contracted with an estate sale company, who would price everything out, organize and advertise the sale, and hand over the proceeds. But now that I've seen the listing pictures, it's clear they wanted to keep the furniture but not the clutter, because that's what realtors like to show.

[ron_newman]

Reading this:

Over the weekend, they emptied 40+ years of cruft into a dumpster

saddens me. Because after my dad died two years ago, I've had to help my mom get rid of a basement full of stuff, plus two storage lockers that she didn't even know about until he died. I'm sure that, just like your neighbor's kids, we acted a bit hastily in suddenly disposing of a long life's work.

[kirkcudbright.livejournal.com]

My parents are both alive and well and living at home (although my dad had a remarkably close call last summer). But when they do go, we're going to have a major de-crufting operation on our hands. OTOH (or in addition), my youngest brother (who still lives in town) may want to acquire the house, so it may not be a complete purge.

By comparison, Francie's parents have been living in (separate) apartments for decades, and have mostly de-crufted on their own.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

my family is obsessed with planning for its deaths. the latest curve is that i end up responsible for the contents' of my parents' homes (not otherwise specifically allocated), possibly b/c they think my brother might also pull the dumpster trick.

on another note, you think i could fit an indoor in that back yard?

[kirkcudbright.livejournal.com]

you think i could fit an indoor in that back yard?

Not likely. If you look at the satellite view, his lot is every bit as narrow as ours (75 ft). Plus what the satellite doesn't show you is the drumlin edge that runs northeast through both our lots - i.e. the land drops off sharply in the middle of his lot. If you look at the second photo, the cleared yard is pretty much the entirety of level ground available.