House-iversary 6

August 30, 2024August 25, 2024 / rachelgoes262 / 5 Comments

When I bought this house 6 years ago, I had such high hopes having finally achieved the American Dream. The very first thought I had was, “we will never be homeless again. This is our forever home.” I was very eager to integrate into my new community. I walked to one of the local churches, frequented the library and started the book club there. I drafted a business plan to open a new business on Main Street and was in the process of securing funding to start the new venture when the pandemic hit.

The American Dream quickly turned into the American Nightmare once it became apparent how horrible the people are in this village, and how dangerous the people are who live on this street.

Over the years, I have documented numerous incidents of property damage. I have filed police reports regarding the damages and have receipts for repairs. Every time I must pay to make a repair to my property due to intentional damage caused, it takes away from funds I use to make upgrades to my home.

During the time I have owned this home, I have made numerous upgrades to the property. A real estate agent last fall (2023) told me that with the upgrades I have made to the home, I had added at least $10,000 in value to this house. However, that would only be if the house was in a nice, respectable neighborhood instead of the one in which I am located.

When the real estate agent did the appraisal for how much I could sell the house for, the bad neighbors have driven down my property value by over $20,000. One of the questions the real estate agent asked me when coming to view the house for valuation was, “do the neighbors have indoor plumbing?” How am I to know? What kind of a question is that?

You see, the reason why the real estate agent asked this question is because last summer they built an outhouse directly against my garage. My garage is the “fourth wall” that makes up their outhouse. The outhouse receives regular use, and the smell of human waste is strong every time you are outside on this property. I have no idea if those people have indoor plumbing or not. At the very least, it is obvious they no longer have an indoor toilet.

I had absolutely no idea things like that could drive down my property value. However, that is only one small item of the bigger issues driving down my property value.

The real estate agent who came to do the valuation said I would need to do a “bad neighbor” disclosure if I sell the house. It should have been done when I bought the house. It was not. I think part of the issue is that the person who owned this house passed away and left it to his grandchildren who do not live here. They probably had no idea how dangerous this neighborhood really is when they sold the home that was left to them as an inheritance.

The real estate agent said that they only show homes in this area in pairs for safety reasons. There are numerous complaints from people on my street and surrounding streets regarding noise and other concerns.

Here is the root cause of the problem. Noise.

There is a possibility we may not even be in this house next year to celebrate another House-iversary. To be honest, today is no celebration. This house has turned into an American Nightmare.

While property damage is annoying and costly, I draw the line when someone physically injures me and those I love.

Last year I was physically injured as a direct result of the neighbors’ actions. One of the cats was also. We had to seek medical care. The cat had to go to the vet, and I had to go to the doctors. Our ear drums were ruptured. I am still having problems from it. It impacted my work and my everyday life. All my paid time off from work was used last summer dealing with our injuries as a direct result of their actions. I had to pay out of pocket for medical care and anything with ears and hearing is not covered.

Without going into all the details of this dangerous situation, I have learned that there is no way to get these people to stop. They are sadists who enjoy causing pain and injury to other people and animals. I reached out to a lawyer last fall, in September, who said I have a very strong case for battery with plenty of third-party evidence. However, battery is not a crime in New York. A lawsuit will not stop them from continuing to injure us.

I don’t want.to be injured again.

There is no noise ordinance here. The village does not feel the need for a noise ordinance. Their exact words were: “well, I don’t have to live there.” They don’t want working people like me who are trying to upgrade properties and open new businesses in the village. I am the undesirable in this situation.

The bottom line is that we were injured. This is unacceptable. It is not safe here.

Since there is no way to get the behavior to stop, the only way to keep us safe from physical harm is to leave. That’s why I contacted a real estate agent about selling the house. How much can I get for the house if I sell it and move? I need to pay off the mortgage.

The problem is this neighborhood is so bad, they have driven down my property value. All the upgrades I have made mean nothing in a location this bad. The real estate agent told me to stop putting money into the house and making upgrades. They said any more upgrades I do is not going to make a difference to the selling price on a street this bad.

Unfortunately, they have driven down my property value to the point where I would have to do a short sale to sell the house. That means, I can no longer sell it for a price that would pay off my mortgage. The mortgage company would need to approve the sale at a price less than the house is worth (by about $30,000). The mortgage company will not approve a short sale. The real estate agent says it has been taking twice as long for houses to sell here than any other place in the county due to the bad neighborhood. There are complaints of excessive noise, cars doing burnouts, unattended children and drugs. (I have no idea about anything other than the noise).

If this house was in a better neighborhood, I would have no problem selling it. The real estate agent says it has “curb appeal.” With the upgrades I made, I would be able to sell the house at a profit – if it was in a better neighborhood that did not have neighbors with this extreme noise problem that bothers everyone on the street and even on adjoining and parallel streets (it’s that loud).

House-iversary is no longer an annual celebration of finding our forever home so we would never be homeless again. While I love this house, it is completely unacceptable for my cats and I to live in fear because we never know when we are going to be attacked and physically injured again. We cannot control the behavior of bad neighbors. The only thing I can do is leave to keep us safe.

This is the most dangerous place I have ever lived in my life. I can’t even enjoy my own property. I go outside to garden and am instantly hit by the smell of human waste. I never know when they will blare their music. There were 5 days in July where I got a grand total of 15 hours of sleep. I am starting a new work position also. It is very hard to go on 3 hours of sleep per day. Their behavior disrupts my life.

Most of the music comes from cars. On highways, there are signs saying vehicle noise is not supposed to be above 70 decibels. I wish I lived on a highway. The motor vehicle law does not apply to the village in which I live.

In this village, it is perfectly acceptable for music to be well higher than the 70-decibel state law at all hours of the day or night.

Thanksgiving 2023 I had arranged everything with someone in a different time zone over zoom and we coordinated our meals. When we went to sit down to eat, the music started and lasted for hours. What was supposed to be a family celebration ended up being yet another nightmare. We could see each other, but there was no prayer before the meal, no conversation, no nothing. All that planning for a family event was ruined. The music was coming from a vehicle parked across the street. They must have had family over for their Thanksgiving that they hated and did not want to talk to. Nothing could be heard over the noise even if you screamed (which we tried).

I do go outside, but I must be careful when I go out. I always must look to see who is out to decide if it is safe for me to go out. Many times, when they have these parties, there are well over 50 people. If I am attacked, there is no one to help me. No one would respond if I were attacked on the street. We had one set of neighbors next door who were friendly and who had the same problems with the noise as we do. They moved in June. They told me they could not spend another summer like the one we had last year with the noise.

We may not be here next year. The hardest part is trying to figure out – where will we go? The mortgage company will not allow a short sale. So, once I figure out where we will go, we will have to leave the house, and I will probably have to voluntarily allow it to go into foreclosure. It will be the only way to get my name off the mortgage since the mortgage company will not approve a short sale. I cannot afford two residences, and we are not safe here.

When I think about allowing the house to go into foreclosure, it breaks my heart. It makes me feel like they have won. They have driven us out of our forever home by their actions. I have dreams of updating and improving this house and that will all be gone. I had wanted to be a valued member of the community by starting the book club and opening a business. The reality is that we were physically injured last year. There is no way to get their behavior to stop.

This may be the last House-iversary post as the American Dream is now the American Nightmare. The future is bleak. The choices are homelessness or be physically injured again. Neither choice is appealing.

House-iversary 5

August 30, 2023August 24, 2023 / rachelgoes262 / Leave a comment

Today is our 5 year House-iversary. Five years ago today, we bought this house to keep us together and prevent us from becoming homeless (again). Purchasing this house was the first time I have ever lived in a house.

It’s been a long 5 years. I do love the house. However, I was unaware when I bought it that the house is in a horrible location. The sellers had inherited the house from a deceased relative and failed to do the “bad neighbor disclosure.” I have to do the bad neighbor disclosure when I sell the house. If the disclosure had been done when I was buying the house, I would have looked twice about my purchase.

When I say the neighbors are bad, I must clarify that by saying this is the worst place I have ever lived in 40 years. I have been homeless and lived on the streets. I had better “neighbors” while homeless than I have right now.

Here is a very short, abbreviated list of highlights of what the neighbors have done over the past 5 years:

Taken a baseball bat to the siding on the side of the house

Broken my bedroom window

Punctured my ear drum with their loud music (yes, it was that loud to puncture ear drums)

Caused me to lose my job due to excessive noise

Drove their vehicle into the front of the house twice, almost killing us while sleeping

Caused over $4,000 in damage to car and house with repeated illegal firework displays

Smeared feces all over my front door

Blocked driveway so I have been unable to leave the property for medical appointments or to escape them

Pointed a gun in my face and threatened to shoot me when I knocked on the door to ask them to stop blocking my driveway so I could go to a doctor appointment for chemo

Found used condoms in my garage, as well as installed an outhouse right next to my garage because they cannot afford to repair their indoor bathroom

That is just a very short list of highlights of the extremely long list of things they have done. The local sheriff department refuses to do anything about the behavior. They claim that all of this is legal. I am no longer allowed to call the sheriff department when any of this happens, as they said my complaints are considered “harassment.” I now have two rooms in my house I am not able to even use due to damages that happened when they drove their vehicle into the front of my house, and yet I am the one “harassing” them by reporting it?

The goal of all of these actions by my neighbors is that they want me to sell the house. You see, the perpetrator is the mayor’s brother. Of course, the mayor is above the law. The mayor’s brother is trying to buy up properties in this area and is low-balling all of the prices due to the bad neighbor disclosure. I’ve heard that he was pissed when my offer went through on the house over his low-balled offer five years ago.

The logic in all of these events is that if they harass me enough, I will sell the house. Not only will I sell the house, but they will be able to buy it at a really low price because the neighborhood is so horrid.

As much as I would love to sell the house to escape these neighbors, I can’t. If I sell this house, we will be homeless. We have no place to go. You see, this house is the only thing keeping us together. So we need to stay here.

The best solution would be for the neighbors to stop harassing us. It’s absolutely terrifying to have a gun shoved in your face when you try to ask someone to stop doing what they are doing. However, the sheriff department insists that all of this is legal. If you go onto someone else’s property to talk to them, they are allowed to shoot you. Welcome to America.

Honestly, I love this house. I hate the neighbors.

There are 5 reasons why I fell in love with this house. One of those reasons is for the living room which I can’t even use anymore because that is the room the neighbors have driven into twice now with their car. I don’t feel safe using the living room anymore. It’s possible that the third time they drive into the living room, we will be killed. So I completely emptied all the furniture out of the living room and no longer use that room. They have driven into the house twice in five years. I’m sure it will happen again.

For the record, the house is set back from the street. So they drove over a strip of grass and a sidewalk to drive into the front of the house. They went completely off road. We do not live on a curve or on the end of the street. This was deliberate. The house has been here for over 100 years. No one has ever driven into the front of the house until now. It is being done deliberately to either kill or terrify us. You see, if I die, then they can buy the house cheap as well.

They noise is deliberate also. If I lose my job due to noise, I can’t pay the mortgage and they can buy the house in foreclosure. If they puncture my ear drums enough to cause hearing damage so I can no longer work, they can force me out of the house too. Their actions are all deliberate.

So this year is House-iversary 5. This house is keeping us together. It is preventing us from being homeless.

I am grateful for the house, but the neighbors are horrible. I just wish they would stop so I could enjoy being a first time homeowner and enjoy living in our “forever house” that I will probably die in (hopefully not prematurely from being murdered by the neighbors).

When I bought this house 5 years ago, it was the answer to a prayer to keep us together and not be homeless. Over the past 5 years the dream has quickly turned into a nightmare due to the neighbors.

As much as I want to leave and as bad as it is, I am more scared of being homeless. This house is the only thing keeping us all together.

So here is hoping that the neighbors stop with the harassment. I have no recourse for their actions, as the sheriff states everything they are doing is legal. I never knew it was legal to purposefully damage people’s property and physically hurt them. I always thought those types of actions were illegal, but this is America after all. This is the country in which we live.

Here’s hoping the next 5 years will be better than the last 5 years. (I doubt it, but there is nothing I can do to change the situation.)

House-iversary 4

August 30, 2022August 28, 2022 / rachelgoes262 / Leave a comment

August 30 is our 4 year anniversary of being in this house. We bought it on what would have been Ted Williams’ 100^th birthday. The sole purpose of this house was to keep Jude, Simon and I together. Our apartment had been taken over by a new landlord who doubled the rent and stated the building needed to be pet free. We had to leave or be evicted. All other rentals in the area are either no pets or one pet only. What parent is going to choose between their children? I’m not. We had to stay together.

This house keeps us together. For Jolene, it is the only home she has ever known. Simon has been in the house longer than he was in the apartment. Jude will pass that milestone this winter. It will be another decade before I reach that milestone.

As grateful as I am that this house keeps us together, I don’t want to be here. I wish I could pick up the house and move it someplace else due to the bad neighbors. I can’t even use my living room or my front porch (both reasons why I even bought the damn house) due to the neighbors driving into the front of it twice now. Every day I live in fear that I will be murdered in my own house.

Selling this house will be difficult, as I will have to do the bad neighbors disclosure. It is also possible that by the time I sell, there will no longer be a garage and there will be many things that needs to be done to the house. I’m expecting that I will lose money when it comes time to sell. On top of that I will have to pay back $10k to the low-income program that helped me.

This will be the only home I ever own. I was repeatedly denied a mortgage due to my student loans. I am in PSLF. I had applied for forgiveness after 10 years of teaching. The only reason why I was approved for this house and my mortgage is that the bank thought my student loans would be forgiven through PSLF. Boy, were they wrong. Here I am in this house and about to enter year 26 of student loan repayment with no end in sight. I have been denied student loan forgiveness twice now. Brandon refuses to forgive student loans, instead choosing to simply waive a few months of interest. I know I will never be approved to buy another house due to my student loans. Once I sell this one, I will be stuck as a renter for the rest of my life.

This house is what is keeping us together. You can’t have pets in apartments here.

Once the cats pass away from natural causes, I do intend to sell the house. I won’t need it anymore. I don’t want to be here. I will be leaving the country and moving someplace more affordable that also has healthcare. I will, after all, be paying my student loans until I die. I need to decrease expenses as much as possible,

So, while we celebrate the fact that we have been in this house for 4 years and that it is keeping us together, I am also looking forward to the day when I can sell it and leave the country permanently.

My only goal is to outlive the cats. They need to be together, cared for, and loved. This house keeps us together.

We are so grateful to be together in these horrible times we live. Thank you for this house keeping the 4 of us together. Here’s hoping it holds up long enough to keep us together for the rest of Jude, Simon and Jolene’s natural lives. I just need to outlive them and keep us all together. This house keeps us together. Happy house-iversary.

House-iversary 3

August 30, 2021August 29, 2021 / rachelgoes262 / Leave a comment

Today we celebrate our 3 year anniversary in our house. They say everything happens for a reason, and I am 100% convinced that the reason for this house is to keep us all together. At first, it was Jude, Simon and I. Now, Jolene has been with us for a year and a half too.

I like the house, but the neighborhood is horrid. I know, I know. Real estate is all about location, location, location. If I ever tried to sell this house, I would have to do a bad neighbor disclosure. I am a little mad that the sellers did not do the bad neighbor disclosure when I bought the house. However, I don’t think they failed to disclose out of malice. The person who had been living in this house passed away. The people who sold me this house had inherited it. They did not live in it, so I am sure they did not realize how truly bad the neighbors are and that they would have to do the bad neighborhood disclosure.

Despite being in one of the worst neighborhoods in the area, I do like the house. So far, the cats and I have managed to shelter-in-place here safe from covid. I am convinced that the purpose of this house is to keep us all together and well.

As a homeowner, I have control over who comes into the house to provide service. The HVAC company I used in prior years do not wear a mask, so you can be sure I will be using someone else this year. As a homeowner, I have control over those decisions that you cannot control in an apartment. I’m sure if we were still in the apartment we would have had maintenance people in and no control over the whole “wear a mask” issue.

As much as I would like to sell this house and move due to the bad neighborhood, that is not possible due to the first time home buyer program I used. I do not have $10,000 to pay back the grant. Plus, with three cats, where would we go? Apartments do not accept pets.

I am going to die in this house. I don’t know when that will be, but I know I will die in this house. I will never pay it off.

If I manage to outlive the cats, I will sell the house and move. Right now this house is the only thing that keeps us together and safe. Safe is a relative term – we are safe from covid, but we are not safe from the neighbors.

To be honest, I do not feel safe in this house due to the neighbors. The loud music, which I have come to learn is someone with a drum set and no insulation, continues. There are at least three houses of Proud Boys. There is gunfire on a regular basis. It is quite possible I will survive the pandemic only to be shot by one of the neighbors, whether intentionally or accidentally.

For now, it is home, and it is all we have.

I am so thankful that on house-iversary 3, we are all together and healthy. Earlier this year when I lost my job, we faced a true reality of being homeless again. We are just one disaster away from losing it all.

Happy House-iversary 3. My wish is that this is truly the last forever home for all three cats. All I need to do is care for them and keep us all together. I am so grateful for this house that is keeping us together and safe not only for the rest of our lives, but through a global pandemic.