A bad Christmas present

[Linda Y]

We just found out that they are proposing a 409 house subdivision almost across the street from us. :cry: I won't be able to stand it. It figures out to lot sizes about 85 x 100. 'Modest' homes, and we all know what that means. :cry:
A neighbor brought us a petition to sign, but there are so few people on this main road, I know we don't have a snowballs chance against the rich developers. I don't know whether to :puke or :cry: . Will probably do both.
I am off to see if I can find a good real estate agent and sell this place. Bad thing is, I don't know where else to go. WAHHHHH! :evil:

[Mellifluous]

gee, it seems that developers aren't getting the idea that the housing market is going soft FAST.

You will most likely end up with a networks of roads and street lamps next door because the lots won't sell.

It might get built out in the next 10-15 years.

[Linda Y]

BUT you have to remember we lost a huge chunk of housing because of Katrina. There are still a lot of people in FEMA trailers that are fixing to be put in the street when their time runs out. The governments are not letting people build back on their lots unless they meet new codes, like putting the houses on ungodly high pilings. Insurance didn't pay for a lot of these places to be rebuilt, so it is out of pocket for those who lost everything.
And a lot of people are wanting to move north of the interstate...the dividing line for insurance...because the cost of insurance south is prohibitive. They are building like crazy in Diamondhead, a subdivision just south of us. There is talk of putting in a casino less than 4 miles away. In another location, you are probably right...it would sit vacant. I am afraid all the FEMA displaced crackheads will buy these 'cheap' houses.

[Barbwire]

Yep, that sux, alright! Poor Linda. :(

[Bonnie M]

I've got one that beats you Linda.....they are going to be building 2,000 homes down my road :shock: They are also building a huge golf course, like we need another one here.

The funny thing is they sent out pamphlets on the new development, shows all the pretty nice open land, which is going to be gone when they build the homes.

The road to our house is 2 lanes now....it is going to be widened to 4 lanes! I ride down the side of this road and down around where the homes are going to be built. Guess I won't be doing that anymore.

We moved here from the Tampa area in order to get away from the subdivisions.

[Linda Y]

Oh, Bonnie...that IS worse!
Florida, patooie!
We are on little country two lane road here, too. But there are no plans to widen anything. Where the frick can you get away from these killer developers??

[DSDECKERT]

Linda - do you need Tony's (realtor) number? He stopped by on Saturday, I'm surprised Barbwire didn't get a picture of his man-can! She did point out to me that his fly was partially undone...maybe her gaze is moving to the nether-regions?????

[Barbwire]

Musta caught that from you! :razz:

[Linda Y]

Linda - do you need Tony's (realtor) number? He stopped by on Saturday, I'm surprised Barbwire didn't get a picture of his man-can! She did point out to me that his fly was partially undone...maybe her gaze is moving to the nether-regions?????

Possibly. It makes me sick thinking about maybe having to move all this 'stuff'. I don't know what we will do right now. I can't leave my parents. I have to think on this for a while. :-?

[appyday]

We just found out that they are proposing a 409 house subdivision almost across the street from us. :cry: I won't be able to stand it. It figures out to lot sizes about 85 x 100. 'Modest' homes, and we all know what that means. :cry:
A neighbor brought us a petition to sign, but there are so few people on this main road, I know we don't have a snowballs chance against the rich developers. I don't know whether to :puke or :cry: . Will probably do both.
I am off to see if I can find a good real estate agent and sell this place. Bad thing is, I don't know where else to go. WAHHHHH! :evil:

Maryland!! Sista

[Linda Y]

Maryland!! Sista

My husband would go there in a heartbeat. His brother lives in Reston, VA, not too far from there. Isn't it expensive there?

[jodiTowne]

That is just horrible. I hate development! Where are all these people coming from??? Even in the middle of the adirondack mtns here in NY, you think you are in the middle of nowhere and Pooff....a house or campground appears.

I keep thinking it won't happen here, but houses are springing up all the time...and unfortunately they are not always nice ones either. I live in the land of NO CODES!!!

Sorry for your ongoing troubles!

[motorgypsy]

WOW - Brooksville was in the boonies just a couple of years ago. A GOLF COURSE community??? YUK

In SC there is a golf course going up on our property line also. About 700 multi million dollar homes on three sides of us and all our mountain land and boarding barn bought up. GRRRRR. We just bought a small farm in Hudson FL in a neighborhood with a lot of people who have horses so I'm hoping it will stay a horsey place. This golf course construction has to stop. There are only so many people who can afford to play gold and who want to.

[pasoglide]

Hey why don't some of you paso people move down here to south Ga. I sure do need some riding partners.

[CarolU]

Don't give up Linda...not yet. Fight it. It will require a change in zoning. We fought a developer here, from putting in 1-acre lots to stay with our current zonning of 5-acre lots. It'll still be subdivided, but with 5-acre lots, we're sure to have horse neighbors instead of just a subdivision.

Fight Fight Fight FIGHT :hitting

[Linda Y]

There is a meeting on the 21st that we are going to attend. The code out here right now is a minimum of 3 acres. That is quite a difference from 3 acres to 85 feet! We will fight, but I'm afraid there just won't be enough of us.
Also found out that a developer bought a 110 acre tract about 6 miles away. It is a gorgeous piece of ground with huge live oaks, an antibellum mansion and nice barn and pastures. What a waste. Those neighbors are raising a stink, too.

[GeorgeGuns]

Well with global warming and all, there are two ways to lok at it.
a) just move ahead of the wave to the Yukon, its gonna get quite temperate there, or
b) stay put if you like it hot, cuz the folks that don't will all move north!

[reuben T]

it's beginning to look like we can't escape them. We moved to the lowest populated county in TN 20 yrs ago, there was about 5,000 people in it. sence then the timber companies have started selling out and a good share of the land has been bought by developers. Some was devided in big lots and a few small farms get started, now more and more of it is being cut up much smaller, tonight a friend told me he and his contractor boss has 1200 log cabins to build on 2000 acres. That's little more than an acre and a half apiece. I don't think the area will support that many new dwellings, even vacation cabins. Another developer was going to make a huge retirement complex till he decided hospitols and stores were much too far away and people wouldn't buy housing that far from them. We're still surrounded by several thousand acres of timberland, but the owner is getting old and he told me 50% of his land would sell when he died, last i knew he owned 40,000 acres in the county. Land that would have been sold for $500-ac 20 years ago,(or even 10 yrs ago) is being offered at $8,000-ac now or more just because a developer got it and built a few roads between the parcels. We got 80 then, and it's a good thing we did, as we couldn't afford but maybe 3-4 now the way prices are going.
Wyoming has about as many people in it as chattanooga TN does. I like i out there, except for the water issues. I think I'd prefer to be where rain falls and grass grows as long as it dosn't get too crowded, and non horse friendly.

[Moniece Dickerson]

I really feel for you all dealing with this,I would be SICK if anything like that were to happen here!!So sorry!Your friend,Moniece

[Rusel]

Our 2 lane is changing into a four lane... from the Gulf to the Atlantic... the clay side road running along the property will soon to changed to paved to accomodate the 2,200 lots in 3 subdivisions that have been empty for the last 5 years behind me.... Now over 900 have been sold in the last 6 mos.... I expect building to start going crazy because as of Feb. 1, 2007 this county is going to change their impact fees for building, septics and wells to go from less than $500 to $7,000...... yep $7.000... they are trying to slow down the growth so that the roads and schools are not so impacted that they can't keep up....

I'm looking for land in N.Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Alabama....

[Linda Y]

900 lots sold in 6 months? Wonder why? You would think the series of hurricanes would deter people from buying.
I don't know what we are going to do either. I have been pricing property in our area since I don't want to get too far from my elderly parents. Property the size of what we have now is priced in the MILLIONS. Of course WE couldn't get that for ours, but they think theirs is worth that!

[Rusel]

The county has become the mecca for Florida sales.... the poorest county in Florida with hundreds of lakes... located halfway between Gainesville and Palatka and about 40 minutes from Jacksonville... Land that was selling 2 years ago for 18k is not selling for 40k +.... one investor just bought 10 acres on the lake in the woods off a clay road.... not even a road to the place yet...for $45k. and is advertising in New York for $375k.... To many get rich investors... hopefully people will take a good look before they invest....

[Minouri]

Even in the city/county we've got buildings booming. Across the street from me they want to put a huge development in.

I've always lived in the city so I can't really imagine the big open spaces you all talk about. However, I can imagine your frustration of buying a place that you think will stay secluded and discovering that you're going to be surrounded.

[Polly Aulton]

DO NOT GO TO MARYLAND! I was born and raised there. They tax and regulate you nearly to extinction!
To get nearer to the Virginia family look at Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina. Or, heck even Virginia. Lots of land still open in those areas. Pack your mom up and take her with you. That's what we did (kicking and screaming all the way too!). There used to be no state income tax in TN but that may have changed. You also need to look at hospitals and their nearness and competence if you take your mom with you.
Maryland is a beautiful state with tons of advantages and everything is close but with the US government taking up lots of the land there's not that much for the State Gov. to tax so they make sure they tax it well. LOL
Let us know how the meeting goes.
Polly
www.pojoranch.net

[Mrs. E.]

We live in the same county as Rusel. We bought two 5 acres lots for about $12K each about 22 year ogo. Our taxes have been untill this year very good. The one with nothing on but woods, tax was about $250.00 and the other with our trailer and pole barn was about $1400.00. Just paid the taxes and the lot had gone up to $1000.00 while the lot with the trailer has gone to $2400.00. Big jump. The wooded lot is now assesed at $50,000.00 and our puny little trailer lot is $111,000.00 a big jump from $60K. And OUCH it hurt. Mr. E. is going to be out a job in the next few weeks do to the building he works at being sold.
Like Rusel said this is a very poor county, but after this year it is coming up in the world. :smile: It is also growing at the speed that south Florida did 20 years ago. Don't want to move again too old but progress is following me.

[Linda Y]

Wyoming has about as many people in it as chattanooga TN does. I like i out there, except for the water issues. I think I'd prefer to be where rain falls and grass grows as long as it dosn't get too crowded, and non horse friendly.

I used to live in Wyoming...Cheyenne. While I was there, I loved it, but it could be because that is where I got my first horse. :lol: As I got older, I decided I wouldn't want to live there because of the weather. 70 degrees one minute, 32 the next. Hurricane force winds are commonplace. No grass. No trees. COLD! Oh, and did I say cold? My toes are freezing just thinking about it.
It is supposed to be miserable weather tomorrow during the meeting. But we will go anyway.

[LynnG]

My little community of New Hill have been fighting our larger fast growth neighbor towns who underhandedly decided that our little town would be the ideal site for their regional sewage treatment plant, which would be the largest one in the state of NC. No one in our community were consulted at all... The sewage treatment plant proposed site (they call it a water treatment plant)... is adjacent to our designated National Historic District. Our fight has been hard-fought, legal/expensive, and ongoing all the way to the NC State Dept of Environmental Resources. We had meetings with the Dept of Cultural Resources, held protest marches, received much tv and publicity coverage, etc. The positive thing is it has united our little community of around 1200 to know your neighbors better, and be proactive in our fight.

Fighting growth is one thing, but who you're fighting who breaks the rules and laws...gives you something to fight against. I'm just in the mile radious of the proposed site. We also have a nuclear plant within 2-3 miles but its not adjacent to the center of our community and 2 churches.

Its not over yet, but they have condemned a famil farm to get the acreage desired for the site. You have to be organized in a fight, and don't give up when it seems all obstacles are against you.

You can see our community fight and the avenues our group took at: www.newhillca.org. Our community group is now incorporated. We've held yard sales, hosted bar-b-q dinners, sold license tags, etc for fund raisiers.

Good luck with the fight! You got to fight if you don't want it, but take it a civilized way!