I appreciate your info. My last lawyer and friend, who died during covid (another story), hired his own appraiser when the power company 'condemned' a section of my property to trees along the road that might be near the power lines they were replacing. Got me more than twice what the power company appraisers were offering. It is kind of sad that money makes the world go around. In 'negotiating' it seems there are always contingencies that one can't see and people who have more experience. I think we need another section for stories.
It's also a symptom of the larger mentality that everything is "Win/Lose." I've known people for whom just "winning" is insufficient if the other guy is happy, too. Yeh, I tried to not go off on tangents in my replies to you. Your idea made me go look, with an eye to starting a thread for people to post stories that might be more of a memory dump that an actual dedicated thread topic. There is a forum titled Other Reminiscences under the umbrella of I Remember When that might be a place to put it. And the telling of those stories might generate new threads/topics.
We very recently drove drove down the street and around the block where we lived till 2004 ( had house built in 1988 just after we got married at 41 (me) and hubs 40 years old ….second marriage) at the time we paid $66.000 for house and land .,land was $17.000 ( now around $200.000 in same area ) However at the time I was not keen on the area due to the vacant land that was just being developed joining onto what’s called a Housing trust area , double units that were originally built to house immigrants from the UK who came to Aust by the ship loads referred to as 10 pound poms to work in industries such as Manufacturing cars / washing machines / fridges / road workers …..none of which are Aussie made anymore … Anyway …when we bought a home package at the time the area was just ….turning into ….what I described as “Feral's Ville” Copied this …… What does feral mean Australia? Australian derogatory, slang. (of a person) tending to have a rugged, unkempt appearance.and living in slum like conditions ************ With the housing commission homes full of single mums with uncontrolled young kids running the streets at all hours of the night. ( we used to have 3 kids knocking on our door at 6 am in the morning asking for food ) they were about 3, 6, and 7 years old……..I made a mistake of giving food once However we didn’t didn’t have much choice with hubby paying 1/4 of his wages to his ex for the 2 kids ….and me working to pay 17 and 3/4 % interest rate ……we had to live somewhere . We eventually sold the home in 2004 for $200.000 and purchased the house size block of land where we live now Got a home built in 2006 . I think of the time there as a stepping stone to improve our lifestyle / comforts ……and yes our home was broken into twice while living THERE .. $20.000 of goods stolen from-our home ….. and only a year or so previously most insurance companies were advising home owners to film / photograph any valuable possessions …….which we had done when advised …,due to having a old bulky video camera …but it did the job …and we was fully aware of the possibility of house break ins Back to where we used to live …..OMG it’s like a war zone / town rubbish dump …….Im so glad I eventually got my way and talked hubby into moving lots of drugs …the suburb is on the news most nights for crimes ….all the commission homes were knocked down and land sold off for further housing…..
we are and have been living pretty well with all the poverty around and I don't see it often. I used to physically bring food to the warming shelter and Salvation army. There are people who live under bridges, I was told. but most of our city is kept pretty well. I don't know if it is legally enforced or not. Some windows are boarded or covered poorly but most yards seem OK. I know the drug traffic has been increasing over the years. We have all been warned of the coming doom since the eighties. Not sure there is a great place for me to move, at this point as i fear doom might be just around the corner. Our police/sheriffs have been holding practices at a building halfway between hubby's house and the farm. Large quantities of police vehicles and trailers for gear. But all is done inside. The place used to be a supper club and dance hall. Not sure what it means.