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Why would someone let a house sit empty for decades?


mom2scouts
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1 hour ago, mom2scouts said:

No, the land is virtually worthless without the house. It's a thriving older neighborhood with small lots. The house could easily be rented or sold in any condition. If someone razed the house and built new, the new house wouldn't be worth much more than the old one and wouldn't be able to be much bigger than other homes in the neighborhood.

 

There might be a reason it could not be rented that is unknown to you. 

Look up what it was bought for compared to sale price.  

Were there property tax freezes at an old tax level? Or did it have high taxes?

these things (and very likely even whether there was or was not a mortgage) may be discoverable online nowadays 

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We sort of know someone who has done this.  In their case, having the house not occupied and no certificate of occupancy means they don’t have to pay the taxes.  The taxes with a CO are going to be in the ball park of 18k a year.  Without that CO, taxes are the land only price and about 3k a year.  The house they started building is gorgeous and would be a hallmark house when done.  Why they even started the house when they knew what the taxes would be is something I don’t get it. 

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All interesting theories!  (And all believable!)  I don't have experience with that, but know of a home where someone actually lived in it but it appeared vacant for years.  My dh lived across the street from a large, beautiful, very old home (100+ years).  A large family lived there (I think 10+ children -- it was an old Irish Catholic neighborhood).  Eventually the children grew up, and the parents lived there alone.  When the father died, one of the older kids (60+ by then) moved in to help.  He was single, always kind of a loner.  His mother had had a lawn company take care of the lawn, etc., and he helped her with everything else until she passed away.  Then, he continued on living there.  He fired the lawn company, and never did a thing about the lawn after that.  Everything became overgrown, to the point where the home was no longer visible behind the overgrown trees, bushes, shrubs, etc.  The front door was no longer even reachable.  A delivery truck was seen about once/week bringing items (groceries?).  They'd drive to the end of the driveway which ended up behind the house.  The house looked completely empty from the front.  But, it was well-known in the neighborhood that the loner son still lived there.  My MIL sold her home about 8 years ago so we haven't been back to the neighborhood to see what was happening across the street!  

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We have a vacant house on our street.  It's a manufactured home on 2 acres. I have no idea why they don't rent it, sell it, or just use the land for horses, but they don't.  Someone keeps up with mowing and the roof was recently replaced. I thought someone would move in when they re-did the roof, but no. It's not a hoarder house either, because you can see in the windows. There are just a few boxes and a sofa. *shrug* It's actually a very well-kept property and it's been empty for at least 6 years. 

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We had a landlord who owned the house we lived in plus the house next door.  No one had lived in the house next door for YEARS! He grew up in the house next door and bought the house from his parents when they moved into assisted living. He never lived there as an adult but talked frequently about updating the inside and getting it ready as a rental. However....

Turns out he had a sister who died in an accident when she was a teenager and her room was exactly the same as it was on the day she died some 40-50 years ago. He filled the house with all kinds of stuff in a hoarder-ish way everywhere but her bedroom. He mowed the lawn once a week, did yard work/snow removal and general exterior care of the house like someone lived there.  But while he would talk about renting or selling to one of his kids, reality was he was going to hang onto it until the day he died. We've been away from that neighborhood for almost ten years now, and that vacant house sits there just like it always did.

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We had a house on our street that was unoccupied for a couple of years. My (very vague) understanding is that the house is in some sort of trust and can't be sold. If someone from the family doesn't want to live there, it sits empty. 

ETA: I don't know if they can rent it out. I get the impression no one would want the hassle. 

Edited by guilfordlake
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Not a house....but I have a relative that inherited money when her son was killed. She refuses to spend, give it away or invest the money. She calls it blood money and that no one should benefit from it. It sits in an account and she will never touch it. 

I could see a similar situation happening with a house. 

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3 hours ago, Tap said:

Not a house....but I have a relative that inherited money when her son was killed. She refuses to spend, give it away or invest the money. She calls it blood money and that no one should benefit from it. It sits in an account and she will never touch it. 

I could see a similar situation happening with a house. 

Poor thing. I can understand that. 

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My mil has her Mom's old house just sitting empty. I think it has been around 10 yrs now. She blames her brother, says he won't let go of it but whenever you say something about doing this or that so they an sell it she has some excuse why she can't. She has a hard time letting go of things, aspiring hoarder, and there is still things in the house. She can't bare to sell it with anything in there but can't fit more of it in her house(she's already brought so much home her house is stuffed) and can't get rid of it either. We expect that when she dies we'll be the ones left to deal with it and the mountain of things in her own home.

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On 6/22/2020 at 9:44 AM, Arctic Mama said:

They were re-enacting Pom Poko, clearly.

Officially the weirdest movie I have ever seen. LOLOLOLOLOL Bazaar doesn't even begin to describe this movie. 

DS collects anime, so I have seen a fair bit. This movie, will live on forever in my brain as the 'WTF is happening' movie.  I think especially since it is anime, I feel like they had more opportunity to rethink a few things. And the director is phenomenal!!!! But nope...it is all there...in its rolled-out glory... (if you have seen this movie, you will understand this comment). Odd, especially for Ghibli. 

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My dad's house is like this.  My stepmother can't sell because she'd have to split the money up, 50% for her, 50% for us kids.  She doesn't want that, so she lives out of state with her boyfriend. She can't marry him even though she's been with him 15 years, because she'd lose some of the money from my dad.

On 6/22/2020 at 4:19 PM, CuriousMomof3 said:

I really want to hear more about these quarreling nuns.  

Never underestimate the spitefulness of some nuns.  They're not all holy, they are people just like all of us.

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