Eminent Domain (long post)

FarmerRuss · #1 10/08/13, 09:36 AM

Pull up a stump and settle in, its storytime.
Hotdogs and marshmallows are optional.

BACK STORY.
This house is been in the wife's life for 57 years.
Her parents were the original owners,
the wife grew up here, her kids grew up here.
Her parents died here.
Her father died in the living room.
The wife was making her daily check on the father and found him in the living room.
The wife has only lived in two other places and that was for a short time.
So this house has some history and special meaning to her.

CURRENT EVENTS.. EARLY JULY.
So I am sitting outside talking with a neighbor and a local news van pulls up.
The guy jumps and asked "Did we get the notice?"
Now of course we didn't get it the letter or notice.

I make the rounds of the neighbors to find a copy of this notice.
Our city Council and the Board of Public Works must've hired some sort of ninja because nobody saw any one put the notices on the door.
It basically says that our Board of Public Works has decided that they need to put a power plant in our neighborhood and are buying 22 houses and 15 businesses.

What a cowardly way to go about kicking people out of their house.
They said they've looked at nine other places and decided that our neighborhood was the best place for this powerplant.
No explanation as to why our neighborhood was better than anybody else's.
There was no open forum, no contact or open hearings everything was done behind closed doors.

At this point in the story our house was in the BLUE ZONE, meaning they were not going to buy our house but we could sell it to them.
Over the next couple days we talk to all the neighbors in the neighborhood.
And found out we had had to call to set up an appointment to have our house appraise.
Talking with the wife we decided what the hey let's find out what they had to offer.
So week later the appraiser comes and does a sidewalk appraisal.

One more phone call to the point of contact we found out that we'll get the appraisal back in 10 days to two weeks.
Over the course of the next two weeks the rumor mill will was in full swing.
Families saying they were going to fight this to the bitter end.
Wild guesstimationsas to how they were going to come up with the price of the house.
One of the crazier one was they were going to take the square footage of your house and multiplied by some abstract number.

The two weeks were up we started calling the number, "sorry nothing yet".
The wife is not handling any of this very well, many nights in tears.

So every week we keep calling and keep getting the same answer "nothing yet".
Four or five of the neighbors decided to band together and they're going to march down on City Hall and fight this.
And of course that fell apart and nothing came of it, the City Hall just kind of said yeah go talk to him.
One Friday we got told by the rumor mill that our house was now in the RED ZONE, meaning that they were going to buy our house.
Our Monday phone call was "well we're not sure what zone you're in".
Now the wife is having fits, it was okay when we had a choice but it wasn't so good when they were going to forced out.

The appraisal started showing up.
The pay structure was like this:
appraised value + (25% appraised value) + (15% signing bonus) + (3000 moving bonus).

Two months after this first started we finally got our appraisal.
When this first started the wife and I talked we came up with a number we would have been happy with.
After paying off a small mortgage and a few bills will have about $50,000 to put down on a piece of property.
we came out a lot better than a lot of the other neighbors some their mortgages are really underwater.
In the end we were more than happy with the results.

You know that feeling you get when the Cyclone Roller Coaster finally comes to an end.
You HAVE that queasy feeling in your stomach, your eyes are still blurry and you're madly looking around for the exit and
still try to remember to grab your hat and sunglasses off the ramp.
That's how we feel.
WE JUST OFF THIS RIDE

It's not a ride would ever want to do again were just very glad about how it turned out.
Now the really scary thing about all of this.
Out of the 22 families this is happened to 3 of them before.
That's kind of scary percentage.

And just when we thought it was over.
We found out were on a new ride the REAL ESTATE MARKET.

But that's another story.

SteveD(TX) · #2 10/08/13, 10:00 AM

Was this your story or was it copied and pasted here? I ask because I found it quite difficult to read since each sentence starts over at a new line.

Anyway I'm glad you or whoever had a good outcome; not all are so fortunate.

geo in mi · #3 10/08/13, 10:06 AM

Welcome to the homesteading forum. I'm glad this all worked out for you. Now maybe you can move to a place where you will be away from encroaching city life, and you can have some animals, a garden, and some self-sufficiency, huh?

geo

FarmerRuss · #4 10/08/13, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveD(TX)

Was this your story or was it copied and pasted here?

It is wholly our story but it is a cut and pasted.
I have dyslexia so I use Dragon for my longer posting, me and the keyboard just don't get along.

Quote:

Originally Posted by geo in mi

Welcome to the homesteading forum. I'm glad this all worked out for you. Now maybe you can move to a place where you will be away from encroaching city life, and you can have some animals, a garden, and some self-sufficiency, huh?
geo

Thanks for the welcome
The real estate is just as crazy (story to come)
We are working on a 5 acre plot of land

motdaugrnds · #5 10/08/13, 10:31 AM

Hello and welcome Russ! "dyslexia" or not, you're an awesome person. I'm glad your wife is able to let the past go. She must be awesome as well!

BlueRose · #6 10/08/13, 11:02 AM

FarmerRuss and wife welcome to Homesteading Today alot of great people here and a bunch of good information.

Harry Chickpea · #7 10/08/13, 11:26 AM

I found it quite easy to read, almost like free verse (poetry).

You got out well, but if you haven't signed yet you might want to get your own appraisal, just to verify that the one they are using is accurate. There is no incentive for them to go with a high appraisal.

#8 10/08/13, 12:08 PM

This story brings up an interesting question . If someone was faithfully making payments on a property that had lost value because of the market & the PTB comes along & takes the property claiming eminent domain , can the PTB just pay the new appraised value & leave the owner hanging for the balance of the loan ?

Patchouli · #9 10/08/13, 12:18 PM

That sounds like a really rough ride, glad you have solid numbers now and can move on to your next step! So are you currently farming or looking to start once you move?

Jennifer L. · #10 10/08/13, 12:58 PM

I'm sorry your wife is going to lose the house she grew up in, but you probably wouldn't want to be neighbors with a power plant, anyway, so at least you are getting reasonably paid for it. And I think she will feel better when she has a new place to settle in to.

I think how every one feels about eminent domain depends on how often their own places are affected by it. I've had small pieces of land get taken in my family, but never the whole place. Mostly it's been for widening a highway, stuff like that, so it hasn't killed us. You do have to feel for the people who really, really don't want to go, though.

FarmerRuss · #11 10/08/13, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by motdaugrnds

Hello and welcome Russ! "dyslexia" or not, you're an awesome person. I'm glad your wife is able to let the past go. She must be awesome as well!

Thanks I am not sure it's a "letting go of the past" as much as a accepting the future. Maybe after 50 some years of living there, this house will become the past
Yes she is awesome and my best friend.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueRose

FarmerRuss and wife welcome to Homesteading Today alot of great people here and a bunch of good information.

Thanks for the welcome. You are correct there are a bunch of great people here. I have been lurking for awhile.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry Chickpea

I found it quite easy to read, almost like free verse (poetry).

You got out well, but if you haven't signed yet you might want to get your own appraisal, just to verify that the one they are using is accurate. There is no incentive for them to go with a high appraisal.

We signed right away. The base appraised value was in the ball park.
The 15% signing bonus is only good for 30 days.
That is where they get you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WV Hillbilly

This story brings up an interesting question . If someone was faithfully making payments on a property that had lost value because of the market & the PTB comes along & takes the property claiming eminent domain , can the PTB just pay the new appraised value & leave the owner hanging for the balance of the loan ?

One family has a bankruptcy and may only come out 10K ahead but not way to get a loan to buy another house.
The way I read the law is all they have to do is pay %125 fair market value. Now what is FMV that is the big question.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patchouli

That sounds like a really rough ride, glad you have solid numbers now and can move on to your next step! So are you currently farming or looking to start once you move?

It was a very bad 2 months.
We live in town right now so we are very limited to what we can do.
Last fall I decided to take out all the pretty stuff around the house and start on a food forest.
This spring..I put in 1 peach, 1 nectarine and 2 cherry trees.
A coupe 2blueberry 3 elderly berry and a couple more raised beds.
We are looking at 5 acres to settle on and start down the the self sufficient road.

FarmerRuss · #12 10/08/13, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jennifer L.

You do have to feel for the people who really, really don't want to go, though.

There is an elderly couple down the street in their mid 80's.
He has alzheimer's and not only DOES NOT WANT TO MOVE.
I am afraid losing the house is going to kill him.
The have been in that house 60 some years and that is what he knows.

Michael W. Smith · #13 10/08/13, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FarmerRuss

Thanks I am not sure it's a "letting go of the past" as much as a accepting the future.

We signed right away. The base appraised value was in the ball park.
The 15% signing bonus is only good for 30 days.
That is where they get you.

The "letting go" will be the stumbling block. Your wife has memories there that go way back. You are leaving an old house (and if it has 2 floors) you can now find a new house all on one level - all for the better as you get older. But if your house is a single story and it's a nice house - no major defects, etc, can you find or build something that will be okay for your taste?

I'm not so sure signing right away was a good thing. To begin with, you don't even know for sure if you HAD to sell. That 15% signing bonus was just meant for you to make a quick decision and not have time to get a real appraisal or think about it.

I'm not quite sure how City Council could decide such a thing in a closed door meeting. If the news didn't know anything about the meeting (and they usually cover their meetings) or if there was no meeting to let the public know, I'd say that's a violation of the Sunshine act.

The bad thing about all of this (even if you did get a fair price and a "good" deal), is that City Council moves at the speed of a snail. You could very well be out of your house and living the new life, while the time zone of City Council takes the next 20 years before the land is cleared and ground is broken for the new power plant - IF it ever is.

If I would have gotten such a notice (as well as the neighbors), I believe the first thing I would have done was banded together with all the neighbors and gone to seek the counsel of a good attorney. First off to see if what they are doing is actually legal, and 2nd of all - to make sure everyone got a good price for the land and houses, as well as for the problem of having to move.

If 1/3 of everyone involved signed up like you did, you could have very well caused the other neighbors to have no other choice but to sign and leave. That 15% bonus, is nothing more than to force people into making decisions without thinking things through or to seek legal advice. Chances are their appraisal wasn't the "best offer" they had to give.

If you don't mind, can you give the name of the town you will be leaving?

mary,tx · #14 10/08/13, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FarmerRuss

.
This spring..I put in 1 peach, 1 nectarine and 2 cherry trees.
A coupe 2blueberry 3 elderly berry and a couple more raised beds.
We are looking at 5 acres to settle on and start down the the self sufficient road.

I wonder if you can dig some of that up while it is dormant and take with you since they'll be clearing everything, I assume, for the power plant.

where I want to · #15 10/08/13, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mary,tx

I wonder if you can dig some of that up while it is dormant and take with you since they'll be clearing everything, I assume, for the power plant.

Planning for the mover here, I dug up and had pots of apple trees, asian pears, peaches, blueberries, etc. Some of those were in pots for 3-4 years as I did not have a plan settled for the garden. I hardly lost anything. Except for the asian pear I accidently drove over................

It saved me a bundle and the cost was only trying to remember to water regularly.

FarmerRuss · #16 10/08/13, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael W. Smith

I'm not so sure signing right away was a good thing. To begin with, you don't even know for sure if you HAD to sell. That 15% signing bonus was just meant for you to make a quick decision and not have time to get a real appraisal or think about it.

I'm not quite sure how City Council could decide such a thing in a closed door meeting. If the news didn't know anything about the meeting (and they usually cover their meetings) or if there was no meeting to let the public know, I'd say that's a violation of the Sunshine act.

The bad thing about all of this (even if you did get a fair price and a "good" deal), is that City Council moves at the speed of a snail. You could very well be out of your house and living the new life, while the time zone of City Council takes the next 20 years before the land is cleared and ground is broken for the new power plant - IF it ever is.

If I would have gotten such a notice (as well as the neighbors), I believe the first thing I would have done was banded together with all the neighbors and gone to seek the counsel of a good attorney. First off to see if what they are doing is actually legal, and 2nd of all - to make sure everyone got a good price for the land and houses, as well as for the problem of having to move.

If 1/3 of everyone involved signed up like you did, you could have very well caused the other neighbors to have no other choice but to sign and leave. That 15% bonus, is nothing more than to force people into making decisions without thinking things through or to seek legal advice. Chances are their appraisal wasn't the "best offer" they had to give.

If you don't mind, can you give the name of the town you will be leaving?

We live in Holland Michigan.
This town has a long history of Eminent Domain.
While City Hall may move slow the Board of Public Works does not.
They have a very firm timeline and everyone has to be out by Feb 22.
Even if we did not have to sign we would never be able to sell this house for that amount...who wants to live next door to a power plant?
The old saying Get while the getting is good.

Patchouli · #17 10/09/13, 10:02 PM

I hope you can find a nice place with acreage to do what you want. I agree with Mary on taking your newly planted trees and bushes with you, they should still be able to be transplanted after only one summer there. Hopefully you will be able to look back on this one day and see it as a blessing.

Funbowhunter · #18 10/10/13, 12:47 AM

Ever think about leaving Michigan?

Michael W. Smith · #19 10/10/13, 03:33 AM

Well, after reading about it, it looks like Alan & Gail Hering made out alright with the sale of their sold out business property. 9.7 acres for $1.6 million!

They are very excited about the project. I wonder why?!?

7thswan · #20 10/10/13, 06:32 AM

I Hate ID. They should give You 10 times what Your appraiser says it's worth.