Signs of a Homeowner’s Lost Dream

Today I was browsing through the homes for sale in my general area (after work) and came upon a really nice looking place that is exactly the kind of property I’ve always wanted.  It was relatively close to the city but had a very definite “country” feel to it.

The house sits on about 1 acre of land, is about 3600 square feet (way too big for us, frankly), has a 3 car attached garage and a separate 40 X 50 shop with a large bonus room above it.  What really caught my eye was the massive shop and the 1 acre+ lot.  We certainly don’t need a house that big and we aren’t really interested in moving but I was intrigued by it and decided to drive over and take a look at it.

When I arrived, I saw the telltale signs of a bank owned property.  The yard, which you could tell was well kept previously, was showing signs of abandonment.  There were papers taped to the inside of the window that said “Winterized” which is a sure sign that a bank has hired a property management company to drain the pipes and turn off the water.  Since it was vacant and obviously bank owned, I decided to walk around it and peek in the windows.

As I peered in the first window I could see a kitchen with granite counters, hardwood floors, and beautiful cabinets.  What I did not see were any appliances.  The people that lost the house took every single appliance, including the oven, (leaving a large hole in the wall), the range, (leaving a gaping hole in the island), the dishwasher and the refrigerator.  Surprisingly the sink and faucet were still there.  I also noticed that they took various switches off the walls and I believe they took a few of the light fixtures.

When I peeked in the second window, I could see the first few stairs before the staircase turned right and out of sight.  It was obvious that they weren’t too careful as they moved out because there were large gouges in the sheetrock and about a 14” hole punched in the sheetrock on the landing.

As I looked around outside a bit, it became clear to me that the people that owned this house played a large part in building it as well.  It may have even been built by the owner.  There were just subtle hints that some of the work was not done by a contractor.  The reason I say this is that, while the work was done fairly well, I don’t believe someone would have accepted the quality of the work on a few things.  I wandered over to the side of the large shop and noticed that there were large piles of decking and various types of lumber that was obviously used in the construction of the house and outside decks.

As I was leaving, it occurred to me that this was most likely the former owner’s dream house.  It looks like they put a lot of blood, sweat and tears in to the construction and were probably very happy to be there.  What isn’t clear is what went wrong.  Why did they end up losing the house?  Where did they go?  I can only imagine the stress, sadness and anger that they felt as they had to walk away from their dream.  What struck me even further was the thought that this same scenario has probably been played out thousands of times across the country.