What a bummer

[Rick]

Does anybody still use the term bummer?

Thought I had bought the acre of land adjoining my property but it's not looking too good right now. The property is part of an estate sale, three brothers and a sister got it in a will 10 years ago. The trustee of the estate listed it a couple of months ago, I made an offer and he accepted. Closing date was set to be the 15th of last month, 4 1/2 weeks ago but it hasn't happened yet. Just found out that two of the brothers and the sister agreed to the sale, one brother refused. Real estate agent says the deal is not dead yet but . . .

 

[S Mac]

I wondered when you said earlier that it was part of an estate, seems that can be problematic.

 

[popper]

Yea, estate, a problem even if it is family. Son got caught in one, he closed and title Co found it was a contested deal. Bank still wanted their money. Lot of shady realtors out there. Got a lawyer to get his money back & out of the loan. Realtor assoc. still didn't do anything about it.

 

[freebullet]

Yeah, it's kinda bummer when I have to use the word though. Focus on the positive, it might still work out.

 

[waco]

That sucks Rick. Hope it works out for you.

 

[Rick]

I put up no earnest money, was a full cash at closing deal. I did get a signed contract from the trustee of the estate agreeing to all the terms but that doesn't seem to hold much weight now. I doubt the realtor was at fault in any way, can't see how he could be.

 

[Brad]

That sucks Rick.

 

[Pistolero]

I don't much use it, but sure know what it means. Good luck at changing that one person's mind.

 

[fiver]

look at it like this.
if you can't buy it no one else can either.
no one is using it now, and no one would be there to stop you from going on it.
your not out the cash, and you ain't gotta pay taxes on it.
kind of a win/win if you ask me.

 

[Rick]

Not too easy to "go on it". It's so overgrown can't really even walk through it. I bought an $800 shredder motivated by thinking I was buying the property. There would be several huge burn piles to deal with so I figured with the shredder no burn pies and I would have more mulch than I'd know what to do with. I can and have used the shredder on this property, mostly in the spring time so it's not a total loss. Taxes on it are only $49 a year.

 

[Jeff H]

Maybe the hold-out will have a change of heart. I've watched a number of estate stand-offs in the last few years and as long as no one pushes the hold-out, it eventually moves off center. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

I sure wouldn't mind having a few extra acres on either side of my property, even though I can barely keep up with what I've got.

 

[462]

Rick,
Three against one may work in your favor, unless the one holds a lot of sway over the three, or is just an obstinate jerk.

 

[Rick]

According to the real estate agent both the trustee brother and the ambulance chaser for the estate are going to attempt talking with the hold out brother. I have little faith though, this has the ring of a black sheep of the family that doesn't care much what the rest of the family wants/needs/thinks and will go against any decision by the family. I could be wrong but it sure sounds like it to me.

Wouldn't be much keeping up with it really. I would thin it out some and then just leave at that. No grass, no building on it or anything. It has some beautiful old oaks and more cedar than anyone would believe on one acre. The back 65 feet of this property is the same, from the street back is house, out buildings & land scaping. The back 65 feet was just as overgrown as the other acre. I probably took out 75-100 cedar trees and tons of other undergrowth on that 65x210 foot strip and still have too many cedars. Things grow like weeds.

 

[Ian]

I took out three cedars that were growing in the county road turning circle and it took me four trips to the landfill for a total of just over three tons according to the fee slips. I waited 20 years for the obstinate codger that owned that third of the turning circle to kick off and another two years for his widow to sell so I could do all the work and FINALLY we can all enjoy an actual cleared roadbed to turn around on, especially the three garbage companies, UPS, FedEx, and of course the rural mail carrier. The sorry, worthless county road and bridge dept. wouldn't touch it. Two different directors over the years told me most of the cul-de-sacs in the county are screwed up in some way or another and they can't fix them all. I was like well, whose ault is that that they're in this condition? You can start by fixing mine? Nope. They even repaved the road and fixed all the driveway aprons about 12 years ago and trimmed the trees on the right of way, I hit them up about the turning circle then but they wouldn't touch it, just repaved the third of it that was there.

 

[Rick]

I took out three cedars that were growing in the county road turning circle and it took me four trips to the landfill for a total of just over three tons according to the fee slips.

Four trips to the dump? Why not just burn it and be done?

When I cleared out the 65x210 foot strip across the back of this place I had numerous brush piles head high and 30+ feet long. Haul that to dump? Would have taken a 60 foot end dump a few trips not to mention the large pile of cash to get it done.

 

[Ian]

No room to safely burn it.

 

[Rick]

When I burned all those huge brush piles I didn't burn them in place, a fire that big would burn half the world down and probably the house too. I fed it all into smaller fires a little at time. Problem with cedar is that throwing it into a fire even green is much like throwing gas on a fire. Slow & easy does it, a little at a time. Avoiding all those huge brush piles and fires was the reasoning behind the chipper/shredder.

Since I got the chipper I have been separating the cedar from everything else and shredding it by itself. Cedar mulch will compost, in a few years. Everything else is composted into some pretty nice soil in about a year. Use the cedar mulch in areas where I only want to slow down weeds and help hold moisture in the ground. Flower beds etc. get the other mulch.

If you want to avoid loading and hauling to the dump and paying for it I bet your local equipment rental place would rent you a chipper for about what your landfill fees are. Plus you get the mulch. Win win.

 

[fiver]

decent mulch will turn some pretty bad dirt into good dirt given time and some help.

 

[Ian]

It would take a shredder with a license plate to deal with this stuff, and those rent for $400/weekend even with my "professional courtesy" discount (our shop solves the really tough repair issues for both of our local rental outfits). Green cedar leaves are gummy and the sap plugs up the machines, and with all the rain we've had this year the gluttonous things are saturated to the max. The other issue is I can't work full-tilt for 10 hours anymore and would have a tough time getting my money's worth. Eventually I'll rent a shredder and clear out a big enough spot that I can burn and do small piles from here on out, but right now my property is too congested so hauling loads to the dump takes care of it. The dump has a huge composting area and when the brush pile gets big enough a shredding outfit comes and reduces it to sawdust.

 

[KHornet]

Sort of like the word Bummer, goes back to Civil War!

Paul