Are You Happy With Your Home, Your Location, Your Surroundings and Your Neighbors?

Fur, do you live in Stephanie Plum's neighborhood? LOL

Not sure of the reference...but probably...who?????
 

I live in a fantastic area, visitors envy me, there's much to love about it, but, I'm tempted to move for a variety of reason, not being happy about where I live isn't really the reason in and of itself. I have access to so much quiet enough most of the time surrounded by beaches and a multitude of cultural activities, a place where seniors feel alive and seem to live life to the fullest.

Sounds good. If you moved would it be nearby or a different area.
 
Sounds good. If you moved would it be nearby or a different area.

My aunt is trying to talk me into moving to CA, to be near my cousins or to my mom's hometown in NC, I may consider, Winston Salem, NC, I have till sept to make finale decision.
 

My aunt is trying to talk me into moving to CA, to be near my cousins or to my mom's hometown in NC, I may consider, Winston Salem, NC, I have till sept to make finale decision.

Before I moved abroad I was considering somewhere around Wilmington or the central or northern coast of Cali.
 
Fur, do you live in Stephanie Plum's neighborhood? LOL

Not sure of the reference...but probably...who?????

I guess you haven't read Janet Evanovich's books. Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter in Trenton, has all kinds of wacky adventures involving her BFs, her family including a grandmother who goes to viewings before the funeral for everybody whether she knew them or not, a sidekick named Lula.
 
I like old maps as they show you how places progress over the years. Here is part of a map of my village from the mid 1800's.
A modern map would be almost identical! However, there are a few interesting snippits....

1. At the top of the map, you see the name Fishtown. This is not the name of the village or anything to do with fish. It appears to come from the Gaelic ' Baile Feith' - town by the moss burn. My house in the one just under 'Fishtown' plot 1952.
2. At the bottom of the map is 'Chapel house' - no longer standing. This was the original 'Maunfactory' of 'Osnaburg' - a coarse cloth for slaves' clothing. When this venture failed, the factory became a 'chapel of ease'. This was a place of worship for people unable to go to the parish church some miles away.
3. At the bottom LH is the church & manse which replaced the earlier chapel and the school - now a private residence. Behind the school was the 'Glebe' - a piece of land which helped provide an income for the church.

village map.jpg
 
Before I moved abroad I was considering somewhere around Wilmington or the central or northern coast of Cali.

Wilmington is very nice, it's an area, I had considered a time or two very nice coastal area. Winston Salem has a rich family history for me, I've always been kind of drawn to the area, only problem it's far inland, but for it being in the south it has a good cultural history including my family's. My mom and siblings are buried there it just some place I want to rest, but in the mean time, I'm having way too much fun in FL, so, it's not an easy decision at the moment, so, we'll see. We're I am now if really way too expensive for my blood, but, I could move one county over and be fine, I really do love how much this area has to offer seniors, I've never seen an area, like this one where it seems to be better to be a senior if you want to really enjoy life more. LOL! The unfortunate thing is too many others are realizing it and this is causing the cost of living to keep sky-rocketing, housing has gone up some 33% in just a couple of years.
 
No... I'm not... BUT I am becoming happier. I have lived the last 35 years in a very small brick bungalow style house on a small city lot. I have always wanted a huge kitchen.. a formal dining room.... and a fireplace. But stayed in that very small house with the corresponding very small mortgage in order to sock money away for retirement... which I did. The intention was always to sell the small house and use the money to put down on the "house of my dreams"... my "Someday" house..

Well........Retirement is here at the end of the year.. and I've began to realize that the Dream House is not really such a great idea.. More to clean... higher taxes.. More outdoor maintenance.. another mortgage... So what's the point? We've decided to put money into our "Small house" to make it more Senior Friendly... and stay put.. I'm going to remodel the kitchen and bath.. put down all new hardwood floors.. put in new bay windows... Definitely get some tuck pointing done.. and enjoy a nice paid for low maintenance house..
 
Well, I moved into this old double wide last April after my house burned down. I have been having the entire thing rebuilt from top to bottom. It had been sitting vacant for so long it was in bad shape. So I had the entire thing gutted. it has new walls, floors, ceilings . All of the cabinets were torn out & new ones put in. They really used the cheapest materials to build this. I've used much better materials. I've put down ceramic tile flooring. I've had the shower stalls tiled. When it's done i'll put before and after photos up. They still need to do the master bedroom and bathroom. They won't start that until a couple of weeks from now.
I picked all of the room colors, etc. The only thing my ex picked out was the ceramic floor tile. So for the most part everything is my design. I love living in the country so I'm happy here. The double wide sits on 7 acres. So.....I have room to sit in my pj's if I want. Truthfully, I would have liked something much much smaller because it's just me now & this place has 5 bedrooms , a livingroom, a den, a big kitchen, and 3 full baths. BUT... I have a comfy home in colors I like. Yay!
 
I don't really have a home, just a house. But it has a roof and heat and running hot and cold water, so I'm thankful for that.

Some half-grassed dirt in the back, a parking lot on the side and a ton of traffic flying by out front. Half-way houses across the street. Druggies and hookers up the street.

But I'm used to it - I DID grow up in NY! :playful:
Phil you could get a job selling real estate since you have such a charming way of describing your place. :)
 
No way are you getting my beloved master bedroom with sea view! We quit Sky satellite as we object to paying Rupert Murdoch. Internet not bad but not yet high speed. It's been promised. Sorry we are semi rural. No home deliveries and there aren't any real pizza places in town. No fast food other than fish n chip shops.

I like fish n chips better than pizza.

I have no birds. Just two cats who also like fish.

lol
 
We started our search for a condo yesterday. Why do two people need 3600 sq. ft. of living space, not including the basement and patio areas? We don't. I get upset every time that I have to send in the tax money.
 
I would actually like a smaller place, but with the depressed real estate market around here, and the money I'd have to spend to bring it up to snuff for sale, I'd probably lose money in the bargain. I've lived in this same area forever (except for the times I've been gone off somewhere), but I bought this house from my mother after my dad died -- she continued to live here while we were overseas and stationed elsewhere in the states. She liked living here, but just didn't want to own the place. It's paid off now, of course.

I guess I just moved around too much as a military dependent and the idea of actually moving is pretty distasteful to me.
 
Been living in this villa for about 21 years now. At first it was delightful - it was at the edge of the city and I had cow paddocks and banana plantations all around.

The city has grown, and so now I have housing all around, no cow paddocks and even the banana plantations have been taken over for housing.

The road traffic has increased as have the noise levels.

Oh well, that's progress I guess.
 
As far as my home, a bigger bathroom and some acreage would be nice.....but couldn't be happier with my location, my surroundings, and my neighbors!
 
I would actually like a smaller place, but with the depressed real estate market around here, and the money I'd have to spend to bring it up to snuff for sale, I'd probably lose money in the bargain. I've lived in this same area forever (except for the times I've been gone off somewhere), but I bought this house from my mother after my dad died -- she continued to live here while we were overseas and stationed elsewhere in the states. She liked living here, but just didn't want to own the place. It's paid off now, of course.

I guess I just moved around too much as a military dependent and the idea of actually moving is pretty distasteful to me.

My brother and his wife bought a house quickly when they moved again and he was stationed in Virginia. He retired out of the Navy there. In the end, they found the house small and I suggested moving but my brother refuses. He states he's moved too much. My parents moved a lot because my mother usually didn't get along with neighbors and then of coarse he moved in the military. I would have sold and bought something else but they had a room addition put on the house instead. My brother states they'll move again only when they can't get up the stairs anymore and don't want the upkeep. Probably to a condo. I've moved too much too and it's horrible.
 
I see this was posted years ago, but ...is an interesting topic. I have great neighbors except one man who proved to be an education for me. (He finally moved, thank the good Lord.) I try to be pleasant to everyone and this is my main way of relating to others. I have a tiny yard and he would bring his three, yes three, golden retrievers to "bathroom" in my yard. (I do love dogs.) He had already destroyed his own yard. When I objected, he began to get angry and a couple of times he poured something on my grass to kill the grass. He was the sort of person you read about but you think "it" won't happen to you. ;) You know,...he seemed to live to escalate anger. But I am not attracted to anger and fighting, so I never got angry. (I could understand something was wrong with him.) Although I stood up for myself with the help of the HOA, I was able to keep myself and my family safe by not engaging with his anger. What was odd was that he kept having tremendous and expensive leaks in his water pipes. This happened about 8 times! It was crazy; one time a pipe under my building burst and it burst on the side toward his building/unit/yard. The water gushed onto his yard and flooded it and didn't hurt my yard at all! He had a sweet wife and daughter and was very mean to them. I still am amazed at all the financial trouble that man went through. I always thought it was because of his behavior toward others.
 
Wow, RiverUp, what a predicament you were in, "it takes all kinds":rolleyes:. I'm glad for your sake he moved.

I've lived in my neighborhood for about 27 years. I like the fact that I know my neighbors and take comfort in that, but there is always "one". My neighbors on one side of me keep to themselves, partly because some of them don't speak English, however, I know the man that lives there does.

One morning I opened my front door and the woman neighbor was standing there almost at my front door with her dog. I tried to say hello but she said nothing and proceeded to walk casually back across my front lawn to get to her house. I'm like huh? Then another day I happened to look out my front window and she had walked across my front lawn and my driveway and was in my side yard letting her dog poop!

I can't imagine walking across someone's yard to let my dog poop, day or night. No respect, no courtesy. Oy vey!:rolleyes:
 
Moved out of a nearby City when I retired to a more rural setting. Couldn't be happier. Rush hour here is a couple of cars and a few tractors.
 
We had this house built in 1994 and have happily been here ever since. The neighborhood is showing its age but then so are we. :D We raised our family here so the house is too big for hub and me now, but since we paid the mortgage off 10 years ago we have no desire to move. Unless things change drastically we will age in place.

CindyLouWho--we have one of "those" neighbors who walks his dog to crap in other people's yards. I have actually opened my front door and yelled "REALLY?????" at him. Jackass. So far he has been using other neighbor's grass but if he ever comes back here and I see him, he will get a shovelful of his dog poop delivered to his front doormat. (And I'm a dog lover... so by no means do I see this as a "dog" issue.)
 
Yes, that is true; it is not a dog issue at all. Thanks for all the comments. I am pretty much over it, I think. I'm not used to abrasive, bully neighbors coming at me, but it looks like he moved and I survived. :) I am happily throwing grass food on my little yard and it is looking a lot better. At least, I can see some of you are going through similar neighbors. You have my, well, empathy.
 


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