How would you feel if you woke up penniless and given orders to vacate within 6 hours?

Alligatorob said:
At first the Eminent Domain process was mostly envisioned as being for military necessity, however it was not so limited and its application has grown. I can see the need for it to build roads and things, but I think it has been too widely applied.
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Yeah, my uncle's cabin got absorbed by a state park in No Cal years ago. He lived in it another 8 years before he knew he was on state park property and moved south, which he was planning to do anyway. He couldn't sell the place and he was never compensated, but he didn't make a big fuss about it...probably because he loved the idea behind national and state parks; preserving nature.

I went and saw that cabin 20-some yrs ago. A huge pine had grown up through it and it was being reclaimed by all kinds of undergrowth. I bet you'd have to look hard to find anything left of it now. Remnants of the old woodstove and bits of flagstone, probably. He'd like that.
 

Alligatorob said:
Wow, that had to have been some experience. Good that you had insurance. And that you were able to reinforce your house, do you still live there?

In our case we also had insurance, flood insurance. And that is only available through FEMA. FEMA estimated our damages at $285,000 and the insurance paid about $80,000, so I guess we did get something from FEMA. Rebuilding cost more than the insurance, but less than the FEMA estimate. Problem is you can only do so much to a house to protect it from flooding, we were not able to raise it so the risk remained. We sold, in large part for that reason and exponentially increasing insurance costs. My house in 2004, that's me, fatter and less gray:
View attachment 284107
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We still do live here. Have had a few shakers since but nothing like that 4:31 AM wake-up call!

Flooding is reportedly the worst kind of mess to clean up and repair. Water, mold and mildew are much tougher to permanently dispatch than broken glass from all the shattered dishes, including those in the dishwasher.
 

StarSong said:
Flooding is reportedly the worst kind of mess to clean up and repair. Water, mold and mildew
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Yep, the thing I remember most was the smell.

We had a 50 pound bag of dog food that broke open and scattered around the house. It mixed with up to a foot of mud and sand on top of our carpet. Then sat without air-conditioning for a couple of weeks in the Florida summer heat.

As I said we had no road access and of course no utilities for a couple of weeks, could only get there by boat and cleanup was limited. I'll never forget that smell of fermented dog food and mud...
 
Teacher Terry said:
Starsong, the earthquake had to be terrifying. Glad no one was hurt but the damage was awful.
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All things considered it was a blessing, though I didn't see it that way at the time. We became much closer to our existing neighbors and ever since I've always befriended new neighbors. In most emergencies the people in your immediate area become your lifeline.

We learned how little importance "stuff" really has. It's hard to maintain an emotional attachment to 15 year old wedding gifts when you're literally shoveling their shards into big garbage cans.

We also learned how to pull together as a family, and to continue laughing at the craziness of some situations. So many funny stories from the first few minutes even.

For instance - the house was still rocking and rolling hard with the huge, strong aftershocks. We couldn't get out yet and were all huddled in the pitch black hallway listening to the horrific noise of everything crashing down.

We said a prayer of thanksgiving for our own safety and prayed for the safety of others.

While that's going on, my IBS kicks in. I can't delay any longer and say, "You're not going to believe this, but I have to go to the bathroom. Right now." Of course we all start laughing... the family is used to my body's poor timing.

DH says, "Hang on a sec, let me check the bathroom." No sound from him for several seconds but I can see the flashlight sweeping around. I say with some desperation, "Is everything ok?" He says, "Hang on for another minute. I'm trying to reseat the toilet. The bolts snapped off and it jumped about 8 inches."

By then we're all laughing hysterically at the absurdity of it all.

The laughs, the kindnesses of friends, family and neighbors, and other positives made a much more lasting impression than the losses, inconveniences, expense, work and negatives.
 
Katelivewire said:
Well for one thing no one’s life is guaranteed to survive a total natural catastrophe but a land take over grabbing? Is it possible? Can anybody or anyone really take your land or house? What could you really do? If lawyers won’t help you or you become an example of being ignored and given rules to obey your neighborhood hood and share all your property as one big family and you do not know the people surrounding you? Scarey to imagine?
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Any forcible removal of occupants as described requires Due Process, Eminent domain or such. The govt. simply can not say get out by tomorrow or such. An Eminent domain action starts with a filing of such in the court of proper jurisdiction, and you have a right to answer/respond to that like any other civil action. They can not say, "We filed a Complaint/Petition in ED, you have one hour to leave"!
 
I've been reading about cases of eminent domain (taking over of other people's property) in various locations over the last couple of decades. One case was in Atlantic City. Trump wanted to kick an elderly woman out of her home so he could build a casino.. Her lawyers fought it to the teeth and won. I believe they built around her house.
https://www.cato.org/blog/donald-trump-eminent-domain-widows-house
There was speculation about eminent domain being used to take over our complex due to it's prime location, but so far that hasn't come to pass, thank God.

From what I've read about eminent domain, in some cases the home owners don't have a chance. I wouldn't be surprised if the "crossing of palms" between big money, power brokers is the reason for that. Even the federal government gets in on the act.
https://www.justice.gov/enrd/history-federal-use-eminent-domain

Victims of eminent domain are supposed to be "justly compensated", but sometimes said compensation isn't fair at all. I read another story about a rich developer who wanted to use a condominium for his purposes (I forgot what the project was). He bought out all but one resident who refused to sell his unit. Finally, while his neighbors got only thousands, he got a million, maybe millions. It was over a decade ago, so I don't remember exactly. There are several articles about eminent domain and I couldn't choose which to link, so here's the link to the search page for the articles. https://search.brave.com/search?q=eminent+domain&source=desktop
@oldaunt Just because you own your home outright, doesn't mean some powerful entity couldn't use eminent domain to get it unless your city or state has a law against using it.

As for the second part of the OP's question...if there was a major catastrophe that destroyed our building or complex, my insurance would pay for me to stay at a hotel until I found other accommodations, but at this stage of my life, it would be disconcerting. I tend to handle big issues well, sometimes better than the little things. But I love my modest apartment and would hate to have it gone. So many have had to abruptly leave their homes due to catastrophic events, even right here in my city. My heart goes out to all of them and I do pray for people in that predicament.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
I've been reading about cases of eminent domain (taking over of other people's property) in various locations over the last couple of decades. One case was in Atlantic City. Trump wanted to kick an elderly woman out of her home so he could build a casino.. Her lawyers fought it to the teeth and won. I believe they built around her house.
https://www.cato.org/blog/donald-trump-eminent-domain-widows-house
There was speculation about eminent domain being used to take over our complex due to it's prime location, but so far that hasn't come to pass, thank God.

From what I've read about eminent domain, in some cases the home owners don't have a chance. I wouldn't be surprised if the "crossing of palms" between big money, power brokers is the reason for that. Even the federal government gets in on the act.
https://www.justice.gov/enrd/history-federal-use-eminent-domain

Victims of eminent domain are supposed to be "justly compensated", but sometimes said compensation isn't fair at all. I read another story about a rich developer who wanted to use a condominium for his purposes (I forgot what the project was). He bought out all but one resident who refused to sell his unit. Finally, while his neighbors got only thousands, he got a million, maybe millions. It was over a decade ago, so I don't remember exactly. There are several articles about eminent domain and I couldn't choose which to link, so here's the link to the search page for the articles. https://search.brave.com/search?q=eminent+domain&source=desktop
@oldaunt Just because you own your home outright, doesn't mean some powerful entity couldn't use eminent domain to get it unless your city or state has a law against using it.

As for the second part of the OP's question...if there was a major catastrophe that destroyed our building or complex, my insurance would pay for me to stay at a hotel until I found other accommodations, but at this stage of my life, it would be disconcerting. I tend to handle big issues well, sometimes better than the little things. But I love my modest apartment and would hate to have it gone. So many have had to abruptly leave their homes due to catastrophic events, even right here in my city. My heart goes out to all of them and I do pray for people in that predicament.
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They could, yes, but I'm way out here because NO ONE has any reason to want it. Even power lines don't need to cross it.
 
Alligatorob said:
Closest I've come to that is having my house seriously damaged in a hurricane. It happened very quickly, and with little warning. Could not move back in for about 3 months. But I found a place to live and life went on. Used it as an opportunity to do the remodeling we'd been putting off...
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how horrible for you.. my Gosh most of us could never envisage having that happen to us... however at least you had money.. which for the purposes of this thread we're going to have no money at all.. and be ordered out of our homes within hours..
 
I have a 76 year old brother who lives in an old camper parked in an old barn, he doesn't own either one and has been living like that for 25 years. It's a very primitive way to live, but he lost everything and had to adapt. I feel confidant I would do the same if I lost everything, adapt the best I could.
 
Alligatorob said:
You are definitely a glass half full girl, I like that!

Only our dog considered the hurricane a blessing, lots of fresh ruins (our neighbor's houses) to explore. Many with spilled refrigerator contents...
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fuzzybuddy said:
Having been broke, and almost homeless, I did what I had to do. I sold my possessions at flea markets for cash, so I could eat. I don't think that was heroic, or somehow fighting the good fight. If a car is speeding at you, you get out of the way. You do what you have to do. When a disaster happens, you either cope, or die.
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Over the course of a lifetime I've learned that after a gut-punch, whether romantic, emotional, financial or natural, the initial terrible, immobilizing shock doesn't last forever.

It quickly becomes time to put one foot in front of the other and start moving forward again.
 

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