They say my county has the highest foreclosure rate from Virgina. Lucky me.
I live in a 4 year old neighborhood (well the street is). There was a family down the way that always decorated the hell out of the house for the holidays (mostly halloween). They'd have a boatload of colored lights, blow up things, etc. Just tons of that stuff really. We thought the were Jewish since they didn't decorate for Christmas in the same way. My wife asked them and they said they didn't have a "theme" picked out yet. I guess there's no way to define a theme as "everything Target sells". Anyhow, when they moved in the did a nice job decorating the properly, a lot of landscaping and flowers. All sorts of lawn decorations. Then it kinda slacked off.
The family was 2 teenage boys and a mom and dad. They were all fat. Really fat. The kids never really did anything outside. I guess they just stayed in the house watching TV. Dad would walk up and down the street with the dog on his cellphone. One of he other neighbors said he was having an affair....pushing 280? And not like a beefy construction worker 280...like a sedentary nerdy office worker 280. WTF?
Anyhow, the must have been packrats beyond packrats. They alwasy had mounds of trash out for the garabage man. Piles of godknowswhat from their old townhouse or Target. For the past 4 years. Every couple of months they'd do a cleaning of the garage and would put out a huge pile. I never paid it any mind.
So a couple of weeks ago, I notice that they are doing a world class purge. Lots of stuff out for the trash..furniture, etc. Then a truck showed up. My wife found that he was getting a transfer to NM. Apparently he worked for the federal government and we're "getting bought out". They wheeled the spare fridge out to the corner. The guy across the street took it and plugged it in in his driveway.
(I"m moving to the country next time, f*** this).
So last Sunday, I noticed that the lawn is really getting shabby. I noticed a little more that they didn't take all their lawn decorations. The Halloween lights are stretched across the step. The backyard still has a bunch of bird feeders. I looked through the window on the porch. The place is a pig sty. Still full of trash. Small applicances left behind in the middle of the floor. All the kitchen cabinets left open.
Apparently the Sherriff showed up yesterday and posted an eviction notice on the door. They're gone. Somewhere. NM? How did they tell their kids who are old enough to understand? Weird. I think they got locked into an interest only, built the house out to the nines (who needs the intercom, really?) and couldn't reappraise.
I don't know...it's just kinda weird. I didn't really "know" them but we'd chat occasionally. The had a fleet of Hyundais and a PT cruiser (I said nerd didn't I?) and they'd drive 5 mph under the speed limit in front of me when I was trying to get out in a hurry.
Anyway, I hope it's the last on my street. Wasn't the first in my hood, won't be the last, I'm sure.