(re-run from 2024)
My neighbors’ hill collapsed fifteen months ago in the crazy January rains of 2023. For months nothing was happening, and I concluded that a lot of guys had looked at the hill and had either refused to bid the job or had bid it way too high.
A bulldozer appeared in November, right before the rains started. I saw the workers on the hill when I walked my dog up the greenbelt. They weren’t there much, just a day or two each week. The rains came, not as bad as the previous winter, not enough to have the local creek rise and flood the neighborhood below mine.
I watched the guys put up rebar and plywood, then pump concrete onto the wall. It seemed backward to me. I thought the concrete would go behind the plywood, not in front of it. But what did I know about retaining walls?
The guys came back and built a second retaining wall, below the first one. There was much moving of dirt. All the landscaping, including two patio trees, were goners.
Meanwhile, a house with the same exact floorplan across the greenbelt went on the market a couple of weeks ago. I saw colorful plants being planted in the front, along with new black mulch spread around them. A Costco gazebo went up in the back yard along with plants in big green ceramic pots.
The realtor sent a mailer to the neighborhood yesterday, letting us know that the house had multiple offers and sold for $210,000 over asking at the two-million-dollar mark. This is a tract home from 1975., about 3500 square feet. Who would’ve believed this kind of value increase? The draw for our neighborhood is lots of green pathways and decent sized yards, about 1/3 of an acre. The reason is low inventory and lots of people looking to buy.
The new developments are building houses on top of each other. The houses are so close that as my friend Carolyn used to say, you could reach out your windows and brush each other’s teeth.
I went to one of my HOA meetings last summer and learned that my HOA is responsible for watering thirteen acres of green space. Lots of other neighborhood use the space, which connects to other greenbelts owned by other HOAs.
But I digress.
Back to the house with the erosion problem. The house above their yard must not have any drainage. You can tell that those neighbors won’t help with the issue. Their fence is falling down in multiple spots. They went into the greenbelt and cut down some junky trees next to their fence while no one was looking. In other words, they don’t play by the rules.
I had to add drainage to my own yard when I moved in 13 years ago. The side yard was all white rock because that was the side of the yard with bad drainage. My gardener at the time put in a foundation drain that went out to the street. I now have a valley oak that popped up on its own along that drain. Coincidence? I think not.
Today, as I walked Pepper up the hill of the greenbelt, I saw multiple guys working where the hill between the two retaining walls collapsed in last week’s rains. I see pipes sticking out of the eroded hill. It looks like they are adding drains. I hope they know what they’re doing.
I feel bad for the people who own that house, which should be worth about two million dollars. But until their erosion problem is solved, no one is going to buy it at any price.
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 