Change can be difficult especially when you live in a house that has been in your family for generations and when you don’t want anything about the neighborhood that house is in to change.
In today’s story, new large homes are being build in an older neighborhood full of smaller ranch style houses, and one of the homeowners is very upset about it.
Let’s see how the story plays out.
Where I live, real estate developers have started snatching up family homes, bulldozing them and building enormous 2 million dollar houses on the plots of land.
The houses also stick out horribly in terms of aesthetics – think single level brick homes with a 3-level gigantic white and black box in the middle.
The neighborhood used to be great.
My home’s been in my family for several generations.
We have always been known for having a large, beautiful garden.
We invited over kids to help with gardening, we gave away so many veggies, we’d hold parties, etc. It’s been a neighborhood treasure for years.
Until developers snatched up the lot next door, bulldozed and erected an enormous house that blocked out the light to most of the garden.
This person feels that the new house ruined the neighborhood.
Many of us tried to fight it with the city but everything was denied.
It was heartbreaking.
Our neighborhood has been changed forever.
This was a link to my family and I almost have had to go through a grieving process for it.
She avoided the new neighbors.
The new owners moved in and were not welcomed warmly by people in the neighborhood.
I avoided them for as long as I could, other than politely waving or nodding.
It was a young couple in their early 20s.
The new neighbors are confused about why nobody seems to like them.
We finally came face to face and the woman asked if we could chat.
She said that they felt like maybe they’d done something wrong when they moved in, or if they aren’t pulling in their trash bins or something, being too loud, etc, because people haven’t been very friendly.
The guy says that he’s surprised considering it felt like a “nice” and somewhat “affluent” neighborhood, and given the price, he was expecting friendly neighbors.
The new neighbors didn’t research the area before moving in.
I asked if they had done any research about the area.
They said that they moved from California, so no.
I said that maybe that was their mistake?
They said they didn’t know what I meant, so I asked if they’d ever looked in our backyard.
They said yes and said they think the garden is cute.
The neighbors still don’t think they did anything wrong.
I said “Yes, the garden that now has about half less sunlight than before that house was built was a neighborhood treasure.”
The guy said “Well it’s not our fault you built the garden there, is it?”
I said “Well, you guys got what you paid for. 2 million dollars for a house that everyone in the neighborhood hates.” I said that I hoped it was worth it and wished them a nice day.
When I told another neighbor about the exchange, she told me that she does feel bad for them moving without having any idea what they were getting themselves into.
AITA for telling them that they got what they paid for?
If she wants to be mad at someone it should be the company that built the house. The new neighbors were just trying to buy a nice home in a nice neighborhood.
Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story…
I agree with this person that the new homeowners didn’t do anything wrong.
The previous owner is the one she should be mad at.
It’s ridiculous to make the new homeowners into enemies.
This reader understands why she’s upset but agrees that the new homeowners aren’t the problem.
Seriously – is the garden famous?
This person chose to go against the grain and point blame at the new neighbors.
If they didn’t buy the house, someone else would, so they are not the problem.
If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.
