Displaced Texan

The township has been paying a contractor to cut the grass at this property for the last 8 years. Costs $45 per cut. I was told a little while ago by a town councilman that the township placed a lien against the property for 2 cuts...$90. After all these years of paying for it!!!! Are you KIDDING me?!!! The TAXPAYERS of Stratford will eat the cost of 8 years of yard work?! What a bunch of incompetent asshats!! I need a drink.....where’s my bourbon...

LMFAO@ outfit!!

Thanks Peel. Mrs Tex and I have already thought about emailing 6ABC news and a few others. We are going to give it a few weeks to let the system work (as well as the mortgage company to take possession of the house). I am also going to the next township meeting, and raising hell. Mrs Tex is stirring up the neighborhood on the township FB page as we speak. Believe it or not, this old redneck bubblehead CAN be presentable and reasonable on TV...lol. My neighbors are also getting involved too, and don’t mind making noise. BTW, Mrs Tex says hi!

My township is absolutely useless. In 10 years of the house literally falling apart, NOT ONE code violation was filed against it. I am pretty fired up about that, and the smug attitude from township officials. I’m going above their heads, and will bring (probably unwanted) attention to the lack of action on Stratford Towns part. Mrs Tex made and printed a bunch of fliers with a website to lodge a complaint. 3rd party site, which I believe is recorded by the county. She has also posted this on the Stratford Facebook page, for neighbors to see, and (hopefully) take action.

Madison Trust company is the lien holder, they have filed to foreclose, and the owner, has filed an intent to relinquish the property. This should happen any day now, according to the township idiots. We shall see. Once the lien holder has possession of the property, I’m going to pester every township, county, and state office that is applicable to cite code and fire violations, until they either demolish it, sell it, or deed it to the township.

Thanks for your information. I appreciate you taking the time to write all that. I asked the town clerk about this....he said, since the lien holder is about to foreclose, the township would ‘wait and see’ what happens next. I can wait a bit....but this old dawg ain’t letting go of this bone. Monday, I’m calling Camden County fire inspector. Going to bypass the useless twits in the township.

I just heard from Code in Stratford, as well as the town clerk. In short, it was basically a hand manipulation of my genital region from both of them. That’s as nice as I can put it. I DID find out the lien holder on the property has filed to foreclose on the property, and the owner has filed a 30 day notice of intent to turn the property over to the lien holder. Ideally, the lien holder will demolish the house, as it is worth far less than the cost to make it sale worthy. I’d like the township to work with the neighborhood to ‘convince’ Madison Trust Company to expediently move to demolish, or otherwise sort this property out. I think this can be done via pounding them with code enforcement violations on the town, county, and state level, if I have to push that far. Oddly, the house still has electricity.......I see the doorbell shining brightly at night. I would never condone that. It’s dangerous to the neighborhood. Besides, I’m too pretty to go to prison.

No, I haven’t. I’ll take a drive over that way this evening. To update a little, I’ve found a website to report abandoned or problem homes in the county, and have reported the property. Too bad the township idiots failed to mention this to me, and others, who have complained about this property. Mrs Tex said they probably don’t WANT anyone to know about it. Lol I also received a phone call from Camden County board of Health. They are sending an inspector out within the next 2 weeks to inspect the property. I’m supposed to follow up with them in 2 weeks. Have also sent a ‘very blunt’ email to the township, and code enforcement inspector. I wasn’t an ass (as I usually tend to be), but was pretty blunt about the lack of action by the township on this property. I’ll sit back and wait to see what happens for now...if Stratford fails to follow through with a plan of action, myself, and the neighbors are prepared to take it further, and make it painful for the township.

GREAT suggestion! I located the owner, in California. Now what to do with that info....

I’ll give them $1 for it. And $100 for the house.

That DSM, like the house, is a total wreck.

Voicemails left for Camden County board of heath. The waiting game begins.

I’ve contacted the township, and I’m going to try to find the owner. I wouldn’t offer much for the property....as the house will have to be demolished. Likely that will cost as much as the lot is worth.

Pardon the long post..... I live in Stratford township, and catty corner to me, is a house that has been abandoned for many (10+) years. The old guy who owned it, passed away years ago, and the house has sat vacant, and deteriorating. The man had a son (apparently living in Ca), who for whatever reason, makes zero effort to do anything at all with the property. While the township cuts the grass (and supposedly back bills the owner, or someone), the property has deteriorated beyond any chance of reasonable repair. A few years ago, someone broke into the house and cut out all the copper pipes. There are broken windows, that I have personally witnessed raccoons and other vermin enter. The roof is on the verge of a cave in. Up until last week, there were bushes (HUGE weeds, actually) that covered the front of the house to the point it was almost completely obscured. The back yard, is a HUGE mess, and there are 2 abandon cars in the driveway. Not only does this house lower the property values of everyone on the block, but because of the vermin entering the house, it presents a real health hazard to those of us in the community. The township, while they DO mow the grass, (pardon my language), has been absolutely tits on a bull regarding taking any action on this house. I’d like to sell my house in the next 2 years, and I know that, because of this property, I’m going to have a hard time selling, and/or take a big hit on the house price. So will my neighbors. What, if anything, can be done? Adverse possession? A class action lawsuit against the township and the owners was discussed, for loss of property values. Ultimately, I’d like the township to take adverse possession of the property and bulldoze the house (I will...if it comes right down to it), but am not sure how to get the process started. WTF can we do?! Get the Board of health involved? Its an absolute disgrace. Some cursory pics of the house in question. You can see the roof, mold on the window, rotting cars, and other such mess. I tried to get a pic of the raccoon I saw enter the broken basement window, but he had scurried off somewhere. Note that the ‘bushes’ in front of the house used to nearly completely cover the front of the house. There are pieces of old fence that are now covering the Bilko doors to the basement, where someone broke into the house to cut out the pipes. Thank you in advance for any serious advice.

I’m Batman

I get it, I was just busting your balls...and implying that it was too good to stop and take pics of that lovely pulled pork! Sounds like you hit it out of the park with this one. Please, feel free to post your bbq stories and processes! We can all learn and be inspired!

THATS how you do good bbq!! Great job! I noticed pics are missing! Did y’all tear into it before photo documenting it? Lol

Bats ARE pretty awesome, but not in your house. I had one in my house at the ranch many years ago, it was much like the bat scene in ‘The Great Outdoors’....except the bat survived. After that experience, I doubt he’ll be getting into people’s houses again.

Oh, the irony.

True. Although these days nothing is truly secure anyway.

I’ll let them monitor our credit for 10 years. No matter to me. The $250 ain’t gonna make or break me.

We were both exposed by the data breech. Our joint debit card was compromised recently, so there’s my ‘proof’ of impact. Navy Federal Credit Union took care of everything, and we experienced no financial loss. Other than a couple of days waiting on new credit/debit cards, it was pretty painless.