I sort of have a long and sordid history with an adjacent property of a plot I used to own, none of this fills me with tidings of joy. I had the land next door to this house and was in the midst of a tricky fourplex DP creation with the design shop. It seemed that meeting the neighbours and getting them on board would be a valuable tool in community engagement and placate the planner that the requested relaxation was known to the neighbours. The owner of this property I couldn’t even get to answer the door. I recall banging on it and seeing movement inside but the guy inside wouldn’t answer. I guess he thought I was selling girl guide cookies, or religion. I tried various techniques to get his phone number or converse with the owner, but was unsuccessful. I later told the planner that the neighbour ‘did not object’ to the relaxation requested. I guess that was sort of mostly true-ish, and I did get the DP relaxation and a really great DP design approved.

Once the market shifted down, I lost interest in the multi family building market and it appeared that parcelling 4-5-6 lots on this block could be created and then sold to the local development corp that owns a dozen or more lots in the area. And these 5 lots in a row were far superior to what the developer owned and all zoned MC2. I had no luck getting the neighbours to agree to list the homes together, but what happened is three or four of the lots found their way onto the MLS anyway. One was priced super high by some madman who could not be reasoned with, one was court ordered into foreclosure due to a divorce, and this third one just sat on the market, way over valued but the stubborn seller wouldn’t budge. Well, he finally budged, but not by much. I heard it was owned by two brothers, one of whom lived there. Lets just say the house is a junker, to put it kindly. I assume they inherited this house, one brother ran it down into the standard it is found today while living rent free, and the other wanted to cash out. The first brother maybe wouldn’t sign the listing agreement unless he put an unrealistic price on there, thus guaranteeing it could not sell. Maybe now it is uninhabitable and they both want to sell with a touch more motivation.