What I wanna do with my property.

I rent at my current dwelling in Marion Ohio, but I do own 1/3 of a property in Sciotoville Ohio. The property was left to me and my two sisters Tracy and Kristina as a part of mom's estate after she passed away. Currently parked there is a trailer, which is where I was born and grew up. I lived there til I was around 4, then moved in with my grandparents as moms ALS became worse and I became more difficult to discipline. I moved back in at age 5, accompanied by my grandmother, who moved in to help care for mom during the last 4 years of her life (the ages when I moved away and moved back are approximate.)

When mom died, I was 9 years old. We moved out of that trailer into a house my grandfather had built accross the street. That trailer sat there not doing anything, so my grandparents rented it out to generate an additional revenue stream. However, the tenants were undesirable, and trashed the place. At one point garbage was boarded up into the closet of the bedroom that I grew up in.

I moved back into that trailer at age 19, and lived there til I was 21. I lived with my sister Kristina, and watched as she brought drugs into the house. We were living rent free, and she also owned 1/3 of the property, so I couldn't kick her out. However, after my musical equipment started getting stolen (a few guitar pedals, and then my Jackson PS-4), I decided that I'd had enough of her shit and moved out of the trailer. I moved to Columbus, and she hasn't been a part of my life since.

Unfortunatley, the drug part of that story is very typical of Scioto County right now, but that's a different blog.

Now, the trailer sits there, delapidated and looking like it's about to cave in.



I recieved pressure from my dad at one point to sell the property and get rid of the asset, but I guess I'm old fashioned. I saw no point in getting rid of the asset since it was only costing us property tax every year. I don't want to lose the asset just because it's an eyesore. It's still land, and even though the trailer is currently dilapidated and unkept, it doesn't always have to be that way.

Here's what I have in mind.

I may not plan to live there in my life as I currently evaluate it, but you never know when that may change. If I unload the asset now, I lose that forever. What I'd like to do is hold on to it and try to make it worth something again. It's in shambles now, and the trailer that sits there should be torched and sold for scrap metal, but the land can be a blank canvas.

I picture cleaning up the land and removing the trailer from it, then several possibilities could happen. One could be that the property is rented out by someone who wants a place to park a trailer. I'd take the lot rent they pay each month and apply that to the land taxes each year, then put the remainder into a high yield savings account. The land is paid for, so there's no mortgage. This high interest savings account could be an asset to my two sisters and I who are currently equal owners.

Another possible use would be for my sister Tracy to live on. She bought a mobile home in the area, and is currently paying lot rent (i think). This would be up to her obviously, but it's her property too, and I could see the financial benefit of moving her home to this property and living without having a lot rent bill.

Finally, there's the long term. I've got a vision in my head of putting a permanent home there one day. Nothing elaborate, just a cozy dwelling. This would be a great place for my family top gather at holidays, to live in if we needed to, or to pass on to future generations of the family. And if I ever decided to live there one day, in the far reaches of the future, I'd have it available to move into.

I'm still undecided on all of this, but that's where my train of thought is. I may decide eventually to sell, and maybe that'll help provide some money to go toward retirement or savings or the studio. At this time though, I've decided that I want that trailer gone this year. The land, I'm keeping, but the trailer is a delpidated eyesore that needs gone a.s.a.p. Once it's gone, we can figure out the land situation then.

I'll update when action is taken, whatever it may be.