Grandpa Builds Tallest House in Town for Family, Only to Drain the Equity, Leading to Foreclosure

Author image for Eleonora Bader
Eleonora Bader
Aug 17, 2023 7:00 AM EDT

When buying a property and beginning to build on it, you need a bunch of permits, and the house needs to pass inspection, which won't be possible if you don't build according to country code. But sometimes, if you're smart enough, you can dodge the rules, and make up some of your own. It doesn't always work, but when it does, it's quite something. In this case, OP shared a story about his 'shady' grandpa, who according to OP, was a very smart man, but also, not the greatest person in the world.

He found a way to avoid doing what inspection told him to when he bought a house, enabling him to build the tallest house in the entire town. He then rented this house out to his son, OP's dad. Unfortunately, as previously stated, Grandpa was sort of a shady man. He began missing mortgage payments, and one thing led to another…

To read a full, detailed account of the events, you are welcome to scroll below. But I'll give you a fair warning… this story doesn't exactly have a happy ending. It's one of the more realistic ones. For more stories like this, here is an employee who found out a coworker was making 16k more than them, and when they asked for a raise, they were denied one.

Advertisement
  • 01
    Building - TTTTT FORECLOSURE
    via canva.com
  • 02
    Font - Posted by u/Frolicking-Fox 1 day ago How my grandpa built the tallest house in town. M OC
    via u/Frolicking-Fox
  • 03
    Font - The year was 1995. My grandpa was always one of those coy men that knew how to make his way to the top of any situation, sometimes regardless to thst cost to others.... but while shady, he was for the most part a decent human. This story isn't about
    via u/Frolicking-Fox
  • 04
    Font - his shady shide though, it's about how he was able to build the tallest house in town, even though it was against building code for the county. A general contractor bought a property in this small town, and just started building, without getting the proper
    via u/Frolicking-Fox
  • 05
    Font - permits for the house. The house was already framed and starting to get sheeted and had the roof built, when the building inspector was called to the property. Of course he shut the construction down. The contractor was missing
    via u/Frolicking-Fox
  • 06
    Font - permits, and the house was too tall for what code allowed. So, the job was red tagged and shut down. The general contractor couldn't afford to tear down the house and rebuild, so he just walked away.
    via u/Frolicking-Fox
  • 07
    Font - My grandpa heard about this and went to talk to the bank to see if he could buy the property. He offered them $250k for it, but the bank denied his offer and said it was going to be auctioned off.
    via u/Frolicking-Fox
  • 08
    Font - He decided he was going to show up for auction. Day of the auction, the only other person who showed up, is another contractor from town, who my grandpa knew.
    via u/Frolicking-Fox
  • 09
    Font - He talks to him and basically lays it out like, "I really want this property, and if you will just walk away from this one, I will make you a partner in the next property I buy. And in a small town like that, my grandpa swears a
    via u/Frolicking-Fox
  • 10
    Font - gentleman's promise, and the other contractor walks away from the auction. They start the bid at $200k, and my grandpa offers them $100k. The bank ended up selling for way less than my grandpa
    via u/Frolicking-Fox
  • 11
    Font - originally offered. So, he owns the lot, and instead of demolishing the house that is half built on it... like the county inspector wanted, he just decided to bring all the mistakes to code, keep everything revealed for the inspector, and continued
    via u/Frolicking-Fox
  • 12
    Font - to build on the house. The county inspector hears that instead of being torn down, my grandpa is continuing to build on the house, and drives out there immediately.
    via u/Frolicking-Fox
  • 13
    Font - When he confronts my grandpa, my grandpa shows him that he has brought everything to code. The inspector tells him that the house is still too tall for what the code allows, and needs to be demolished to a legal height.
    via u/Frolicking-Fox
  • 14
    Font - My grandpa simply replied, "well that's easy. I'll just import in some dirt, to put around the first floor of the house." The inspector became frustrated, and left him to build.
    via u/Frolicking-Fox
  • 15
    Font - My grandpa was smart like that, but then, the whole reason I know this story is because my grandpa let my family move in with him after this house was built, and while my dad was paying grandpa rent for us to be there, grandpa drained the equity
    via u/Frolicking-Fox
  • 16
    Font - out of the house, didn't pay the mortgage, and bailed to leave us homeless once the house was foreclosed. So, it's like I said... he was a very clever man, but a little bit shady also.
    via u/Frolicking-Fox
  • 17
    Font - +1 · 1 day ago Reminds me of the story about a buy who built an extensive deck system behind his house and then the inspectors wanted rails placed around the whole thing because the height was too above grade. He MOLPT
    via u/MOLPT
  • 18
    Font - trucked in top soil and raised the grade. A co-worker told me he wanted to pour a ground- level concrete deck behind his home, but the inspectors wanted it tied into the home's slab. He asked how far out the deck slab would
    via u/MOLPT
  • 19
    Font - have to be in order for the "tie in" requirement to no longer apply. He said the inspector just grinned and told him how far out to go. Problem avoided. 4 345 Reply Share
    via u/MOLPT
  • 20
    Font - Original_Dream_7765 +2. 1 day ago He was at least 30% shady at the beginning of your story. To leave your family homeless intentionally is 100% shady. It's ok to admit that to yourself. 127 Reply Share
    via u/Original_Dream_7765
  • 21
    Font - HAPPY HOL overide +2 • 23 hr. ago I'm not sure if it was intentional, but OP almost acts like he respects his grandpa. OP your grandpa is a piece of s not just a little shady.
    via u/overide
  • 22
    Font - Due-Procedure5918 1 day ago He charged you rent while not paying the mortgage and let it foreclose... but he's a decent man? What am I missing? 67 Reply Share
    via u/Due-Procedure5918
  • 23
    Font - Frolicking-Fox OP. 1 day ago I'd say he was a complicated person that did things rashly, and learned to make amends later in life. He was in his 60's at this point, and lived to be 90.
    via u/Frolicking-Fox
  • 24
    Font - Hey_Allen 1 day ago . edited 1 day ago A prior co-worker wanted a garage to the rear of his property, but the city he was in wouldn't allow detached garages.
    via u/Hey_Allen
  • 25
    Font - He ended up building his garage at the rear of the property with a (long!) covered breezeway connecting the house to the garage, and got his large garage.
    via u/Hey_Allen
  • 26
    Font - He did make sure to build everything exactly to code so that the inspector didn't have anything to complain about, other than the technicality of the garage being "connected" to the house... 63 Reply Share
    via u/Hey_Allen

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

county bank malicious compliance house grandfather construction inspector permits Grandpa family inspection grandson property foreclosure contractor auction equity
Scroll Down For The Next Article