The Commercial Property

My plan was to partially-develop a 12-acre lot of raw commercial land, and lease it to a non-profit agency that would finish developing it. But all I managed to do was clear the heavily-overgrown pre-existing access roads before all of the plans fell through. I'd thought about building my home there, but the road passing it is very busy, with a lot of big trucks—the noise is incessant. If I could have found some way to keep the property, I would have, but just the tax burden alone made it impossible. The saddest part of selling it off was knowing the new owners would clear-cut the whole lot, save for the riparian setback along the stream at the back.

Although I had a buyer within three months of putting it up for sale, it took over three years to close. Worse, roughly half of the proceeds were lost to lawyers' fees, back taxes, penalties, and other costs that I should not have had to pay.

An Even Unhappier Ending

I swore I'd never again drive by the property... but curiosity got the best of me. I was expecting to see the land clear-cut and equipment busily digging foundations. But what did I see instead? A for sale sign. Yes, those bastards held up my life for three years and ruined me financially simply because they wanted to get all of their permits before closing, only to turn around and abandon the whole project. All of that anguish I suffered was basically for nothing. Words cannot describe how infuriated that made me, and I shall carry my utter contempt for them to my grave.

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