Neighborhood Gossip

I told you how Nice Neighbor John died in May of a rare heart tumor, right? (Rare heart tumor = something new to worry about).

And then how John had mortgaged his house to a fare-thee-well, probably to pay for his Cabernet and steak habit?

When the house was auctioned last week, the amount of debt on the books was close to $400k on a house that is worth maybe $350k - gotta love that superhot mortgage market of a few years ago.

Tonight when I got home, there was somebody inside John's house with a flashlight. I figured, given the timing, it must be the new owner. I was going to go over and say hi after I got all my stuff out of the car.

Meanwhile Neighbor Tina across the street (the school lunch lady) had seen the flashlight and figured it was robbers. She called the police, who arrived by the time I had unloaded the dog food into the house.

Can you imagine taking possession of your new house and, five minutes later, finding the police at your door? Nice!

Neighbor Jay and I stood around in the driveway talking about it and decided that at least he will know that the neighbors keep an eye out. That's gotta be good for something, right?