A COUPLE spent their entire life savings on building their dream home, but it was all ripped away by a letter.
The pair moved back home to New England, but it only took a month for their dream home to become a nightmare.
A couple spent their entire life savings on building their dream home, but it was all ripped away by a letter[/caption]
Marc and Joan Hendel had spent five years in the Midwest and thought it was time for a change.
They packed their bags and headed for Cape Cod, Massachusetts, but a month after finding their dream home, a letter brought it crashing down.
The Hendels were told that their brand-new home would be seized to clear space for a new bridge.
The letter officially brought the house under eminent domain, referring to the power of the government to take private property for public use.
This happens even if the owner does not want to sell or leave the house.
Joan recalled: “We were lost for words.
“We said nothing. We have an excellent marriage, we communicate well, but that day, not at all. We didn’t know what to do.”
Seizing a property for eminent domain does promise compensation for those asked to leave.
That usually means a payment reflecting the fair market value of the house.
This is the price the buyer would’ve paid on the open market the day the state made its seizure claim.
Before the Hendels bought the house, the seller had signed forms denying any planned public use for the land.
Joan says that their dream home is “out of the picture. They’ve ruined our lives.”
IS FAIR COMPENSATION POSSIBLE?
In reality, there may not be an equivalent home that the state could offer the Hendels.
According to Realtor.com data, in Barnstable County, the county which Cape Cod sits in, there were 1,402 active listings in July with a median price near $946,000.
They’ve ruined our lives
Joan Hendel
Of those listings, 6.1% were built in 2024 or later, which the Hendels said was a necessity for their replacement home.
Realtor.com senior economist Joel Berner said: “Cape Cod is still in seller’s market territory, with a constrained amount of inventory relative to the pace of home sales there.
“Buyers do not have many options to choose from, and what is available is very expensive.
“Homebuying is difficult on Cape Cod, which makes new construction all the more appealing—and all the more disappointing when it does not work out.”
Defending the state’s plan to build the bridge, Luisa Paiewonsky, executive director of MassDOT’s Mega Projects Delivery Office, said: “People absolutely rely on these bridges.”
She continued by saying that Cape Cod residents “really are relying on us to deliver replacement bridges, because with 90-year-old spans, [the bridges] are what we call functionally obsolete, meaning they’re not serving their intended purpose.
“Even though we have very robust processes to make sure people are fully compensated—not only for acquisition of their homes but for all the relocation expenses, and we support helping them find a new home—we still recognize that it goes beyond a simple financial transaction.”
If the state’s plans are approved, 13 homes and three commercial properties will be taken by eminent domain to build the bridge.
The Hendels were told that their brand-new home would be seized to clear space for a new bridge[/caption]
If the state’s plans are approved, 13 homes and three commercial properties will be taken by eminent domain to build the bridge[/caption]
