Intrusive government and thank goodness for Farm Bureau

[tomtoolbag]

  I had CC insurance long ago through a high school classmate/friend's father, and dropped it for the same reason, mostly at my grandpa's insistence and informative position about them. Somehow or other, I still get a monthly magazine from them, that is regional in articles while also distributed throughout the state I think.

  I was referring to the houses that would fall under the unincorporated jurisdiction. It seems odd that they (the FB)were consulted and yet the potential ordinance was vague and expansive. I must say though that the FB has a habit of butting into various political issues that they have absolutely no interest or representation for here. But, I agree with you about the barns, outbuildings and such because they aren't inhabited by people, and therefore the occupancy permit is not applicable. Here, drawings must be submitted with an engineers stamp and credentials when applying for a building permit, and the various structural inspections apply, such as footings, electrical, etc. I don't know of any bank that would loan any funds on a building to be built without those inspections because it protects their interest and ensures that the applicable building maintains it's value.

  I must admit that it seems pretty goofy that they don't have any applicable "community standards" to apply to that trailer court, where even the most basic issues are covered. A lot of governmental bodies here have had to pass specific ordinances to deal with run down properties that have junk and a lack of upkeep. Everything from limbs to old cars and trucks along with other things and usually the property owner is delinquent on their property taxes too. The bad part is that some of those taxing bodies have to hire specific personnel to deal with those properties and negligent owners that we all have to pay for, when they should have dealt with the issue before it got out of hand and required extreme measures.

  Some of the problems here are the scumbag property owners that don't just neglect their houses, they look like nobody even lives there. There is usually one on any given block, and it's one thing to not update their house because of money, but it's another to let it totally go to hell and compound it with trash and junk. So, a law has to be implemented that applies to everybody to deal with a few scumbags. I firmly believe that 10% of the morons anywhere will suck up the attention and use 90% of the services, and it's proven time and again.

[dagwud]

We have the same problem in towns here as well with scum bag property owners.  I know for a fact that some of them are the ones I have caught dumping trash on some of my farm ground and in ditches.  One guy even went so far as to throw his trash over a bridge onto the edge of small creek.  Guess it did not bother him where it went after a big rain when the creek rose.

I wonder if the trailer house park that Johnson County was having trouble with sat outside the Iowa City limits so they felt they needed to address it with a county ordinance.  In one of the articles I read on the matter Johnson County farmers were complaining that the county supervisors are all Iowa City residents and feel that the farming community is not being represented.  Here in my county where the biggest town is only around 2500 people we always have a couple of farmers serving as supervisors so we don't have that problem.

I had to laugh at being accused of being a big fan or mouth piece for Farm Bureau as people that know me know I generally am a critic and not a fan of F.B.

I'm curious what insurance "CC" stands for?  

[hardnox604008]

I guess I don't have a problem with an ordinance that you have to get rid of junked machinery etc., assuming that it is pretty liberal- like hasn't moved in a year or some such.

But in the case I referenced one of the farms that the proponent mentioned is vrey much a going commercial venture that supports 3 families milking. It just happens that they do things in a low investment fashion and keep pretty darn busy just taking care of business. In my opinion the place just looks like a working farm of 30-40 years ago, not like the crop farms of today where people work 3 months and have the rest of the time to make everything look like a golf course and suburban lot.

It is all in the eye of the beholder.

[hobbyfarm2145365]

hardnox, you r not going to make friends with that last sentence!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[tomtoolbag]

  CC= Country Companies.

  I imagine that the ordinances or codes, or even basic land usage approvals were easier or more relaxed when that trailer court was established, that's why it's outside of the city limits. Trailer court owners/companies are notoriously shady characters everywhere that I have seen, and the owners of that one are apparently no different. With a major university there and the high cost of housing, the owner tried to side-step some regulations and make some quick cash by getting out of the city limits and their corresponding regulations.

   In my experiences, rental property owners usually fall into 1 of 2 categories, and you can tell their mentality or mindset that they posses by looking at their properties. They either bleed it of cash and neglect the property, or respect it and treat them as assets. Sadly, there is a market for both types of owners, but those "bleed it" types never factor in the lost revenue and the time involved to deal with their high and constant turnover. Most of those types don't even pay themselves for the work that they do on any given property as they only worry about the pennies that they put into them instead of the long term effects. We treat ours differently,and the tenants too, and our turnover is almost zero. I constantly get a kick out of new tenants and how I explained every aspect of the property and how to properly use the HVAC components and the cost savings of them also, and we even provide a house manual to explain how to set thermostats and how to maximize savings from them. It never fails that after a couple of months we get a call to come check things out because their utilities are so cheap. Of course, we try to capture some of their savings or value to offset the higher up front costs to equip and rehab the property to get it to that position, but we try to maintain a good value and apparently we must, and that's confirmed by the lack of turnover and potential tenants that come to us pretty frequently.

  I believe that that type of mentality comes from how those owners view other people, and again their attitude and behavior towards others is very poor at best. There is nothing wrong with earning money or getting a return on an investment, but treating and considering your tenants as filth and just a source of money never leads to a good outcome. When I was younger and raised livestock, I always treated those cattle with respect and looked out for their well being because they were my financial well being. Obviously we don't categorize or think of our tenants as livestock, but the mentality is the same. We want happy and satisfied tenants because happy and satisfied tenants feel that their decision and choice that they made to lease from us has value and merit and they don't move. For what little it costs us to cater to them the payoffs are huge, along with never needing issues to be addressed over and over again. Believe it or not, the smallest and simplest, most basic issues have a lasting effect upon our tenants just by how quick we respond to them, because to them it may not be trivial.

[tomtoolbag]

  Hardnox, or anybody else, did you folks have gypsies that would come around to paint barns and bins way back when(mostly during the 70s)?? My grandpa hired them once, and after that he painted all the barns, cribs and bins after that. He would paint the roofs also, and could never get over the fact that other farmers would spend good money on equipment and let it sit out in the elements year around. He would spend every day doing something outside also, and when the weather would get extremely cold he would just limit his time in it and work in the shop or do other things. Granted, with livestock they required more attention, but I can't even begin to count all the times that I heard "there's always something to do", or " it's not going to get done by itself". Maybe that's why I don't have a problem with the cold weather and heat these days, because things still have to get done regardless of the temperature.

[sharksoup]

Any chance of getting some satisfaction for small claims court? Sue them for your cost of cleanup - hired men's wages and use of your equipment, etc. Though it's likely these folks wouldn't have any money, you'd at least get their attention.

[hobbyfarm2145365]

You don't have dust control our great county hires a company to spray mag water in frout of farm place to cut dust for the occupants.   This county is as red as Orange County Calif.

[kraft-t]

If you're not a fan of Farm Bureau you would not be a member.

[dagwud]

Don, I'm a big fan of the Farm Bureau Spokesman newspaper which you get free by being a member.  I also own and share farm equipment with a brother and we cover our equipment together one a single policy so we would not have to meet two deductibles in case of a claim.  My brother prefers F.B. and carries all his insurance with them.  That is why I still have my farm liability and machinery insured with F.B. but have taken all my other insurance business else where.