Twelve years ago, my wife and I bought a year-old house in Breezy Point. Although not a starter castle, it is a quality four-bedroom home on the shore of Ossawinnamakee. It had been owned for one year by a metro area home builder. Thus, I thought, if there were flaws, this expert would have spotted them.
However, I was fooled because there was a hidden flaw. The original builder had buried tree trunks and limbs in the yard.
After two or three years, sink holes began to appear. We filled them with black dirt and planted grass seed. The sink holes slowly reappeared in the same places.
Our neighbor bought his property, built by the same contractor, a year before we did. He also has sink holes. An excavating company dug out a sink hole and found large pieces of tree trunks and limbs had been buried there. The excavators told us this is a common practice in Breezy Point.
I talked to an official at City Hall. He said there is no ordinance banning the burial of decomposable material in the ground and he knew this had been a common, cost-saving practice by speculating contractors in Breezy Point. Sink holes work against the reputation of Breezy Point as a nice place to live.
If I were to offer my home on the real estate market, I would have to list this fault, created by a slipshod builder and legally allowed by the City of Breezy Point, as a problem. This will cost me money. People who are aware of this issue will tell their friends to avoid our fair city with sink hole lawns.
I suggest the city council write an ordinance prohibiting this sleazy practice.
Charles D. Johnson,
Breezy Point
