10 Very Stubborn House Owners Who Refused To Relocate Their Homes Inspite of Threats of Demolition

It’s a luxury and a great feeling to own your own home regardless of how small or big it is. The cost of a home isn’t cheap. Added to the renovation and various fixtures, fittings, and furnishing, the final bill can be quite steep. This is one of the main reasons why house owners don’t like letting go of homes when the government or private commercial projects want to requisition your home for demolition. There is a lot of sentimental value attached to a home to which is why these 10 people refused to leave their homes inspite of being offered large sums of money. Ultimately, the projects were built around which is what you have to see.

1 Edith Macefield Refused $1 Million Dollars for Her House

Edith Macefield became a neighborhood hero when she refused to give up her UP style little farmhouse in 2006 to make way for a commercial venture in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. She even turned down a staggering offer of $1 million. Ultimately the five-story complex was built around her 108-year-old farmhouse in which she lived until her death in 2008 at the age of 86. Macefiled left her house to her friend's and construction superintendent Barry Martin.

Her story was very similar to the story line of the animation movie UP where an aging widow’s house had been surrounded by commercial development. Disney even attached a bunch of balloons to Macefield’s house in 2009 as a promo for the movie. In the same year Martin sold the house for $ 310,000 to a real estate dealer Greg Pinneo. 

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2Luo Baogen Refused to Allow His House to be Demolished for a Road

In 2011 Chinese homeowner Luo Baogen made world headlines when he refused to give up his property in Wenling China to make way for a highway. He claimed that the compensation for relocation was too low. Lucky for him modified Chinese rules now state that homeowners cannot be forced to leave their properties without an agreement. The house was partly demolished and the highway built around it. Although all of the tenants vacated the building, Luo and his wife remained.

In December 2012 after a couple of months, Luo Finally relented after authorities offered him a higher compensation of 260,000 Yuan or $41,000. The house was demolished soon after. 

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