Stubborn Homeowners Who REFUSED To Move Out

By Editorial Staff in Amazing On 20th August 2016

They are being seen everywhere, often referred to as Nail Houses or Eyesores, as development encroaches onto others property and tries to force the homeowners to relocate and give up their beloved homes in the name of progress. We can all appreciate the people who refused to give up on their homes. No matter how much industry comes to town, these heroes wouldn’t let go of the places they love so much.

#1 Vera Coking

Vera Coking was a retired homeowner in Atlantic City, New Jersey whose home was the focus of a prominent eminent domain case involving Donald Trump. She had purchased the home with her husband in 1961 and was offered #1 million in 1970 by Penthouse magazine publisher Bob Guccione who wanted to build a casino on the boardwalk. She declined the offer for years, and Guccione decided to build around her house in 1978 but ran out of money in 1980 and construction stopped. The steel framework structure was finally torn down in 1993. That's when Donald Trump purchased the surrounding property and decided to build the casino of his own. When Coking still refused to sell out, Atlantic City condemned her house and Trump obtained it under the power of eminent domain. She fought the claim and prevailed, leaving Trump to build above and around her home. She put it up for sale but as of 2015 it was only valued at #130,000, a fraction of the original offering price. The adjacent Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, the property for which Trump wanted Coking's property to begin with, closed in September 2014, due to lack of business.

#2 Luo Baogen

The government relocated some 500 families in the city of Wenling to make way for the new road, but Luo Baogen, 67 and his wife, 65, refused to move because they felt the compensation (roughly $41,000 USD) would not pay for a replacement home. The government built the road anyway, surrounding the house with asphalt. The new road leads from Xiazhangyang to nearby Wenling airport. They eventually took the money from the government, which was increased slightly, and the house was demolished.

#3 Wu Ping & Yang Wu

Nail houses are called such because of the way they were built and because they stick out like a nail or sore thumb. This is one of the most famous Chinese nail houses to date. Wu Ping and her husband Yang Wu refused to leave her home for three years as developers continued to try and build a new shopping center. They lived in Chongqing, Cina and had been battling with developers after their 248 neighbors moved away. Construction continued around them until finally, they offered her $160,000, and she took the money.

#4 Austin Spriggs

In 2006, Austin Spriggs was offered of up to $3 million by developers in Washington, D.C. to sell his home. He held out until the real estate bubble burst in 2008, and was left with nothing until he decided to turn the property into a pizza joint. Four years later, the block-long crater that surrounded Spriggs' building was occupied by glass, steel and brick towers. The pizzeria never opened. After his bank threatened foreclosure, Spriggs put the property up for sale for $1.5 million, nearly half of what one developer had once hoped to pay him. He eventually sold the house in 2011, for 750,000.

5 Chin Ying

A nail house on Yaning street in Nanning, Guangxi province of China is blocked in. A 40-square-meter house stuck in the middle of the road due to the dispute over the house demolition compensation between the owner of the house and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development in Nanning has caused the government to build the road project around the 85-year-old home, leaving it boxed in between apartment dwellings and new highrises. The other buildings were built over a 2 year period, in which the government tried to settle with the owners to no avail. 96-year-old Chin Ying says he will only leave his home on a stretcher.

#6 Edith Macefield

At 84 years old, Edith Macefield was offered $1 million for her Seattle home, which was attached to the property where a massive shopping center was being built. Edith flat out refused and turned down the offer in order to remain in the house. On May 26, 2009, Disney publicists attached balloons to the roof of Mrs. Macefield's house, as a promotional tie-in to their film Up,'UP' in which an aging widower's home is similarly surrounded by a looming development. Although unlike the movie where Mr Fredrickson eventually sails his house off into the sunset, In the case of the Macefield home, the shopping center was eventually built, around her home.

#7 Randal Acker

In another 'UP" moment, this case is similar to Macefield home in Seattle. In 2005, Randal Acker purchased a Victorian home in downtown Portland, Oregon that he planned to operate his law practice out of. In 2006, they wanted to buy up all property around his home. Called "The Figo House", Acker named his home after his dog and soccer player Luis Figo. Two years later, developers stopped badgering Acker to sell his home but they continued with building a residence dormitory for Portland State University. Surprisingly, both sides are happy. The dormitory limited to only two stories, so as to not block sunsets. There is also a courtyard behind it which gives Acker's home plenty of natural light. He even released 400 balloons from his chimney to commemorate the opening of PSU's residence hall.

#8 Ishmael Bermudez

Ishmael Bermudez, 65, also known as Golden Eagle, has been excavating the backyard of his home for almost 50 years. He claims it's a mystical place sacred to the Tequesta tribe and believes it sits atop a sacred Native American burial ground. The small house, which is decorated with colorful paintings, sits incongruously in the heart of Miami's bustling city center, surrounded by high-rise buildings, heavy traffic, and ongoing construction projects.

#9 360 Degree View

These Chinese homeowners refused to move, but instead cut a deal with the developers and had the highway built right around them. The entire housing complex refused the relocation offer and stayed put in the building they had lived in since 1971. So to their dismay, they got 360-degree road built just several yards from their front door. I feel dizzy just looking at this house and I just can't imagine what the noise must be like! I bet the kids get annoyed that they can't go outside the house on their bikes!

#10 Mr Yang

A three-story building in China sits in the middle of a construction site of a high-tech industrial park. The property's owner, Mr. Yang, refused to leave during a two-year battle with the local government. In 2012, the developer cut off his water and electricity, and the Yang family is now forced to collect water from a river more than a kilometer away. Access to his house is also very limited.

#11 Million Dollar Corner

This is the Million Dollar Corner on 34th and Broadway in New York City. The 5-story building is named after it was sold for a record-setting $1 million in 1911. In 1900, Macy's opened their famous Manhattan department store location. Unfortunately, part of the 34th street spot had already been snagged by another buyer. The structure on the corner of the block was purchased with the intent to prevent Macy's from opening the largest store in the world. To this day, the structure is not owned by Macy's even though they have leased ad space on it. Part of the space reads "The World's Largest Store."

#12 Ye Tan & Shen

In 2014, a highway was built in China around an entire farm. Neighbors accepted the pay package offered by the government but this couple decided not to take the offer. Now, farmer Ye Tan, 72, and his wife Shen, 71, have a barn and a yard that's home to a goat and a few chickens, in the middle of the highway. Vehicles now have to pass around on a narrow dirt road to get past the property and then back onto the highway. The farmer and his family refused to relocate because they were raised in the area and the farmhouse was built by Tan's grandfather.

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