12 Feisty Homeowners Who Fought Back and Refused to Sell Their Homes

We all enjoy a good underdog story – from your favorite sports team to the scriptures telling us of David versus Goliath in the Bible. When the little guy takes on impossible odds and ends up winning, we can’t get enough of it and it beams inspiration into our own lives. When real estate investors want to force homeowners out, some are not willing to go. Some will take a stand and refuse to give up their home. This is called a “holdout” and in other countries are called “nail houses”. In these cases, developers have no choice but to build around their homes.  So here we take a look at 12 instances where homeowners took a strong stand and fought back.

In 2005, Randal Acker purchase 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 opening of PSU’s residence hall.

In London, there is a building that looks out of place next to former Wickhams Department Store in East End. That building holds a tremendous history and dates back to 19th century. In 1892, Spiegelhalters consented to Wickhams when a larger store wanted to expand; they moved their shop further down. When they desired to expand again in 1920 and again asked Spiegelhalters to move which they refused. So, they adjusted architecture of their huge building so that it would wrap around the jeweler’s shop. What resulted was it had to be moved to a side of the shop, and a hole in front threw off symmetry of this building. But Spiegelhalters held tight and managed to outlast them for years. The department store closed in 1960s, while Spiegelhalters remained in business until 1982.

A long running real estate holdout story is a fight over Narita Airport in 1966. It is a sad case where Japanese political figures revealed dealing for an airport with three runways; after people in several other communities protested this airport being erected in their backyards, this project was moved to Narita with little warning. In an area that is mostly farmland, this was a project calling for paying over 1,000 farmers to obtain their land. Most farmers were hesitant to give up their ancestral land. There were some that sold out rather quickly, but others stood their ground. Unfortunately, this situation turned violent with the use of harassment and police force. The airport opened in 1978 with only one runway. Sadly, thirteen people had died in battles between politics and the residents. Since its opening, more farmers agreed to move and this airport was able to add that second runway which is not as big as they initially planned. This is credited to some owners refusing to move, although they have to deal with constant noise and fuel odors.

One of the most famous landmarks in England is Stott Hall Farm. The M62 was built in 1970 and had to curve around the farm due to geology. In operation since the 1800s, reports state that highway had to curl around it in an unzipped way because owners refused to sell. They smile as they pass by the farm because of its unique location centered in a busy motorway; a representation of a victory that will never be forgotten.

A family owned a three-story home in Yichang, China. Real estate developers approached a large residential area in 2012 about building a park there. However, the family and builders could not agree on the compensation for relocation. They stayed in their house while building commenced. Everything kept getting taller and taller, effectively blocking them into a pit. To make matters worse, developers deliberately cut off water and electricity services to their home. Utility providers have been unable to get their services restored. Even with this threat of flooding and having to walk almost a mile to obtain fresh water they refused to move. In 2012, Kung Chungin and his wife eventually accepted a relocation payment of $12,000 from developers. They vacated but later changed their minds and returned all money.

At the dizzying height of the real estate boom, Austin Spriggs had the equivalent of a golden lottery ticket – a downtown Washington townhouse on precisely the red-hot block where developers hoped to build hundreds of swanky condominiums and offices.  Developers paraded in and out of his office, offering Spriggs millions for the building that had housed his small architecture firm since 1980. Each time, Spriggs told them no and held out for more money. Then, as offers dried up, he vowed to turn the place into a pizzeria that would feed newcomers to this once-forgotten strip along Massachusetts Avenue, east of the Washington Convention Center.  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.

A lone apartment building stands in the middle of a newly built road after an elderly couple refused to relocate. Luo Baogen and his wife insisted on living in the half-demolished building in the city of Wenling, in Zhejiang province, China because they believe that the relocation compensation offered by the government was not enough.  So now you just have this lone apartment building standing up which we think is pretty cool.

In 2012, Niu Chuangen and Zhang Zhongyun dared to stand in the way of a local property developer in Zaozhuang, in the Shandong province. As a result, the resolute couple, both in their 60s, have been left stranded on their tiny spot of land, while all around them the ground has been dug up and skyscrapers erected. The distraught pair were regularly threatened by gangsters, and have had to fend for themselves over a number of attempts to illegally demolish their ramshackle home. Their utilities were cut off in 2009 when a local developer started the construction of dozens of high-rise residential buildings in the area. (Via)

If you can’t build through it, build around it – city planners seem to have taken this advice quite literally. Motorway builders encircled the homes of three Chinese families with a four-lane flyover after they refused to make way for the bulldozers. Demolition teams in Guangzhou had planned to destroy the houses in order to connect the city’s road network to a recently opened tunnel under the Pearl River, but since the owners refused to sell, they had to make construction adjustments. Some Internet users joked that authorities had given the holdouts homes “with a 360-degree road view.” (Via)

Homeowner Ishmael Bermudez says that $1.8 million is not enough for his Miami property. After years of painstaking excavation, he says he’s found countless priceless native American artifacts on his land. As hotels get higher and higher all around him, he continues to hold out for the sake of history. Personally we think he’s holding out for the sake of money but we’ll see how this story plays out.   Via

The 900-year-old village of Yangji was demolished to make way for new high-rise buildings. A few holdouts made a valiant effort to keep their homes, but eventually they were all forced out to make way for a “new community.”  This one kind of reminds us of the movie Batteries Not Included only there are multiple units here instead of just one.  Sometimes you can’t just mess with history.  You gotta leave a little bit of it in there.

This is one of the most famous Chinese nail houses to date. Mrs. Wu Ping exhausted developers by refusing to vacate her property for three years. In addition to this home, 240 other properties had sold to make way for a new shopping center; they finally offered her $160,000, which she promptly took and left.  Personally I think she should have held out for more.  It would have been pretty awesome to see them build around this house and leave this “cliff” there.  Oh well.