So long farewell...

This blog was created to promote a neighborhood and area. Originally started by Teresa Harvey in 2009.

The Harvey's moved and a friend has updated sporadically the blog. It's not a priority since she did not live in the neighborhood but was part of the area. The blog has mostly become dormant.

We will leave this here for those who stumble upon or value any content here within. If someone in the neighborhood or community would like to take the blog over and promote it then please contact honeysuckletx@gmail.com. Due to this being a public reflection on the neighbors and neighborhood any editors will be checked out and references needed before turning the blog over.

It was fun providing information and getting to know Honeysuckle Estates and Midlothian.

Merry Christmas and a Happy 2017!

Honeysuckle Estates...what a great neighborhood!

Happily Ever After….

By Teresa Harvey

That is what every new home owner hopes for. However, just a year ago that dream seemed far, far, away for homeowners in Honeysuckle Estates, an upscale neighborhood, located in the town of Midlothian just a few short miles from Waxahachie.

The neighborhood was riddled with fear, fraud and terms like squatters. There were approximately 17 homes for sale mostly due to foreclosure as of January 2009. Realtors would steer their clients to more “desirable” neighborhoods. This is what our family found when house hunting a year ago.

We were visiting friends here in Midlothian and were looking for a new home and not finding a lot of options, in our town or in our price range, when my friend said we should take a look online to see what might be available in Midlothian. It was a Sunday afternoon and immediately our search, for a new home, led us to several really nice large homes on anything from a regular interior city lot to really nice size lots of ½ - 1 acre. The prices were a little less but not much less than our town until one popped up that was way below the other listings and was listed as “new” on 1+ acres with 4800 sq. ft. WOW. I thought it was a typo, but took a chance and called the realtor. The realtor answered and said she couldn’t show me a property out “there” but I could call the office. Strange. We found a realtor who agreed to show us the home but wanted to show us 3 others first. I loaded up the kids, my hubby and our friends and took off for location number 1. We liked the 3 homes we were shown but the lots were smaller or the prices were over double of the home we were holding out for. So, the realtor finally said, “You really don’t want that neighborhood. Look, I have to tell you it’s had problems.” I assured him I didn’t scare easily and was looking for a diamond in the rough.

Our first drive into Honeysuckle Estates was on a cloudy cold January day approaching dusk. Looking like we had found the local version of a ghost town rather than a residential neighborhood, we drove into the driveway of the home on the listing. After a few calls to find the right code for the lockbox we made our way inside. Amazing! It wasn’t finished but there were beautiful hardwood floors, granite countertops, custom wood cabinets and SPACE! The home was just under 4800 sq. ft. with 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, a game room, a media room complete with a Texas size lot of just over an acre. The price was dirt cheap for anywhere. I felt sorry for the builder but was intrigued by the possibilities. As we walked around we noticed home after home for sale. We immediately decided we wanted to see them all. The next day after taking my children to school I drove the hour drive that would become an almost daily trip out to Honeysuckle Estates from our current home to see what was there. I found homes in all states of disrepair, completion or vandalism. It didn’t add up. I was told the builder had financing problems and the homes had been foreclosed on. A little web search of the area and neighborhood led to more details. It seems the prestigious neighborhood, which started off with a bang of families looking for that true dream home or investing in their retirement home, became a nightmare as mortgage fraud and an almost unheard of term for today “squatters” took over. A neighborhood with custom upscale finishes and elite living had been hijacked!



By the time I started exploring the possibilities there were no more squatters but the evidence of their presence was everywhere in the homes that were left behind. Our family decided we would gamble on the amazing deal and bid on a home. We didn’t get the first home we bid on but won the 2nd. Foreclosures are not always a quick method of buying. It took us from March 1st until June 5th to finalize our closing and take possession of our “new” home. We took possession of a home that was missing a cook top, had a busted water heater, was lacking caulking on all the windows, had a hole in at least one wall of every single room, leaky roof, missing insulation and a big dirt & rock back yard! Rolling up our sleeves we got busy turning the negatives to positive and making this our home. Those first few weeks were busy but almost eerie as no one was ever outside! Finally more and more of the foreclosed or for sale homes sold. By mid July we were down to about 5 houses left on the market. People were starting to come outside. Children could be seen playing, sprinklers were running, and flowers were popping up from the stingy rock with hope and beauty. Hope. That is the feeling people started to share in our tiny little neighborhood. We started meeting neighbors. A group of neighbors started sharing stories about fencing cost, where to buy sod, who was a good pediatrician. I started a Yahoo Group for neighbors to have a central place to get information and share ideas. We had our first block party on Halloween. It was a BIG success. 23 families from our neighborhood of 46 homes showed up. Kids had a blast decorating pumpkins, showing off costumes, participating in the cake walk, fishing game, pumpkin toss & hayride. Adults mingled, talked, corralled kids, and laughed at the kids playing. Speaking to a few of the “pioneer” families we learned of the long road they had endured to reach this moment of hope. Many of the first home owners may still be a little upside down on their investment but things are definitely moving in the right direction for Honeysuckle Estates! As of September all our homes are sold. Fences are going up, yards are sporting beautiful landscape, several new pools have been carved out of the rock, beautiful new doors have replaced the builder specials, and everywhere you look you see families working hard to turn these houses into homes and creating their version of “Happily ever after”.

UPDATE: Fast forward to 2014

The past is far behind but Honeysuckle proved not to be for our family. A difficult neighbor and constant privacy issues drove us away. The homes have continued to come on and off the market usually selling below other areas. The neighborhood often times seems snake bit. Utilities for these lovely large homes are high. Water bills while there were often $300-400 a month during the summer. This results in most yards looking browned out and burned up. Few have taken the time to add additional trees. The homes are all electric and large so electric bills running over $600 a month is not uncommon in the highest heat of the summer and the coldest months of the winter. We've known families to have their homes listed for months.

Most owners have managed to update and repair the poor initial craftsmanship and the majority of families that live there are great hard working families. This could still be a happily ever after but you need money, vision and time AND hopefully not to live by the cuckoo's. ;)

WooHoo 2014!!!!

So many exciting things happened in 2013. A year of growth for our neighborhood. New babies born in the 'hood. New neighbors. A new high school is being completed. A year of so many good and new things. Can't wait to see what 2014 will bring.

Happy New Year - Bring on 2014!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing each of you a wonderful Christmas. May it be filled with family, friends and great memories.  Be safe.  From our neighborhood to yours MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Fun in July!

Don't miss it! Fourth of July Fire Works in Midlothian, TX. JULY 3 @ 9:30 p.m. Multi-Purpose Stadium

An Independence Day Fireworks Display is held every July 3rd at the MISD Multi-Purpose Stadium.  The event is sponsored by Citizens National Bank of Texas. 

The Senior Citizens Food Pantry hosts various activities at the stadium with all proceeds going to the Food Pantry.

http://www.midlothian.tx.us/index.aspx?nid=547

More fun on July 4th, with the annual parade!

July 4

Time:

10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Location:

Through the downtown area.

Address:

Midlothian, TX 76065

 

 

And check out the City Calendar for more family fun the whole month long.

http://www.midlothian.tx.us/Calendar.aspx

 

A Spade as a Spade

Reposting the latest harassment by Tiera.

Alerts are sent when Teresa Stephens Harvey's name is used. Mailbox was full this morning 8 months after the Harvey's moved and had hoped to leave this behind. Tiera has been using Google to posts. The postings started after January 2012 while the Harvey's were trying to sell their home and move and regular post to harass the Harvey's have been posted. These are screen shots of the most recent posts. The time stamps confirm when they were posted.

The last picture is a contribution from the Harvey's of the frisbee Tiera likes to go on about -picture taken in June 2010 when the frisbee incident occurred. The picture was taken of the frisbee Tiera's sent over and her version of "new" - a sun bleached dollar store frisbee to replace the White Ultimate Frisbee the McMahon's kept that belonged to the Harvey's.  The "Nasty" message Tiera is speaking of is "Jesus Loves You" - warped sense of nasty, don't you think? Yes, the Harvey's sent their frisbee back in June 2010!

No, a frisbee isn't that important so why does someone feel the need to post it over and over? But having a neighbor and former neighbor use pictures out of context and continue to spend countless hours seeking out your address and private information... months, and months after you move for no other purpose than to post it online and harass you is Cyber Stalking.