Maybe. When I get home I'll get on collincad dot org and see, though likely as not the 'owner' will be an LLC under a family trust.
I have 40 acres, and the neighbor 12. Our houses are 50 yards apart......Not only that, but they built our house, on one of the dumbest spots possible on this land (low). Farmer wanted more pasture to graze his cows, and a short driveway (I knew the guy that built it). No other neighbors remotely close enough to worry about.
My golf course has a bunch of them. They do a bangup job on the rough but they still use normal mowers for the fairway (presumably for the striping benefits).
You joke, but I have seen reports of this becoming more normalized. Older folks want to remain in their homes in their old age but need help. Housing market pricing some folks out has added to pushing this trend along. Obviously you'd have to vet them well, but they are allowing someone to live with them for free or suuuuuper cheap. In return they help the older folks out with physical tasks they can't do anymore like yard work, run errands, grocery shopping, provide them company...kind of a live in assistant for room and board. Something like that an option for your parents? Family or family friend? Maybe someone with little kids. I think having grandparent aged, parent, and grandchildren under the same roof is a treasured experience that a lot of Americans don't get the joy of experiencing anymore. Lots of benefits for all involved, the culture and values exchange. I think we've lost a lot by getting away from this where some other cultures around the world have maintained it.
How much lawn surface area? Probably a postage stamp relative to the rest of the US. A truck roll for $20 means little to nothing actually gets done.
We were thiiiiiiis close to such an arrangement for my mother-in-law circa 2016-2017. She had a contract part-time caregiver that she absolutely LOVED. The caregiver and her husband lived way north of the metroplex because even then, housing wasn't cheap closer in. They only had one car so commuting was a logistic nightmare. It seemed like a live-in situation in the MILs house, which was way big enough, would be ideal. The missus set up an invite for the caregiver and her husband to come to dinner, which was actually a casual interview, unbeknownst to them. Unfortunately, the guy royally creeped me out so the idea was a no-go, but I still thought that the concept was very sound. Think through the end of life situation, too. Come up with a plan for getting the caregivers out of the house, but not just evicting them before the body is cold.
Yeah, a goodly percentage of our poopscoop clients pay that much just for dookie removal. Average 3 or 4 minutes a visit.
The grass area is pretty small but I have hedges that line the property they do every week along with a bunch of other plants. they’re here for a :45-1hr.
Gardening in S cal is a bargain. If you use the low end of 45 minites. That ends up costing you $24.62 an hour, all in if they only have 1 worker. Doesn’t count travel time, wear and tear on equipment and their transport truck. Healthcare, retirement, new equipment, vacations, etc. Mine prices out at $36.93. I’m not there to see how long they are there, but in my case I think it is usually two guys. The main guy/owner was a sales guy before and got tired of the rat race and loved gardening. So about 5 years ago he quit his job and started this company up. I think he is around $20 more per month than who we used before, but he speaks native English, which isn't common with the cheap gardeners, and that is very helpful when trying to get something done how you like it. They get extra money by doing sprinkler repairs, planting trees/flowers/shrubs etc. Also around once a year we pay them or another service to do full tree trimming on all the palms and regular trees and I think that’s around $800.
I know it’s a reality. When I was in the business. I took care of a century-old woman’s property. This place has incredible character, originally built by her husband, in the 40’s. It was an absolute time capsule, inside. All original everything. I loved the place. Anyway, she had two daughters. Both have adjacent properties in New Hampshire and the one full-times in Oakland, CA. During a visit to their mom, they asked me if I’d be interested in moving to New Hampshire, living in an onsite caretaker’s quarters, and caring for both properties. The maintenance budget was open. Their only request was that I create showplaces, like what I’d done to the property across from their mom’s place. At the time, I could only think about the brutal winters. Now, I totally regret not doing it. It would’ve been so fulfilling and would’ve been a great segway into retirement.