We all know that there's no place like home, but how far would you be willing to go to keep your humble abode? Would you turn down a million dollars? How about three million dollars? For some people, it's impossible to put a dollar sign on the value of a home, and even when powerful developers have done their best to force them out, they've taken a stand and refused to leave. If you love a good underdog story, you'll love what these stubborn people did!
I love it when the person you least expect to win comes out on top. Just like this "nerd" who showed the whole school his crazy dance moves, many people will surprise you. Many of the people who refuse to move even when bribed by big-name developers are senior citizens, but that doesn't stop them from sticking up for themselves in the face of adversity. After seeing what these folks have gone through just to keep their homes from becoming skyscrapers, I'm almost tempted to just live off the grid in a tiny house like this one!
Some won the battle to keep their home and others lost it, but all of these people have shown great resilience when it came to fighting big corporations to keep their homes. I have so much respect for number 4 after seeing why he refused to sell his property for any price! Some things really are worth more than money.
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1. Edith Macefield
This strong woman refused to sell her 106-year-old farmhouse to developers who wanted to demolish it and use the space to build a shopping center.Macefield held out even after they offered her $1 million for her little home, and after she died in 2008 at the age of 86, she left her home to one of the construction workers who had become her friend during her refusal to sell the house. Contrary to popular belief, the house didn't inspire Disney's film Up (production for the film began before Macefield's fight had started), but Disney did tie balloons to the house to promote the film in 2009.
2. Austin Spriggs
Spriggs' office was once prime real estate in Washington, D.C., thanks to its location downtown, and he was offered up to $3 million for the building. But once the housing market plummeted, he stopped receiving offers and tried to turn the building into a pizza restaurant. Unfortunately, the new business hasn't been very successful.
3. Luo Baogen
The owners of this apartment building were a 67-year-old duck farmer and his wife. When the government in Zhejiang wouldn't pay them enough to allow the demolition of this building, they stood their ground and forced builders to make the road go around the apartment complex. The battle went on for four years until a settlement was finally reached.
4. Ishmael Bermudez
This homeowner's property in Miami houses more than just people — it's also home to numerous Native American artifacts that Bermudez has found in his yard over the years. He's been offered $1.8 million for the property, but he says that no matter how much he's offered, he will refuse to sell, saying, "How can you put a price on the history of humanity?"
5. Niu Chuangen and Zhang Zhongyun
This couple, who live in the Shandong province of China, are both in their sixties, but that didn't stop them from putting up a fight to keep their property. They stood their ground even after being threatened by gangsters and facing multiple attempts to illegally tear down the building. All the structures that have been built up around them eventually caused their water and electricity to be cut off.
6. Robert H. Smith
Nicknamed "Million Dollar Corner" because it sold for a record $1 million in 1911, this small plot is found at 34th Street and Broadway. It was originally bought in 1900 by Smith for $375,000 (or $10.7 million today) in an attempt to stop Macy's from achieving its goal to become the largest store in the world. Macy's simply ignored the little building and constructed its store around it.
7. Hunan shop owner
It's not clear who owns this run-down little clothing shop in China's Hunan province, but one thing's for sure: they don't look like they're going anywhere. While everything around it has been built up and modernized, this tiny shop doesn't have any desire to change.
8. Luoyang homeowner
Another one of China's "Nail Houses," this three-story home is in the center of a highway in the Henan province.
9. Yangji residents
This village was 900 years old when it was demolished to build a city full of skyscrapers. A select few people did their best to stay put in their homes even as those around them were torn down in the name of "progress," but eventually, the last remaining holdouts were forced out.
10. Guangzhou residents
It's amazing what can be done with a bit of compromise! The residents of this building in the Guangdong province of China refused to leave despite the offers of developers. Builders ended up just constructing their road so that it looped around the house, and everyone got what they wanted.
11. Wu Ping
It took three years for developers to finally convince this woman to leave her property. Around 240 homeowners around her had given up long ago to allow builders to make room for a shopping center, but Ping's was eventually the only one left standing. She only left once she'd been offered a sum of $160,000.
12. The Spiegelhalter Family
The Spiegelhalters were a family of jewelers and watchmakers who had a shop in London in the early 1900s. When the Wickhams, a wealthy family, wanted to expand their department store, the Spiegelhalters refused to sell their shop. The Wickhams had no choice but to split their store in two, with the Spiegelhalter shop sitting smack-dab in the middle.
Make sure you SHARE the stories of these resilient underdogs with everyone you know!
