<p>Yes, of course these things are a matter of degree. One house that missed an occasional mowing or two (or three) is probably not going to devalue an otherwise kept up neighborhood. But yes, a weed ridden and neglected property can affect the ability of nearby homes to sell. If a home can’t sell, the price will drop until it does sell. And if more than one property becomes neglected, before long the reputation of a whole neighborhood can be affected. </p>
<p>This article merely states the obvious. It lists unrelated things, completely different from one another, but all of which have potential to bring down home values in some way. Such a list compares or equates nothing, let alone a poorly maintained property to a child molester in the neighborhood. That’s quite a logical leap and there is no comparison at all - I think we can all agree to that much. Nevertheless, I think we can also agree that both, for very different reasons, can make the home next door difficult to sell.</p>
<p>How do you suppose someone would react to <em>this</em> realtor?</p>
<p>Potential home buyer: Ugh, I don’t want to live next door to that mess.
Realtor: What do you mean by that? At least they aren’t child molesters!</p>
<p>emeraldkity-> When there are no cops on duty, the dispatcher calls the sheriff - and pray that there’s a unit nearby, since we live in a rural county that’s the third largest (by area) in the state.</p>
<p>We have an abandoned house in our neighborhood. At least it looks abandoned. I do know the owners have moved – and their yard is looking very scraggly. The house is only a few years old and was a $3 million dollar property. It’s apparently not exactly for sale at the moment – something about the builder and the bank and the homeowner having a disagreement. If it wasn’t at the very far end of my street up a big hill I would go mow the stupid lawn.</p>
When you want to sell your house, you have no choice but to be impacted by the dictates of those who might want to buy it. If you happen to be in a buyer’s market period, then it doesn’t take much to make somebody give you a low offer or look at a different house.</p>
<p>Hmmm. Lots of things out of my control have effects on my life. I mean, the fact that my neighbors are black might deter someone from buying my house (sadly), yet obviously I would not waste a moment worrying about that. Anyone who wouldn’t buy my house on that account–well again, that’s out of my control, and who’d want to sell to them, anyway? </p>
<p>I maintain that I won’t live my life bowing to values I don’t agree with, if I have any choice. Perhaps I’ll be poorer for it (not the first time that will have happened) but I can live with that.</p>
<p>I am very surprised at the overwhelming “not my business” tone on this thread all the way to criticism of OP for considering reporting the situation. As stated upthread, I would help an elderly, sick, or overwhelmed neighbor. I would have a polite conversation with a “yard inattentive” neighbor. I would only do so if the yard was a significant, ongoing problem (not missing a mowing or two). However, homeowners have a responsibility to maintain their homes for safety reasons, any applicable HOA compliance (which was known at point of purchase), and for the benefit of the neighborhood (for ongoing quality of life or resale issues).<br>
Who wants to live next door to a chronically overgrown, weed infested yard? All other things being equal, who wants to buy a home next to one? We have declined even walking into a showing when confronted with a slovenly yard (both grass and weeds and junk in the backyard) next door. It would be hard to quantify, but a close by yard with foot high grass will affect home value.</p>
<p>My neighbor parks his truck and his skidloader on his front lawn. He sometimes goes months without mowing, he fills the yard with “lawn art” that his dad makes out of scrap metal (even he admits it’s pretty ugly, but hey, its his dad), and his wife has a thing for fake flowers – but, he is the first one to show up with chain saw if we lose a tree in a storm, will plow out our drive before we are even awake in the morning, taught my boys how to drive the skidloader, and makes a really mean pot of chili for our neighbor potluck. I"ll take him as neighbor over a guy with a trimmed lawn anyday. And if some one doesn’t want to live next to him cause of his yard, well that’s their loss.</p>
<p>Well, I was able to locate an ambitious young man with a rider mower on Saturday so my lawn now looks like the green on the 13th hole at Augusta. Now that that is taken care of, as regards the OP’s query: fry him!</p>
<p>Hunt–it’s not a matter of “standing up for” as much as “leaving alone” someone rather than calling the authorities on him/her for something inconsequential (and slovenly is your word, not mine.) But the larger argument, that we can’t control the thoughts/prejudices/judgmentalism of others, still stands.</p>
<p>This implies reporting multiple people that the OP doesn’t know, and merely for unsightliness or annoyance value. </p>
<p>It is interesting the range of responses. Perhaps for some of us the is a fundamental divide between freedom, and the totalitarian systems that are supported by neighbors ratting on each other.</p>
<p>I have zero experience with covenants. I’ve lived all over western Washington, in the suburbs of Seattle, down the street from Bill G, and in several Seattle neighborhoods, but the most I have ever been aware of was, you don’t park your car on the planting strip.;)</p>
<p>I can’t believe how restrictive they are!
You can’t put up a swing set unless the developer approves, you can’t have a rain garden to filter runoff, all water must be diverted to the storm drain, no tents in the yard in the summer, or garden sheds or working on your car in the driveway. No parking in the street. It is specified the minimum number of trees you shall have and where they can be placed.
What your roof is made of and what sort of brickwork on your home is required is detailed. ( however I didn’t see how frequently your grass is mowed or maximum length)</p>
<p>What I find is interesting though is that the way these homes are designed, and the way the requirements are written, a two car garage or larger is one of the most prominent features of the house. Where I live, garages are considered tacky, and are designed to be less obtrusive.</p>
<p>They are much less expensive than the homes in my area however, and with a much larger lot size. I wonder why they are so cheap?</p>
<p>i have two busybodies in our new neighborhood. They confront me regularly about our yard, our deck our recycling, you name it. They are both retired dental hygienists. In my old neighborhood the resident busybody was also a retired dental hygienist. I have friends who agree with my theory that retired dental hygienists are terrific people but terrible busybodies.</p>
<p>Interesting sewhappy. I have a cousin who is a dental hygienist. Good person. Great teeth. World class busybody. Looks like you’re onto something.</p>
<p>See I guess the difference is I don’t really care about resale value. I think of my house as my home and not as cash value. If living next to people like my neigbor for 30 years isn’t worth $20,000 I don’t know what is.</p>
If you bought a house in a neighborhood with covenants that govern appearance, you signed a contract agreeing to obey them. So the freedom you are asserting is the freedom to renege on your commitment.</p>
<p>There’s really a wide variety when it comes to HOA restrictions… in my parents neighborhood, I am not sure if there are ANY… but there is an HOA which collects dues to maintain a small playground we have. In the neighborhood we viewed a house in on Saturday, there is no HOA-- but the yards are all well kept and beautiful, it’s a matter of neighborhood pride. It’s not a cookie cutter, every house is alike subdivision-- the neighborhoods with stricter rules aren’t, either. The strictest I have yet to encounter is a requirement that the yards be well tended, some pay for lawncare service with dues (which are only $150 a year, seems like a bargain to me. Hiring the neighbor kid would be more expensive.) Others are much more strict and have a lot of funny rules, but you don’t have to be involved with one of these crazy HOAs for your neighbors to have certain expectations of you in regards to upkeeping your lot. Even the less wild neighborhoods carry those expectations, it’s silly to focus on the extreme.</p>
<p>If you want to see obnoxious, try moving into a historic neighborhood. You’re not allowed to change anything.</p>
<p>No convenants in our neighborhood. We have a landscape service that mows and trims weekly. We had the mulch done this spring. About to get trees removed and trimmed, bushes trimmed. It doesn’t really matter with your true busybody, though. You are never going to satisfy them.</p>
<p>There is a rather handsome clump of bamboo at one corner of our lot. One of the busybodies lives next door and lives in terror that the bamboo will take over her universe and strangle her in her sleep. Not a week goes by that she doesn’t call me to ask when we are going to get it under control. Our landscapers cut it back every week . . . We considered removing it but it is turning out to be enormous fun keeping the bamboo and terrifying her!</p>