My Neighbors...:( MY rant for the day!)

SeaMaiden · ‎03-10-2010

I have lived in my home for 24 years now.... over the years we have replaced roof, new front door, decks, painted house, kept yard up.... etc etc.... Things you must do to keep your home and investment decent.

My neighbors on each side of me HAVE DONE NOTHING in the 24 years I have lived next to them and I mean NOTHING to keep their homes in repair. Yes, their homes are the worst looking homes on the street... gutters falling down..... messy yards.. plus both neighbors have JUNK outside their homes... boxes, STUFF.... refrigerators, JUST EVERYWHERE. I assumed that there was(is) no room for the STUFF inside.

One neighbor has their garage converted into part of the living space so they have no garage...( I do not think it is even legal in the covenents of the home association to convert your garage into a living space... and the cars sit out side forever)

The other house has so much junk IN the garage that no cars have ever been in there.. over the years they have put the effort to clean out some of the junk... but it seems to just fill right back up.....

FINALLY one neighbor has been doing a total gut out and clean up.. I mean TOTAL. They spent two weeks cleaning out garbage from the home. Workers were having to wear masks on their faces as they pulled out stuff... day after day... Bag after garbage bag of ( I assume)" garbage" came out of the house... furniture appliances....EVERYTHING... and was taken to the dump.... now they are totally replacing EVERYTHING except the bare bones of the house( foundation etc.) they are Replacing Walls, floors, windows... EVERYTHING being removed and replaced. They also have to replace all the outside wood siding as it was all rotten.. as they never painted the house and I assume they next then will then replace the rotten roof and gutters... And hopeful work on the yard and replace the fallen down rotten fences and all the mess in the back yard too....

Now, this couple who live in this house are in their 60's. Drive nice cars... husband has a good job with computers... and because they are nice people, I never said a thing about the mess... It could be worse having neighbors who are awful with a nice house... so I just decided I could live with it and I kept my mouth shut.. I aways worried though, that if I wanted to sell my home, that this messy house would make selling my home hard to do... I am guessing someone else on the street probably turned them into the home association. OR they finally had an

Epiphany

that it was time to do something......?

I just can not imagine why someone would let their home rot basically for 24 years never doing a repair... and then having to totally do a total gut out to fix it up. I imagine that they are spending well over $100,000 and probably much much more replacing EVERYTHING..... Homes in our neighborhood run about $400,000 to upwards of $500,000+ each on average. It just seems to me that to fix things up and throw away junk collected from over the past 24 years would be easier than having to move out and totally redo EVERYTHING because everything rotted away and broke down.

Now maybe the OTHER NEIGHBOR will have their Epiphany and fix up their falling down home. I do plan to move here in the next 5 years so it would be great to have both homes on each side of me looking nice. I will keep my fingers crossed!

End of rant Thanks for listening!

Nomorebirthdays · ‎06-10-2015

Do you have a codes official in your town? Many of the things you mention would generate fines here. So glad I can't see my neighbors. The majority do keep a nice home and land.

queendiva · ‎03-12-2010

You are right: having good neighbors with a bad home is far better than having bad neighbors with a good home! Also right to keep your mouth shut about it all this time. Sounds like a future episode of Hoarders.

I can understand one person letting their house go, but I can never understand a couple allowing this. You would think one of them would take control of the situation.

One down, one more to go!

SeaMaiden · ‎03-10-2010

@queendiva wrote:
You are right: having good neighbors with a bad home is far better than having bad neighbors with a good home! Also right to keep your mouth shut about it all this time. Sounds like a future episode of Hoarders.
I can understand one person letting their house go, but I can never understand a couple allowing this. You would think one of them would take control of the situation.
One down, one more to go!

@queendiva I had feelings that it was the wife who was doing the hoarding... She had many many birds... big birds and you could hear them squawking and screeching like they do in the jungle during the day coming from inside the house. I imagine the birds chewed up everything pretty good inside as that is what big parrots and such do. There was one day I went over to ask her a question and just standing in the doorway of the home there was a horrible stench of cat pee.... you know that smell.... She loves animals and she has dogs and cats etc. They were always loved and cared for, but, I think she just did not clean up after them very well. I think perhaps it was her husband who said ENOUGH and started the cleaning process. He was away on business for weeks at a time and she was home.

CelticCrafter · ‎03-09-2010

It sounds like a hoarding situation if the workers were wearing masks during the clean out.

We have two houses on our street that have been abandonded and are in terrible, run down condition. They were built on fill that has started to collapse and both houses, side by side are sinking. After 5-7 years of being empty, I'm sure they are unlivable and doubt they would even be able to get a C of O from the township.

I wish someone would come in and bull doze them to the ground.

The banks or who ever it is that owns them does send someone every 2 to 3 weeks during the summer to cut the grass.

I'm surprised that after all the years that they have never been broken into, vandalized or set on fire.

tansy · ‎01-02-2011

You have an HOA and still have that problem with rundown homes?

SeaMaiden · ‎03-10-2010

@CelticCrafter I walk around my neighborhood every day and there are two houses that are empty and have been for years... forclosed on I am sure. They are really nice homes.. but falling apart... I have seen them really getting bad over the last year.. The homes are on the same street. It would be nice if someone would buy them before they really get bad and fix them up.

SeaMaiden · ‎03-10-2010

@tansy wrote:
You have an HOA and still have that problem with rundown homes?

@tansy yes. I am surprised as you.. I pay $200 a year and even though the home association sends people out to walk the neighborhood in April and write up and notify properties that are not conforming to the standards... there are many homes that remain in bad states. I think it just takes so much paper work and such to really get someone to have to clean up or get fined... that they do not do the job that they should.

KathyPet · ‎03-09-2010

@tansy wrote:
You have an HOA and still have that problem with rundown homes?

EXactly what I was thinking! YOu should have a copy of the HOA covenants and restrictions as they would have been part,of your settlement documents. WHat do,they say about requirements to keep your property in good condition? MY documents state that the HOA can levy fines for failure to maintain your property.