My Neighbors...:( MY rant for the day!) - Page 6

febe1 · ‎01-22-2012

In the past, I owned a Townhouse valued in the 300 to 400 thousand range. The homes were liked by singles, seniors sizing down and by those wanting starter homes. It was three floors, all above ground, and had approx. l500 Sq.Ft. There were not many children as couples usually moved to something larger and more child friendly when they came along.

Over the years, the HOA was strict in the beginning and then growing more and more lax. As they grew more lax, the area started to decline and I began hearing all kind of complaints. And the complaint the HOA wasn't functioning well. I mentioned to my son the area was in decline, and he said that $400,000. didn't go bad like that. He was wrong.

One of my neighbors who was a former priest told me he was having a terrible problem. Next door to him, a new resident very quickly moved two more families into his home. Three families, one on each floor, in a starter home with l400 sq. ft. Each family installed a kitchen on each floor, windows open their meals wafted through the five sets of attached homes. Yes, they had children, too.

They had different ways to get around the regulations: family, relatives and there was nothing could be done. Many were willing to help and all failed.

I've never seen such a decline in such a beautiful area. Three families could manage mortgages of one home. Children were over everyone's property. Stones were being thrown by children breaking storm doors.

My For Sale sign went up. The homes were very desirable because of their beauty and extremely desirable location, and it sold quickly.

You can't fight something like that. Fault? HOA's that wouldn't uphold the covenant. For many reasons.

Nightowlz · ‎03-11-2010

@IamMrsG wrote:
@Nightowlz

RE: neighbor's tree limbs overhanging and jeopardizing your property

Mail him a letter clearly defining the risk to your property. Notate on the bottom of the letter that you are sending a CC (Carbon Copy) to your insurance agent, and do so. If you can find out who the neighbor's agent is (if he even has one), mail him a copy, too.

@IamMrsG We paid to have the limbs removed because the City said they could do nothing. State Farm told us if they fall thru our roof our Ins would have to pay for damages & our Ins would go up??? One limb already fall off his tree & knocked our roof top antenna down when we had an ice storm year before last. We did not want to take the chance of one coming thru our roof during the next ice storm & be sitting here freezing to death.

The neighbor is fully aware of the situation. He does not care. He's retired & said he has no money. Big Lie. He bought a boat, trailer, Vet, pickup & camping trailer so he can go fishing. He does not care what happens to his home because he said he will be dead by then.

Marienkaefer2 · ‎03-09-2010

@DiAnne wrote:
I live in the Seattle area also but not in a development. We do not have an HOA which I am happy about because I don't want anyone telling me what color I can paint my house, etc. All the yards are reasonably kept up, none of the houses are strange colors, no cars up on blocks, etc. I have lived here going on 30 years. Neighbors have come and gone but we have never had any problem neighbors. We have one family right now with many cars but is because they have three teenagers driving - that will pass.

You're fortunate.

My issue is with people who don't want to be in an HOA, yet buy into one, and then don't want to follow the CC and Rs.

I mean, why be in an HOA at all then? I'll never understand that.

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.--Marcus Tullius Cicero

suzyQ3 · ‎03-09-2010

@Marienkaefer2 wrote:
@DiAnne wrote:
I live in the Seattle area also but not in a development. We do not have an HOA which I am happy about because I don't want anyone telling me what color I can paint my house, etc. All the yards are reasonably kept up, none of the houses are strange colors, no cars up on blocks, etc. I have lived here going on 30 years. Neighbors have come and gone but we have never had any problem neighbors. We have one family right now with many cars but is because they have three teenagers driving - that will pass.
You're fortunate.

My issue is with people who don't want to be in an HOA, yet buy into one, and then don't want to follow the CC and Rs.

I mean, why be in an HOA at all then? I'll never understand that.

We once briefly considered buying a house in a private development with an HOA. My husband asked our agent to get a copy of the regulations.

He found one that bans parrots. We had one at that time, a shrieking, mimicking Red-Crowned Amazon. I should say, my husband had one -- he was the only one who could get close to the bird without getting attacked. :-) He loved that bird; we didn't buy the house.

Oh, and there were also rules about fencing in your own area, so that would have ruled out our dog.

I'm not a fan of these places, but I certainly won't rule out something of this kind when we need to downsize, which is approaching more rapidly each day.

~Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle~ Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Big Sister · ‎05-15-2010

My house adheres to the Rules/Regulations/Covenants of a homeowners associatiion. What you describe would never be allowed here in my tract.

If you are with a HOA then you should report them to the board.

Leeny · ‎06-24-2011

@SeaMaiden

I can really feel for you with this horendous problem you have. I lived it for about the same amount of years you have. It was in the first house that my dh and I bought and it seemed to be a nightmare from day1. I for the life of me can't understand why we ever moved there.

When neighbors or neigborhoods don't take care of their properties it affects us so deeply that nobody can understand unless you have lived it. Especially when they live right next door to you. We would call the inspection dept. and our alderman and even the mayor and got nowhere fast.

Finally after all the kids were grown up we sold the house and never looked back I was never so miserable in my life when we were living by these people who never mowed, shoveled, washed even a window or cleaned up their yard. When we did move 14 years ago I couldn't believe how good I felt and we now have wonderful neighbors and the property is kept so nicely in our neighborhood. I don't know how you are taking it, but until something gets done or you move you won't have any real peace. I can't understand for the life of me how people can live in such a mess. It's like they can't even see it.

apple1964 · ‎08-07-2013

There are some people who have no pride in there homes. I wish you good luck with this situation.

ccassaday · ‎10-21-2010

I feel for you. Our one neighbor does nothing and their yard and house look terrible. We are going to be putting our house up for sale in 5 to 6 weeks. It's going to make us so mad if it hurts us selling the house. They were actually using their broken down Van as storage in their driveway. The really funny thing is this neighbor is the head of the association. So what is he gonna do tell on himself. The other neighbor used to be renting but the owners sold the house. The new neighbors have done a ton of work. My dad called the city on the one and they got the hint and fixed their fence. It was falling over onto our fence. This is one reason my dad did not want to move into a housing addition and we bought property on 2.5 acres.

KingstonsMom · ‎03-09-2010

@Nightowlz wrote:
@IamMrsG wrote:
@Nightowlz

RE: neighbor's tree limbs overhanging and jeopardizing your property

Mail him a letter clearly defining the risk to your property. Notate on the bottom of the letter that you are sending a CC (Carbon Copy) to your insurance agent, and do so. If you can find out who the neighbor's agent is (if he even has one), mail him a copy, too.
@IamMrsG We paid to have the limbs removed because the City said they could do nothing. State Farm told us if they fall thru our roof our Ins would have to pay for damages & our Ins would go up??? One limb already fall off his tree & knocked our roof top antenna down when we had an ice storm year before last. We did not want to take the chance of one coming thru our roof during the next ice storm & be sitting here freezing to death.
The neighbor is fully aware of the situation. He does not care. He's retired & said he has no money. Big Lie. He bought a boat, trailer, Vet, pickup & camping trailer so he can go fishing. He does not care what happens to his home because he said he will be dead by then.

@Nightowlz

We found that out the hard way, when a huge limb from our next door neighbor's tree fell into the side of our house and on DH's truck parked in the driveway.

We were responsible for the repairs costing $4,000+.

The problem is that he has 4 of these trees planted along the fence line and he wouldn't let us have them cut down.

He knows he isn't liable for any damage they do to our property and he says he likes his 'shady' yard.

You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.

Nightowlz · ‎03-11-2010

@KingstonsMom wrote:
@Nightowlz wrote:
@IamMrsG wrote:
@Nightowlz

RE: neighbor's tree limbs overhanging and jeopardizing your property

Mail him a letter clearly defining the risk to your property. Notate on the bottom of the letter that you are sending a CC (Carbon Copy) to your insurance agent, and do so. If you can find out who the neighbor's agent is (if he even has one), mail him a copy, too.
@IamMrsG We paid to have the limbs removed because the City said they could do nothing. State Farm told us if they fall thru our roof our Ins would have to pay for damages & our Ins would go up??? One limb already fall off his tree & knocked our roof top antenna down when we had an ice storm year before last. We did not want to take the chance of one coming thru our roof during the next ice storm & be sitting here freezing to death.
The neighbor is fully aware of the situation. He does not care. He's retired & said he has no money. Big Lie. He bought a boat, trailer, Vet, pickup & camping trailer so he can go fishing. He does not care what happens to his home because he said he will be dead by then.

@Nightowlz

We found that out the hard way, when a huge limb from our next door neighbor's tree fell into the side of our house and on DH's truck parked in the driveway.

We were responsible for the repairs costing $4,000+.

The problem is that he has 4 of these trees planted along the fence line and he wouldn't let us have them cut down.

He knows he isn't liable for any damage they do to our property and he says he likes his 'shady' yard.

@KingstonsMom I know what you mean about the trees along the fence line. He has 3 more in his backyard like the one in the front. We paid to have all the limbs hanging over the property line cut down. He did not like it but that's too bad. Now it looks like his ivy is dying. LOL!!! Just what he did not want. He planted several more trees along the fence on the other side of the yard. I think he wants to be secluded.

Will your City allow you to cut down what's hanging on your property?

I don't know if there are options to sue when a neighbors trees does damage to your home. I will certainly be finding out if it happens.