You know that one neighbor whose property looks more like a long abandoned test site for a nuclear warhead than a home? The one you could plot three years of activities for just based off all the containers and trash left in their lawn? Their laziness in keeping house just might cut into the profits you’re trying to make by selling yours. According to the National Association of Realtors, a rundown lot within your neighborhood can decrease the overall sales value of your home by an average of ten percent! Here is some helpful advice for defusing the situation before your neighbor’s shabby shack becomes a financial drain for you, too.
Confronting a neglectful neighbor isn’t high on many people’s fun-thing-to-do list, but easing into the discussion by asking how your neighbor is doing and showing general concern can set a good tone for a constructive talk. Always remember that your neighbor is only human, too, and it’s possible a recent injury or several late nights in a row due to a new baby might be keeping lawn maintenance on your neighbor’s back burner. Making an attempt to find out if some problem or difficulty is responsible for their falling behind in the upkeep before you start asking them to make changes can work in your favor as it helps your neighbor to feel less attacked.
Once you and your neighbor are discussing the issue, try phrasing your concerns in terms of communal benefit and profit, and not in terms of personal disgust. Remind your neighbor that the property values of every surrounding home, including theirs, is affected by an eyesore.
Speaking of communal benefit, did you know that local subgroups of the National Association of Realtors sometimes put together funds to assist homeowners that are unable to keep up with the Joneses? Even if your community doesn’t have such resources available, raising the issue delicately and respectfully as a group can often carry more weight. When several of your neighbors come knocking at once, it’s harder to dismiss complaints as being nothing more than the pickiness of that one oddball down the street.
Offer first the open hand, then the fist. If your neighbor is totally unswayed by both your own and your community’s reasonable attempts to get through to them about the open barbecue pit they’ve dug into their yard and lined with rusted barbed-wire, it might be time to bring in the big guns. In many cases, you and your community will have recourse through authorities such as the local building department or health department. There may be specific fines for certain bad behaviors, such as leaving piles of visible garbage for long periods of time, that might be enough to jolt the owner of the eyesore into improving their homeowner’s hygiene. If all diplomatic options have been exhausted, hopefully the very threat of taking action via municipal authorities will move them. If not, getting a visit from a health department official just might change their minds.
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