neighbor's yard is nasty looking

[Goldy1]

I admit this post is a little more of a vent, and a tad off topic. It fits into finance in the respct that a neighbor's upkeep of thier house can effect your property value.

I really love my neighborhood. It is safe, clean, and a typical tree lined manicured suburb of Detroit about an hour away. It was voted in the top 20 places in the country to raise kids in a national magazine a couple years ago. I don't want to move, but I think his home would affect my sale anyway.

I literally live next to one of the crappiest kept houses in my neighborhood.
I walk around and no one compares to his nasty yard. I actually think he is the worst.

For years, he has rust covered old vehicles parked in his driveway and in front of the house. No crime, but it was an eyesore. He finally got rid of those.
Right now he has a 3 piece athletic LARGE equipment ensemble in the middle of his front yard "for sale" It includes a treadmill and weight lifting bench and has been in the front yard for almost 4 weeks and counting. Get a clue. No one wants it. His for laughable for sale sign was written in pen on a loose leaf paper and the rain has rendered it unreadable after the first day. I called the city and was told they don't have rules against this.

I was skeeved out by his lawn just now. It has more weeds than grass. His grass and mine makes a line of contrast. His roof is starting to fall apart too (although it doesn' tlook THAT bad)
His garage is full of stuff and left open all day.

His is a nice guy overall so far. I rather like him.

My point is that you have no control over who is next door. I guess he could be unclean and a jerk so this isn't too bad.

I keep my grass weed free and have invested in sprinkler systems and stamped concrete entry ways etc and have a newer roof and driveway. I plant flowers.

I know he can't afford those things, but buy store brand weed and feed and pull weeds already!

[Ima saver]

That is why I like living in a subdivision with covenants. I live on 2 acres, so no one is on top of me, but all the homes are kept really nice. Many have lawn services every week. (We don't)

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Well....while I'd rather not live next to a junky yard, I really do not think anyone should be pressured to use weed'n'feed on their yard. We already have too much run-off of supposedly agricultural (but often urban/suburban) chemicals in our waterways and underground water. I think regular mowing is sufficiently tidy. So I do not think that using a cheap weed'n'feed is the least a person can do for good neighborly relationships. In fact, I don't think a green yard is terribly important at all, even though my own yard is green. Many people in my neighborhood never fertilize, irrigate, or kill weeds in their lawn and it still looks fine with just mowing....Perhaps you are paying too close attention to how his place looks since you became a homeowner and all the more aware of the many things one can do to make a place look nice. But I bet your place looked nice enough before you did those things. You just took it to a new level and raised your own standards of how things should be, maybe.

Those laws that had nothing to say about him having exercise equipment in his front yard are the present culmination of past social pressures to keep things healthy and, to some degree, aesthetic. If the law has nothing to say about it, it might be that your standards really are higher than the prevailing ideas which have formed the laws. Maybe your ideas are cutting edge, the type ideas that will become more typical, leading the way to new city standards, but maybe they are just different.

[Phenomenal Woman]

Another alternative regarding the equipments for sale, why not buy it from him and then take it to the dump? I know it cost money but it might be an option if he leaves it on his yard for long term.

[simpleyme]

I laugh and make jokes about our sloppy neighbors ,

me and Dh make bets on if the lights will still work the next christmas(I always win they leave them up only to take them down in dec and put up new)

they trim their roses to perfection but leave garbage at the base of them
last weekend I almost died when I saw them with a big plastic bag picking up cans out of their yard and they managed to fll it! I guess they was outa smokes ;-)

my other neighbor is painting his house,I want to tell him if he wants to make his house look better do not worry about the paint,dispose of all the carparts!

Its funny as the gal behind me has a beautiful yard and always complains about everyones houses but when someone tries to fix or clean she is the first one to complain about dust or noise

anyway I tune my neighbors out and do not worry about them ;-) I am not in the market to sell my house and do not want my tax to go up ,I get to live in a nice house with lower tax I like it that way ;-)

[Caoineag]

I am always amazed at how much money people waste trying to have a perfect grass lawn (we live in Colorado so the water bill alone can be daunting). Personally, I am in the process of ripping out our grass (which is actually more weeds than anything) and putting in a mulch and stepping stone garden. If I am going to waste that much time and money on my front yard, I am going to want to have something to show for it.

Different strokes for different folks.

[maat55]

IMO, people who buy houses with lawns should take care of them. It is disrespectful to your neighbors, not to.

There are condos and apartments for lazies who do not want to keep up all of there property.

If I lived next to someone with a rediculously bad lawn, I might say hey, your lawn looks like s##t. Bad lawns are a rodent attractor as well.

[akrogers]

It's unfortunate that there is nothing in the law about the equipment in the lawn. But then again, policy changes happen when people get fed up and decide to speak out against the current way of doing things. I agree with the above poster that it is an issue of respect for others, but I also thing that it is an issue of taking pride in yourself and showing yourself. Our homes are one representation of ourselves and I would not want to represent myself and my family by the route that your neighbor has decided to go.

[Inkstain82]

Hmm. The enthusiasm for personal freedom of choice seems to have died a little...

[sandrark]

We were those neighbors once.

My husband blew out his back and could barely walk, let alone do his normal work. I have issues with my arms and grip function - I'm forbidden to use lawn equipment by my doc.

Our gardener moved/left/died/got deported, and our weeds were knee high. A neighbor wrote a mean nasty note, and shoved it through our door. I'm a tough broad, and it brought me to tears.

How about offering to HELP HIM clean it up if it matters that much to you?

My point - you don't have any idea what may be going on behind the scenes. You don't own his lot, and the city/county doesn't oversee or cite for it - so either roll up your sleeves and help, or stop being so judgmental.

Sorry, but this really touched a (still raw) nerve.

Sandi

[Miltoncrew]

Why can't you just explain all these to your neighbor, it may help you to solve the problem.

[maat55]

Hmm. The enthusiasm for personal freedom of choice seems to have died a little...

Bad lawns are like cigarette smoke, they effect those around you. Those who are too lazy to keep up a property next to others are free to move somewhere else.

Freedom comes with responsibility, as well.

[Inkstain82]

Bad lawns are like cigarette smoke, they effect those around you. Those who are too lazy to keep up a property next to others are free to move somewhere else.

Freedom comes with responsibility, as well.

Almost everything affects people around you. It is almost literally impossible to imagine something a person could do in modern society that doesn't affect those around you.

It's funny how some only open up to that fact when the negative effects of others' actions are right in their face.

[simpleyme]

We were those neighbors once.

My husband blew out his back and could barely walk, let alone do his normal work. I have issues with my arms and grip function - I'm forbidden to use lawn equipment by my doc.

Our gardener moved/left/died/got deported, and our weeds were knee high. A neighbor wrote a mean nasty note, and shoved it through our door. I'm a tough broad, and it brought me to tears.

How about offering to HELP HIM clean it up if it matters that much to you?

My point - you don't have any idea what may be going on behind the scenes. You don't own his lot, and the city/county doesn't oversee or cite for it - so either roll up your sleeves and help, or stop being so judgmental.

Sorry, but this really touched a (still raw) nerve.

Sandi

yes! you do not know why people do what they do! thats what I told my Dh when I have seen HOA get nasty with people, geeze they got hurt their mother died ,they have 4 small kids under the age of 6 and the HOA is nasty about a weed growning in the crack of their driveway,what heartless people ,(I know I know they agreed to it when they bought )

I find that the big complainers in the neighborhoods are usually people who do not work and sit around stewing that you have not raked your leaves yet,i have always wished the woman behind me would get a job

my neighbor lady came over right after we moved in and welcomed us to the neighbor hood with a long gripe about our house,I told her I am a working wife mother I have a lot to do and a lot of people to worry about and she was not one of them and that she need to leave us alone,she just waves and smiles at me now,its sad but I just had to be a bigger bit## than her

do I think people should keep their yards up? yes I do I just have enough to worry about in my own life to go about trying to make strangers behave the way I would like them to ;-) maybe after I retire ;-)

[feh]

Well....while I'd rather not live next to a junky yard, I really do not think anyone should be pressured to use weed'n'feed on their yard. We already have too much run-off of supposedly agricultural (but often urban/suburban) chemicals in our waterways and underground water. I think regular mowing is sufficiently tidy. So I do not think that using a cheap weed'n'feed is the least a person can do for good neighborly relationships. In fact, I don't think a green yard is terribly important at all, even though my own yard is green. Many people in my neighborhood never fertilize, irrigate, or kill weeds in their lawn and it still looks fine with just mowing....

+1

Keeping my lawn manicured is way down my list of priorities (so far down that I never get to it). I cut it when it needs it. If my neighbors think it's not up to snuff, well, that's too bad.