NBR - neighbors

jennOK

I have my house up for sale. I get a call today that a couple is very interested. Their only concern is the neighbors. They have an old, like 1950s, travel trailer in the driveway, and they were concerned about if it stayed there all the time.

Our neighbor considers himself a collector, and I'm sure says he's going to restore it. He owns the house, but doesn't actually live there. He and his wife own another house on the end of the block. The house was a rental property when I moved here, but they now seem to be using it for storage. Frankly, the house was better maintained when it was a rental.

All of that background to say this, what would you do? We really don't know the people. Just wave in passing. Would you try to approach them and ask to clean up? I really don't think it would be well received. Call code enforcement and see if they can do anything? It's parked in the drive, so I'm not sure they can. They have a privacy-fenced back yard. I wish they would just drag it all back there.

WasNotWas

If they aren't breaking rules/laws I don't know that there is much you can do outside of talking to them

ilovemarfa

When I was single, I owned my own house. It was next to an elderly woman who died shortly after I moved in. Her son moved into the house and the place went to shambles. He let the paint go on the house and it was peeling off not to mention the detached garage started to cave in and he kept his garbage in the side/back yard. When I went to sell my house a few years later my real estate agent told me I had to approach him and ask him to clean up his house otherwise I would never sell my house. I did approach him and he said he wouldn't do it so I called the town. He was clearly in violation on several counts. The town told cited him and he eventually cleaned it up. I felt awful calling the town on him but I asked hkm nicely and he refused so it was my only option.

jennOK

We don't live in a subdivision, so there is no homeowners association. I guess that would be one plus of living in one, everyone is required to maintain their home.

megaroo64

I agree with @wasnotwas.  Also, even talking to them is a crap shoot.  I mean they could move it temporarily, but most likely it won't be a permanent fix. 

jennOK

I didn't mention it's covered with torn up tarps that flap in the wind and wake up LO. It's parked right outside his room. Crappy neighbors.

Monkeybutt80

When I was selling my old house I had a similar problem.  We lived in a subdivision with HOA so the home maintenance was not an issue but my neighbors lived with their grandparents and the grandfather would literally spend all day long with the garage door open sitting in the garage/ driveway with in his sleeveless shirt and pj pants.  It wasn't anything bad but it was just odd.  we never had potential buyers directly ask us questions about them, but I think the realtors started talking about how he is out there in his pjs all day long. Finally our realtor suggested talking to him and we spoke to the owners of the house (the grandfather didn't speak english) and I said that on the days he sees realtors come by with potential buyers, it would be nice if he went inside and further explained that the higher we can sell our house, the value of his own house would benefit from it. He understood and we didn't have a problem after that. good luck!