Going Nuclear Option on Neighbors

The mixed responses in this post have certainly made me push my plans for moving further along - mortgage shopping now. We've wanted to move ever since my wife broke her hip (see previous discussion about carpeting stairs), but the neighbors across the street have made this urge more so. 

Honestly, it's a combination of inconsideracy:

1) I reported a guy two door ups multiple times for his dog barking all the time. He got rid of the dog. Mister Junkyard across the street knew my issues with barking dogs ruining our previously quiet area of the neighborhood. Now he went from one quiet German Shorthair who I never heard, and has since added two constantly barking puppies. Which he yells at, constantly, to "shut the f$!* up!" Which I hear...all day long on the weekends. 

2) Junk has ramped up to the point where he's blocking traffic with his vehicles that he can't park on his own property, making the street in front of my house a hazard. My child will never be able to play out front of our house for this reason. 

3) He's a car guy, great! Except I don't think he, or any of his friends, believe in mufflers. It's like every vehicle he acquires gets the mufflers removed immediately. He also loves to rev the ever-loving mayo-encrusted crap out his beat-ass vehicles when he starts them up. Which results in them inevitably wearing out quick, ending up as another piece of junk on the property (or the "storage yard") up town. I don't mind hearing the occasional big block clearing it's throat, but for 20 minutes multiple times over the weekend? Meh.

My issue with the junk is that it's gotten to a point where unless he dies, it's not going anywhere. It will continue to get worse and worse until there is just a huge junk pile across the street from my house. Now, if I report him with "the nuclear option" he will likely not be able to do anything about this situation and will get warnings and fines in perpetuity, which will likely drive him to being a very aggressive neighbor. 

This, unfortunately, is why "complaint driven" property maintenance enforcement doesn't work. Once it gets to a certain point, it won't get better. 

In reply to NOHOME :

I went virtual cruising around the neighborhood too and found some other cool old iron:

Maybe tell him if he buys the lumber you will help build a fence and move his e36m3 to the backyard?

He probably has enough scrap to offset materials cost

I say you should go the other way with it, drive the property values of the whole neighborhood down to dirt and then buy up the whole dang street.

The problem is that people have to want to sell. This guy doesn't want to sell. His family has lived, and built, this community for decades. He feels a strong connection to it. I just wish his strong connection made him have more pride in his property. 

AngryCorvair said:

Brett_Murphy said:

Have the neighbor call the ordinance enforcement on you (just make sure your crap is in order)  *and* tell him to advise the inspector to check out the rest of the

Damn, that’s a nice twist to my suggestion.  Well played, Mr Murphy.  Well played.

Thank you. I've sparred with HOAs, code enforcement and batty neighbors (sometimes armed, dangerous neighbors) more than once.

Floating Doc said:

My neighbor's yard. My plan is to let the problem solve itself. He's an elderly chain smoker.

 

 

Is he capable of cleaning up the yard? Maybe tell him you'd like the trailer and carport frame and trade yard clean up instead of money?

pheller said:

2) Junk has ramped up to the point where he's blocking traffic with his vehicles that he can't park on his own property, making the street in front of my house a hazard. My child will never be able to play out front of our house for this reason. 

This likely isn't okay with the county.  I know around here, in a small neighborhood of 1.5 to 2 acre lots in a fairly rural area, it wouldn't fly.  The county will not permit un-registered vehicles to sit on a property and rot into the ground.  Certainly if it's gotten to the point where it's a traffic hazard, it's time something was done about it.

Have you talked with others in the neighborhood?  How do they feel about it?

In reply to pheller :

Planning for a move is probably best.  I hear you saying that this is not your "forever house" anyway.  I hear that the house layout is not ideal for your situation.

My opinion on the neighborhood is that the changes you want will be a major uphill battle.  It seems to me, from the google pics, that much of the neighborhood is "his type of people" and you might have a real tough time making the neighborhood more "your type of people."  Furthermore, it seems that you will be met with the "we were here first" type sentiments from the generational families in the neighborhood.  

1988RedT2 said:

pheller said:

2) Junk has ramped up to the point where he's blocking traffic with his vehicles that he can't park on his own property, making the street in front of my house a hazard. My child will never be able to play out front of our house for this reason. 

This likely isn't okay with the county.  I know around here, in a small neighborhood of 1.5 to 2 acre lots in a fairly rural area, it wouldn't fly.  The county will not permit un-registered vehicles to sit on a property and rot into the ground.  Certainly if it's gotten to the point where it's a traffic hazard, it's time something was done about it.

Have you talked with others in the neighborhood?  How do they feel about it?

Some of you will really enjoy this one:

Inside Oklahoma City city limits, it's against city code to park your car in YOUR YARD!! I found out the hard way, I had pulled my car next to the garage to let my dad have the garage to work on his car, so it was only going to be there for a couple of hours. 

A code enforcement person happened to drive-by and let us know. I'm actually OK with that, if you constantly park in the grass it turns to mud and then looks like garbage.

I looked at maps again.  Can you get any help from this neighbor?  

In reply to z31maniac :

Might as well say he's hurting your feelings. Property values are arbitrary and only have an effect when selling. Looking at that neighborhood, one person isn't bringing it down.  

bobzilla said:

In reply to z31maniac :

Might as well say he's hurting your feelings. Property values are arbitrary and only have an effect when selling. Looking at that neighborhood, one person isn't bringing it down.  

Who's hurting my feelings? I don't live in a neighborhood where this is a problem. 

You should use milk instead of piss and vinegar in your cheerios. 

z31maniac said:

A code enforcement person happened to drive-by and let us know. I'm actually OK with that, if you constantly park in the grass it turns to mud and then looks like garbage.

Seems like a good reason to put a parking pad there. Anything for less grass, IMHO.

z31maniac said:

1988RedT2 said:

pheller said:

2) Junk has ramped up to the point where he's blocking traffic with his vehicles that he can't park on his own property, making the street in front of my house a hazard. My child will never be able to play out front of our house for this reason. 

This likely isn't okay with the county.  I know around here, in a small neighborhood of 1.5 to 2 acre lots in a fairly rural area, it wouldn't fly.  The county will not permit un-registered vehicles to sit on a property and rot into the ground.  Certainly if it's gotten to the point where it's a traffic hazard, it's time something was done about it.

Have you talked with others in the neighborhood?  How do they feel about it?

 

Some of you will really enjoy this one:

Inside Oklahoma City city limits, it's against city code to park your car in YOUR YARD!! I found out the hard way, I had pulled my car next to the garage to let my dad have the garage to work on his car, so it was only going to be there for a couple of hours. 

A code enforcement person happened to drive-by and let us know. I'm actually OK with that, if you constantly park in the grass it turns to mud and then looks like garbage.

For anyone that's interested, here's a link to a .pdf of the county ordinance.  They even made up a handy tri-fold brochure!

https://henrico.us/assets/InoperableVehicles2012.pdf

Section 10-3 of the Henrico County Code defines an inoperable vehicle as any motor vehicle, trailer, or semi-trailer which: 1) Is not in operating condition, or 2) Does not display valid license plates, or 3) Does not display an inspection decal that is valid or does display an inspection decal that has been expired for more than 60 days.INOPERABLE VEHICLES ON PRIVATE PROPERTY One inoperable motor vehicle may be kept outside a fully enclosed building or structure if it is shielded or screened from view. Shielded or screened from view means not visible from someone standing at ground level from outside of the property on which the vehicle is located.Covering inoperable motor vehicles with tarps or car covers does not meet the requirements of the ordinance.Generally, a fence, wall, or dense evergreen screen is needed to meet the ordinance requirement.

Personally, I think it's great.  My one un-registered motor vehicle resides in one of my garage slots.

...I have one vehicle in the driveway that needs an alternator and another one that doesn't have plates yet. Guess it's off to yard crimes prison for me!

In reply to pheller :

Given you live in Arizona what's your fire hazard situation? Your description makes it more than a county common decent matter and more of a state wildfire issue.

NOHOME said:

The true nature of this calamity is MUCH worse than I thought it could be.

 

There is a PINTO behind the house!

 

 

Well there's your answer.  You "accidentally" bump the Pinto with your mower.  Trash house goes up in the resulting conflagration, you sue Ford for damage to your mower.  Win, Win, Win.  New mower, new neighbor, new views.  (I'm 1000% kidding of course.  Just a little Pinto humor)

From your posts and looking at the neighborhood, his family has been there for years AND it was a gravel road, E36 M3ty house, neighborhood. You and a few others bought nicer houses there and now bitch that the neighborhood isn’t that nice. Did you not look around before you bought your place? Could you not tell it was a lower class place?

You bought a nice house in a lousy neighborhood hoping it would turn around. It didn’t. 

Well to be clear, the amount of stuff that has piled up on his property has rapidly increased, as has the number of vehicles haphazardly parked in the street. 

I'm a bit sour that my area of the neighboor hasn't gotten the fancy new houses that replaced the junky old ones. We've had 12 houses built in the last 2 years that all sold for $380+, but those are up higher in the neighborhood where, ironically enough, it looked way worse than my area 2 years ago. Unfortunately, those were landowners who never actually stayed at those properties, where as my neighbors live in them full-time. 

Steve_Jones said:

From your posts and looking at the neighborhood, his family has been there for years AND it was a gravel road, E36 M3ty house, neighborhood. You and a few others bought nicer houses there and now bitch that the neighborhood isn’t that nice. Did you not look around before you bought your place? Could you not tell it was a lower class place?

You bought a nice house in a lousy neighborhood hoping it would turn around. It didn’t. 

Unfortunately, this is the truth. I've always heard, buy the best neighborhood you can buy, as well as don't buy the nicest house in the neighborhood. 

That doesn't help you much here, so I'd go ahead and start calling the code enforecment folks, or having the realtors do it (or have someone call on you).

Yep, it sounds like you gambled and this one didn't pay off. That sucks, but it happens to the best of us.

We didn't really gamble, we bought a house that we knew would be low maintenance and that we could afford. The other option was to buy completely junk houses in similar neighborhoods. 

You've gotta remember that this is not uncommon in the west. Anywhere that doesn't have an overly aggressive code compliance office, or an HOA, will have some people who trash their properties. Even in the city limits this exists. 

We just didn't have the down payment necessary (or my wife her patience) to buy into a nicer neighborhood with an HOA where houses sell for $360k+. 

You know how people build near a racetrack then bitch about the racetrack issues? You’re now that guy. You built in a lousy neighborhood and want to bitch about the lousy neighbors, and try to make it his issue. 

Don’t be that guy. No one likes that guy.