oldopelguy wrote: To the neighbor: "If you don't like what I do on my property I will give you this one chance, today, to buy my home from me for $xxx,xxx.xx and I will move away and you can do whatever you want with this property. Don't want to buy it? Then, since I did decide to buy this property and you did not, I will continue to make decisions about what goes on here."
This. I have been lucky, my neighbors at my last two houses have been pretty good.
Sounds like your neighbors would be much happier in an HOA.
And this is why we don't live in town anymore. People suck, on the hole (
)
Are you in a strictly residential area or is it somewhat rural? You may be able to raise a few pigs on your property if you plan to feed your family with them.
Or chickens, they are all the rage around here. Hell, one of my neighbors recently acquired a goat that is very chatty. I live within City limits.
To the OP: Do you happen to live on the other side of my neighbors? This sounds all too familiar.
(RANT TIME!!!)
We live in a rural suburb way south of Boston, MA. It's kinda nice, but not ritzy at all, and we moved here just about 4 years ago. We have been at war with our stupid old bags of E36 M3 neighbors pretty much since we moved in. The first time they came over to talk to us, they tried to set "neighborhood rules" with us. They asked us to be quiet after 9pm because that's when they go to sleep, to make sure to keep our lawn and yard mowed, to make sure to never use our patio's built-in fire pit, and to make sure that we take care of the property on our side of their fence. Mind you, our neighborhood is the furthest thing from a HOA... we live in the country! They cited that the former inhabitants of our house, which was a former rental, were loud and obnoxious, so we better not be like them. Every time they are outside and we are, they complain about some mundane thing that we are or aren't doing, and talk down to us. The real trouble with them started last year.
We had a strong storm come through and a tree WAY back on our property came down and smashed their already-mangled (previously hit by another tree and rusty) old chain link fence at the very back corner of their property. According to MA law, it is not up to us to pay for the fence; it is up to the insurance company of the owner of the fence, as it is covered by their insurance policy. Being nice neighbors, we attempted for TWO WEEKS to go and talk to them and maybe help them out with the cost, but they were never home. We gave up and moved on with our lives.
Later that month, I was out working on my truck, and one of them comes over to me and starts giving me a hard time, and telling me how disappointed they are with us. I told him that we tried going over there and they were never home. He didn't care and kept the attitude rolling, and I pretty much told them that I wasn't responsible and if he's gonna pull that attitude with me over a tree smashing his previously smashed fence that he could go berkeley off. By law, it's not my damn problem. Since then, he has nitpicked EVERYTHING we do to the point that I don't want to be outside when they are.
This past March, my wife and I adopted a dog. She is a 2 year old Pit/Shepherd mix (maybe, according to the shelter) and she has been a great dog. We were playing with her out in the yard, and she saw my neighbor and barked. That prompted him to immediately come over and tell me that he is not going to put up with our dog barking at him when he is outside. I told him that she is a DOG and that's what they do. She is not breaking any laws, and he can deal with it.
A month ago, they came over and informed us that we are encroaching on their property because my Trans Am which was parked on my driveway was partially over their property line and they want it moved so they can clean their side of the fence (which I have been doing for the past 4 years). Fair enough, I moved it, but they kept complaining. They came storming over with surveyed property plans and everything, and showed us that their property extended into the middle of our driveway. That resulted in a 2 hour debacle with the female neighbor stating that she will block any renovations we try to do to our house, including the renovation of my garage that is on the property line, because it's an eye sore to them. State and town law dictates that the building is grandfathered in and can be renovated without issue, so they can go to hell. My theory is that I think they wanted to buy the property and knock everything down, but we swooped in and bought it before they could, so they are all butt hurt over it. Also, all vegetation on "my" property at the border of their property has not been trimmed or touched since they started this BS. 
Wall of weeds FTW.
Part of me wants to just move, as the house was only ever supposed to be a starter house and really isn't what either my wife and I ultimately want, but another more troll-like part of me wants to stay, renovate everything to our liking (and to their dismay), and throw ragers until 2am every night for eternity.
You people make me so happy to live rural. I know who my neighbors are. I do not see them. I do not hear them. It's just so nice. If I had to live in a neighborhood yet again I would likely be put into a mental institution.
Bobzilla wrote: You people make me so happy to live rural. I know who my neighbors are. I do not see them. I do not hear them. It's just so nice. If I had to live in a neighborhood yet again I would likely be put into a mental institution.
You know what really sucks? My wife grew up in Quincy, MA, which is pretty much neighboring Boston. You can reach out the window of her parents' house and physically touch the neighbor's house. But everyone in that neighborhood is friendly. They all say hi to each other, they help each other out when they are sick, etc. Down here, we try to be nice, and we get punished for it. 
On the other side of my house, there's a guy who works strange hours and is out in his garage until all hours of the night doing lord knows what. He has a hot tub on cinder blocks in his backyard. But he has never talked to us and minds his own business. And we have a constantly shirtless weirdo across the street that has ponies, and he mostly keeps to himself, and next to him is a very nice but odd couple that has about 30 locally rescued cats in a 5 year old McMansion-style house that has a room that they call a "Cattery" just for the cats. But they are all cool compared to the fartsniffers next door to me.
I've had good neighbors and bad ones. Generally I'm pretty much a normal guy and don't even open the blinds for months at a time. When I have had negative interactions in the past with a couple of berktard neighbors I made sure that I was polite but VERY alpha and would tolerate no stupidity on their part. It's worked pretty well so far.
Good luck with your happy shiney geezers. 
In reply to SilverFleet:
I just couldn't handle being that close to people again. Not just the people though, but the wierdos that come with it.
I got to be honest, I really feel my neighbors are too close (1/2 mile away from me is the closest).
We had some bad neighbors at one point, stupid college kids that thought they were bad asses. I took care of that one and they stfu and kept to themselves until they moved BUT dealing with that E36 M3 gets old! Life is too short to put up with this kind of drama. Now we live out in the country with 10 acres and no neighbor problems. The piece of mind is priceless. I still get mad thinking about those berkeleyers and that was over 10 years ago....could not imagine still dealing with it.
SilverFleet wrote: You know what really sucks? My wife grew up in Quincy, MA, which is pretty much neighboring Boston. You can reach out the window of her parents' house and physically touch the neighbor's house. But everyone in that neighborhood is friendly. They all say hi to each other, they help each other out when they are sick, etc.
Sounds like the historic neighborhood my grandmother's about to move out of after nearly 30 years, and with the way parking spaces are allocated there, I think it's amazing they're not at each others' throats.
My buddy must have had your neighbors. He ended up making a cartoonish looking deathray from an old satellite receiver dish. He mounted the dish on his shed roof aimed at their front window.
Turns out there is no bylaw against death rays!
Wow, we have some patient and polite people here. Not me. If a neighbor started to tell me the "rules" and how I needed to make them happy, I would turn on a heel and walk away mid sentence. That is not the way to start a relationship and only leads to me blasting open exhausts till all hours. Be polite and respectful, and you will get it in return. Do the opposite, and I will not give you or your rules a second thought, ever. And please, threaten me with what you are going to do because I am always 100% within the law, and I can make your life miserable without ever breaking the law.
As I get 'older' there are fewer and fewer times that I'm happy to rent.
The time spent reading these stories is one of them.
In reply to pinchvalve:
After the latest shenanigans with my neighboring bags of E36 M3, I decided to upgrade my garage radio with a very loud shelf system that I described in the "Garage Amp" thread. 
Oh, what's that Mr. Fartsniffer? You're not a fan of the Scandinavian Death Metal super group Bloodbath? Sorry, I can't hear you over my air compressor and cut-off wheel.
Did I mention that their bedroom window is right next to my garage?
Too bad we can't buy a few square miles for land and create a GRM neighborhood. Everyone gets an acre, communal trailer parking at the end of each block and a test track will surround the whole thing.
Gearheadotaku wrote: Too bad we can't buy a few square miles for land and create a GRM neighborhood. Everyone gets an acre, communal trailer parking at the end of each block and a test track will surround the whole thing.
Nelson Ledges will be for sale soon. It has one working shower and the test track part.
LOL.
In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:
I'm in!
My bad neighbor story. I come home from a weekend out of town. I hear water running somewhere in the house. Check all faucets, check the basement. I go outside to check the faucets out there, turn the corner, and gas is coming out of my meter! Long story short, my neighbor hit it with his mower. It's clear as day since the lawn under the meter is mowed, his lawn is mowed (he's retired and all he does is mow his lawn...every berkeleying day), and mine looks like E36 M3 as usual. So I get the emergency repair done, and I ask him about it the next day. He goes off saying he didn't do it, can't prove it, yada yada. Even pulls out his mower and asks me to find a mark. I didn't but found what did hit the meter (metal peg for holding on his bagger) and why there were no marks. Cost me $150 between the repair and the doubled gas bill that month. I haven't talked to him since.
In reply to CGLockRacer:
They must be related to the Fartsniffers (which is what my neighbors will be called from here on out). That loser and his wife are retired and all they do when they are not complaining and sniffing butt fumes is mow their lawn, manicure their lawn, trim their hedges, etc. I've even seen him mow his lawn twice in one day: once in the morning and once in the evening.
Bobzilla wrote: You people make me so happy to live rural.
You're far from insulated from it just because you live in the country. Been there, enjoyed that.
foxtrapper wrote:Bobzilla wrote: You people make me so happy to live rural.You're far from insulated from it just because you live in the country. Been there, enjoyed that.
NEver said I haven't experienced it. HEll, the area around my folks "grew up" and they have several "unsavory characters". At least where I am I am not stacked on top of other humans. That is typically a bad situation waiting to happen. We do what we can to make our "next door neighbor" (the farmer that owns the 800 acres around us) as easy as possible. We clean up our tree messes, we don't burn our brush pile when his crops have dried out and are ready to harvest and he knows that we're willing to help if he needs it. That makes the rural life we have a little better in every way.
CGLockRacer wrote: In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker: I'm in! My bad neighbor story. I come home from a weekend out of town. I hear water running somewhere in the house. Check all faucets, check the basement. I go outside to check the faucets out there, turn the corner, and gas is coming out of my meter! Long story short, my neighbor hit it with his mower. It's clear as day since the lawn under the meter is mowed, his lawn is mowed (he's retired and all he does is mow his lawn...every berkeleying day), and mine looks like E36 M3 as usual. So I get the emergency repair done, and I ask him about it the next day. He goes off saying he didn't do it, can't prove it, yada yada. Even pulls out his mower and asks me to find a mark. I didn't but found what did hit the meter (metal peg for holding on his bagger) and why there were no marks. Cost me $150 between the repair and the doubled gas bill that month. I haven't talked to him since.
I assume you told that he wasn't to EVER cut your grass again … look straight in the eyes and say … yeah, you're right, I can't PROVE anything … that doesn't change what I know happened … this is how much it has cost me (add up the gas charges and the repairs) … and tell him furthermore … to stay out of your lawn … regardless of what he thinks are good reasons ….
if someone can't own up to things they've done … I wouldn't want them to be any part of my life
Disclaimer: i'm not a property attorney and i didn't stay at a holiday inn express last night.
SilverFleet wrote: A month ago, they came over and informed us that we are encroaching on their property because my Trans Am which was parked on my driveway was partially over their property line and they want it moved so they can clean their side of the fence (which I have been doing for the past 4 years). Fair enough, I moved it, but they kept complaining. They came storming over with surveyed property plans and everything, and showed us that their property extended into the middle of our driveway.
how old are the garage and driveway? maybe there's a time limit on how long that property is actually "theirs" if there's a protest-able encroachment that does not get officially protested through the assessors office. it would be wicked awesome if you could get that bit of "their" property officially annexed to your property since the encroachment has been there for so long as to become un-protest-able.
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