Refusing to buy a nice house...

[emperor_black]

just because the neighbor has a poorly maintained front and back lawn?? is that sane? We're planning on buying a house. We're looking for a good elementary school that my kid can go to. In most cases, these two dont mix. Finally, we found a good house (slightly older... 38 yrs) but the owner has remodelled everything...double-pane windows, AC, hard-wood floors, etc. The school is excellent and closeby. But, the neighbor has a bad front lawn and a poorly maintained backyard. My wife does not want to proceed. I'm tearing my hair out. What's the worst that could happen? do you guys have horror stories of bad neighbors like this? IMO its a "too-good-to-be-true" neighbor whose usually the bad one. LOL

[Ben...]

Tell your wife "Think about (fill in kid's name here)'s future. We want (He/she) to go to a good school don't we?".

Guilt trip!

Oh, I have no bad neighbour stories to contribute. My neighbours are great!

[ABSOLUT CHARVEL]

eye sore or assholes? tough call for sure. but if the wife is not feeling it ... that maybe the kiss of death right there

[joelayres]

Trust me dude, if the Wife ain't happy you'll never get a moments peace - EVER!
Better to keep looking until she finds one she bonds with - hopefully you'll like it too.

[thetroy]

The worst that could happen is the neighbor locks the 3 of you up in his/her basement and, every day, slowly tortures the kid in front of you and your wife, then your wife in front of you, then you!

...you asked

[ABSOLUT CHARVEL]

The worst that could happen is the neighbor locks the 3 of you up in his/her basement and, every day, slowly tortures the kid in front of you and your wife, then your wife in front of you, then you!

...you asked

or the reason is a hot lonely woman living with her twin sister is just not good with yard work because their boobs block their view. they are hoping a nice man moves in next door to help them because they would rather lay out topless with their bi-sexual girl friend rubbing oil all over their bodies before they play volley ball while he mows the lawn ....

you asked!

[VitaminG]

IMO its a "too-good-to-be-true" neighbor whose usually the bad one. LOL

+1
the dude with the perfectly maintained front yard will be the first one to complain if yours ever isn't.

does this neighbour have a car on blocks in the front yard? Are there CCTV cameras around the house? Find any spent needles in the area? Bulletholes in their front porch? If not, I wouldn't let an untidy yard put me off.

[VitaminG]

or the reason is a hot lonely woman living with her twin sister is just not good with yard work because their boobs block their view. they are hoping a nice man moves in next door to help them because they would rather lay out topless with their bi-sexual girl friend rubbing oil all over their bodies before they play volley ball while he mows the lawn ....

you asked!

now that sounds much more plausible

[MikeStrat]

Doesn't Bill Z have a special way of dealing with bad neighbors?

If next door looks like a shit hole it's a sure sign of potential problems. I see a lot of homes and meet the people who live in said homes. Unless it was the deal of the century, I'd pass.

Pics might help describe what you are talking about.

[CharvelRocker]

Doesn't Bill Z have a special way of dealing with bad neighbors?

If next door looks like a shit hole it's a sure sign of potential problems. I see a lot of homes and meet the people who live in said homes. Unless it was the deal of the century, I'd pass.

Pics might help describe what you are talking about.

+1... this coming from someone who lives next to one of these homes. Grass a foot high, cars parked in the yard, junk everywhere, and one of their trees died and it's spread to a couple of ours. It's also probably been a major factor that has hurt our neighbor's attempts to sell their house down the street. When next to house like that, your house's on paper value stays the same, but the real price is going to be hurt badly. That said, some nice people live in crappy houses with poorly kept yards... but 9/10s it's because the person is a lazy ass.

[Creepy]

Nice house???? Man, I had a very nice house. Divorce will eat your ass!!!! Now I live in a 3 bedroom trailer. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice trailer but a trailer nonetheless. Don't let me discourage you though, and no hijacking implied. Best of luck for sure, but shit. If I could turn back the clock......

[livebiz]

just because the neighbor has a poorly maintained front and back lawn?? is that sane? We're planning on buying a house. We're looking for a good elementary school that my kid can go to. In most cases, these two dont mix. Finally, we found a good house (slightly older... 38 yrs) but the owner has remodelled everything...double-pane windows, AC, hard-wood floors, etc. The school is excellent and closeby. But, the neighbor has a bad front lawn and a poorly maintained backyard. My wife does not want to proceed. I'm tearing my hair out. What's the worst that could happen? do you guys have horror stories of bad neighbors like this? IMO its a "too-good-to-be-true" neighbor whose usually the bad one. LOL

Neighborhood quality is very important - being next to a deteriorating property will be bad for your investment ,...I would keep looking.

[emperor_black]

+1... this coming from someone who lives next to one of these homes. Grass a foot high, cars parked in the yard, junk everywhere, and one of their trees died and it's spread to a couple of ours. It's also probably been a major factor that has hurt our neighbor's attempts to sell their house down the street. When next to house like that, your house's on paper value stays the same, but the real price is going to be hurt badly. That said, some nice people live in crappy houses with poorly kept yards... but 9/10s it's because the person is a lazy ass.

well, its not that bad. ...yet. But it might get there. Also, its a very dry and hot season here in california and with all the high prices of commodities and losing jobs, he might just have stopped caring about the yard.

But on the other hand, according to zillow.com the house was purchased by someone over a month ago for $421,000 and the insides have been modified very well and he's turning around and selling it for $628,000. Is that good or bad? Sorry

[emperor_black]

Neighborhood quality is very important - being next to a deteriorating property will be bad for your investment ,...I would keep looking.

But the elementary school is the best in that city, the home is 7 miles (15 mins) from my work and probably 20 minutes for my wife. My kid's day-care is about 5-10 minutes from this house and 300 yards away, there is a very good pre-school my kid can go to next year. The elementary and middle are very good with 850+ API's. The high is not good but its the best in the city again. 5 bed, 3 bath with one full bed and bath downstairs. $628,000, Milpitas, California. I think its a great deal.

[Creepy]

Man, that's alot of jack. Property in California is out of proportion from what it is where I'm at. Prise wise, I'd say keep looking, but I don't know what the house has to offer either.