Next door neighbor selling his house, NOW he's getting on my nerves...

[dbhost]

Okay this is a dumb thing to fuss about, which is why I am venting it here and not anywhere I suspect my neighbor can see...

The fellow that owns the house next to me has been for the last 6 years, renting as it were, the house to his son, and their family. Nice people, that have been saving up to buy a move up home in a high end neighborhood...

Now my neighborhood is far from a bad neighborhood, this is a solidly middle class neighborhood with a good mix of white and blue collar professionals. Admittedly some of my neighbors tend to be a little rednecky (is that a word), but as long as they don't bother anyone, who cares?

Anyway, back to the neighbor in question...

The fellow next door's kid finally had the mini mansion of his dreams built, and they have moved out, leaving Mom and Dad to sell the old house... Now this house was built in 1984 same time as mine, but has never been remodelled. They take good care of it, but it still has 1984 Linoleum floors in the kitchen, baths, hallways etc... Complete with Sunflower patterns, and the carpet is a nice thick Pink not quite, but close to shag carpet... It needs flooring, paint, cabinet refacing, or at least painting, and other MINOR cosmetics done. They are planning on simply offering the house as is with an allowance for paint, carpet etc... Fine, no problem. Would love to have the homes around me freshly remodeled to keep all the values up... But it does seem like a cheap way to go...

Now topping the cheapness off, they are doing not only for sale by owner, but owner financing, and advertising it with cardboard yard sale type signs... Complete with nearly illegible scrawling writing done in sharpie.

I know it's a dumb thing to complain about, but I am concerned about their bottom of the barrel approach, and a little insulted that they opted for the run down neighborhood sales tactics. I have serious concerns about the sorts of buyers their methods might attract. I have offered up the names and phone numbers of several excellent realtors that I know personally. They would likely get the seller a better selling price, and get me better new neighbors.

I figure because the neighbors house is one of the smallest in the nieghborhood (1450 sq/ft) and has a LONG way to go cosmetically, with this housing market, any buyer would be entry level, or maybe empty nesters that are downsizing from the Mini Mansions... I'm just concerned that with the lowest ball approach they are taking, whoever buys that house might just end up making my most rednecky neighbors seem, well, civilized...

Then again... I guess it depends on how tight they would be with the financing... I wonder if the HOA would notice if I turned the neighbors house into a workshop?

[Dal300]

Buy it, scrap it, save any decent pieces and turn the rest into your "Next Wing", for kids, relatives and visitors...... Oh, and make sure you get your dream shop built to HOA standards on the property.

PS, Donate any decent stuff you have to Habitat.

Be sure to spay and neuter your pets or less than worthy neighbors.

[sweensdv]

As Ann Landers or Dear Abby, I can't remember which, used to say, MYOB. Sounds to me like they are just trying to turn as much profit as possible in the sale of something they own and don't want any longer.

[dbhost]

As Ann Landers or Dear Abby, I can't remember which, used to say, MYOB. Sounds to me like they are just trying to turn as much profit as possible in the sale of something they own and don't want any longer.

Which is why I posted that here. Needed to vent, but figured I was off base... It IS their property, and they have been good neighbors for a long time... I'm just leery of attracting pyscho - nutjobs like the ones that lived in the apartments below me when I was in college. For reference, I lived in the Apartments at Oracle & Miracle Mile in Tucson from 1992 to 1994... which was the soonest I could break my lease and get the he** out of there. Loved Tucson, didn't pay attention to THAT particular neighborhood at night until after we moved in... But hey, it was close to campus... and hookers, and dope dealers, and... Did I mention I got out as soon as I could? I just don't want my neighborhood turning into that...

[pelligrini]

The DIY sales would make me a bit leery too. Especially those handwritten signs that look like something my grandaughter would have done in first grade.

[vaking]

I see nothing wrong with your neigbor's actions.
Any professional source will tell you that almost no home improvement project fully recovers its cost. Trade magazines consider 70% a good return. If you want to remodel for yourself to enjoy and then recover 70% at sale - it is one thing but if you want to remodel only for sale - why waste 30%? Besides - when you are doing remodel many choices are subject to your personal taste, like color of walls and floor. People who want to buy your house don't have same taste as you - so you doing the remodel yourself are only scaring away some of the potential buyers. The further away the buyer's taste is from yours - the more likely he is to walk away because of choices you made. So if you don't live in that house and want to sell it - the best action is to put house for sale without remodel and make allowance for the buyer.
As for sale by owner - we live in the connected world. Houses for sale by owner and houses for sale by realtor are all on the Internet. Literate person will find either way. Realtor charges you 6% of sale price for the convinience that he will show the house without you being inconvinienced. If you have time to show yourself - this isn't worth the commission. The sign in front of the house isn't advertisement - it is a marker for people who came to see your house identifying the house better than the street address.
As for "what kind of people will this tactics attract"? In today's world people who only go via realtor and don't do their own research are the lazy ones or illiterate. I would rather have the other kind as my neigbor. The likely buyer for that house would be some young couple without a fat wallet who will be doing their own research and their own remodel. May be not immediately - if money is tight they will just buy the house and remodel when they are ready. Whatever floor is there now - house is livable, isn't it?
In today's economy credit is tight - a young couple with tight budget may have hard time getting mortgage. If owner has his own resources to offer financing - finding a buyer may be a lot easier. Sounds like your neigbors have done their research, identified the type of most likely buyer and are doing what they can to make sale easier. Targeted marketing is a smart thing.

[steve-norrell]

. . . . lived in the apartments below me when I was in college. For reference, I lived in the Apartments at Oracle & Miracle Mile in Tucson from 1992 to 1994... which was the soonest I could break my lease and get the he** out of there. Loved Tucson, . . . . .

My, my! That part of Tucson was "interesting" when I was in graduate school there in 1961 - 1965, especially if you got a block or two off the Miracle Mile. But that was far away and way, way too long ago . . . .

Anyway, good luck with your present problem. I don't think there is much you could do about it unless there are some zoning and/or area restrictions that can be applied. Buying it yourself and fixing it up seems a bit extreme, but may be a reasonable long-term investment. The idea of a new and extremely large shop seems especially attractive.

Regards, Steve.

[pelligrini]

By the way you've described your HOA, there's probably some restrictions on signs...

[sailor55330]

Sounds like an opportunity to buy it and flip it or have a nice rental property for income, especially given your proximity for maintenance and potentially your handyman skills.


What's the asking price? I might buy it and pay you to manage it.

[LinuxRandal]

Check your HOA on both signage, and what would constitute a shop. (could you work in the garage, and use the home as a demo place, if you sell your work out of it).
If you really want to drive them crazy, you could start calling those "we buy houses" people and have them go look and make offers. Or you could have others call and make low ball offers.
I understand your worries about what your going to get for neighbors, have you and your other neighbors discussed this? Are you out and making sure your seen out working on your yards and houses? Make sure you do this when the house is being shown. That seems to be the best way to handle it, other then buying it yourself.

[jseklund]

Haha, I wouldn't worry about it. Given their tactics I will bet you $500 dollars (it's all I can afford or I'd up it more) that you will have the same neighbors for quite a while.

As mentioned above, some real estate brokers get 6% to merely show a house for you. Others may actually sell it...

I sell commercial real estate, but have plenty of residential experience. If I wanted to break into the residential business, my first target would be all the FSBO signs in the area. These people tend to be the ones who need the broker the most and just don't know enough to realize it. They think, "what am I paying 6% for?" because they don't realize what they don't realize.

Not that every broker is good either...

Most brokers who do this full time can't sell houses in this market. Doing a FSBO is hopeful at best, but sometimes we all get lucky. 7 years ago ...that was the time to do a FSBO. Not today.

[dbhost]

As a reminder. I KNOW I am being unreasonable...

The biggest thing that bugs me is the signs. Yes the signs are in violation of the covenants and restrictions, but then again, so is my trash can... (visible from the street even though it is behind my fence...).

I do expect that the HOA will fuss about this though. They like the hand scrawled signs less than I do... But I am NOT going to bring this up to them. Like I said, I know I am being unreasonable...

I totally understand them not wanting to upgrade the interior at all... It is in good shape, it's just dated... It's sort of like a time machine back to when the Sony Walkman was the highest of tech...

And I totally understand not wanting to spend more money than they have to, so bypassing a Real Estate agent / broker might sound good to them, but it WILL make selling the house a lot harder on them in the long run. (seen the process a few times, not pretty...)

I need to sneak into their back yard this week and hammer a couple of fence pickets back on tight. Might actually screw them in place. The dog keeps knocking them loose chasing squirrels in the yard...

As far as potential neighbors are concerned. I can hope and pray that we get a decent family in here. Change is always a little unnerving... I need to talk myself into a positive outlook on things...

[All Thumbs]

As a reminder. I KNOW I am being unreasonable...

Buyers attracted by these tactics often have sub-par credit scores, would require a subprime (expensive) mortgage, etc. The seller typically gets as much downpayment as possible, charges the highest interest rate they legally can, and moves quick to forclose when the payments stop. And then it starts all over again. I've heard one guy that did this sort of thing refer to it as "rent to own."

Hopefully that doesn't happen in your case. I do not think you're being unreasonable to be concerned.

[tommyt654]

I have a similiar situation I'm involved in now.A homeowner in our sub. has recently purchased and placed a storage building at his home. The county ordinance as we have no HOA states no accessory buildings shall be placed out front or along side the main body of the home. So I called the local code enforcement and asked what could be done about it and they said they could come out an take a look. Little did I know this would turn into a debacle as the guys wife went down afterwards and filed a FOIA to get my name and number from the report and then confronts me while walking my dog. According to the county they have placed the building in a side yard. Tell me does this look like a side yard to you.I realize this may seem petty ,but I'd like to see home values continue to rise in the sub and feel this detracts from the overall appearance of the sub. He's the only home in here, a dead end culdesac that has a storage building in front as well as the only person who regularly parks their vehicles in the yard as well. Its a rural area but not green acres

[cabinetman]

I see nothing wrong with your neigbor's actions.
Any professional source will tell you that almost no home improvement project fully recovers its cost. Trade magazines consider 70% a good return. If you want to remodel for yourself to enjoy and then recover 70% at sale - it is one thing but if you want to remodel only for sale - why waste 30%? Besides - when you are doing remodel many choices are subject to your personal taste, like color of walls and floor. People who want to buy your house don't have same taste as you - so you doing the remodel yourself are only scaring away some of the potential buyers. The further away the buyer's taste is from yours - the more likely he is to walk away because of choices you made. So if you don't live in that house and want to sell it - the best action is to put house for sale without remodel and make allowance for the buyer.
As for sale by owner - we live in the connected world. Houses for sale by owner and houses for sale by realtor are all on the Internet. Literate person will find either way. Realtor charges you 6% of sale price for the convinience that he will show the house without you being inconvinienced. If you have time to show yourself - this isn't worth the commission. The sign in front of the house isn't advertisement - it is a marker for people who came to see your house identifying the house better than the street address.
As for "what kind of people will this tactics attract"? In today's world people who only go via realtor and don't do their own research are the lazy ones or illiterate. I would rather have the other kind as my neigbor. The likely buyer for that house would be some young couple without a fat wallet who will be doing their own research and their own remodel. May be not immediately - if money is tight they will just buy the house and remodel when they are ready. Whatever floor is there now - house is livable, isn't it?
In today's economy credit is tight - a young couple with tight budget may have hard time getting mortgage. If owner has his own resources to offer financing - finding a buyer may be a lot easier. Sounds like your neigbors have done their research, identified the type of most likely buyer and are doing what they can to make sale easier. Targeted marketing is a smart thing.

+1. My sentiment too.

.