Are your neighbors affecting your home sale?

Just like almost any investment, home value fluctuation is a fact of life. That variability usually works in your favor, but your neighbor could have an effect on your home’s value that can either work for you or against you.  The National Bureau of Economic Research explains that momentum and cycles are at the heart of home value fluctuation. That is true when you take an overall, general look at home values in Nevada, but a good economy with strong housing prices don’t guarantee you’ll make a profit on your house. You need to dig deep and look at what area of the city your neighborhood is in, the neighborhood itself, and look at the houses closest to yours. Your neighbors effect on home value can be positive or negative, meaning you have a lot riding on the condition of the real estate around you.

As you already know home sellers have one goal: to sell their home as quickly as possible at the best price possible. Annoying neighbors interfere with that goal. One sniff of trouble and most buyers will look elsewhere or try to negotiate a substantial discount from the price. The best solution is to fix the problem before you list your home for sale. Usually, a friendly chat is all it takes to solve the problem. Many annoying neighbors don’t even know that they are causing you pain and will bend over backward to rectify the situation.

Few appraisers will devalue a property because a neighbor makes a lot of noise. Appraisers have to give solid, objective evidence for why they arrived at the value they did, and noise is a subjective issue. That said, an obviously noisy neighbor can discourage buyers who come to view your property. To prevent this happening, tell your neighbor when you schedule a showing. Ask them to keep the noise down during these times. If barking dogs are a problem, ask a family member or a friend to take them for a walk during showings. A gift card is a lovely way to “thank” a neighbor who plays ball.

Here are some types of bad neighbors

Overgrown lawn

If your neighbor just isn’t into yard work, he or she may have quite the jungle next door. You may be able just to call the city and have them demand a cleanup. But if this is not an option, you can always have a talk with the neighbor. It will be difficult to ask your neighbors to reseed their lawn, pull their weeds, change their fence or paint their door to help your sale.

Instead, offer to help them cut the grass and keep things tidy until you can get the house sold. If things are shocking, and your neighbor is strapped for cash it may be reasonable for you to bite the bullet and offer to pay to have a professional come and take care of the yard. You may even consider doing it yourself as a neighborly gesture. While it is certainly not your responsibility to do so, in the long run, it could be a game changer in getting your property sold. While you may be thinking why should I invest money in my neighbor’s yard, the point is it could cost you a lot more money in not selling your home for top dollar.

The Hoarder

Some people like to collect things, both inside their homes and in their yards as well. For years, hoarding was understood to be a form of OCD also known as obsessive-compulsive disorder.

As a seller, buyer, or new homeowner, there’s a genuine dark side to living within yards of a compulsive collector. For starters, your neighbor’s hoarding house can be a huge fire hazard. Rotting trash can attract rodents and insects. Also hoarding usually has a mental health factor, which can make neighborly negotiations difficult.

It may sound like a petty thing and unrelated to your home value, but your neighbor’s hoarding situation means that clutter has overflowed into the public space, making the front lawn an embarrassing eyesore for every house party you throw, every guest that walks by and even every potential buyer.

Not only that, it can get much worse. Food waste can attract rats, ants, roaches, and squirrels that can then wander over to your house for dessert. Stacks of newspapers are obvious fire hazards that significantly increase the chances of your own home getting caught in a downdraft. Moreover, there are the overtly lawful issues — the public health and hygiene violations that could plant a legal black eye on your otherwise issue-free neighborhood. We’re not even going to touch the smells that can originate from a hoarder’s home.

If your neighbor has a huge appliance collection out in the front yard, the first course of action is to knock on your neighbor’s door and ask politely if they can tidy up the exterior of their home.

You can begin by gathering your neighbors and collectively offering to clean up the front yard for free. If you’re denied, the next step is to contact the local authorities to see about code and public health violations. Ask other folks to come to your own home to record odors and take photos for evidence and witness reports.

It may benefit you financially to spend a little money now on your neighbor’s property. Offer to buy him or her a cheap shed to store all the junk in and even to help clear it all up. You may have to spend a few hundred dollars and get a little dirty, but it could be worth it to make more money on your home sale. Whatever you do, don’t decide to take matters into your hands and go clean up your neighbor’s yard on your own terms! The last thing you want is to become your community’s latest news story.

Noisy neighbors

There are many varieties of a noisy neighbor: ranging from doing garden work at the crack of dawn on a Sunday morning, to the loud parties the neighboring teenagers throw every time the parents are gone for the weekend, to working in the garage late at night testing out the latest wood bench drilling tools and even hearing those ‘afterdark sounds’ from the neighbors’ master bedroom.

The interested home buyers might not be too impressed with the seemingly ‘peace and quiet’ found in person versus what’s been advertised!

This can be a tough situation to address appropriately. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t worth trying, though. You could start off by talking to the neighbor. Some people don’t realize that they are noisy, and they may be willing to quiet down once informed of the problem. If the neighbor tends to sit out on the porch and drink while harassing passersby, the city may be willing to address the problem.

Tell your neighbor when you schedule a showing. Ask them to keep the noise down during these times.

Keep in mind that you may have to reveal the noisy neighbor to potential buyers, depending on the rules that govern your area. You may also get lucky. A neighbor that seems offensive to you may be seen differently by a prospective buyer. Maybe the buyer wants nothing more than to sit out on the porch and drink too.

If you happen to live in a condominium, and it is regulated by a homeowner’s association, more than likely there are rules that have been put in place that prohibit loud and offensive behavior. Most condo boards will have little tolerance for those who freely create chaos with their neighbors. More times than not, your neighbor is just completely unaware of the fact that they are disturbing you. Proper etiquette suggests that you ask them nicely to stop what they are doing first before you make waves with an outside party. By not asking nicely first you are bound to create waves with your neighbor and make an uncomfortable situation worse.

Dangerous neighbors

There may be situations where you genuinely feel unsafe around your neighbor. He or she may be verbally abusive or threatening or otherwise unpleasant. In this case, you may feel compelled to tell your prospective buyers about the problem. If the neighbor is a real problem, it may be worthwhile to contact your local police department to discuss the issue. If the person is making you truly uncomfortable or threatening you, he or she is probably breaking the law in the process.

Dogs

Have you ever lived in a neighborhood where there was that one neighbor who had a couple of these massive dogs, who kept barking day or night?

While most of us pet lovers might not necessarily have a problem with neighbors and barking dogs, these bad-tempered neighbors might become a nuisance!

Maybe it is just your neighbor’s dog and not a stray? In this case, discuss the fact you are going to be selling your home to your neighbor. If the dog is being loud and obnoxious, express this concern to your neighbor. Tell them that you have a fear of it affecting your ability to secure a buyer. Making the dog disappear during a viewing is always an option that works.

Nosy neighbors

There are times when having an observant neighbor pays off. For example, if you’re out of town, and they notice someone suspicious snooping around your home. Of course, there’s a potential downside to this as well. It’s proper etiquette for the seller to leave the home during showings, and if you have a nosy neighbor, they can swoop in while you’re away and influence potential buyers. There’s also the fact that many open houses are attended by neighbors with zero intention to buy. If you’re on good terms with the people in your neighborhood, a nosy neighbor is no more than a minor inconvenience. However, if your relationship is strained, they could try to sabotage the sale of your home.

If you are worried he or she will bother potential buyers during the sales process, have a talk with the neighbor before you begin having people over. Let the person know that you prefer that the real estate agent is the person that does all the talking to the buyers. This would end up with both the home seller and the nosy neighbor needing to be at a distance during viewings.

Messy neighbors

Have you ever heard of the term “curb appeal”? It’s very important when selling a home. Well, if you’re selling your home, and some potential homebuyers pull up to your home to take a look inside, they may never make it inside if they are distracted and turned off by your messy neighbor. No one wants to live next door to a mini-landfill!

Furthermore, when a homeowner leaves trash and debris all over their property outside, they generally keep the interior of their home in the same poor condition. Not all the time, but most times this is the case. There could be broken windows, peeling paint, or a caved-in roof that everyone can see from the street, and piles of garbage covering the floors inside. This is a similar issue to hoarders who have an obsessive need to keep useless objects that are usually discarded by the general public.

Obviously, you cannot control how your neighbors choose to care for their home or landscaping, but you aren’t completely helpless in the process. If you were to use tact when approaching your neighbors, telling them that they need to fix things right now – it will most likely result in strained relationships between you and them with the likelihood of your neighbor undertaking the desired remedies diminishing greatly. The better way to go is to present yourself calmly and politely, offer to help them with the fixes and explain that the fixes will not only benefit yourself but will also increase their home’s value as well.  So it is best to first try to offer to help with the cleanup and repaint it. If the home is being rented, then the landlord of the property should be notified of the situation.

However, if they refuse to do anything about it, then it might be time to call the local law enforcement agency or a lawyer for advice on a way to get help through the legal system. It is important to act as quickly as possible with situations like this because messy homes pose a serious health risk to the people who live in them and the neighbors who are surrounding them.

Of course, this all depends on the severity of the neighbors “messiness” so use your best judgment. Sometimes, they just need a friendly “intervention” with a few of the other concerned neighbors before they realize they need to clean their act and their place up. If it’s in really bad shape, find out why. They may simply be overwhelmed with the amount of crap they have accumulated, or the mess they have made, and can’t do it on their own. Talk to them, find out what their situation is, and then act accordingly. Be a good neighbor if at all possible, but it’s also important that they are a good neighbor in return.

No matter how you handle it, keep the lines of communication open. If you are planning to sell, give your neighbor the courtesy of telling them before the signs go up. It will make them feel valued as a neighbor and perhaps even make them more willing to help you, should you need it.

The Absent Neighbor

We’ve shared that the noisy neighbor is a nuisance to the home selling process, but also there is a neighbor at the complete opposite of the spectrum: the absent neighbor.

Mostly caused by a bankruptcy or foreclosure, the neighboring house is now standing empty for months on end, any maintenance of the property is pretty much non-existent, where the front lawn is starting to look like a jungle.

In these situations, there always seem to be someone who has a vested interest in keeping that house in somewhat of a tidy condition, whether it be the financial institution or one of the government agencies. A quick few phone calls around might get you to the right person who might involve a maintenance company to assist.

Sometimes early on in the foreclosure process, the lender just has not gotten around to hiring a company to maintain the property. The home could even look disgusting – preventing anyone from considering your home. If the home has been like this for a while after the bank has owned the home then get in contact with them! Make sure you send them pictures of what the property looks like. Most banks will move to make the home more of a priority.

The neighbor who wants your home

If your neighbors are dreaming of expanding, they might have an eye on your house and no qualms about shooing off competitors. So, every time someone would pull in to see the home, the neighbor might or would conveniently make himself available to answer questions and eagerly share his story to scare people away.

But how would you deal with this? You could sell the home to your neighbors, but if they expect a neighborly discount or have rubbed you the wrong way with their poor behavior, you need to sit them down for a frank conversation: They aren’t getting the house. If they continue to frighten potential buyers, consult a lawyer. You may have a case to sue them for slander – but expect the road to success to be bumpy.

This may be enough to keep chatty neighbors at bay. Be advised that if you are planning on having an open house, one of the downfalls will be your nosy neighbor showing up. This is one of the reasons why top real estate agents will explain to sellers that open houses do not sell homes.

Speak to your agent about your duty of disclosure

To sell your home, you must fill out a seller disclosure statement, answering a series of questions about your home. Disclosures vary between states, but the disclosure form will almost always ask you about nuisances in and around the neighborhood. The difficulty here is what constitutes a nuisance? Actions that are clear code violations are public nuisances and you should disclose them. You may not have to disclose a problem neighbor who has not acted illegally and whose only gripe is with you.

Do tell your agent what has been going on. They have seen it all before and can tell you what you need to tell buyers to protect yourself legally.

There is no doubt that all of these things can present obstacles to selling your home. It is how you choose to deal with these issues that will determine the outcome. Dealing with a troublesome neighbor is never easy. They are both tricky situations that need to be handled with kid gloves. Ultimately it is how you handle these situations that will determine your success. Always remember that cooler heads will prevail.

You could wait around for your neighbor to get his house in order – or you could offer to do it yourself.  If the thought of helping out a difficult neighbor is bothersome, remember your goal. You want to sell your house quickly, for full market value. If a few hours of hard work or a couple hundred dollars paid to a handyman is what it takes to achieve a sale, so be it.