Hi there, Mrs. 1500 today.
Our street has 29 houses, 5 or 6 of which are rentals. For the most part, we have great renters on our block – they treat the house like it were their own. But last month, we got a new neighbor. Or I should say, new neighbors PLURAL because that is the problem. There are so many of them!
But before I tell you my first-world-problem tale of woe, let’s go back to last week’s question, where I asked you where you start? What is the first step toward financial freedom, or financial betterment?
I have a very dear friend who has been hiding her financial status for a while. She is not very good with money, and finally confessed her financial sins to me. The advice I gave her was to start with writing everything down. You can’t know where to make cuts if you don’t know where it is going in the first place. But I wanted to know what you thought, too. I wanted to make sure I was giving the right advice.
Mrs. PoP from Planting Our Pennies responded very quickly, and backed me up. “I always tell people the first step is tracking your spending. Until you know where all your money is going, it’s going to be much harder to figure out what doesn’t match up with your values and can be cut permanently and what does, but can be trimmed in the short term until you get to a better place financially.”
Reader Zaxon, Aldo from Million Dollar Ninja, Wade from Destination Financial Wisdom, Debs at DebtDebs, Emily from EvolvingPF, Even Steven, Kipp from Frankly Frugal Finance and Reader VDB all said the exact same thing. So many great financial minds can’t all be wrong.
Reader KRFP had a great suggestion, that I would put as a second step, “know what you owe”. Actually, this could be a concurrent step with tracking spending.
Find out exactly how much you owe, to whom, at what interest rate, etc. etc. etc. Write it all down. Hiding it from yourself, not being honest with how much debt there actually is doesn’t make it go away. Confronting it, knowing the exact amount, can be a huge motivator to not spend money frivolously.
I got so many responses to this question! Another answer that came up a few times was a recommendation to read Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover. Thanks Wade, Emily, and Dave.
Thank you all for the great suggestions. As she gets more comfortable with her situation, I am going to introduce new steps. Right now, I have told her that I am super happy to help, and won’t push at all. The first step is tracking spending, and if she is interested in any more advice, just ask. I’ll keep you posted!
Now on to this week’s question, which is sort of a question and sort of a rant.
Our old neighbor moved out. It took her 15 days, at least 12 trips to the storage locker(s) and many late nights to move out of a 4 bedroom house with a 5-car garage, both of which were packed top to bottom, side to side with stuff accumulated during her 5 years in the home. I have a touch of the hoarder in me too so I cannot judge. But wow, that was a lot of stuff.
She was still at the house, cleaning and collecting random bits of things when the new tenant pulled up. He was with his brother, and they were both in work vans, towing trailers with flooring supplies loaded up. I approached him and asked him what house he was working on. (There were two rentals that just became vacant, and I am nosy.) He replied that he was moving into that house, and pointed to the house where my old neighbor was still at.
He seemed nice. He said he and his wife were going to be moving in, his brother had a place in a different part of town, and I thought that was going to be the end of it. Turns out, he has 5 adult children, a brother and sister-in-law, brother-in-law and sister-in-law, and various other people living in this same house.
You may be asking yourself, where do they all sleep? I don’t have a clue. The house has 4 bedrooms, ONE BATHROOM, and lots of garage space. Of course, that garage space is taken up with flooring supplies and Corvettes (plural) so the remaining cars are parked on the street. All 15 of them. I kid you not, they have 12 vehicles and 3 trailers up and down the street.
And did I mention the dogs? I am averse to barking dogs. I have no love for dogs in general, (I was bitten as a child by the neighbor’s “friendly” doberman) and have been inundated with barkers lately, including two that are taken for a walk down my street every day, in the spirit of training them, who have quite ferocious barking fits whenever they see a leaf, blade of grass, person, other dog, spot of pavement or rock, and also whenever they feel a breeze, smell something, hear something, etc. But I digress. My lovely new neighbors have 6 dogs living in this house, along with the 412* people. And of course, those dogs bark. Whenever they see a leaf, blade of grass, person, other dog, spot of pavement, rock or feel a breeze, smell something, hear something, a car drives by, a car doesn’t drive by. The list, literally, goes on and on.
So what’s not to love about my new neighbors? Too many people, too many cars, waaaay too many dogs, all in one house with one bathroom**. They are talking of buying the house from the landlord, who is interested in selling. Yikes! Is there anything I can do?
Update on our fun new neighbors here.
*Just a guess, but seriously, way too many people in that house.
**Mr. 1500 note: The part that fascinates me most is the 1 bathroom. How do 10+ people get along with ONE toilet. I have no idea. Perhaps I don’t want to know. When we first bought our home, we had one toilet between the 4 of us. Most of the time, it was fine, but things got a little tense on occasion.
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Hmm, this is a tough one. Couple ways you could play this:
1) Smother them with kindness. Not always going to work, but it does have karma in it’s favor. Sometimes people don’t realize the effect they are having on those around them. Take over some “welcome to the neighborhood” cookies, plan a joint end of summer BBQ, anything to help them see you as people. Once you’re on their good side, maybe you can drop some hints about ways they could help out their fellow neighbors.
2) If kindness doesn’t work then you can take it up with the landlord. Landlords generally want tenants that aren’t a menace, and you can try to have them enforce the terms of the lease (which usually includes things like the number of people who can live in the building, etc…) To up the ante, you could drop a mention to the landlord that if things don’t improve “some neighbors” are considering complaining to the city.
3) If the landlord is no help, then bring in the government. Learn your local ordinances and apply them ruthlessly. (Make sure you are in compliance first!) Every time a dog barks after 10pm (or whatever the noise ordinance says) file a complaint. Every night if necessary. File a complaint with the city’s housing department. File complaints with parking and traffic. If their grass is too high, file a complaint about that too. Eventually they’ll get the idea and either move on or burn down your house 🙂
We went through this with one of our neighbors. They used to keep a couple of pomeranians on their back porch, and let me tell you those were not quiet dogs! Eventually we convinced the landlord that either he could fix the problem or we’d get the city involved… and it’d sure be a pity if all the un-permitted work the landlord has done to the apartment was discovered by the city housing inspector! The dogs are now kept inside, and we can sleep with the windows open again.
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Thanks, Frugalwoods! Very good ideas, all. We are friendly with them, possibly the only ones on the block who are. It is just easier to be nice to people who live near you. I tried to tell him that barking dogs wouldn’t be tolerated, but that went in one ear and out the other. They bark when no one is home. You would think that with all those people, someone would be home at all times. Nope. And Mr. 1500 works from home, with the same aversion to barking dogs that I have. Sigh.
Unfortunately, the landlord is a slumlord. He bought the house 1,000 years ago, and really doesn’t care who lives there. He puts absolutely zero into it, so there is no unpermitted work to report. Double Sigh.
I am working on the government angle. I am having trouble finding any code they are violating. Triple Sigh.
Noise ordinance with the dogs? Does the city have regulations on rental properties that could include number of people based on size of home?
I don’t think so. Bleh!
I’d spend some time reading the city code and ordinances to see if there are occupancy limits that are being violated, etc. I know in commercial construction there are requirements for bathroom facilities dictated by number of occupants, but not sure about residential (and different municipalities might have different rules). Where I live the number of dogs are restricted, too. I think it’s four here. I wonder if they lied to the landlord? It’s hard to imagine one approving that situation.
We were surrounded by crazy neighbors at our old house: eccentric old alcoholic, family with three barky dogs, and an assortment of characters in an apartment house next door (including a drug dealer who was selling from there).
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I have never lived in a house that wasn’t next door to a barking dog.
Are you my neighbor? Seriously….we are in almost the exact same situation. My amazing (millionaire next-door) neighbor moved last year and sold to a leasing company. New neighbors include 4 adults, 2 children, and 3 yipper dogs. Dogs are kept outside, in a chain link kennel (IN TEXAS)…and they bark CONSTANTLY. I started with the management company, nothing changed. Talked to the new neighbor. He was delusional saying his dogs don’t bark that often. Then I contacted the city…several times. This last time seems to have done the trick. We had a nice quiet weekend with no barking!
As a homeowner it sucks because what other options do you have when you have horrible neighbors? We would love to sell and move to a better neighborhood, but that would obviously cost us more. I am sure it is just a matter of time before these people move on.
Amy, I tell myself that every time I move. It couldn’t possibly be so bad in this neighborhood. I walk the neighborhood at different times of the day before I buy, to make sure this doesn’t happen. But every single time, there is a barking dog. Either an existing neighbor decides to get a dog, or a new one moves in with a dog.
First, contact the landlord and make sure s/he is aware that there are so many people living in the house. Also let them know about the dogs. There is a good chance that this was not allowed in the lease. Also, report anything you see that may be causing damage to the home.
Second, contact the police about the barking dogs. In many communities that violates noise ordinances. In my community, it’s not even allowed during daytime hours.
It is unlikely that these folks will voluntarily take steps to make the dogs stop barking (there are ways – bark collars, meds, training, doggie daycare, etc.). I think that complaints to the police and the landlord will ultimately win out. The landlord will not want to renew the lease if these folks cause him or her a lot of undue stress.
Thanks, Scooze. I am checking out the Animal Control Laws and occupancy laws. The landlord is a dead end. He is a slumlord who doesn’t care. Sigh.
Wow that’s a tough one. I’m not sure if there’s a lot you can do. I guess you could file a complaint, but I wouldn’t expect anything to be done. Also, since they are renting, you can find out who their landlord is and complain to him/her. That might be your best move.
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Thanks, MDN! I am looking into the laws in my city. Not holding out much hope, though.
I feel for the 1500’s on this one…truly. As an avid reader of your blog, I recall that you are very successful house ” flippers” and you sure have spruced up your current house! 🙂 I hope it all works out…nothing like feeling imprisoned by crummy neighbors…
Jon, this says it all. …nothing like feeling imprisoned by crummy neighbors… So true!!!
What would I do if I were in your shoes? I’m not sure what you can do, so the first thing I might do is talk to the city/police and see if all of this is allowed, I know in college our houses were only allowed a certain number of people that were not related to you. If that did not work and everything was on the up and up, I would call the landlord and ask him about selling the house then during that conversation I would mention that the number of cars, dogs, and people to see if he is aware or doing anything about it.
So if the first two attempts fail, I would probably be the nicest guy in the world so you can slowly suggest moving cars and the dogs, etc. I have also heard about a device that’s supposed to stop dogs from barking in your area, but I don’t have knowledge of how well it actually works. You might be stuck a little after that, but if it bothers you it bothers others, so maybe talking with other neighbors to see if strength in numbers approach will hold true.
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FYI, that device works great! Or so I heard. From a friend…
Here’s my recommendation.
http://imgsrv.965thebuzz.com/image/krbz2/UserFiles/Image/neighbor%20meme.jpg
Seriously though? Your probably screwed. Try not to get worked up about it, i almost had a coronary dealing with a similar problem. I live in a townhouse (a nice one). Neighbor moved in has 7 kids of verying ages. Was operating an illegal shop out of their garage. Blasting music at all hours. Unleashed nasty nasty dog that barked. They were there 2 years before the hubby divorced the crotchity woman. I now have a very nice young couple next door (ahhhhh, it’s like serenity). I almost moved at one point because the neighbors were so miserable and disrespectful. Oh… but i’m on the board. The 1000’s of dollars of fine’s those people paid does at least bring a small smile to my face. Basketball hoop not put inside 50$. Dog craps and you didn’t clean it up 50$. Stereo after 10pm, cops called. You would think racking up 250$ a month in fines on average would make you change your behavior. Nope!
I feel slightly better that single family homes deal with the same issue because misery loves company =P
Thanks, Zaxon. Misery does love company. I am sorry you had to deal with it. I have a neighbor tell me she wouldn’t put her dog inside because “It does have to urinate.” Well, not all day long. I finally got fed up and called Animal Control on a day they let the dog out and then left for the whole day. I felt karmic bliss wash over me as the Animal Control officer pulled up to the house, and the dog went absolutely apesh*t, barking like there was an intruder. They got a ticket for that one, which STILL didn’t deter them from leaving the dog out all the time. Fines escalated with each AC call, and we finally sold our house and moved. Some people…
That’s awful. I’m always scared when you have these dogs that go crazy when people walk buy. One neighbor puts there dog out on the deck with a “baby gate”. Uh, that dog would fall over it. I’m not so worried about myself but if you had a little kid walk by it wouldn’t stand a chance.
Wow that’s crazy! Neighbors can be so nosy. We’re pretty stable and quiet neighbors. The only thing neighbors can say is that our yard and fence need work. But it’s a work in progress when the previous owners did not keep up with either. Plus landscaping is expensive. So we’re saving up our money to do the projects.
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If you are trying, then I don’t care. Little bit by little bit, things get fixed. Barking dogs have no excuse. It is free to make them stop barking.
Oh my god, I would die. I don’t even know what to say. 15 vehicles is definitely too many.
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15 vehicles parked all up and down the street. Ever since I backed into a car parked directly across the street from the end of a driveway, I am conscious to not park across a tight road from another parked car. I don’t park at the end of driveways, or anywhere near where the back end of a car would be driving while pulling out of a driveway. These people park across a tight street from one another, effectively leaving about 1-1/4 lane to drive in. It is really inconsiderate.
Wow. That’s kindof nuts. I would start by giving the landlord a heads-up, especially if you were on good terms with him before he moved out. We have strict occupancy limits in all of our rental agreements that apply to both family and non-family that tries to “move-in”, which is defined as spending a certain number of nights overnight there. It’s a really common clause, so the family living there might be violating their lease with all of these occupants.
Be aware that the landlord might have bitten off more than he can chew if these people are in violation of the lease. In our area of Florida it would be a pain and a half to evict them all since you need to individually serve each adult occupant with their own eviction notice if they have been “living” on the premises, even if their name is not on the lease. Missing one of them allows that person to then “invite” all the others back in, and the entire process can theoretically start all over again. So try and stay on good terms with him if it takes him some time to try and resolve.
The city might not have occupancy limits that they are violating (though it’s worth asking), but the cars may be a code violation, especially if they are constantly parked in the street because there is not enough room for them in the driveway. Our town has code that says you can’t park on anything that’s not a finished driveway or garage. People park on the street for parties, etc, but overnight street parking consistently would definitely not be okay.
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I should find out about the lease terms, or at least inform the landlord. I don’t think that will get me very far, though.
That is nuts about serving each and every adult in the house. That would be difficult to do. Who knows how many exactly are there? Yikes. Making me rethink landlording. OK, not really. I think some up-front work eliminates all this other business.
I feel for you! I went through something similar for four years and I am still recovering almost two years after the family moved out. They were living in a 2BR 1 Bath duplex right next door to me and had FIVE ADULTS, TWO TEENAGERS, TWO YAPPY SMALL DOGS and TWO BIRDS. And four of the five adults were alcoholics who drank all of the time and had other alcoholics over almost every day. I was at my wits end with the noise, the barking, the profanities, the fighting, etc. I even called the landlord to complain after one of the drunken friends backed into our mailbox and broke it. The landlord hung up on me. I ended calling the police a lot when these dufus’s were there. There was little they (the police) could do so it was like being in hell. Finally they moved out. I was so happy I almost couldn’t contain myself!
Jules, I can almost hear the horror in your voice. While most tenant laws are there to protect the tenant from unseemly landlords, it seems that they can be twisted rather easily by unscrupulous people. Did you hear about the AirBnB renter in CA? Now he has tenants rights, and she has to go through channels to properly evict him. He knew this going in, and she didn’t. And that says nothing of people who own homes near these rentals. Yikes!
You could always sink to their level–get them to move out : ) . Get a bunch of dogs, stop cutting the grass, buy an old Camaro and put it up on cinder blocks right on the property border, start “Family Tanning Wednesdays” on the front lawn, etc. etc….
Ha, this was my thought too! I’ll drink lots of crappy beer, stay drunk and yell profanities at the squirrels, never wear a shirt, remove the engine from the Camaro and stick that in the front lawn, put offensive bumper stickers on my cars that do run…
The thing that worries me if I take this route is that they’ll see us as a kindred spirit and never move.
Mr 1500 — I posted above with my own neighbor horror story and you are right about the “kindred spirit” comment! My crappy neighbors just could not figure out why I didn’t like them. (You know, a law abiding citizen who actually works for a living instead of drinking, smoking, and living off of the taxpayers.) They thought I was the weird one.
The other part of your reply was hilarious!
“You know, a law abiding citizen who actually works for a living instead of drinking, smoking, and living off of the taxpayers.”
Imagine that, so it’s not OK to watch talk-shows, smoke and eat cheetos every day of the week? HA!
I’m thinking about getting a big tattoo to enhance my drunk, shirtless yelling. Tasmanian devil? Wolves howling at the moon?!?
Maybe the other adults are just staying over for a visit to get he family settled.
I would love to think that, but it’s been two weeks.
Regarding your friend-I usually start with a simple
Balence Sheet to show someone their
net worth ( or lack thereof). Assets less liabilities. When they see a negative
Net Worth a bell usually goes off and they see ther
is a problem.
I can relate. When I lived in my home in AZ. Neighbor across the streets couple. Then came her brother n his loud wife. They moved out. Good again. Until her mother, step father. 1. Brother w/ girlfriend (flithy mouth and loud) with 2 kids, also her two younger teenager brothers (10 people) in a 3b/2a, 2 car garage that was full of junk and they had cars parked up and down the street blocking her sides so trash day other neighbors and myself when put our big blue (recycle) black trash cans out on the street instead of the curb to keep them from parking and blocking the trucks from picking up our cans. It was a 1year of hell. I wish you luck. Home owner association was useless, the city stated that can’t discriminate with big families. The relatives all moved when the homeowner and wife became pregnant with first child and they needed their space. So an unborn baby was the only thing that could get rid of 8 other people. GOOD LUCK. Your neighbors are worse.
Oh Michele, you give me hope they will move.
Yes, they will and as soon as they do, buy that house, if you can and rent it out with neighbors you choose. Get a partner (friend or family) to co-own it with you, if cost is too high. Good Luck
Tough scenario. Are they renters? Or did they buy? If they are renting, they probably are breaking some clauses in the lease. If they bought, well, that might be tough. If, and I say if you had any inclinations to move, this could be the kick in the seat to get you to start looking. All those cars parked in the driveway and street would not be fun. The dogs also would not be good. Chances are they’ll escape and search the neighborhood. Hopefully they aren’t Rottweilers.
We have a similar (but not quite as bad) set of neighbors two houses to our left. So our next door neighbor has taken the brunt. These people have 4 grown kids. They all seem to be in college or out of college, but live at home. They built a full kitchen in the garage along with a full bar and large TV. They have huge baseball and football parties every weekend. They put in a huge pool. They have an amazingly large RV that they keep in the driveway. It completely blocks the sidewalk. They are loud and drive fast cars. (Corvette first and now a Jeep wrangler with huge tires. The only saving grace is they put their house up for sale a few weeks back. They are asking way too much so I’m not sure if it will sell. We are hoping they sell and move on.
Keep us updated. It doesn’t sound good.
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Any way you could buy their house? Get together with the neighbors, buy it, and turn it into a rental. Talk to NoNonsenseLandlord.com for tips on how to screen tenants. I feel really bad for you.
Holy crap!
My heart goes out to you. I can’t imagine how to deal with people this over the top. These folks make the bad neighbors I’ve had seem like saints.
Pray they don’t buy that house. As long as they are there you’re stuck too, short of taking a huge hit on your home value.
Damn. Now I need a drink.
Keep us posted. We’ll be rootin’ fer ya!
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We don’t seem to have any dog neighbors now but at my husband’s old apartment he had a very yappy dog living next door. He put a post on Facebook saying “free dog at my neighbors house but you must be stealthy since she isn’t aware it’s being given away”. Unfortunately no one took him up on it but he moved soon after.
BTW, I love your website. Trying to do the same thing. People think Im crazy but when I get to my goal. I will be the one laughing.
Wow that is a lot of people.
That’s interesting what someone said about serving each person and eviction notice.Squatters rights?maybe?
I live in an apt still and yes dog can be annoying specially when people don’t pick up after them but what really gets me is having smoker neighbors. Everyone has the right to do what they want I guess but smoking is not contained so it affect more people then just the smoker. That is why we would like a house more space in between neighbors.
The bathroom comment you made was amusing. With 10+ people it probably is an issue but I’ve lived most of my life with 5 people and only one bathroom. And it never seemed to be an issue. You just get use to asking if anyone needs to use the bathroom before you jump in the shower.
Well good luck hope its a temporary issue.
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I’m not sure if this is a duplicate my computer froze, Sorry if it is
Wow that is a lot of people.
That’s interesting what someone said about serving each person and eviction notice.Squatters rights?maybe?
I live in an apt still and yes dog can be annoying specially when people don’t pick up after them but what really gets me is having smoker neighbors. Everyone has the right to do what they want I guess but smoking is not contained so it affect more people then just the smoker. That is why we would like a house more space in between neighbors.
The bathroom comment you made was amusing. With 10+ people it probably is an issue but I’ve lived most of my life with 5 people and only one bathroom. And it never seemed to be an issue. You just get use to asking if anyone needs to use the bathroom before you jump in the shower.
Well good luck hope its a temporary issue.
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Frankly, I would consider buying the house out from under them. May cause you some immediate headaches but if you’re in your current house for the long run the investment might be worth it. I know it isn’t terribly frugal to just buy the property next to you because you hate the renters but when they threaten to become the owners you need to consider drastic measures.
I actually tried before the current mob moved in.
Landlordslumlord doesn’t want to sell.Yikes. That’s awful. I second the comments about getting to know your city’s bylaws and ordinances. Where I live, you can’t park a car on the street overnight let alone multiple cars. (Especially in the winter!)
As for barking dogs… Many people are responsible pet owners, but even good dogs will bark when a stranger comes around, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing from a security point of view. Nuisance barking is another issue entirely.
Agree with you on dogs. The should bark at the mailman or when other dogs go past. They should not sit there and bark nonstop for 3 hours because they are bored and have a poor owner.
OMG I so feel for you. I had a dark barking problem at my last house and it was miserable. It has turned me into a person that at the slightest hint of a dark barking I start to tense up. Before we bought this house, I stalked the neighborhood at different hours to make sure nothing like that existed here. Of course, that could always change but so far so good.
Ok…those barking deterrent things? They work!
I got one and my husband put it on the side of our house facing where the dog was (our houses were super close so the dog was maybe 3 ft from the side of my house…so not good) and when he barked it sent a piercing signal that would hurt his ears.
Every time he barked.
It wasn’t foolproof. But it really did help.
Don’t get me started on the occupancy laws and all those damn cars.
Oh gosh
Good luck
“It has turned me into a person that at the slightest hint of a dag barking I start to tense up.”
Yes, exactly! Now, I hear noises outside and I jump. Bleh.
I concur that the electronic devices work! Mine just showed up from Amazon and the dogs cower in fear. If my neighbors aren’t going to train their dogs, I will!
I can stand the sound of cars going up and down the road. I can not stand the sound of dogs barking, loud music, loud people, etc. I feel for you, I really do. I’ve lived in many houses with all of these problems and I think my only solution would be to move to the boonies. Right now we have great neighbors, but you never know when one of them will sell their house and the nightmares could begin! Praying for you Mrs. 1500!
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I love when there are a lot of people living together. They are from a non-american culture in which people get along with each other and understand living in close quarters and SAVING MONEY. I know a Mexian mother who has 4 children, lives in a tiny duplex with one bathroom, and rents a room to another mom with two or three kids. They all live together. The children are doing well in school. The mother is building a 4 bedroom house in Mexico – she just showed me the pics, with her parents in them. She works as a hotel maid in the most expensive city of its size in the USA – meaning the worst ratio between what she is paid ($9) and how much her housing costs, Santa Cruz, CA. Too bad more Americans aren’t like them. Oh, and recently Stanford did a study on social behavior and found definitively that Mexicans’ children in California are far beyond their American classmates in social skills – which includes maturity. I see it every day in my neighbors. And one more thing – the poor people I live with share and share and share and share and share with their neighbors and make a REAL “sharing economy” that does not involve $$, but does involve true, loving care of each others children, and sharing the little food each has. So very refreshing and such a good example.
I know this is a bit old but I’m too curious, any update on the neighbor situation?
Even though I’ve grown up with good dogs, I’m not a huge fan of dogs. I’m also not a lonely person who needs that constant attention. I do like some other people’s dogs, ones I don’t have to take care of.
That said… I have a Lab, I got roped into it. It was supposed to be my father in-laws and well.. he disappeared and two years later she’s still with me.
I got super lucky though, she doesn’t bark. And I’m not exaggerating, she doesn’t ever bark or destroy things. I’ve taken her on camping trips where dogs walk by every couple minutes and she doesn’t make a peep. Hell she doesn’t even try to knock over a bowl of treats she can easily get to. She’s also a huge pushover and the least aggressive dog I know. I think I won the dog lottery. I realized I should probably breed her and get those non barking, good listening, laid back traits out into the world but we already spayed her.
I’ve been lucky enough so far in life that I’ve never dealt with neighbors this bad or dogs that bark this much.
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It has been a wild ride. We’ve watched them get a car repossessed. We’ve seen an army of relatives move in and out. We’ve seen them bring more animals in. They are Craigslist addicts and constantly adding to the pile of garbage in their backyard. Worst of all, another neighbor almost got into a fight with one of them. Oh, and they called the cops because people were riding their bikes… wait for it… in the street! This jerk living there was like, “I’m calling the cops because you should be riding on the sidewalk!” Ummm no Big Dummy, bikes are supposed to be on the street. The police laughed.
It is a strange situation because the street isn’t trashy. Most of the other houses are really nice and would sell for over 300K. A couple would fetch over 500K. The issue is that this house is owned by a slumlord and has been forever. I doubt he has put so much as a dime into it over the past 10 years. It is cash flow and cash flow only.
What area do yal live
I guess each city/County would be different, but I had some of the same problems. You’ll have to be dedicated to this cause it involves going to different departments for different issues.
I had to do some researching and reporting to find out this mess.
It’s not a set amount of ppl per house, it’s ppl vs square footage and living space. That you have to go to property standards dept.
The barking dogs -police dept. Keep calling every day , more times than once a day. Also that will make the animal control come out- they will have to be up to date with shots and being registered with the city or fines.
The cars , too many of them, police dept. You can’t do anything unless it’s been there a long time and hasn’t moved at alll. You can call and each time you call remind them that this is an ongoing problem (you probably won’t have to remind them , they’ll get to know you). They can’t block the sidewalk or any driveway, (even their own), can’t park their cars facing the wrong way of traffic , can’t park in the grass, can’t block mailbox or city trashcan. They can’t work on cars at their house.
Also if there’s kids there, CPS could check if the kids have proper living arrangements inside. If you suspect drug trafficking the cps will request a random swab test.
Hey Blockfull-
Things have since gotten better. There are still too many people in the house, but they keep to themselves, so I don’t care. Their horrible dog that would bark nonstop is now gone as well.
Thanks for all the advice. I hope that I don’t need it!
One bad part of our street is that there are a lot of rentals. Three homes on the street recently sold and all stayed or became rentals. At the same tie though, I have hope because values are going up crazy fast, making a rental a bad investment. This hasn’t stopped people so far ($250,000 house becomes a $1,400 per month rental), but I can dream.
Oh and the landlord has to respond when he’s informed of too many ppl in one house. I read that they can be fined $500 a day and reoccurring problem up to $1000 a day. I’m surprised of how many crowded houses I see now.
The noisy motorcycles or parties call the police every time. If they come out and the noise doesn’t end then next time police come out get their names and tell them u will report the officers too