Home selling nightmare: Your neighbor’s house is a hoarder’s dream
Do you live next door to the proverbial “junker” in the driveway and a back yard full of weeds and trash? Yep, your neighbor is a hoarder and you are living a nightmare when you try to sell your house. Despite having one of the nicest houses in the neighborhood, you live next door – or within clear view – of the worst property on the block. What do you do?
Having a hoarder as a neighbor creates a host of problems. Again, though your listing has been meticulously maintained and is in pristine condition, its proximity to the neighborhood “dump” makes the likelihood of you receiving multiple competitive offers nearly nil. Where to begin?
Start with having a frank discussion with the neighbors letting them know that you are putting your home on the market and you would like them to consider cleaning up the visible portion of the property. If rebuffed, offer to clean up the visible portions of their house with the assistance of surrounding neighbors who will also benefit from a sprucing up of the offending property (also known as creating positive peer pressure).
Initially, at least, if applicable let the hoarders know that you are not intending to deprive them of an antique treasure parked in the driveway (but has not moved for years), but are willing to help them tow it to a safe place for future repair. If subtle does not work, then ask them if you can have the vehicle towed at your expense (What will cost more: a tow or the financial implications of marketing your home for an extended period of time?) If that does not work, check local neighborhood CCRs or city codes for violations, then report the vehicle – but, only as a last resort. Irritated hoarders may make your home-selling life nearly unbearable.
For other “treasure” (aka, trash) ask the neighbor about joining in a neighborhood clean-up day (as noted above), that you and the neighbors subtly coordinate. Initially, ask the hoarder to pay a fair share for the cost of a large dumpster temporarily dropped off by the local refuge company. If that does not work, then offer to pay their share while stressing a “neighborly perspective.” Ultimately, similar to the “parked” vehicle in the driveway, tall, unkempt weeds and other flammable objects strewn about can be considered a fire, health and/or pest hazard and code enforcement may be the appropriate avenue to pursue – hopefully anonymously to avoid bad blood.