Dear Amy: I live in an affluent neighborhood of expensive, although older homes.
The vast majority of homes are very well-maintained and manicured. Many have had major remodels to look like brand-new homes.
However, there are a couple of homes that are in serious need of a facelift!
One home in particular is a complete eyesore.
Although it is worth more than a couple million dollars, the lawn is dead, there are high weeds where the lawn should be, paint doesn’t match and/or is faded in places, wood facia is rotting, along with other significant cosmetic problems.
There do not seem to be any code violations.
I am not aware of the owner’s financial situation, but they have been there long enough where there should be significant equity to refinance and pull-out money for repairs — or sell and move to a less expensive home.
Other neighbors have left notes, to no avail.
Any suggestions on how to get this family to fix up their house, or even move?
— Frustrated Neighbor
Dear Frustrated: It is so generous of you to provide such a detailed list of repairs that need to be made to this property! You’ve obviously inspected the house quite closely.
You’ve also extended your generous attitude toward these strangers by offering suggestions for how they might finance improvements to their property in order to meet your needs, including the idea of them moving.
What you haven’t done is offer to mow their lawn. Or offered to get a group of people together to help with some cosmetic repairs to the outside of their home (oh, the horror of faded paint!).
What a neighborhood! People leaving notes and developing repair punch lists and investment advice — and not one person finding out who these neighbors are and asking if they need a hand.
I suggest that you approach this by putting human values ahead of property values.
Changing your own orientation and approach should improve the neighborhood.
(You can email Amy Dickinson at askamy@amydickinson.com or send a letter to Ask Amy, P.O. Box 194, Freeville, NY 13068. You can also follow her on Twitter @askingamy or Facebook.)
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