How a Messy Neighbor Can Hurt Your Home’s Value
For homeowners who try their best to keep their property clean and well maintained, it can be frustrating to see that their messy neighbors have enough junk outside to fill up a landfill. It’s embarrassing to the neighborhood to have to live near someone like this is. But the wont part is the way that it is financially straining to other people around them, especially in regards to how much the messy neighbor lowers their home values.
How a Home’s Value Is Calculated
When a local real estate agent or appraiser determines what your home is worth, they compare it to other similar homes nearby that have sold recently that are comparable to it and the amount that they are valued at. If one or more of those “comparables” is in poor condition, then it brings down the property value for the rest of them. This impacts all the homes in that neighborhood. Each one can have their home’s value drop by as much as 10%.
Why Messy Homes Have a Low Value
You’ve heard of “curb appeal” right? It’s very important when selling a home. Well, if you’re selling your home, and some potential home buyers 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 especially common for hoarders who have an obsessive need to keep useless objects that are usually discarded. Many properties like this have an infestation of pests too. These problems make a home uninhabitable, so the home’s value is set very low because few people would ever want to buy a place Iike that, or live next to it.
How to Help a Messy Neighbor
Sometimes, a person who has a home in poor condition is very sick and unable to make the needed repairs. So, it is best to first try to offer to help with the cleanup. 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 judgement. Sometimes, they just need a friendly “intervention” with a few of the other concerned neighbors before they realize they need to clean their place up. If it’s in 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.