Tuesday, April 18, 2017

The neighbor kids

Yesterday afternoon,as I finished working and went out in the living room to sit awhile, the two little neighbor kids were in our driveway playing because 1) their driveway is too full of crap and 2) the dad was out working on his crap and didn't want them playing around him. The 5 year old was on his bike. I went out there just as he's making a circle in our driveway (our driveway is 3 cars wide) on his bike, literally within inches of my car. I told them they can't play in our driveway anymore, so he said ok and biked away and told his sister to come with him. I think the dad was back inside his garage as this happened.

In the evening DH went outside to throw the ball to our dog. The kid's dad was outside (oh, did I mention he turned around and brought home another piece of junk car? after we had that one sitting out front of his yard all winter and he finally gets rid of it and then turns around and brings home another one Saturday night!). Anyhow, one of our dogs goes over to the fence to say hi to the guy, so DH figured it was a good time to ask (tell) the dad to keep his kids out of our driveway. The guy was like "oh ya, ok." DH told him there's now a dent in my car from his son hitting it with his bike, so then of course he wanted to look at it. He texted and his wife came out and they talked about it some more. Of course neither offered to pay to fix the damage. She must have texted the older teenage daughter in the house, as she then came out with the boy. He started crying and said he was sorry for running into our car. DH said he appreciated him apologizing, but can't have it happen again. There is plenty of free space around to play on that isn't on our property.

The guys is always telling us the previous owners complained about the noise he'd make working on his junk and if I'm making too much noise just tell me. We really haven't heard much at all - he was outside during the day Sunday (but we were gone part of the day) making some noise, but no big deal. DH was like "you mean, like the noise on Sunday? Other than that, I really haven't heard anything and that was no big deal". Then the wife says "well, that was at 3pm".....and give her husband a look..."not at 3AM...". So DH says well if you are making noise at 3am then we'll have a problem. Then the wife, for some reason, brings up "we can't even wash our cars here" and DH was like what? why not? Well, it's in the covenants, our landlord showed us.  DH was confused - is it like a city ordinance or something? No, it's in the covenants for this neighborhood. So then DH says "well, if that is a covenant, then there must be covenants that you can't have all that junk either?" They just kinda shrugged their shoulders like they didn't know.


The dad stayed out there talking with DH awhile more. DH also told him our new fence isn't a jungle gym for the kids to climb on. He told him "I'll be honest with you,  the previous owners said they put up the partial fence around the front yard to keep your kids from coming over into their yard and front porch all the time". The guy wanted to pass off that the fence got put up because the previous owners had a dog and the dog was always pooping in their yard and they didn't like it. DH said well, I have two dogs and they won't be going in your yard, just as I expect you to keep your dog AND your kids out of my yard. Then the guy says that the previous owner used to keep her car in the garage......well, we shouldn't have to keep our car in our garage, just because his kids can't respect boundaries. He also flat out told him we do not like looking out at a wrecking yard and if/when we decide to sell our house and we feel it's hurting our sale or property value we are doing to do something about it. This guy likes to bash the old owners (obviously they didn't like him and all his crap either) and said ya, they asked me to move some of my stuff off after their first sale fell through, so I did. (which explains why there wasn't much when DH first came over and looked at house). Then after we bought he brought it all back. DH told him "well, I won't be asking you to move your stuff and trying to lie to a prospective buyer - if I have to deal with it, then your landlord will just be hearing from me and then an attorney about it, if necessary".

Then in their chatting DH mentioned this guy's long commute every day to the city to work, but at least his wife just works across the street, so she has no commute. "Oh, well she did, now she doesn't work there anymore". Apparently she decided to take a job at another small county hospital in a neighboring county that would have been like a 45 minute drive (at least) for her. She gave her 2 weeks notice just recently and something happened (he didn't say what) with the new job and she didn't end up getting it. She tried to rescind her 2 weeks notice, but the hospital here told her no, she'll have to re-apply for the position along with the other applicants they have received. It will be unlikely they hire her back. Our neighbor our at our property is an administrator at the hospital and already told us they do not like her there, as she has a bad attitude and they wished she'd just quit. Then the neighbor told DH she has a job interview at a place in the city. Maybe if they are both working in the city (55 miles away) they will move? One can dream and wish, right?
 
So, this morning I looked up the covenants for this property/neighborhood (which is one street with 4 lots on each side, so far just our house and their house are the only houses built). I honestly didn't really remember what they were. We got a copy when we put the offer on and read through it. They were minimal and nothing that we had a problem with abiding by.  The covenants state you can't wash your vehicles in the STREET (or burn leaves in the street). Of course you can wash your car in your own driveway. And so we refreshed ourselves with all the restrictions, which (of course) includes no parking overnight in the street (they do), long term repair or storage of junk vehicles will not be permitted, as well as boat trailers, utility trailers and all other trailers shall be parked so as not to impede the view of adjacent residents.

Well, there ya go. This guys going to have some cleaning up to do shortly. We're tired of it all.

16 comments:

  1. Neighbors can be such a pain! I'm surprised the property owner allows them to have all that junk in the yard. At least you now have a way to force them to remove it.

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  2. Yes, it kind of worked out good that we ended up looking at the covenants. Plus, it's not like our driveways are right next to each other. Theirs is on the far side of their house, then their front yard, then there is our front yard and then our driveway is on the far side of our house.

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  3. The hermit across the street FINALLY sold his behemoth RV that use to take up his whole driveway(and only got moved once a year when they took it out for 1 week). His kid is going to Temple U so I guess he needed the cash to pay the tuition.
    I hated having to look at that thing and could have raised a stink as there is a covenant about storing RVs on your property here but I never did. They didn't "do" anything else to annoy us so it gave me something to bitch about. lolz

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    1. if it was just one thing we'd keep our mouth shut too, but we're not dealing with their kids on our property (the mom just had to yell at the littlest one a few minutes ago to get out of our driveway - again!!) and dealing with looking at the wrecking yard they've developed. I really don't care if their teenager parks her car on the street overnight - though it is annoying to turn down our street and have to drive to the other side of the street every time.

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  4. What ever happened to having great neighbors? Neighbors that became lifelong friends? Growing up in MA, in the 80's, we were always hanging out with our neighbors for cookouts and pool parties. Just so much fun and we still keep in touch. Now though...everyone seems to be an ass!

    Our first home we had terrible neighbors, blasting music at all hours, and smoking weed right by our front door (townhome). Second house had decent guys across the road, we still keep in touch. But our new home is just super disappointing. We chose a neighborhood specifically for the kids to grow up in, but people won't even wave. We left Christmas goodies for the direct neighbors, one lady saw us at the door, and completely ignored us. Oh but she'll call the HOA on us in a heartbeat over a dumpster that was delivered one day prior! (We've requested covenants since before purchasing and still don't have a copy!) People are just not friendly or considerate anymore.

    And I'd be damned if I let my kids run or bike around wildly through other people's property. Unbelievably rude, and dangerous! :( Hopefully the chat with your DH and neighbor keeps the kids away for awhile.

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    1. Oh my this was a long comment, sorry. As you can tell, this is topic hits a nerve for me too! lol

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    2. I understand! I would never ever have let my kids go play on neighbors property (unless they were invited). People are just flat out rude and don't give a crap about anything or anybody except what they want. We lived in quite a few different places when I was growing up and I don't ever remember having terrible neighbors, either.

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  5. I would have to write a book about neighbors! Throwing beer cans in my yard, weekly parties before I had to be up at 6 am and drive 300 miles to class, pot, shining laser in my house, cursing at me, cursing at each other, blocking my driveways and not allowing me in or out, dogs tied by my bedroom that barked all night, mother telling me I should sleep on other side of house, stealing, puppy mill on premises, dozens of puppies let loose in my yard, music that friends could hear three blocks away.

    That is off the top of my head. These are the only renters in my Historic Neighborhood. I now hate renters. One is the tiny house next door. Two are shacks behind that house and not in the Historic section. These rentals had new renters about every three months sometimes. So, there was a long line of people doing all these things and more.

    Oh, the neighbor's dog dragged there garbage all over my driveway and lawn and street. It stayed there for two weeks until I called the city. I do not have high blood pressure, but I can feel it going up right now!

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    1. That is just awful! Honestly, I hate renters too. They just do not care what they do. But for some dang reason the renters we keep getting as neighbors don't leave, like most renters move quite often. Down at the corner of our street and across the street are a couple of duplexes - I think city and county cops live in each unit (or at least 3 of them) WHY couldn't one of those nice guys have been the ones who rented next door?

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    2. Living near cops is the best. At one point I could see one cop car in front of a house. In the other direction, three houses and around the block lived another cop. Loved it.

      My sister was married to a cop. When they bought their house, neighbors came over to talk, telling how they felt safer with his car parked out all night. The renter behind me, not the ones I complained about had a blackdevilshechicken and a he, too. They flew over the fence, at my chickens food, laid eggs in their nest, drank their water, and sat on and pooped on the tarp over head AND pooped and sat on my picnic table. NOW, to get wisteria off the fence, they sprayed my yard with brushkiller. They have been there for about five years. It could be worse!

      This is not a renter, but a car pulled in my driveway as I stood, unseen, in my front door. They people opened the passenger door and dumped several cups of butts in my driveway and yard. I was so stunned I did not jump in the car and get the tag number.

      Your husband should have told the guy to take his butt with him!

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    3. I'm really surprised he didn't tell him to pick it up. I think by then (they had been standing there for an hour)DH was in such pain he just wanted to get back in the house and get off his legs.

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  6. Oh and I forgot to mention the guy was smoking a cigarette while he was standing out in our driveway talking to DH....you can guess where this is going....yep, he put his cigarette out on the ground and just left it there. What the hell is wrong with people?

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  7. I think you're asking for trouble with these neighbors. It seemed like your DH was very condescending and rude to the neighbors about their stuff. I agree that the kids don't belong on your property. However, it seems like you were the rude ones in this exchange. Threatening an attorney​ is just way over the top. With all the trouble you had last time with your neighbors, I would think you would make more of an effort to get along right away.

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    1. We've been making an effort for over 6 months now and they just keep bringing in more junk. We were also lied to by him and the previous owner colluding to have him temporarily remove his junk vehicles when dh came to look at the house and then after it got sold to us he moved it all back. He's a renter, there are covenants that he can't have the stuff parked out there. He's got 3 drivable cars, two junk vehicles, two or three trailers, rear ends laying out next to the street, as well as old tires. I have no intention of letting my property value go to crap again because someone else thinks it ok to have a junkyard in their front yard. So, if we have to we will get an attorney to force the rules we are all supposed to abide by. If they were the homeowners we'd probably take a different tack in talking to them. I paid good money to buy a nice little house, with a view of mountains and trees. I'd like to open my living room blinds and look at the pretty view rather than a junk truck sitting up on a trailer.

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  8. I just found out that my next door neighbors at my primary residence are moving out. They were two young brothers and a very sweet Chow Chow. The guys were very polite and nice. Whenever they saw me carrying something heavy, they offered to help me. I hope, some nice people move in.

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    1. that's too bad your good neighbors are moving. As far as I know these neighbors of ours have no plans to move. I was just hoping! Jobs are very scarce here in this rural area and if she has to take a job in the city (where the guy already commutes almost an hour each way) they might want to move closer

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