How a Messy Neighbor Can Hurt YOUR Home’s Value

A messy neighbor’s junky yard can ruin YOUR home’s value

For homeowners who try their best to keep their property clean and well maintained, it can be pretty frustrating to see that their messy neighbor nest door has enough junk outside to fill up a landfill. It’s actually pretty embarrassing to have to live next to someone like this is, with crap laying everywhere. But the worst 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 of 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%, all because of a messy neighbor.

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. One time I was viewing a home for sale in Salt Lake City and in one room, they had 7 used mattresses stacked on top of each other. The homeowner just couldn’t bare to let go of “a perfectly good mattress” (or 7). It’s sad, really.

Many properties like this have an infestation of pests too. All of 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 like 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 clean up. 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 really 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 it all possible, but it’s also important that they are a good neighbor in return.

With contribution from Jenny Holt

RELATED ARTICLES: 

• How to Deal With Bad Neighbors When Selling a Home by Bill Gassett
• Factors that Determine If a Home Appreciates or Not by Wendy Weir
• Curb Appeal Ideas via Fit Small Business
• 5 Tips to Help Sell Your House Faster Than Your Neighbors by Andrew Fortune
• Neighbors Affect on Appraisals via NY Times
• The neighbor from hell can affect property values via Seattle Times

 

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About the Author: The above article on How a Messy Neighbor Can Hurt YOUR Home’s Value is provided by EAP Homes, a leader in the field of Real Estate sales, marketing, smart home technology, and social media. He is also the host & creator of a new show called Salt Lake Insider, found on YouTube and Facebook, and HERE on this blog.

Chris can be reached via email at [email protected] or by phone at 801-455-8753. Chris has helped many people buy and sell homes in the Salt Lake City area for years.

Thinking of selling your home? I have a real passion for buying and selling Salt Lake City homes, as well as marketing, social media & smart home technology that goes along with it. I’d love to have the chance to use my expertise to help sell your home!

I help people buy and sell real estate in the following Salt Lake area cities & neighborhoods: Holladay, Cottonwood Heights, Millcreek, Olympus Cove, Canyon Rim, Sugarhouse, Midvale, Murray, East Millcreek, Sandy, White City, Draper, Riverton, Daybreak, South Jordan, West Jordan, Herriman, Bluffdale, South Salt Lake, The Avenues, Federal Heights, and of course, Salt Lake City.

Connect with Chris on Facebook, Snapchat, and pretty much everywhere else 🙂