do we have any rights--rental property next door

[Nancyg56]

its interesting to read how people either misunderstand what I write--how things are worded--or write something that I didn't say and I thought I had everything written more understandable

but just to go over things--I never said this was an every day issue--theres an issue--police come--things are quite--few weeks later repeat

also both houses on either side of us are suspected drug houses--its just one theres the issues with--the people on the other side of us are tired of this too and were one that called police with the brick deal--that night there were 3 calls --3 different houses same issue--

also I didn't say I only called once--personally I have called 3 times average once per month for the last several months

on onto moving once again its not that easy--right now I only have 2 and a half days that I'm working for the whole month--not much to base a mortgage on--wheres this money suppose to come from--

also with moving we want to make sure its the right house for us--its not like buying a shirt you can return if it doesn't fit--also renting isn't an option--don't want to waste money on rent that could go for a mortgage--I know vacations are a want and not need which of course we would have to stop if we moved--

renting our house is also not an option weve seen what renters can and will do I certainly don't want our house trashed--we did have a duplex a very long time ago and didn't like being landlords

we just looked at a house on mon--pics and write up sounded great--wasn't as far from the city as we would have liked but we went with an open mind

house listed at 230000--needed new roof-new driveway ( there wasn't much left of the driveway) smelled like a kennel--yard needed a lot of landscaping and there were basement problems--water lines on walls

all this for 230000--were both in our 60s and don't want a fixer upper at our age and I'm sure they'll get offers way over asking--seen it done

as far as selling our house--we wouldn't get close to having a decent downpayment with what would get for it--

last year when it was on the market--we started at 184000 which we both was too high but agent had comps--after the 3 months were up it was down to 169000 and still no showings--so if we drop it anymore and take off the fees and commissions which is how I came up with the figures I did

say we sell for 159000 take off fees our agent says that would come down to about 10000 so we clear 149000

new house is say 230000

which leaves an 81000 mortgage

so my question is if all the money that's coming in is from both our SS (DH pension) mine is invested so I don't get a monthly pension

and the very limited part time we work that doesn't leave much to live on vacations aside

I don't want to be cash poor and house rich--or in otherwords just working for the house--and if we work too many hours then our medical insurance will go up so then we have to make sure to work enough to cover that and the mortgage

hope this clears up things better then the last time I tried

I would rent. The deal breaker in all of this is that my own grandchild is not allowed to visit me without her parent.

 

[robinb]

Thank you for your update.

we just looked at a house on mon--pics and write up sounded great--wasn't as far from the city as we would have liked but we went with an open mind

house listed at 230000--needed new roof-new driveway ( there wasn't much left of the driveway) smelled like a kennel--yard needed a lot of landscaping and there were basement problems--water lines on walls

all this for 230000--were both in our 60s and don't want a fixer upper at our age and I'm sure they'll get offers way over asking--seen it done

as far as selling our house--we wouldn't get close to having a decent downpayment with what would get for it--

last year when it was on the market--we started at 184000 which we both was too high but agent had comps--after the 3 months were up it was down to 169000 and still no showings--so if we drop it anymore and take off the fees and commissions which is how I came up with the figures I did

say we sell for 159000 take off fees our agent says that would come down to about 10000 so we clear 149000

new house is say 230000

which leaves an 81000 mortgage

so my question is if all the money that's coming in is from both our SS (DH pension) mine is invested so I don't get a monthly pension

and the very limited part time we work that doesn't leave much to live on vacations aside

I don't want to be cash poor and house rich--or in otherwords just working for the house--and if we work too many hours then our medical insurance will go up so then we have to make sure to work enough to cover that and the mortgage

hope this clears up things better then the last time I tried

You are right to not wanting to be cash poor and house rich. If you'll clear $149,000, you don't have any additional savings, and you can't afford an $81,000 mortgage then you're wasting your time looking at homes that costs $230,000. I'm sorry to be blunt, but you're going to have to look at houses that are cheaper and you may have to change some of your location requirements to find a place that you can afford.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

In terms of understanding your situation I'm more on your side than not. However, I'm starting to slide a bit more to the other side. Please allow me to explain.

also with moving we want to make sure its the right house for us--its not like buying a shirt you can return if it doesn't fit--also renting isn't an option--don't want to waste money on rent that could go for a mortgage--I know vacations are a want and not need which of course we would have to stop if we moved--

Listen if this house is bad enough, the point where the annoyances are so high, the safety risk is so high that you don't feel comfortable and now you won't be able to see your grandchild(ren) at your house, etc you need to make a hard life decision that may be neither fun nor ideal.

And I get not wanting to rent but hey you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes and if the safety issue is that bad a temporary relocation for several months (either looking at a month to month lease, a short-term lease of 6 months, etc) even may ease your mind in terms of looking for a new house to call your own. It doesn't mean you have to abandon your house immediately but if you get peaceful nights of sleep and are actively looking for new places I don't see a lose-lose situation here.

I don't want to be cash poor and house rich--or in otherwords just working for the house--and if we work too many hours then our medical insurance will go up so then we have to make sure to work enough to cover that and the mortgage

Well with all due respect you would be at least less cash poor if you didn't go on your vacations. Your vacations are your business but if you're being candid about how bad the issues are while also saying you don't want to be cash poor most reasonable people understand certain sacrifices must be made for the greater good. Cutting back on vacations now and for a limited time might free up money to put towards a cushion.

The other side is taking into consideration if you don't want to cut back on vacation then you need to cut back on your house price. I think in that terms you either need to figure out how long you can realistically look for this perfect new home in a higher price range while also dealing with the neighbors or if you need to adjust your price range.

--------------------------------------------

What I'm seeing right now is you want your problem to just disappear. It likely won't. The ball is in your court in the grand scheme. You can control your decisions and actions far more than police calls, etc unless you're willing to live in your current house dealing with it and that's totally ok if you are. Maybe think over how much this situation is getting to you and if it's worth it to stay. If you want to vent away on this issue I'm down with that. But if you're looking for actual possible solutions moving is one of them if dealing with police and the tribe isn't working.

 

[Southernmiss]

Thank you for your update.



You are right to not wanting to be cash poor and house rich. If you'll clear $149,000, you don't have any additional savings, and you can't afford an $81,000 mortgage then you're wasting your time looking at homes that costs $230,000. I'm sorry to be blunt, but you're going to have to look at houses that are cheaper and you may have to change some of your location requirements to find a place that you can afford.

Yes. Happens to many home buyers. They know what they want, then realize everything they want is out of their price range.

 

[starry_solo]

I think the OP is just here venting. People have been offering solutions and the OP has counter-arguments to everything.

No one - not even the police - can help you with these problems. Code Enforcement might, but they don't evict tenants either, that is up to the landlord. If there are enough code enforcement issues that can be substantiated, the landlord may evict the tenants. That is what the OP seems to be looking for. But it doesn't sound like there are those either.

If this is a known drug house (on both sides of your house), then have your security system set up to record and take photos and take those to the police. Contact the tribe on your own and see if they can do something to get rid of these tenants. I guess I don't understand why the OP hasn't made any attempts to do so on their own - rather than relying on the police.

 

[robinb]

I think the OP is just here venting.

Yup. FWIW, I sincerely feel for her. She's stuck in a no-win situation. I hope that she can work things out and find an affordable and safe place to live.

 

[cabanafrau]

Yes. Happens to many home buyers. They know what they want, then realize everything they want is out of their price range.

Said every house hunter on HGTV show ever.

 

[disykat]

I had bad neighbors for about 10 years. I waited them out. By doing so, I remained debt free and got to stay in the home we love. The house has been totally flipped (pretty bad when you have to flip a house that is only 15 years old!) and we have great neighbors. My house has also regained the value I would have lost selling while those neighbors lived there. I think some people are drastically underestimating how difficult it is to sell a house with bad neighbors or attracting good renters to rent out a house with bad neighbors so you can rent elsewhere.

It is frustrating. I vented here at times. Glad I didn't get bashed for it.

Why on earth are some people browbeating the OP for simply being in a very frustrating situation?

 

[AustinMommyofThree]

say we sell for 159000 take off fees our agent says that would come down to about 10000 so we clear 149000

new house is say 230000

which leaves an 81000 mortgage

so my question is if all the money that's coming in is from both our SS (DH pension) mine is invested so I don't get a monthly pension

and the very limited part time we work that doesn't leave much to live on vacations aside

I don't want to be cash poor and house rich--or in otherwords just working for the house--and if we work too many hours then our medical insurance will go up so then we have to make sure to work enough to cover that and the mortgage

hope this clears up things better then the last time I tried

Unless you're disabled, and it doesn't sound like you are from what you've written, it seems like you retired too young and cannot afford to have done so. Sixty-two is at the very low end of retirement age and most people who retire at that age do so because they are financially secure. While it's obviously not what you want to hear, why can't you go back to working full time and not just as a fill-in floater? It seems like the responsible thing to do if you want to have a safe home and your grandchildren in your life. If you don't, it sounds like things are going to get worse and worse in your neighborhood and so you should be prepared for that.

 

[Nancyg56]

I had bad neighbors for about 10 years. I waited them out. By doing so, I remained debt free and got to stay in the home we love. The house has been totally flipped (pretty bad when you have to flip a house that is only 15 years old!) and we have great neighbors. My house has also regained the value I would have lost selling while those neighbors lived there. I think some people are drastically underestimating how difficult it is to sell a house with bad neighbors or attracting good renters to rent out a house with bad neighbors so you can rent elsewhere.

It is frustrating. I vented here at times. Glad I didn't get bashed for it.

Why on earth are some people browbeating the OP for simply being in a very frustrating situation?

I don't see browbeating. I guess if you mean me, I am trying to understand how a house trumps my family and my safety. There is no way on Gods good Earth I would tolerate the situation the OP had indicated she was living in, especially given the knowledge my grandchild was not able to come over. I also think there is a difference between one bad neighbor and one on each side.

 

[luvsJack]

Op, am I understanding this correctly?

Your current house is paid off so you currently have no mortgage. You have tried to sell your house, dropping the asking price and no showings. Your husband is on a pension. You work 2 days a month and if you work any more your insurance will go up. All this correct?

If you stopped going on vacations, could you pay rent or a mortgage?

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

I had bad neighbors for about 10 years. I waited them out. By doing so, I remained debt free and got to stay in the home we love. The house has been totally flipped (pretty bad when you have to flip a house that is only 15 years old!) and we have great neighbors. My house has also regained the value I would have lost selling while those neighbors lived there. I think some people are drastically underestimating how difficult it is to sell a house with bad neighbors or attracting good renters to rent out a house with bad neighbors so you can rent elsewhere.

It is frustrating. I vented here at times. Glad I didn't get bashed for it.

Why on earth are some people browbeating the OP for simply being in a very frustrating situation?

DH and I did the same thing. Our original neighbors built their house a couple of months after we did and lived there for 10 years. All was well for a couple of years but then the husband decided to open up a recording studio in his garage. They had aspiring “artists” coming in and out at all hours of the day and night. Music was always blasting. Drug activity was suspected. Several neighbors started calling the police regularly. I went over and spoke to the wife instead of calling the police. She had two very young children and was upset about the situation herself. Within a couple of years they divorced. He moved out and things calmed down. But without his income, she could not maintain the house, and it fell into terrible disrepair. One day she abandoned the house, and it went into forclosure. A lovely couple bought it, renovated it and have lived there for 10 years. Its now the nicest house on our street! I’m glad we waited it out because we love our yard and our house! We only have a few years left on our mortgage.

Renters usually don’t stay long term. I bet these folks will be gone in a year or two.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I may have missed some of her posts, but I didn't read that things were happening on a daily basis. Even if something happens on a weekly basis, it's too much. In addition, it's my sense is that they have not been calling on everything.

I can tell you when it was me, we hardly ever called despite the obvious illegal activity going on. No need to make ourselves a target. Thankfully, the place caught fire.

We had a less objectionable situation with derelicts living next door to our vacant property. The low point being a huge stash of used needles & guns missing serial numbers that were discovered on a remote part of our property (just feet from the property line). The place was a revolving door of felons in & out of prison and thank goodness we didn’t have to live next door. Took a decade to rid ourselves of those pukes, and bonus - the deer population exploded when they left. Seems poaching was another of their charming traits.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Yes. Happens to many home buyers. They know what they want, then realize everything they want is out of their price range.

What makes it sucky for OP is that their current home would likely bring a much better price if not for the crummy neighbors.

 

[VandVsmama]

So you have a couple of choices:

1. Improve the security of your current home and just deal with the hellacious neighbors.

2. Sell your home and buy elsewhere

3. Sell your home and rent.

4. Rent your home out and move.

5. Rent your home out and buy elsewhere.

So you cannot afford to buy the home you REALLY want in the neighborhood you want in the price range you want. Then you need to stop looking there.

If you want to move and buy elsewhere, then you need to look at other areas in or around Millwaukee that are safe, decent, and in your price range.

You also need to decide on what is a want vs a need. Because what you really want to have happen is not possible.

I understand your frustration. You know what I want?
A house built in the last 15 yr that’s 10 min away from my kids’ school
A house that’s not 2 stories
A 3 car garage
Something that’s in our price range in that age range of house
Something that’s 1800-2200 sq ft
DH wants an enormous backyard
No pool

Well, where we are currently living (in an apartment), it’s not possible to find that in the surrounding area unless you spend ~$400-500k. It’s just not happening. So we started looking elsewhere. We settled on new construction that’s farther out. Instead of a 5 min drive to the kids’ school and DH’s work place, it will be 25 min.

But it’s affordable
And it’s 1 story
And it has no pool to maintain
And it has a 3 car garage
And it’s the size we want
And it’s in a really nice neighborhood
And it has a decent sized backyard...not too big, not too small

When we lived in another part of the state, we drove 45 min-1 hr to work every day. 45 min to the kids’ charter school. It was worth it because the homes in the middle of town were dumpy, run down, had way more crime, and were in a city where if you called the cops for a burglary, they wouldn’t show up for 2-4 hr.

Sometimes you have to make inconvenient decisions.

 

[disykat]

Sometimes you have to make inconvenient decisions.

Selling a house knowing you are losing tens of thousands of dollars of equity is not simply inconvenient.

 

[VandVsmama]

Selling a house knowing you are losing tens of thousands of dollars of equity is not simply inconvenient.

It sucks. I’ve been there...selling a house that you’re either not going to make money on (or if you do make $$ on it, not enough $$) or you have to sink some $$ into it before anybody will even consider it.

Our family went through this earlier this year. Had to move for work. Had to leave this great neighborhood with great neighbors. Had to plunk down several thousand $$ in fixing up the pool and other odds and ends before we even put it on the market. HUGE hassle.

My DH wanted to keep the house and rent it out but I knew all of the hassle involved in that and we were not interested in being remote landlords. DH loved that house. He mourned having to move.

But moving was the right thing for us.

It sounds like all of the moving elsewhere options have been ruled out. That leaves one with only one option...stay and deal with it.

Protect yourself. And make sure you have good homeowners insurance. Once your home is broken into once or twice, your insurance co may insist that you get a security system or they could drop you.

 

[kaytieeldr]

and I thought I had everything written more understandable

Except, you don't:

also both houses on either side of us are suspected drug houses--its just one theres the issues with--the people on the other side of us are tired of this too and were one that called police with the brick deal--that night there were 3 calls --3 different houses same issue--

This bolded sentence contradicts itself.

also I didn't say I only called once--personally I have called 3 times average once per month for the last several months

But you know any action requires three separate issues/calls in a one month period. If you are calling about issues once a month, honestly the situation doesn't sound really drastic.

new house is say 230000

You've already eliminated this $230,000 fixed upper with potential water damage.

the area is too far from where we want to move

Okay, one more time, I. know. nothing. about. Milwaukee. real. estate. But if I can do easily Google the safest suburbs, there is absolutely no reason why someone who lives there can't find a safe, reasonably-priced are.

I appreciate the fact some of you are sending listing of houses but you can only imagine what you get for only 110000

In this case, a three bedroom ranch in a safe neighborhood. Sure, that will need work. Probably less than the $40,000 profit estimated from selling the existing home.

 

[luvsJack]

Except, you don't:
This bolded sentence contradicts itself. But you know any action requires three separate issues/calls in a one month period. If you are calling about issues once a month, honestly the situation doesn't sound really drastic.
You've already eliminated this $230,000 fixed upper with potential water damage.
Okay, one more time, I. know. nothing. about. Milwaukee. real. estate. But if I can do easily Google the safest suburbs, there is absolutely no reason why someone who lives there can't find a safe, reasonably-priced are. In this case, a three bedroom ranch in a safe neighborhood. Sure, that will need work. Probably less than the $40,000 profit estimated from selling the existing home.

She hasn’t sold her house. She didn’t even get a nibble on the house before. You are assuming she can sell a house with drug houses on either side of it. Or at least one side of it. So what profit?




I think the one suggestion that makes sense is perhaps the one of needing to go back to work full time to be able to move.

 

[kaytieeldr]

So what profit?

Used the OP's numbers for expected selling price minus fees.

I think the one suggestion that makes sense is perhaps the one of needing to go back to work full time to be able to move.

But they can't. Their health insurance would go up.