Does your neighbor's yard make you cringe?

[DisneyBeagle]

Who has a neighbor that has done something to their house or yard that makes you cringe? I know that each person finds different things to be attractive, but sometimes people cross the line (In my opinion). My friend is trying to sell her house, but she believes that the house next door is hurting her chances. The house itself is pretty nice, but the front yard is packed full of statues, ornaments and fake animals. It kind of reminds me of the It's a Small World ride.

 

[minniecarousel]

That was one of HGTV's "25 Biggest Yard Mistakes". One statue is fine - the rest belong in the backyard. Perhaps someone could anonamously print out the list, highlight that one & send it to them!

 

[DVCLiz]

My neighbors are lovely - the nicest people you would ever want to live next to. They have a double lot in back of their property with some woods, and they are environmentally friendly in the extreme - composting, etc. BUT, she has decorated some trees with CDs that she has hung on a string. They are the visual version of windchimes. They twist in the wind and the sun reflects off them into my backyard and sunroom. Even at 3 in the morning, they will catch the reflection of the moon or a passing headlight from two streets away and flash. It makes me feels like giant eyes are out there in the night peering over at me. In the daytime it just looks like someone hung all their CDS out on a vertical clothesline.

Let me stress again how much I adore these neighbors, but I wish they would find another way to decorate their backyard - one closer to the ground, without so much reflective power!!!

 

[stinkerbelle's mom]

Thankfully we don't have that problem with our neighbors. (unless we're that neighbor- )

However, we ride through this subdivision all the time to get to the store and OMG there is this house & kudos to them for always working on it to keep it up, but they must be reading "what to do to your house to make it horrendous" or something. Everything they do is worse then the next. Its an end of group town house. They put a huge cement block in the back for a patio, but its like 2 feet off the ground and overpacked it with patio furniture, then they have about a foot of yard and then some trash can area they built. They have a very very very small plot of land with like 3 different huge sheds on it and planted bushes around the yard every 3 feet. Then they built some type of cement porch on the back of the house and then built a cement deck on top of that-- as if its coming out of the master bedroom. Then they put cement blocks like every 2-3 feet and a railing in between for safety except they didn't attach the railings so they are constantly falling over. I can't help staring every time I go by its like an accident & you just have to look. I can see why some people have home owners associations!

 

[nhpooh]

My next door neighbors dug up there yard last summer. I guess they have a leak in the basement. So in comes the back hoe, dig around the house. All the dirt goes in the rest of the yard, meaning the front. Now we have to patch up the cracks, this takes about two weeks. Now we back fill the foundation, which takes another week. So now it's been about three maybe four weeks. Fast forward to now, we have really long drain pipes high up in the air to drain the water away from the foundation. We must lput these pipes on big blue things to get them away from the house. Because guess what the foundation still leaks. The front yard is still a mess, things everywhere. No grass just dirt and when it rains mud. I wish I could build a big wall between the two houses so I don't have to see this house anymore. I did plant some bushes as a fence so I don't have to see them. But I can still see them from my upstairs windows. Thanks for letting me vent!

 

[mickeyboat]

I think WE might just be that neighbor. We renovated the house a few years ago, but have not gotten to the garage, yet. It is a real eyesore.

So if you are my neighbor, I apologize - and we are in the process of getting the permits we need to tear the thing down!

Denae

 

[arminnie]

I think we are those neighbors! My dad is 87, and in 2006 I had pneumonia for 8 months.

I really got behind on maintenance. I have a yard man that comes year round so fortunately there was never a problem with overgrown shrubs, lawn or leaves.

But last year I had new shutters put on (one had broken) and got a new garage door - the old one was 40 years old and had rotted and the paint was peeling. And of course there was all of the junk that I took out of the garage that sat there before I got it hauled away.

Of course right now we are the best looking house on the block as a tornado hit last week - we are one of 3 houses that were spared. Everyone else has huge trees down and parts of their houses demolished.

 

[Jack-Jack]

I have two such neighbors, but I can't paint an adequate word picture.

 

[jennobrn01]

We live on the quintessential Americana street in a beautiful small town. Our neighbors all keep up their yards beautifully!

However -

We are restoring a 1892 farmhouse on over an acre of land just outside of town. Our current house is up for sale - and we hope to soon sell and move into the farmhouse. Our future next door neighbors have an eyesore of a yard! The house desperately needs powerwashing. They've started improvement projects and left them 90% done. The place is just generally junky. We are planting an nice big row of Leland Cypress to screen it all out.

 

[punkin]

I am that neighbor. My poor neighbor has a neat as a pin yard and he is always working on it. I have a landscape guy come in 2X per year for clean up and that's it.

 

[freckles and boo]

Thank goodness for tall fences. There are three houses between mine and the "eyesore" house but the lots are narrow and the cracks between the fence boards are wide.

A rusty above ground pool that takes up 80% of the yard and that has NEVER had water in it in the eleven years we have lived here. The sides are collapsed. There are miscellaneous bags of who-knows-what in it.

A rusty old travel trailer with bags of cans under it. Why? We have recycling pick up every Wednesday, hell or highwater.

Odds and ends under the shrubs out front. I think there is a hammer down there.

A trellis laying on it's side against the side of the house. No biggie, but it has been there eight years.

More odds and ends.

I feel bad for the people right next door.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

Put my yard down as the tacky lawn ornaments. We have about 5 little gnomes or frogs or turtles. The shrubs are trimmed, the mulch is new, the flowers are blooming. It is as neat as a pin. My DD and DH love their little guys so they can have them.

Of course the neighbor across the street has a blown out foundation and sheriff's sales stickers all over the front door. There is more crap and garbage in the driveway then you ever want to see. Since the house has been empty for a year now there are all sorts of field mice running around the house. Its a haven for the neighborhood cats. It goes up for Sheriff's sale (finally) on the 22nd of this month. I'll take my neat little flower bed and tacky little statues (and they are little) any day in comparison. Oh but I WILL NOT have any dressed up geese or wooden cuts of old ladies bending down. I draw the line there!!!

 

[happybratpack]

Oh boy, I have to take a picture of the "Haunted Mansion" house next door any post it....the kids are freaked out when we walk by it.

 

[java]

We have a neighbor that started with the Virgin Mary Statue. Then it was a Troll statue, then a flag pole then the runway lights down the driveway and then the big finale!!

The 2 lions at the beginning of his driveway!
But they are a really nice family and what do I care what they put on their lawn. We find it funny more than annoying.

 

[DisneyBeagle]

Oh but I WILL NOT have any dressed up geese or wooden cuts of old ladies bending down. I draw the line there!!!

Oh the decorated geese. They almost deserve a thread of their own.

 

[agentpleakley]

A house on the other side of the neighborhood has 3 life-size (or maybe bigger) statutes of panthers (or some other large feline type animal). This is in addition to deer, gazing balls, etc.)

....



I do admit that I have one small Mickey statute in my flower bed.

 

[lovepurple]

I used to have neighbors that had one of those big Bob's Burger Boy statues in their yard. It was taller than their house.

 

[DisneyBeagle]

I used to have neighbors that had one of those big Bob's Burger Boy statues in their yard. It was taller than their house.

Now that's someone with a sense of humor. I love it

 

[happybratpack]

Oh yes, and the scary house neighbor also has a boat in the driveway that hasn't moved in over 10 years. There is now a lovely tree growing out the back of it that is several feet tall.

 

[pearlieq]

At least you're not next door to a HAM geek. My DH got into it a year or so ago and now there are antennae, grounding wires, and some kind of wire/cable strung through my fence and into my basement.

In all fairness, it doesn't really look TOO bad, and at least it's in the back yard. But we're not making it into Better Homes & Gardens anytime soon, either.

I'm actually not into yard work at all. DH mows it weekly-ish during the season, and maybe once a year I'll go out and do cleanup, but that's about it.

I refuse to water the lawn. I just think it's a waste of money and natural resources. I'm not running a golf course, so if there's a drought, my lawn can hibernate. I don't begrudge the lawn beautiful people, and I often admire their work. I'm just not one of them!