The neighbors are trying to prevent me from selling my house!!!(blackmail/extortion?)

[agnes!]

CAREFUL! *If* you cut down the offending trees, the buyers might subsequently back out of the deal. Then you'll then be stuck with your unsold house on a treeless lot and an empowered wacky/nut-job neighbor.

agnes!

 

[diznygirl]

I have no other choice. I have to give in. I don't know what else I can do.

You don't know what else? How about one of the suggestions on this 6 page thread?

I would file a civil suit and serve him with papers. Obi-wan is right - you can do this yourself.

 

[lsyorke]

Go to the town! You have rights here. Don't give in to this guy... that's just insane! He's already cost you one buyer and he's harrassing you. THAT's not legal!!!!!

 

[mytwotinks]

Well, some people still seem interested in the house, so hopefully it won't cause me a huge problem.

I'm going to call an attorney on Monday and have a civil suit started if I can.

I have called the police, they said there was nothing they could do and that it was a civil matter, not a criminal matter.

I have called a friend who is an agent and he said there was pretty much nothing we could do, and I also called the agent that we plan to list with if it does not sell, and he too had no advice.

We are just going to go forth with the sale and explain the best we can to people.

If our house does not sell because of this and we have to move back into it, you can BET I'm going to plant the biggest, messiest trees that I can, right along the fence line.

That would be a walnut tree. Not only do you have to rake the leaves, you also have the lovely baseball size walnuts(hundreds of them) to pick up and if you don't get to them in time the rot! Good luck!

 

[jcsbama]

Well, I don't take to threats too well. If I ever had a neighbor pull the stunt your's has, well it would be war. I'm the biggest stubbord **tch ever and it would be a cold day in hades before a tree came down in my yard. Even if it meant I had to stay in that house. But that's just my personality.

DO NOT CUT DOWN THOSE TREES! Your neighbor that insisted you remove the trees will be the same neighbor to report you and ensure that you get fined. There has to be legal recourse for what he's doing. I just can't believe that there isn't. Keep pursuing.

If you have to, go buy a lot of new shrubs, trees, anything you can think of. Tell your neighbor that they were meant for the new house, but since he put his sign up and it looks like y'all are gonna have to stay there, then you have to plant everything at this location and you decided along his property line was the best place. Physically set the trees out along the property line like you're about to plant them so he can see them. It will be more believable.

Seriously tho'....it sounds like you need to remove the sign from your yard and get an agent. Advertise behind the scenes that was mentioned earlier. Please don't give in to this guy.!

 

[minkydog]

You're willing to fork out $5000 to cut down the trees you don't want to cut AND pay the fines, but you aren't willing to hire a lawyer for an hour's worth of legal advice? How does that make sense?

Personally, I think a letter from your newly hired lawyer might just be the ticket--the neighbor will probably back down when they see your'e not fooling around and getting your panties in a wad. Bring out the big guns, sister

Ant get a real realtor Save yourself a lot of headaches

 

[FreshTressa]

I agree. Do not give in to him and it is time to stop going at this alone. Sign with a realtor. It will cost you less in the long run and they are paid to deal with things like this. They will know all the ins and outs and beable to stop him.

Don't cut down the trees. The ONLY reason I would if the buyer only wanted the house with out them.

Also ask the realtor what his/her opinon on the value of the house with the trees is. They will know.

Good luck. DO NOT GIVE IN TO THIS LONEY!

Listing won't help. That will just have me out the 26k in realtor fees. I have spoken with several realtors already.

I have a guy waiting in the wings to list the house if the FSBO does not go through and he has been full of advice an has been very helpful through all this so I am not going it absolutely alone. We will be paying him a flat fee to do our paperwork.

I don't think paying 26k to list the house will solve my neighbor problem....the police say he has the right to have the sign there under free speech laws.

 

[RitaZ.]

FT~ Have you contacted an attorney today? A call or letter from an attorney may be all that's needed to get your neighbor to back off. Don't give in to what he wants, it could all come back to bite you in the rear. The potential buyers that have shown interest up to this point probably won't return, as they already know that your neighbor will be a troublemaker.

Just call a real estate attorney, you've got nothing to lose and possibly everything to gain. Good luck!

 

[FreshTressa]

You don't know what else? How about one of the suggestions on this 6 page thread?

I would file a civil suit and serve him with papers. Obi-wan is right - you can do this yourself.

I have spoken with a lawyer. He is protected by free speech laws and to prove damages would be very difficult.

Any court proceedings would take months to process and by then it will be too late as we have another house that will be done August 15th.

And even if I do get him to take his sign down, there are soooo many terrible things he can do to damage me that are worse than the sign. He said he would paint it on the side of his house!!

These people are not reasonable or negotiable......they are using terror tactics.

I worry that anything I do will escalate it into something worse than a small sign.

I will try and sue after the house has sold, but to do so now would mean he would just do other mean things that were legal to stop me from selling.

The police have been no help, I have consulted several realtors, they said there was nothing they could do and even the lawyers weren't optimistic.

 

[FreshTressa]

Double Post

 

[jenr812]

Wow $26K in agent fees?? Must be some house...

 

[redshoes]

I've read all the posts, but I still have some questions. Is this neighbor behind your house, to the side- where is his house located in regards to yours? How big is this sign? Poster-board size, billboard size? The reason I ask is because wouldn't there be something that you could buy for "landscaping" purposes that could block the view of the sign? I thinking an ivy trellis, setup a little tasteful patio furniture and create a nice sitting area.
Before I would spend 5,000 on removal of the trees, I would lower my asking price by that much. My reasoning is this: you're going to be out the money if you remove the trees, but by removing them you may be out much more that 5,000. If you lower the asking price, you might be able to get a buyer in for a total loss of 5,000- not more because you've removed the trees and now your yard looks horrible.

 

[nu cruzer]

Personally, I would prefer a house with trees, rather than without. Since when do real estate agents charge for listing a house? When I sold my house, I only had to pay fees when the house sold and closed. You shouldn't have to pay $26K just to list the house.

If you do decide to cut the trees down, can you at least make sure that the tree falls on this neighbors house, ha ha.

 

[RitaZ.]

Wow $26K in agent fees?? Must be some house...

I know that seems really high, but that's what Coldwell Banker charges around here. My friend listed her house recently and CB's fee is $25K and she lives in a regular house. When the house sells, $25k will be the amount CB gets.

It sounds like the neighbor has FT where he wants her. There are a lot of vindictive people out there that have no care for anyone else, this bozo is one of them.

 

[LoraJ]

I saw the photo of your house and it looks so pretty with the trees. Just because your neighbor doesn't want to rake leaves is not a good reason to get rid of them. If he doesn't want trees in the neighborhood, then maybe he should move.

 

[golfgal]

I have to wonder if what he is doing is really legal. Slander is not legal and yes it does take some proving but often a very well written letter from a lawyer threatening legal action will make them remove the sign. I would speak to another lawyer.

As for the realtor fees, that is what 5-6%, that isn't out of line and is actually good. What is a realtor going to do for her that is going to help with this nutcase. I wouldn't list either if I had that action she is having. I wouldn't pay a realtor $25K+ when she already has offers on the house, that is silly. She doesn't have to pay the 25K to list but they take that money when she SELLS.

 

[golfgal]

Another thing, why doesn't he move if he doesn't like it there? That is what I don't understand. Cutting down the trees will negatively effect HIS property values too.

 

[FreshTressa]

I've read all the posts, but I still have some questions. Is this neighbor behind your house, to the side- where is his house located in regards to yours? How big is this sign? Poster-board size, billboard size? The reason I ask is because wouldn't there be something that you could buy for "landscaping" purposes that could block the view of the sign? I thinking an ivy trellis, setup a little tasteful patio furniture and create a nice sitting area.
Before I would spend 5,000 on removal of the trees, I would lower my asking price by that much. My reasoning is this: you're going to be out the money if you remove the trees, but by removing them you may be out much more that 5,000. If you lower the asking price, you might be able to get a buyer in for a total loss of 5,000- not more because you've removed the trees and now your yard looks horrible.

The neighbor is behind my house...we share a back fence. He is in a culdesac so I have a view of the side of his house. It is about 10feet from the shared fence. The sign is a white-board, about 3 feet by 2 feet. He has it sitting on his trash can which is on top of a table and leaning against an old fishtank. We could block the one sign, but they could just move it or buy a bigger sign. Right now, it is a small sign.
We are planning on adding 3k back to the buyer to cut down the trees if they choose to.

 

[FreshTressa]

Ugg...I swear I only hit submit once...I swear it!!

 

[FreshTressa]

Another thing, why doesn't he move if he doesn't like it there? That is what I don't understand. Cutting down the trees will negatively effect HIS property values too.

Exactly!

I even offered to let him pay to take the trees out since they bother him so much.

Thanks for the support. This has been really stressful for me and it has been great getting so much advice and support.