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

[jenr812]

Wow - some people have big...signs!!

I am honestly speechless. What a nutjob.

 

[barkley]

tell him to offer to buy the house next to one we just sold-they are pulling out all the existing mature trees (not messy), planter beds, flowers, sod...and putting in cement! this is going to hold a zillion trailers and vehicals that my poor former neighbor is going to have to look at out his bedroom and family room windows

our city and most around us have laws on the books that say if a property owner does ANYTHING that has the potential to lessen the value of another peice of property (as in neighbors) they can be sued for the loss value as well as further civil penalties. if this is the case in your area it might be worth the couple of hundred dollars to have a lawyer draw a letter up indicating your possession of the photos of the sign, your documentation ...and your intent to pursue this avenue as soon as the home closes. it may get them to become immediatly co-operative.

i would report to the police any threats in the event any property damage occurs-it could prove to be useful in prosecution.

 

[Dakota_Lynn]

Tell them that you are going to drastically lower the asking price for your house and sell it to a family of homeless drug addicts. I bet they stop worrying about trees in a hurry.

Don't you live in Seattle? I thought we liked trees in this state! Sheesh!

 

[poohandwendy]

Wow...I mean...WOW!

I think what I would do is tell him that if he does not stop harrassing you and your potential buyers immediately, you will plant MANY more trees and take the house off the market to rent it out to the worse tenants you can find, indefinitely.

I am being serious. If that didn't work, I would probably go the civil suit route. (you really should be taking pictures of the signs, if you haven't already)

I have to repeat....WOw! I really feel for you. I have a rotten neighbor on the one side, I know your pain.

Another thing sticks out to me, I am not sure you can legally force a buyer to remove trees after they buy. After the sale goes through, the property is theirs to do what they will with (within their legal rights). I would look into that. And I think I would be talking to an atty now, before things get worse.

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

Tell him you'll just RENT the house and the trees will never come down.

Lori

 

[Tigger&Belle]

The other thing that amazes me is that I thought that trees were a good thing. Besides environmentally, I thought that people liked the physical border it created between properties.

We live in a subdivision of fairly nice houses, without a lot of space between them (not sure of the lot size). Our house was 3 years old when we bought it and the people hadn't planted a single tree, so the only tree was the one builder tree in the front. We planted trees, including some in the back to help block our house from our neighbors (nice people, but we could look down the hill directly into their kitchen and see everything...). They had no trees. Other neighbors had trees, but not our house, the house in back, and the two houses on one side of us. We planted several trees, but one is a fast growing maple and we now have quite a bit of privacy between the houses and it never dawned on me that raking leaves once a year would be more of a nuisanse than the advantage of the privacy the rest of the year. The next time I see my neighbor I'll have to joke with him about it and watch his reaction and post back.

 

[Robinrs]

This guy may have been listening to Clark Howard who tells homeowners to put up signs to keep people from buying homes to get the builders back. I'm not sure how this works for other homeowners.

Find out your legal rights and although the vindictive route sounds funny, YOU be the grownup here and do the right thing. Do not lower yourself to this person's very low level, you have a right to sell your property without slander. Contact your local officials immediately and DON'T let them know they've gotten to you. That's really all they want.

 

[MAKmom]

Tell them that you are going to drastically lower the asking price for your house and sell it to a family of homeless drug addicts. I bet they stop worrying about trees in a hurry.

Don't you live in Seattle? I thought we liked trees in this state! Sheesh!

Brilliant but tell them you are going to keep the house & rent it to the most awful people that answer your ad. Put up a For Rent sign ASAP.

It is fun plotting against mean people. Does this make me a bad person?

 

[Pooh's Pixie]

If you are a FSBO, make sure you have a good real estate lawyer asap. I've sold houses myself and with an agent. When you do it yourself, the lawyer can act as the middleman in things like this. Besides, no one likes getting a call from a lawyer . And the lawyer will know what the local ordinances are. They will know what avenue to pursue. It does cost you money but a LOT less than the cut that the agent would get. And you should have a lawyer anyway, 'cause a real estate agent is not going to protect your legal rights. Especially in a case like this! Good luck. Yikes.

 

[phorsenuf]

You don't have to cut down the trees on your property since he obviously has no right to tell you that, however if parts of the trees hang over onto his property and they dump all over his yard then he does have a right to remove them himself. (The overhang branches, not the whole tree).
Maybe you could offer to at least remove those for him. I know you shouldn't have to give in to his threats but if it will sell the house.....

 

[Disney Doll]

The issue here isn't the sign. The sign can be easily addressed by making available, at your open houses, a copy of the city ordinance regarding trees, and how many can be cut down per year and so on. To any perspective buyer, you can say "The man across the street is quite unhappy with the city ordinance regarding trees on private property. I have copies of it here so that you can see it".

The bigger issue here is that no one is going to want to buy this house that is across the street from a nutcase!!!!!!! I know I wouldn't.

I agree that if you do not have one already, that you should contact a good real estate attorney to help you with this issue and, for that matter, the entire process of selling your home on your own. My DH is a realtor, and selling a house is not as easy as folks sometimes think it is. Sometimes deals go very smoothly, and sometimes they can be very sticky. The assistance of an attorney is best in this situaiton.

 

[FreshTressa]

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.

 

[BalooTheBear]

deleted

 

[Planogirl]

I wanted trees when we were looking at houses. Cutting them down might not help you sell.

 

[barkley]

i would suggest "miniture plum" trees-our first home had one. they grow quite quickly and the plums unless picked up immediatly upon falling (you can never eat them cuz the birds get to them before they fully ripen) (1)make a sticky mess, (2) make the area smell like cheap wine.

 

[FreshTressa]

I CAN'T cut them all down...it is against city ordinances.

Besides, without them, you have a direct view into the neighbors messy garage.

I had multiple offers/bidding war going, but when people came back with their signed offers and saw the sign they left and said "they had to think about it"

One of those offers was for more than asking price!!

 

[FreshTressa]

I did offer to cut the two down that bothered him the most (since that is what was legal) but that was not enough for him.

He wants a signed thing from the new owners promising to cut the trees down next year.

 

[RitaZ.]

I did offer to cut the two down that bothered him the most (since that is what was legal) but that was not enough for him.

He wants a signed thing from the new owners promising to cut the trees down next year.

Don't offer him anything else. Just wait until you contact an attorney.

 

[PrincessKitty1]

I had multiple offers/bidding war going, but when people came back with their signed offers and saw the sign they left and said "they had to think about it"

One of those offers was for more than asking price!!

Tressa, that is awful. These folks are WAY off the wall, and I'm sure that's what potential buyers are concerned about (wierd neighbors). No advice here, just commiseration!

 

[FreshTressa]

i would suggest "miniture plum" trees-our first home had one. they grow quite quickly and the plums unless picked up immediatly upon falling (you can never eat them cuz the birds get to them before they fully ripen) (1)make a sticky mess, (2) make the area smell like cheap wine.

<-----Rushes out to buy "miniature plum" trees, rofl.