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Curb appeal of an entire neighborhood is important to real estate value.
Dear Housecat,
My neighbors who live across the street from me were selling their house. In fact, they had already moved out of state. Their yard was not in good shape.
Their house didn’t have what realtors call “curb appeal”. That was one strike. The neighbor next door to them has a gravel driveway and they mow their lawn occasionally. That’s okay, but everytime young “Fred” pulls into his driveway he likes to spin his wheels. This kicks gravel out onto the road and lets the gravel stay there for a month or two. That’s two strikes. My other neighbor, “Ernie”, can’t find his lawnmower because the grass is too tall. His yard is a tribute to plastic, with trash cans and chairs in the strangest of places visible from the road.
That’s 3 strikes for selling any house in the neighborhood. As a result, the neighbor who was selling their house eventually sold it, but they probably sold it for $10,000 less than what the FMV should have been.
I shouldn’t be concerned about that, because it didn’t effect the value of my house, correct?
Wrong.
When real estate appraisers do their thing, they research the history of selling prices in the neighborhood, the area, and the town.
Curb appeal of an entire neighborhood is important to real estate value.
If the neighborhood could have pulled together in order to spruce up all our yards, and if the house had sold for $10,000 more, the entire neighborhood would have had an increase in value.
My own yard has excellent curb appeal. No brag, just fact. We love the outdoors and the yard.
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So, here I was getting my own yard fixed up real nice when I started thinking about how I could connive the neighbors into mowing their lawns, and hunting for their long lost lawn chairs. I can be quite a conniver.
I had just bought my house a couple of years ago, so I was new in the neighborhood. I didn’t want to risk making enemies.
I thought about sending my anonymous letters to my two neighbors. Alas, although I can connive with the best of the connivers, I left it alone. The house sold. It was under fair market value. My new neighbors got a terrific deal. The only thing left to do was welcome the new neighbors into the neighborhood.
We have a neighborhood association, but that often considered meddling. We all just like to do our thing here.
I suppose I’m going to like it here just fine. I still wish I could get the neighbors to mow their lawns. If you have figured a way to do that, let me know.
signed “Conniver”
Dear “Conniver” ,
You are correct that curb appeal of all houses in your neighborhood effects the real estate value of all the houses.
If you really want to live in a town that has strict ordinances that tell you what you can and cannot do, and must do with your property, there are places like that.
Not everyone is as aware or concerned with curb appeal when it comes to property value of the entire neighborhood.
If you like your house, and you like having neighbors that don’t bother you, enjoy. If you don’t, then move. The anonymous letter sounds fine but if it is traced back to you, you might have wished you spoke with your neighbor directly.
Housecat
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