John Bendall owner of Re/Max Classic Group tells you how to overcome sloppy neighbors when selling your home.

If your home is currently for sale you’ve probably read countless articles about what you can do to make your home more appealing to buyers.  You may have cleaned your home from top to bottom, put on a fresh coat of paint, manicured the lawn, and planted colorful new flowers, but what do you do you’re your home is not the problem? 

In most neighborhoods you don’t have to look too far to find a home that is not cared for as well as the surrounding homes.  “More than 60% of 900 people surveyed by contractor-referral site ServiceMagic.com said they have or have had neighbors who make the street look bad by not taking care of the outside of their homes (21% admitted they were the culprit). Common problems: tall weeds and grass, imposing trees or a dying lawn; piled-up junk, particularly old cars; and peeling paint or a visible defect in the exterior, such as a broken window.”

These homes can be a nuisance and an eyesore, but even worse they can cost you money when you are selling your home.  These homes can be even more of an issue now that we are in a market where there is a lot of competition.  If a buyer looks at several similar homes all in the same price range they may decide on one based on the fact that it is further from a problem home. 

What can you do if your home is situated close to a sloppy property?  Unfortunately you may need to price accordingly to avoid having a home that just sits on the market.  “The National Association of Realtors says an eyesore can shave about 10% off the value of a nearby listing. Most real estate experts, though, stress that there are market-by-market differences that can affect that percentage and a wide range of situations, from a seemingly benign overgrown lawn across the street to a boarded-up property right next door.”

Another alternative is approaching the neighbor and asking for their assistance while your home is on the market.  Unfortunately this approach could have varying results.  The worst that could happen is that you may have an angry neighbor whose home still looks bad.  Since your planning on moving anyway you probably don’t care what your neighbor thinks so there is really no harm in trying to get them to clean up their eyesore.  You may want to recruit other neighbors to help you approach the offender.  While they are not currently trying to sell improving the overall look of the neighborhood will help your house sell for more and it will bring up the overall value of the neighborhood. Depending on how much work needs to be done and how much of a deterrent you feel the home to be you may even volunteer to do the work yourself, especially if the neglect is due to vacancy.  The investment in money and labor will probably be more than made up for in the dale price of your home.

If you and your neighbors are not able to produce any results you may need to turn to other sources, like the authorities.  If you live in a neighborhood that has a home owners association you may be able to turn to the association or Management Company to enforce rules regarding exterior maintenance.  It may be more difficult to get local governments to enforce municipal codes if the problems you are complaining about are just eyesores.  The local government will be more likely to intervene if you can demonstrate some type of health or safety concern.  Even if the authorities are willing to get involved it can be a lengthy process and it may be quite some time before you see results. 

In the end the look of your neighborhood may prove to be out of your control.  In that case you will have to concentrate on the factors you can control in order to sell your home.  Make sure that your home is in the best possible condition it can be and make sure that it is priced competitively and it will be sure to sell.  If you want more information on what you can do to reach your goals quickly john@bendallgroup.com.  Good luck!

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