Advice on dealing with loud belligerent townhouse neighbor (1 Viewer)

[Andrej Dolenc]

Philip,

Sounds like things are getting under control, but just so ya know how crazy the housing market is, my buddy and his wife sold their townhouse in Woodbridge. Listed it for $30k higher than similar units. Place sold in 8 hrs.

Andrej

 

[Philip Hamm]

Sounds like things are getting under control, but just so ya know how crazy the housing market is, my buddy and his wife sold their townhouse in Woodbridge. Listed it for $30k higher than similar units. Place sold in 8 hrs.

That's the way it is around here. Funny, I was just in upstate NY visiting my cousin and her family and we were talking about home values since they bought their big 4 bedroom house 4 years ago. Turns out their big 4 bedroom house on a half acre is barely worth more than my postage stamp lot large 3 bedroom garage townhome.

 

[DaveF]

Funny, I was just in upstate NY visiting my cousin and her family and we were talking about home values since they bought their big 4 bedroom house 4 years ago.

Houses here are relatively affordable, but did you ask them what their property taxes are? :frowning: In my part of NY, it's about $5000 (a year) for a $160k house, on a third-acre lot. My impression is that's really high compared to most states.

Sorry to hear you have to leave, but hopefully you and your wife will find an exciting house!

After 50 days and 30 houses of looking, I've given up house hunting and am going to stick with apartments for a while longer. I'll save up more to buy the house I really want, instead of settling for an interim starter home for the next five years.

 

[MikeAlletto]

My property tax is about that much for a 200k house. Property taxes in austin are absolutely horrible.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> In my part of NY, it's about $5000 (a year) for a $160k house

Yeah, that is high. Property taxes here on a house of that market value would be half that, maybe less. (Do you mean 160K market value or assessed value, which is usually lower? I didn't know there were houses that cheap in NY.)


> If you fail to disclose this nuisance, you are asking for a suit by your buyers.

I'm still confused why the bad behavior of the neighbors is somehow a defect in Philip's property. Why take responsibility off them and put it on their victim?

Any time you have neighbors, there's a possibility of problems. You never know when good neighbors will leave and be replaced by troublemakers, or vice versa.

It also sounds like a lot of the noise they were making was just to annoy Philip since they knew it bothered him.

I sold a house a few months ago, and the disclosure paperwork I filled out didn't ask anything about neighbors, but specific things about the house.

If there are any real estate folks who've seen this situation before, did the neighbor's behavior actually get put in a disclosure document?

 

[DaveF]

Do you mean 160K market value or assessed value, which is usually lower? I didn't know there were houses that cheap in NY

Market value of $160k; assessed values of about $130k. In a cheaper part of town, a $180k house, assessed at $155k, had $3800 taxes.

 

[Dave_Brown]

If you fail to disclose this nuisance, you are asking for a suit by your buyers

I fail to see how this could even be a possibility. What if even though the neighbor made noise, they were still your best friends and you were moving for other reasons? You are only liable if you knowingly withold information as it pertains to the property you are listing and trying to sell. You are not responsible for disclosing any information about neighbors. That is why when I'm looking at a house I'll go to a few of the houses, knock on the door introduce myself and just engage them in neighborly chatter; try to get a feel for what they and others are like.