Excessive Waste can Affect More Than Just Your Health
It is well accepted and proven that curb appeal, or how your home and property looks affects the property value. When you get advice from a realtor to you sell your home, the first thing he or she will typically tell you is to invest in curb appeal. But what happens when there is trash everywhere?
How Does Trash Affect Property Value?
The first thing a potential homebuyer notices when viewing your house is the appearance of the home and neighborhood . The first look is incredibly important when it comes to assessing property value and purchasing a home. The mess doesn't have to be yours, it could be a neighbor's yard that turns off potential buyers.
Trash and waste in the yard and around a home quickly devalue your property. Who can blame potential home buyers? Would you want to look at that trash every day in your new home?
Keep America Beautiful completed a survey of realtors in 2009 that revealed that 55 percent of those surveyed said that trash in the neighborhood decreased property values by 9 percent . For a $200,000 home, that translates to $18,000 in depreciation.
What Can You Do?
Keeping your home well-kept is one thing, but what about a neighbor's trash? How can you address the situation to increase your property value? Interest.com has several suggestions on the topic . Here are some of the best ones.
• Be friendly and ask your neighbor politely to clean up their mess.
• If your neighbor is elderly, disabled, or has another legitimate reason why they cannot clean up their yard, offer to help. If you can't help, find someone who can.
• If your neighbor continues to leave their trash on their lawn, contact the local health department and review the rules of the community.
• If the issue goes unresolved or the person is a persistent violator, consult with a real estate attorney.
Be persistent and commit to resolve the issue civilly. Creating excessive tension in your neighborhood can make a bad situation worse, so consider how your approach may affect others. Some people genuinely need help, while others are slobs.
Identify the type of person you are dealing with and try to resolve the issue as a friend and neighbor. Legal action may be your only option, but you will be more respected by neighbors and the law, if you handle the situation well.
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