Neighbours

I’ll be the contrarian here: 

That’s exactly how I’d keep my lawn tidy until that tree was done dropping leaves. Not much point bundling them all up until it’s done. 

Then I’d either get them out of there myself or leave them for city pickup if appropriate. That’s what I did until I planted around my front yard tree. 

Like you said, they could go to town on their branches so I’d be diplomatic, be a bummer if that tree got messed up.

Ya I usually wait till they're all down. 

We'll see what happens when I get home, maybe thats exactly what they're doing?

When we moved into our new place couple of years ago, I knocked on the neighbors door and to introduce ourselves and asked about trimming the tree. Went back over and trimmed the tree.

How can some neighbors be so weird about basic courtesy? 

Our old place we lived next door to retirees who lived for passive aggressive behavior. That and slinging racist slurs.

Posted by: Stuminator

Posted by: XXX_er

Posted by: Adam-West

Posted by: switch

Have them prune their tree.

Lol. It's my tree, Im the neighbour.

They just bought the house this summer and they're our age.

I don't actually care, I used to rake all the leaves cause I liked the old neighbour, she was old and quiet. These guys now are the party loudly in the yard/carport next to our bedroom window till 5 am on a Wednesday.

I just find raking leaves back onto my property lazy as fuck.

I had a neighbor who was a restaurant manager used to bring the bar home, party play football out front on the road at 5am, swear at the other neighbor. I backed my expansion chambered MX bike up to his bedroom window at 9am on a sunday morning, flat track the back yard for15 min, flat track it every 15 min until he went to work at 4pm, I never had to say a word but the message was clear, fuck with a fucker and you will never sleep again ... so he never did it again

re: Instead of raking leaves just runover them with the lawnmower and leave them there, it chops them up into small bits which is good for the lawn

This strategy can work with a neighbor who is somewhat normal. (More or less a reasonable person). It will not work if the neighbor is a psychopath or has some sort of chemical imbalance in the brain. Those types of folks will always outlast you, even if it takes years. They will make it their prime reason for existing to make sure you don't get the better of them.

It would depend on how  versed they are in dealing with a passive-agressive

which is  different than dealing with a pasta-agressive

someone who under cooks the spaghetti to specifically  fuck with your digestive sytem

This past spring my neighbour was interested in replacing their fence, no problem. Side bar, his wife is the neighbourhood  superintendent If you know what I mean. Now I even sourced the panels as I have a buddy in the cedar industry. So borrow a truck from work and bring home the panels. Unloaded the panels, the majority in their yard and the rest in mine. Came home from work the next day and they had two sides up already, looked great. While on my deck enjoying a cold one I noticed the outline in the grass where I had stacked my panels, the pile had been moved. My neighbour had gone though my pile and creamed out the best ones! WTF! It was laughable, what , she didn’t think that the imperfect panels weren’t going to face her yard anyway. Still shake my head when I think about it.

Posted by: XXX_er

Posted by: Adam-West

Posted by: switch

Have them prune their tree.

Lol. It's my tree, Im the neighbour.

They just bought the house this summer and they're our age.

I don't actually care, I used to rake all the leaves cause I liked the old neighbour, she was old and quiet. These guys now are the party loudly in the yard/carport next to our bedroom window till 5 am on a Wednesday.

I just find raking leaves back onto my property lazy as fuck.

I had a neighbor who was a restaurant manager used to bring the bar home, party play football out front on the road at 5am, swear at the other neighbor. I backed my expansion chambered MX bike up to his bedroom window at 9am on a sunday morning, flat track the back yard for15 min, flat track it every 15 min until he went to work at 4pm, I never had to say a word but the message was clear, fuck with a fucker and you will never sleep again ... so he never did it again

re: Instead of raking leaves just runover them with the lawnmower and leave them there, it chops them up into small bits which is good for the lawn

I read this and had to think of a woodchipper.

Passive agressive? I may know a thing about that... damp leaves smoke like a ma'fucker when thrown on a fire..

Posted by: Mic

Posted by: XXX_er

Posted by: Adam-West

Posted by: switch

Have them prune their tree.

Lol. It's my tree, Im the neighbour.

They just bought the house this summer and they're our age.

I don't actually care, I used to rake all the leaves cause I liked the old neighbour, she was old and quiet. These guys now are the party loudly in the yard/carport next to our bedroom window till 5 am on a Wednesday.

I just find raking leaves back onto my property lazy as fuck.

I had a neighbor who was a restaurant manager used to bring the bar home, party play football out front on the road at 5am, swear at the other neighbor. I backed my expansion chambered MX bike up to his bedroom window at 9am on a sunday morning, flat track the back yard for15 min, flat track it every 15 min until he went to work at 4pm, I never had to say a word but the message was clear, fuck with a fucker and you will never sleep again ... so he never did it again

re: Instead of raking leaves just runover them with the lawnmower and leave them there, it chops them up into small bits which is good for the lawn

I read this and had to think of a woodchipper.

Most lawn mowers have a plug for mulching. Least they used to.

I'm hoping to buy a house in the next three years. 

Is there a way that you homeowners have scoped neighbours in the past, while you looking to buy?

I don't think I'd handle neighbour problems very well and wouldn't want buy my first house and regret it.

Dream is to leave Vancouver and find jobs and place on the Island.

Fences. Clear Boundaries make for good relationships. 

And look at the block. If it looks sloppy to you, you’ll be pissed by the neighbours sloppiness. If it looks “uptight” than you’ll be the sloppy one.

Posted by: JBV

i will say this much. at least this thread doesn't make me think i'm crazy for being in the situation we're in. clearly we're not the only one's who are so bothered by neighbours that it takes up way too much of our brain power. enough to move. sorry for everyone else's troubles as well. life's a bitch.

Like you, our street 16 years ago was new & only 1/3 populated. Such potential. Once the last of the homes were built then the fun started. 35 houses on this dead end street, 16 of which have sold two or more times since. The two most expensive houses have sold three times & one of the cheapest has sold FIVE times. As each new owner /tenant moves in, the fabric/makeup of the 'hood slides decidedly away from Doctor/Lawyer/Banker/Dentist & hurtling towards knuckledragger/mouthbreather. I have been actively house hunting for a long time but have such a long list of requirements I am really risk averse. I still have a great location, very close to all amenities including recreation.

@JBV: Good luck in your search.

Posted by: Straw

I'm hoping to buy a house in the next three years.

Is there a way that you homeowners have scoped neighbours in the past, while you looking to buy?

I don't think I'd handle neighbour problems very well and wouldn't want buy my first house and regret it.

Dream is to leave Vancouver and find jobs and place on the Island.

When you look at any house, look at all the other houses too. When you drive up & down the street what do you see? If you are grinning like a school girl at a Justin Bieber concert you might like living there.

Don't just look at a house at one time of the day, cruise that street morning, noon & night. What looks good at noon might not look so good once everyone comes home. Still grinning?

Try to avoid a dead end street unless you are the first house. You always need two ways out of a street & multiple exits from that. Good in a zombie apocalypse but great in the day to day grind. DAMHIK.

Google each house address. I found out a house I was looking at was recently a drug house/grow op. The real estate agent had failed to mention that in the listing. Oops!

Good luck.

Posted by: CB-Spoolmak

Google each house address. I found out a house I was looking at was recently a drug house/grow op. The real estate agent had failed to mention that in the listing. Oops!

Good luck.

AFAIK that's actually illegal and agents are required to disclose that information.

Posted by: syncro

Posted by: CB-Spoolmak

Google each house address. I found out a house I was looking at was recently a drug house/grow op. The real estate agent had failed to mention that in the listing. Oops!

Good luck.

AFAIK that's actually illegal and agents are required to disclose that information.

Correct. Too bad as the house had potential too. Good location, no close neighbours on three sides. One look at the interior pix though & I could tell there had been no black mold abatement, no renos, nada.

Short of burning a former grow op to the ground & building new, that house should have been gutted to the studs & completely redone.