Neighbor Fence Question

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by MBAtarga

Is that a garage building behind the dark wall - or is that the house on the next street? If that's a garage - why isn't she using it?

That "circled" roof is to her detached garage. Only it's part work-out room (with a garage door) and part back office. Or at least that's how it was staged for the open house. I don't know if the garage portion which remains is large enough to park an SUV in it. She could also park in the driveway alongside her house, in between that black driveway gate and a matching one on the "back side" of the house (she installed both of those as part of her upgrades). But perhaps that portion of the driveway is too narrow as well.

Originally Posted by bleucamaro

In this case, the lambo lady has some audacity to ask for the fence to be moved.

However in general, it sounds like a lot of pre-judgement was done against her. It sounds like she bought a house that had some shoddy work done by flippers. (I've seen some real bad stuff done by them: Light fixtures installed without boxes, outlets without boxes, unsecured plumbing, etc.) It seems like you don't like her because she's trying to fix up her house and because she drives a flashy car?

When the work was being done, did you try to get to know her?

I realize this is the internet, but I think you're giving this lady too much credit for pleasantries and consideration that just aren't part of her DNA. I've got about the 2nd longest fuse on the block of all the neighbors concerning this new owner, and the one neighbor kid (who has the house immediately to the left of hers) who's all buddy buddy with her is a nut; I wouldn't consider any of his opinions or perceptions to ever be grounded in reality.

So today, Lambo Lady has brought in a crew to demo the wall alongside her driveway. It's 6:30 pm and dark out, and there's still a jackhammer going. At least they're also pressure-washing the street of all the construction debris--in the past, none of her crews have ever paid much attention to cleaning up after themselves. Apparently she is going to demo that side wall, widen her driveway, take down the vinyl fence portion that now has been determined to be on her property, and install another wall in place of the vinyl fence so that she can put in a gate at the end of the driveway. And while this is going on, she's again not living in the house. I mean, why subject yourself to all this dust and noise when you've got someplace else to sleep at night?

You get it? It bothers her to have all this construction going on. But it has never crossed her mind what the neighbors who live here think of all this construction going on. And when confronted with issues (like contractors trampling fence lady's landscaping), she took no ownership of the matter, claiming she had no control of (aka responsibility for) what her contractors did.

The house was remodeled, but it was done with city inspectors along the way. So there's only so much shoddiness that could have happened regarding wiring, plumbing, roofing, etc. And the finishes selected by the flipper contractor were really nice. They weren't cheap or ugly materials/appliances/hardware/etc.

The list of renovations this woman has done: security system fit for a drug lord (she talks to the contractors from wherever she is via the security cameras--and it's not just a Ring system), took out the existing oval pool to install a rectangular one, took out that pool to reconfigure it, tore up and repaved the driveway (which had just been poured by the flipper) at least twice, tore out the flipper's backyard landscaping and installed new hardscape/landscape (also at least twice), installed the two big black gates in the driveway at the front and back of the house, planted those trees in the front yard immediately behind the block wall (and now those trees alongside the driveway will have to be removed), changed front door, changed front gate, new cabinets, etc. Even my 12-year-old niece recently wondered if they're burying dead bodies in the backyard, given the number of times concrete has been ripped out from there and repaved. Then again, my niece may be more suspicious than most, as she comes over to watch "Only Murders in the Building".

[john70t]

Originally Posted by Noah930

Apparently she is going to demo that side wall, widen her driveway, take down the vinyl fence portion that now has been determined to be on her property

I'm on your side but she may be right. I'd surmise the property line extends between the center of the curb cuts.

Around here, installing a barrier or fence requires consent of both sides I think.
There needs to be something like 50% opacity and max 4ft high from the front of the house to the street.
(safety issue for cars backing out to sidewalks and pedestrians.)
A set-back is sometimes required.

Check with city code, and the nice neighbor might be able to stop the fortnite fortress building before it starts.
Lambo lady is sure woman-spreading her turf before she moves in. Gather the pitchforks.

Could be worse. One couple here moved from east coast, dumped fill dirt on the front piled high and uneven, didn't seed it, it spilled across the sidewalk, and six inches of mud for a year or two. OTOH A city gov big shot moved in next door and the wife tried to hen pick me to death on everything she didn't like. That did not last long.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

I bet after all of this,
She'll decide she doesn't like it and move on.
I give her 6 mo. - 1 year tops.

[creaturecat]

nice of her to address the problem.
happy times!

[john70t]

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/quiet_enjoyment
Quiet enjoyment is the right to inhabit or use certain property without disturbance.

[Tobra]

How does someone that stupid get that much money

[cstreit]

Originally Posted by Tobra

How does someone that stupid get that much money

This was my question. The way she spends it like it was free, means it was probably free. (Inheritance, windfall, etc..)

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by cstreit

This was my question. The way she spends it like it was free, means it was probably free. (Inheritance, windfall, etc..)

That's what I said to my wife: She (Lambo Lady, not Mrs. Noah) spends money like she didn't have to make it.

My brother-in-law's guess was COVID money (fraudulent small business loans).

[Dixie]

Originally Posted by Tobra

How does someone that stupid get that much money

No matter how thin you make a pancake there's still two sides.

Walk over with a bottle of wine and welcome her to the neighborhood. Talk to her with a seek to understand attitude. I bet you'll be surprised. At worst, you won't be adding to the problem.

[red 928]

So here's what you do:
STAY OUT OF IT.

Getting involved in drama is a bad thing when
it's on your street.
best was to have harmony in your neighborhood
is to keep your neighbors as strangers.

[flipper35]

Money is no object? Buy me a controlling interest in SpaceX. That should cover it.

[unclebilly]

[QUOTE=john70t;12195634]I'm on your side but she may be right. I'd surmise the property line extends between the center of the curb cuts./QUOTE]

I thought that at first too but look at the fence behind it and the side of the neighbor’s house. The new fence lines up.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by red 928

So here's what you do:
STAY OUT OF IT.

At least let us see a pic of Lambo Lady first

She won't be there in a year or two .... just a WAG.

[wdfifteen]

I heard an astonishing statistic yesterday. An astonishing number of new homes are built in HOA controlled developments. I don't remember the exact percentage, but it was up around 80%!!!

[Noah930]

The above post jogged my memory. So an update as to how Lambo lady fixed her problem. She took out the pony wall alongside her driveway and front lawn as well as the newly-planted trees along that wall. She widened her driveway and the driveway cutout at the street by about 3 feet (likely unpermitted, as the driveway was demo'd on Saturday and repoured the next day), and then built a pony wall between her side of her driveway and the neighbor over the next couple weeks.

Workmen still come to do something in the backyard, but now just once a week or so, and not 6 days per week like this past year has been.

[Zeke]

Yeah, the approach doesn't match side to side. Even the score lines are wrong. Why can't people do things halfway right?

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Yeah, the approach doesn't match side to side. Even the score lines are wrong. Why can't people do things halfway right?

That's just sloppiness. While they kept the existing concrete driveway, they jackhammered out the sidewalk and driveway cutout portions in their entirety. The next day they poured the 3' strip between the old driveway and front lawn, the sidewalk in front of the driveway, and the sidewalk cutout. And even then, they couldn't get the left and right sides to match.

[Zeke]

That makes it even worse as the left and right slopes up to curb height are not the same.

[Noah930]

Dixie made a post last year about my neighbor, and now that a year has passed, I think Dixie's approach, though well-intentioned, just doesn't get the selfishness of this neighbor woman.

Today, I parked my car in front on this woman's house across the street. She came out to ask me to move my car, because she was expecting a delivery in an hour, and the truck would need the space. On a Sunday afternoon. I smiled, said OK, and walked back to my house. I was working on my front door and then later in my front yard. If a delivery truck came, I'd easily be able to move. No delivery truck came.

That I was parked in front of her house because the sole spot in front of my own has been annexed by her elderly mother's car seemed to be lost on my neighbor. I guess I could park 2 or 3 houses down the street, but same could be said of my neighbor. I don't mind that the mother parks in front of my house. It's a public street, and there's a large tree along the sidewalk in front of my house providing shade. I don't like parking under the tree, because the crows often poop all over my car. So I truly don't mind her mother's car camped out in front of my house. But in return, I'm not sure they have much ground to be upset if I'm parked in front of their house.

BTW, they have 4 people living in that house, each with their own car. None of them seem to work. Well, at least not in any job that requires leaving the house. Heck, maybe they all work from home. Plus they have frequent visitors. They'll sometimes juggle parking tandem (and the hassle of swapping cars around) in their driveway. So they frequently take up both spots in front of their house, and then the one in front of mine. Or, they'll park one car in front of their house to take up both spaces, so that there will be a spot available whenever the missing household member returns. They were gone for most of this holiday weekend, so three of their cars have just sat in front of both of our houses, until this morning. I wanted to wash a couple of our cars today, which required my own swapping around cars from driveway to street, which is how I wound up parked in front of her house, apparently to her ire.

[BK911]

Threads like this help me appreciate that I am the annoying neighbor.