Hey, Keith, I do criminal defense as well....;)

You gotta do what each situation warrants. The old guy was a creep to the whole neighbourhood. Liked to steal a glimpse at the women and watch folks walk down the street. Seeing as I like my neighbours there, I felt compelled to "take one for the team" and do something to shock him. When word got around I got a thank you card, cookies and nice roast beef dinner..... The husbands never seemed the same though... :)

Seriously John,

In every group of people there are some people that just a little whacked. Just because the ummm crazy lady across the street does not like you or how you spend your time should not bother you. Like others have said, read carefully you HOA deal and live by it.

I prefer to not stress about what others are heaping on me. There is enough stress already at work, bills, Hillary, p-car projects.... so have fun with it if you can. Don't be an a$$ but don't loose sleep over it either.

Remember, you are not going to get along with everyone. Can't make all the people happy all the time. If someone is bent on causing you grief, get some giggles out of it if you can.

But then again when staying at a hotel if there is noisey people in the room next door I won't call the front desk. I set the alarm for 4:00am and make sure the headboard rocks while we dent the bed...... :)

Life is short, have fun!

Cheers

Hmm, that's an angle I hadn't considered, I'll have to give it a try this weekend.

"Honey, I know this request may seem a little strange, but we must teach the neighbor a lesson!"

I'm not advocating anything like that, but could I have your number just in case :). I'd be perfectly legal about it, but would have no problems serenading them with the same song 24x7 (not loud), or simply barking loudly (myself) at her...yep, I can be a nutcase too. On second thought what's your address, I'll go ahead and get that retainer in the mail to ya...

:D:eek::D
I laughed out load, twice, reading this! It's so bang on, its friggin funny. My new boat has one of those "Captain Call" switches where with the flick of the switch you run straight headers too...... better gas mileage and power you know.

Anyway Dot, you're right, you know me too well; we've tamed it down a fair bit over the years and after pissing off neighbour after neighbour, cabin after cabin, we use the middle of the lake for most of our watersports now. The newer boats allow you to load up your skis, wakeboards, gear and gang and then go. Not as much fun as watching everyone from the beach, but keeps the neigbours happier. Still have my stereo playing off my deck though. ;)

Let me get cracking on potential defenses....

"Your Honor, the playing of "muskrat Love" by the Captain and tenille 24/7 is protected political speach and to hold him criminally liable is an egregious violation of his First Amendment rights.....

Your Honor...the fact he was sitting on his lawn cleaning an AR-15 every day for the last month is clearly protected by the Second Amendment....

Your honor...the fact that he had 17 pelicanites as guests in his home this weekend was not a raucos beer party but rather an engine drop celebration...one of the most sacred ceremonies in the Gospel of Ferdinand of the Church of Porsche...these blasphemous neighbors are clearly interferring with his religious freedoms and right to assemle. Oh the beer? Communion, yo honor. Communion.:D

RWebb has some good points!

I'd also have the city come out and double check to see if you're ordinance ok. My father has a freak who was harassing him with the city. So, he just got everything to spec and told them to F'off if they weren't going to spec the other guy. He hasn't heard anything from the city nor his neighbor for months now.

Go get'em!

John,

Sorry to hear about your situation. I once experienced something similar. Nearest neighbors constantly going on about how MY yard should look, where I should put MY trash bin, telling MY kids to be quite etc, etc, etc..

I found only one solution. Move. I realized I need my personal space and freedom to let my kids play in the garden, let me play the piano and guitar at night, let my cars be parked in what ever manner I choose and what have you.

Sometimes it is better to look at your own needs, how you want to live - and find such a place, instead of fighting a never ending war with the neighbors.

I like it...the check's in the mail! I even like your song selection, but I'm afraid I'd have to move out of my own house for a while...

Seriously, Wayne (and others) are probably right, extend an olive branch, but if they don't take it (and they don't sound like the type), THEN poke 'em in the eye with it :)

+1, I'd never buy a place with HOA rules to begin with.

have a big party. invite the hells angels.

Taking the high ground in a diplomatic manor will yield greater results in the long run. Nut cases have a funny way of being able to manipulate other folks and that could be bad for you. If you are right be confident in that, but it must bug the heck out of you (totally understandable) that this lady acts this way, afterall it is somewhat difficult to like someone that is in your face for no legitimate reason. But all the same, can you at least approach her husband to find out what really is the problem? or to explain what you are doing, just to keep them informed that it is not a permanent situation? Meeting with a neutral third party in a neighborly setting is an excellent idea and has the added benefit of showing who is reasonable; this really gets around the 'hood fast and can help your situation or at least confirm that she is nuts and you are not. The idea of a preemptive strike if things are not mitigated that would possibly drag the HOA and its officers into litigation or other administrative action is not a bad idea if the aggression and harassment escalate.

I am grateful for my neighbors. Moved in last December, recalled to active duty in July and they are taking care of my place. A great neighborhood.

There is one in every neighbhood. That said, I would first get an attorney to respond to the husbands letter. Then I would go talk to several board members and give them a heads up. Ask them over to look for themselves. The word will get back her pretty quick. Its my guess that you are not the first person she has messed with and the board may already know shes nuts. I would then go about my usuall business. If you see the husband you might thank him for his letter and tell him with the real estate problems going on they might get a good buy somewhere. Good luck and keep us informed.

Agree with the above. Given a choice, don't ever buy in a place with an HOA. Barring that, try to get on the board. A guy local to me who is a big 944 enthusiast used to run into similar problems at his condo. So he got himself elected to the board. The complaints went away very quickly thereafter. :)

what a shame that someone has a problem with what goes on in your garage!

read your docs and be aware of any pending updates/changes as you should be prepared to lobby against any nonsense your neighbor may propose.

I have a neighbor who is so bad, I WISH I was in a HOA. Working on their car in the backyard with air tools until 1am... floodlamps pointed at our house while they're doing engine swaps. Doing donuts in their yard at 7am. Their kids coming over and bouncing basketballs against my house. It's a friggin nuthouse.

I approached them a couple times, tried to be diplomatic. Same old $chit within a couple days. It got to the point where I noticed my wife didn't like to have people over, it was embarassing for her. We couldn't live like that. I warned them one more time, then started calling the cops with noise complaints, and filing bylaw infractions with the town. Eventually, things calmed down. Now and then (but quite rarely) there will be a racket, I just go right over and tell them they can quiet down now, or quiet down in 15 minutes when the police show up. I also put up a 6' tall, 142' long fence.

I hate to be "that guy", but it was rediculous.

From what you describe, I'd love to have you as a neighbor. Sounds like your neighbor wants to bully you, and is testing you to see if you're soft. I'd do like others describe... pay a lawyer to hit back hard, citing the HOA ordinances and make sure the communications are cc'd to the HOA. I'm willing to bet your neighbors will back down.

Good luck!

Are you a minority? other than being young?

ex-lax for her dogs for a month should do the trick!

Man, I feel your pain, sort of - I don't have any psycho neighbors, but I've done a lot of Porsche resto work from my townhouse and have pushed the limits with my next-door neighbor, who is pretty much the perfect neighbor. Since I've laid off the angle grinder, things have been peaches and cream. Had some kids next door to me for a while, they like to turn up the bass on the stereo in the back bedroom which is next to mine. I have a really nice stereo but I don't abuse it late at night. After constantly asking for them to turn it down, one night I tried a different approach. I loaded up the KLF's "3 AM Eternal", set it to 'repeat', moved my speakers about 2 feet from the adjoining wall, and cranked it up to earsplitting volume. That was about 10 pm. Then I headed out to the bar for the rest of the night. Came home at o-dark-thirty and turned it off. Never heard a peep out of them again.

Habitation? That's a weird one. I should re-read my covenants. I spend more time in the garage than any other room in the house, but it is certainly not habitable. I can think of about 50 awful ways to die in my garage, easy.

Ever want to get a beer, give me a shout. Or, if you prefer, I can just cruise your neighborhood after midnight with my 9.8:1 MFI engine with sport exhaust....

Raleigh has always been a tad too snooty. Head South young man. :D

Let me know if you decide to let the 930 go. ;)