Sounds like you could be a very determinant factor on how much he gets for said house. If he wants you to play nice and not make it look like there's a total kook living next door, he should be willing to help out.

No one seems to be looking at this from the other guys angle. He found a place he could dump a little dough into a flip for a profit. He wasn't out to hurt anyone, just make a buck.

If I had just sunk $200k into a place and some neighbor walks over upset that I had obstructed his $39.99 a month Direct TV package w/NHL ticket I might look at him like he's special needs too.

The guy might be a dick, but the info I've seen here doesn't spell that out.

If he wanted to flip for profit, he could have turned a T111 tract house into a nice place that fit into the neighborhood; instead, he's building this behemoth - it might be pretty cool when it's done, but it will be out of scale for this neighborhood, and priced higher than anything else here.

I hear ya and he might not be the sharpest knife but he didn't do this out of malice. I just don't get the anger.

A buddy of mine runs a big CE firm here and they had a similar issue recently. A developer bought a tract on Lake Michigan and began building. The neighbors that had a water view for years decided he had no right to build on his own property. They had literally no leg to stand on, they just hated that their free view was gone. They fought him for a couple years and lost but cost him a lot of dough. All in an effort to keep him building on his own property.

It's the "if it hurts me it's wrong" mentality.

If you lose, aren't you also liable for all of the other guys court costs too??

It's his anger, though. He got angry when I asked why he didn't think he needed to help get the dish sitch straightened out. He got madder and madder, then threatened to sue when I mentioned that he should be nice to someone who can make selling that house very difficult. (Me! I can turn my yard into a disaster area for a while.)

There ain't nothing good on the tube anyway!

I don't think that applies in these matters, but that's a good point and I will ask him about that.

Put yourself in his shoes though. He just dropped a quarter mil on a place and now he's got some neighbor giving him grief over a damn satellite dish. I'm not saying he shouldn't have been more neighborly, just that he's probably on edge already. And if a neighbor hinted at "I can make things difficult for you" I might get angry real quick too.

Give me my 5 minutes back and call the Satellite TV company. Good lord.

That's exactly what my friend Helen said. He's young, he's trying to make his mark, someone in a dingbat across the fence is giving him **** about his project, and it's probably not the first time. He probably has lots of exposure right now, with things needing to work - this is one of three projects he has going, if what I hear is accurate.

Threats of a lawsuit are never a good idea, though, I would think, for such a contractor, am I right?

I like these threads, they help in keeping me connected as to how most people really think. It took me many years to realize these guys aren't kidding. ;)

Best answer so far.

He's not happy to hear about a lawsuit, but over something so trivial I promise you he's not losing any sleep. Unless of course he cut corners, but if he had he would likely be slick enough to grease you.

HE threatened to sue ME, if I made his life difficult - not the other way around. I never threatened to sue him at all, never brought it up. I only brought it up in the OP. My mistake.

My mistake, I apologize. Sounds like the guy is wound up.

He did you a favor, cancel the cable and pocket the 50.00 a month,
go buy yourself some new shoes and go for a walk,
If you see him outside thank him for your new shoes....

Are you sure your new neighbor doesn't post in PARF?

Sounds like their mentality! ;)

Most dishes in the northern hemisphere face south since the sats are down on the equator.

After the roof is up, didn't some bum started smoking in there and burn the place to the ground? Raw lumber burns nice and hot. Call your dish company and move on.