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I try to understand the offense if I can do that I may wish to make amends.

It certainly does work when two people are reasonable.  Can you imagine if we could get buyers and sellers to sit down and talk things through so that they both understand each other.

Wow Todd.  It's stories like this that make me glad I'm on the lending side of real estate transactions.  I agree completely with what your seller did--facing conflict head on is the best way to deal with a situation.  Too many people would have done nothing to mend the fences.

That was the best thing you could have done.

Just remain transparent, say what you feel, apologize if you offended anyone, and work it out.

Keep your eye on the prize and don't sweat the details.

Hi Todd!  Great story and advice!  It is always better to talk it out and come to an agreement that is beneficial to all--this one had to bring a higher price for the home than it would have had the yard next door looked a mess. This benefits the neighbor/neighborhood, not just the seller!

Glad it worked out for all!

When you offend "trash" there is no way to make up for it.  They will always win.  Dirty diapers, trash cans left out, you name it.

My best option for you is to show up to the property early to remove any debris the trashy neighbors leave out. 

I have lived next to the worst neighbor ever in the entire world.  The HOA would not do anything, the city tried, but nothing quite fit their definitions of offensive behavior.

It is not illegal to be a terrible neighbor.

Todd,

Good job in being forward thinking and getting them to see things from the same perspective.

Cameron Novak
Corona Real Estate Agent
The Homefinding Center^TM
Corona, California
951-212-7479

Hopefully, you work it out.  However, if one of the parties doesn't want to play nice, you make the best of it you can.   Sadly, you'll find that unprofessional and childish mentality even in the RE community.  

I loved the graphic detail of the kid.  He was symbolic of the whole experience.  Most people would have reacted or overreacted, you stayed level headed and put the entire situation into an acceptable context and worked out a great solution.  Good job and thanks for sharing. 

Todd,

Just realized you were from OR.  I lived in Silverton back in the early 80's.  We lived on a hill just outside of town above "pettits pond" which was a small pretty lake.

My dad owned a few gas stations in OR, one in Woodburn and the other in Silverton of course.

Nice to touch base with someone from my old home state.

 

Todd

Great advice.  It is easy to just fight fire with fire and get no where.  Sitting down and discussing the situation is a far better solution.

What a great story Todd.... Sometimes the simple offer to help can be taken the wrong way. Glad to hear things worked out. Sounds like in the end things were a WIN-WIN for all.

Great show of problem solving Todd! If all of the agents would be willing to do what you and your sellers did to sell a home (the willingness to help with the unruly house AND making amends), we would certainly sell more homes.

I applaud your efforts and appreciate the story!

Diane

Glad you were able to get a resolution and get the house sold.

You told the next door neighbor that their property was bad enough that you felt you needed to help them?  Glad it worked out in the end.

I once owned a home in city limits that had a neighbor that ran an auto dismantling operation. I am talking about multiple cars in the front yard and along the street without wheels, parts missing and stuff like that. Some cars didn't move for six months at a time. It took two years working with city code enforcement to finally get things cleaned up.

If I had been trying to sell my home at that point I would have taken a significant price hit.

Real world...Real answer an real results good blog todd.

Kudos to you Todd for working this out and achieving a win-win for all.

Aloha  & best wishes

Have you noticed how many people re-blogged this? it really is a great post... with a wonderful message... thanks

Todd, I believe you handled it correctly. It is always, always, always better to get the conversation out in the open and  clear up any misunderstandings. When feelings are hurt it is hard to repair until an open and honest discussion occurs. Good job!

Todd- Deals like this keep our jobs from EVER becoming boring. Never a dull moment! Yes, work toward the end goal, do what you can to get everything out in the open. Don't let a small problem snowball into a huge one. Great resolution.

What if every insult had to come with a free gift attached?

 

My guess:  A lot fewer insults.

 

Way to make lemonade out of a sour apple!

Todd,

Solutions come in many different flavors and sizes. You found the one that worked and got the job done.

Kudos!

Rich

I go out of my way not to offend people, but sometimes I still do. I will go to that person and try to work out our differences.

Child peeing on the fence......really? That's going out of you way just a tad bit. LOL

Funny story Todd. I am being as thoughtful as I can not to offend people around me. I am in business to make friends and clients, not enemies. For one thing, there is no room for excessive pride or ego when being in a client facing industry...

Todd...

A meeting of the minds is always the best way forward. If that doesn't happen, a situation like this turns into a war between neighbors. I've seen many a war in my lifetime. Once they start all is lost.

P.S. You do not want to know how I would handle a war :)

TLW...ROAR!

Tough one.  You need to get to the root of the problem.  Do not take it personally, but rather, think of this like a chess game, each move being carefully thought out.

Open a dialog and find out what the "real " issue is underlying their intransigence and work to resolve that to the benefit of both parties.  Create a win-win for eveyone.

It is amazing how many hats we wear as Realtors. In this case, you acted as a mediator between two neighbors. This just shows that professional Realtors will be creative to close the deal. Thanks for sharing this story with us.

I blogged about the wisdom of Solomon and the patience of Job yesterday, and it seems you and your client demonstrated both in this situation. It could have gotten very nasty. Hats off to you for handling this with a level head. The alternative could have been a prolonged listing and a very low selling price. Those neighbors need help! Imagine what they are teaching their children.

Todd:

This could have turned out much worse since there really is no law against being an obnoxious neighbor.  Your client handled this wonderfully by sitting down and talking it out with them. I am glad this worked out for you.

 

This is such a timely post for me.  I have a listing that has missed 3 buyers now because of the neighbor's barking dogs.  My client says they have NEVER heard the dogs before, until the home went on the market.  We are going to post some notices on the back doors stating, "Neighbors dogs are very protective of our family.  I'm sure they will be equally as protective of yours."  We're not sure what else to do.

did the seller tell them what color the paint needed to be.

the neighbor should have held out for a total makeover, maybe a pool?

just kidding

Todd, it looks like you handled it correctly. You were talking about the concept of economic obsolesence/ depreciation( where something outside of your property lines affects value ).

Todd, I'm amazed at how contentious some people can be.  Once they get angry, it's hard to get them to listen. I'm glad your situation worked out.  I truly believe that's how people should behave but it's not always reality.  Good luck to you.

Tim - It certainly wasn't something we expected since he was paying for everything, but it did all work out in the end.

Jane - I've tried that and usually backfires, but there are those rare cases it does work.

Kendall - There are days I wish I was on the lending side also, but then you got to deal with agents calling about the appriasal and the underwriters.

Ralph - That is exactly what the seller and I did and hoped they could be reasonable and once they heard more about why were doing it, the problem resolved itself.

Debe - I know it did, people were saying it was over priced prior to the clean up and afterwards they were saying it was priced right and putting offers in.

Melissa - I think we have all had that neighbor, this neighbor really wasn't that bad until we asked them to clean up the toys, mow the lawn and paint that side of the house then it got ugly.

Cameron - That was the worry that we weren't going to be able to do that. But, I'm glad they were willing to listen.

Mike - It did work out and I know I've had those transactions where it didn't, but this was one of the good ones! (Usually though it is between buyer and seller and not a neighbor)

Dan - Don't get me wrong, we did think about putting up electrical line on the other side of the fence for the next time he decided to relieve himeself it would be a little shocking.

Melissa - I love Silverton, it is one of my favorite cities as they are now a little bit bigger, but they are truly keeping it a small town feel with the local restaurants and early 1900 parking meters.

Charles - That certainly would not have worked here, because the seller was really the only one losing.

Roland - Hopefully one day I can turn the neighbor in to a client also, if they should ever wish to sell. (But, we will see)

Diane - It wasn't easy to bow my head and head over with the white flag, I have to admit I wanted to go over start a war. (Especially after the kid went pee on the fence)

Bob or Carolin - I was happy I got the house sold also.

Howard - I had that neighbor also, you can always tell when the city gives him a notice as his property is cleaned up completely for maybe a week before cars start showing up again.

Rob - Thank you, always trying to keep it real as showing my faults shows that I'm human.

Ricard - I'm glad it worked out in the end, because it certainly could have been very costly for my clients.

Debra - I am amazed, I'm not that great of a writer (LOL)

Missy - I felt so bad when I realized that we had offended them and I do admit it took me a couple days to come up with the solution and the guts to admit I was wrong and go next door with the owner.

Dick or Dixie - I would really like a dull, easy, quick transaction... I think it is about time!

Jim - I would let people insult me a lot more often if they came with gift cards. (LOL)

Richard - And it tasted like Vanilla Ice cream with Chocolate on top. (MMMMM)

Janice - I think most of us go out of our way not to offend, but this one just took a wrong turn, we thought they would be happy to accept free money to fix up their property.

Catherine - I don't mean to offend anyone, but I sometimes do a very good job of it. I guess this was one of those times!

TLW - I certainly wouldn't want to be on the other side of the fence from you in a war!

Dan - We didn't take it personally and because of that it worked out great in the end.

Harry - I certainly wasn't going to let him take a 10,000 hit on the value of his property because of the neighbor.

Millie - I think it was my rock from last weeks story that helped me realize their had to be a way to slay the problem that was bigger than both of us at the time.

Claudette - I'm not sure their should be a law, but then again, I could be the obnoxious neighbor...

Lina - Have the owner throw a bone over the back fence every time their is a showing. This should keep them quiet for the showing.

Jay - They already had a pool or we may have just offered it!

Michael - It really can despite what the law says about a neighbor and it not being an affect on the price.

Marian - I think they just mis-understood the situation and wanted to make the sale not happen. Why they wouldn't want to get a rid of a neighbor they now don't like makes no sense to me. But...

 

 

 

Todd, I am happy that everything worked out..the key words were that they were both "reasonable" people....not all are reasonable but glad it worked for you....

Todd - We had a neighbor like this and some folks are just oblivious to everyone around them and don't realize that they are impacting anyone or anything.  Your seller did an amazing job of smoothing out the situation, we tried to do the same thing - but with a different result.

Todd - Of course you handled it the best way possible.  You went and worked out the differences.  Unfortantly, the story doesn't always have a happy ending.  But trying to work it out is still the best approach!

Yes...diving right in is absolutely the way to do it.  I think that putting your head in the sand like an ostrich only exacerbates the obvious.  Needless to say, kudos to you for jumping right in and dealing with it head on!

Wow.  Sounds like there could have been other issues there to begin with.  The neighbor shouldn't want his home to look like that and if the seller made him mad,  you would think he would be more than willing to help with his sale to get him "off his back".  

Whoo hooo Todd! what a dicey situation. This was going from bad to worse. Kudos to you for solving the problem. Not sure what we would have done. May have thought talking to this guy would make even worse. Congratulations.

Great job and motivation to get the yard and house lookin good!  Keeping the neighborhood up will certainly impact buyers.  We would have done the same thing.  Congratulations!

Wow. Funny story yet good lessons to be learned from it. Level headed thinking prevailed on this one. Having said that, neighbors can be a tricky obstacle. I just don't understand how some able bodied people are so lazy that they don't care or bother to keep up with the responsibility of basic home maintenance. Is it any wonder so many people are willing to fork over large monthly homeowner association fees to avoid the ugly neighbor syndrome?

The best part is that it stayed out of court!

It's hard to believe at times how trivial things can get. But, this was overall a good solution. In many cases, there isn't such a happy ending.

Its so much harder to keep trying to communicate and negotiate - especially when you are mad and think you are in the right!  Too many times I've just clammed up and tried to ignore it - but of course wishing it away doesn't work.  Facing it head on and trying to really understand the other persons point of view and problem is always the best.  Would have found it shocking to think parents would manipulate their children to be involved in "getting back" at the neighbors!

The kid peeing was a nice touch... I had a clients kid pee on my listings driveway....he was 13 at the time!

In situations like this you have to handle it very delicately, and if you do offend, you have to revisit the matter and talk until the differences are ironed out and feelings healed. 

Great story and one we can all relate to.

My neighbor next to my rental property offered to repair my fence out of the goodness of their heart. I just happen to drop by when they were repairing it, and I thanked them profusely for their random act of kindness. My tenant had "fixing the fence" on his list of things to do, but just hadn't gotten to that task yet (he does some house maintenance in trade for discounted rent).

Next day a "For Sale" sign went up in my neighbor's yard. I was not offended that they didn't list with me, but I WAS offended that their Realtor (who I like a LOT) didn't just call me and say, "Lori, I'm listing the house south of your Florence Park house - do ya think you could get that fence repaired?"  I would have immediately repaired my fence.

The repair that my neighbor made lasted about a month - just long enough to get a contract. Now we have a better neighbor though.

Compromise and communication is certainly key. Glad your Seller and his neighbors were able to work it out!

No matter the outcome, you did the right thing. Try to work it out, don't ignore... In the least your conscience is clear.

I'm a big believer in not assuming one knows why someone does what they do...assumptions are almost always wrong! This was a great way to handle the disgreement and proves that just because one party makes the wrong choice at first about how to handle a perceived injustice, doesn't mean they won't listen if approached respectfully!

Reminds me of a listing I have right now where the neighbor approached the seller and asked if she could pay to have an eyesore of a storage shed removed from the sellers property before it was marketed. She knew it had been there when the seller originally bought but didn't want it there for the new buyer if at all possible as it was very visible from her own deck. My seller was fine with it and the neighbor paid to have it taken down and hauled off! Worked out well for all!

It's been a long time since I have been in this position. We had an eceentric next door to a listing that rarely mowed, never fixed up the house. He had inherited it from his mother with no mortgage. He refused to paint or mow and in the back it was 4 feet high. We finally complained to the city as a health hazard and he mowed. The interesting next thing is that he talked to the owner who complained and said he was sorry. The owner who was a general contractor offered to paint the house at the cost of materials if he paid. He did, and we sold.

Todd, Your seller was smart.  Sitting down and hashing out the dispute made it a win-win for everyone.  Perception causes all kinds of problems.  We need to put on the "other side's" shoes for a little walk to try and examine the problem from all sides.   

Todd:  I always apologize and do whatever it takes to make things right and cause people to feel whole again. I try not to "judge" the situation ... simply honor the feelings of others and resolve issues. It does take a willingness of all parties to reach resolve. 

Todd - I would have done the same thing. It's always best to be up front and just try to talk things out first. Glad the story had a happy ending for you and your client!

Todd - Unfortunately I think any neighbor would take offense.  I had a similar situation and the neighbor was equally offended, but he finally settled down and cleaned up.  I think it's very important to let the neighbor know upfront this isn't how the seller feels, but it's the feedback from potential buyers.

 

 

Todd - thankfully they were able to get together and talk it out rather than have it escalate, which I have seen happen. It's a shame the nieghbor took offense initially since it was a well-intentioned offering. Perhaps they jsut didn;t say enough at first to enable the neighbor to understand the true reasons behind what they were offering to do. I'd say it was pretty generous.

Jeff

Great case study Todd! It takes courage to speak the truth in the first place, and then it takes character and common sense to work through the issues. Touchy stuff, well done!

Todd - these situations can be very touchy.  I have had similar situations before and have been lucky to work most of them out.  I'm sure we have all had the situation where the seller will not say anything to the neighbor because they do not want to offend them and although we know it needs to be done for our seller's sake, they don't get it.  I find these situations even worse, because I end up with a listing that I hear the same feedback over and over again, with a seller unwilling to do anything.  We got the home sold, but it was on the market longer than it should have been. I'd like to hear what other agents do in this case?   

I couldn't believe the part about the kid and the fence. I'm glad to know that two level headed people were able to work this out. Sometimes it's good to sit down and solve the issues, others you need to walk away. 

This is a common problem.  I understand where the neighbors may have taken it personally.  Sounds like you dealt with it quite well.

Omigosh! I can't believe that they involved a child and talked him into going out and peeing on the fence. When adults have their differences, that's one thing but it really irks me when they involve the kids. Glad to see you resolved the problem. I tend to be much more afraid of confrontation...

Todd, As a middle child I always prided myself as the peace maker in my family. This badge has come in handy as a Realtor as well. Great post, and good point for others to understand there is a solution to every conflict but first it requires communication.

I agree that you have to confront the issue and make amends.  It will pay off two-fold.

Patricia/Seacoast NH

Great story, Todd. It is so easy to offend someone without it being your intention. I know because I seem to do it quite well. ;-) We can all learn a lesson from this post and maybe even reduce our road rage. great post.

Todd

I wish I could have seen that conversation. Maybe I am too straight forward, but if it takes getting the neighbors house cleaned up to sell then it takes some measures along with it.

What a way to handle it!  I'm glad you were able to get this peacefully resolved and I'm sure that kid is glad to be able to pee in the warmth of his own bathroom now!

it's amazing the things that turn ugly.  One of the joys of homeownership is you can basically do what you want or don't want to do with your house.  Unfortunately for the rest of us, some take the right to not do anything a bit too far. 

I think you handled this situation in the best way possible.  People are usually a lot less hostile and agressive when they are face to face with the offended or offending party.

Peeing on the fence????  Seriously???  That is too wacky to not be funny.  I like the olive branch approach, I find that taking the high ground in a situation often allows people to solve a problem or misunderstanding and avoid a pissing match...no pun intended!  lol!

This really could have turned out to be ugly. Especially if it moved from little kid peeing to Big Daddy peeing! (Sorry, that made me laugh).

You did a great job of mediating this situation from becoming something much bigger. What a nice gift the sellers gave their neighbors prior to moving out! Hopefully they will appreciate it so much they will continue to maintain the beauty!

Another meaning to "How Realtors Help.ca" great story thanks for sharing. Have a great day.

very good story.  I like the way you handled it.  I hope if I have the same situation I can handle it as well.

It's too bad we can't select the neighbours. Good job with the neighbour.

It's too bad we can't select the neighbours. Good job with the neighbour.

Come one!  Did you embellish this a tiny bit for the sake of good reading?  Because it was good reading...  I just can't believe that anybody would have their child commit a crime-- public urination.

I mean, I can believe it of course.  People are bizarre.  But it's just hard so hard to comprehend!

Todd, what an incredible life lesson.  I tend to back off when things go south like this situation.  What a great life lesson.  Thanks for the good read.

I think that the best thing to do is face the music and resolve the situation calmly. Try to walk in someone else's shoes. While I'm sure your seller is well-intentioned, his offer seemed a little bit over the top in my opinion (almost like if someone gave me a gift so gracious that it would be awkward to accept).

Glad to hear it got worked out. But, the kid peeing outside. Wow! that is taking it up a level.

Todd - I cant believe the neighbor actually sent out his kid to the yard to pee... what kind of person does that? Sure, it worked out great and thats the morale of the story.. but come on...

Nice post & good lesson if/when things turn sour.  (The kid thing is an entirely different issue.)  Thankfully I've had positive response when sellers are sprucing up to sell.  It affects everyone's property value, so really it's win-win.  Typically my sellers help with costs with cleaning up the neighbor's yard, and when communications and intentions are clear, it makes good sense.

It's a good thing you had intelligent and reasonable people who sat down and did the right thing.  This could have gotten real ugly.  Good lesson learned here by all.

Good job taking the bull by the horns.  It takes someone being level headed to even suggest that they try and work it out.  Associations at times can be a good way to stop neighbors like this. If there was an HOA, you can always go to them for support. 

Great story Todd that shows what can happen when people are reasonable.  I wish that more people would give this type of solution a try before they call a lawyer - you never know what will happen! 

Meanwhile, talk about offending, my parents once received a postcard from an agent who would be taking arial pictures of their subdivision.  She asked that no cars/boats etc. be left in driveways and that all lawns be trimmed and all landscaping picked up etc. While I'm sure that her intent was to make sure that the best pictures were taken she ended up with neighbors scheming about how much it would cost to rent 50 port a potties for the day. 

I'm not sure that she will ever get her investmant back on those photos.

This is a PRIME example of how to get someone to read a post...just based off of Subject/Title.

I laughed so hard while I was scanning the page, I couldn't resist.

Difficult one. I am glad you got it worked out. We had that problem, so I planted a 3 fast growing trees to block them.

Todd - no kidding. It is great when both parties can come to terms. That reminds me of similar story but the neighbors both were selling and the wifes were screaming at each other in the front yards. Our listing sold first - LOL. ~Rita

Todd - what a great happy ending to the story!

Todd- How fortunate you were to have two level headed people to sit down and talk over their differences!  Glad you were able to get it worked out with a successful outcome for your seller.

Todd, you were lucky that you turned out to be their great negotiating middle man or a war would have started.  Kid with the fence is just bad all around! No class. Goes to show you what you 'assumed' about the neighbors didn't turn out to be true at all. Misconceived by both parties. Glad you used that buyers feedback excuse!  I have one like that right now where the neighbor is a disaster and I know that it's making a bad impression.

OMG. What a great timing for your Blog. I have to stage this home in north Seattle next week and the neighbor's yard is going to be a huge distraction and it'll kill my client's curb appeal. I'll forward your bolg to my client, before she goes over to her neighbors for the "chat". Thanks Todd. 

Todd, glad this had a happy ending. I just read another post about a problem with neighbors....can get very ugly.

GREAT ending to the story, but ouch on that first part.... It can be a touchy subject and it is amazing how different people consider levels of yard maintanance....

We have Code Enforcement here in Sacramento, CA.  A neighbor can call and report unsightly or unsafe situations ANONYMOUSLY.  This way, there is no retaliation and one can sleep safely at night.

Interesting though, you can report unsightliness but if you complain about a non-stop barking dog you MUST reveal your name.  Great, then you can have a positive relationship with your neighbor, NOT!

Property value is better protected when neighbors EACH take care of their own home.

 

Lina Robertson (comment #30) had a good idea about posting a sign regarding barking dogs. 

I usually bring up the obvious, as recommended by Tom Hopkins.  He had a property listed near a train track.  He booked showings which coordinate with the time the train would pass.  He pointed out how little the noise impacted the overall sound in the house.  He had no problem selling it because it was not as bad as people could have imagined. 

Regarding the barking dogs, I tell prospective buyers - you get the protection without having to clean up land mines or dealing with fleas.  Man's best friend sometimes lives at your neighbor's house.

A good friend of mine is a psychiatrist at a prison.  He says the inmates say a barking dog is a very good deterrent.

You be surprised how far a little chat and negotiations over the back fence will get you.  

This reminds me of something that happened to me 30 years ago - haven't thought about it in a while but it still makes me laugh.

My wife and I moved into our first home, which was on a corner of a T-Junction.  Ours was a new home so we had to install a mailbox and post. The house across the street had been there for many years.

I put the post in, attached the mailbox and someone suggested that we should paint the new post with Rustoleum.  So we did.

My wife, then, deciding to be a nice new neighbor, painted the rusty old mailbox of the people who lived across the other side of the street.  She also went and bought new letters with their name and applied them on the newly painted mailbox.

It seems that our neighbors were renters and they did not use that mailbox since it was only a temporary address for them - they had a PO box.  It also seems that the previous tenant of this house had been evicted (and arrested) for dealing drugs about a year ealier.

The local police saw the newly painted mailbox with the old tenant's name freshly applied and assumed that the drug dealers had come back. So they decided to get a search warrant and ransack the house.

Needless to say when the whole thing got figured out, we did not have a friendly relationship with the neighbors.

 

Yes, talking about the issue(s) does wonders towards resolving them.  Screwball neighbor anyways though.  Lucky to get through to them.

Todd I loved reading this post.  Life is just too funny sometimes.  Your seller did absolutely the right thing.  I would have done the same thing to get my house sold.  Sometimes we just have to eat a little crow.

What a GREAT post this is - so many issues can be resolved when people just sit down and talk to each other!  Thanks for the reminder Todd!

Todd - You offend me almost every day and I never get an apology! lol.

As usual, you have given me something to think about on this rainy day. Keep it up!

Evening Todd,  Not surprised that the neighbor was offended.  You are lucky that they decided to be adults about the whole thing !

Todd, I like that in this story reasonable people talked. It is always good to work on the talking first before all that court stuff, and look what happened? Resolution.

Todd,

Good to hear that you and the seller found a way to solve this issue. Obviously the first act did more harm than good. Good lesson for all readers.

Hi Todd. It depends how the person reacts. ~ Lana

Pretty funny really   - fine line between trying to help and insulting someone - We do our best to stay on the right side, but it doesn't always work, does it?

Todd -- you absolutely handled it beautifully.  The best solution is to get the estranged or embattled parties talking with an impartial mediator, if possible, before taking legal action. 

That is priceless...  Peeing on the fence.  Great stuff...  I can't wait for that to happen to me.  And it is generally better to be up-front without being in their face...

That could have been really ugly!  I had to talk to a seller about a neighbor's car that was on blocks.  The seller talked to him saying it was drawing a lot of attention. Turns out the neighbor figured he's make lemonade out of lemons and put a For Sale sign on the car.  Both eventually sold...go figure.

These folks were very lucky as most neighbors can get very spiteful

TWO level heads - Great for you! :-)

Thanks for sharing the story. I'm sure we all run into these situations from time to time. Good lesson to remember.

What a great lesson for all to learn here.  Sitting down and having a reasonable discussion goes a long way.  (of course, you need 2 reasonable people).  Can't believe the guy sent his little boy out to do his business on the fence.  I would have fell down laughing.

What a great lesson for all to learn here.  Sitting down and having a reasonable discussion goes a long way.  (of course, you need 2 reasonable people).  Can't believe the guy sent his little boy out to do his business on the fence.  I would have fell down laughing.

What a great lesson for all to learn here.  Sitting down and having a reasonable discussion goes a long way.  (of course, you need 2 reasonable people).  Can't believe the guy sent his little boy out to do his business on the fence.  I would have fell down laughing.

That is so funny!  Why do neighbors have to get in pissing matches?  Why can't we all just get along?

What a great lesson for all to learn here.  Sitting down and having a reasonable discussion goes a long way.  (of course, you need 2 reasonable people).  Can't believe the guy sent his little boy out to do his business on the fence.  I would have fell down laughing.

Todd, this is a great story and illustrates that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Fortunately, you had a level-headed Seller.

Such great advice too bad our ego's get in the way of good common sense.

Sometimes I just want to let go and round up all the teenagers in the neighborhood, give them a few cases of TP from Costco and let them go for it.

But.......we know the bad neighbors will never pick it up, so it remains my problem the next day.

Todd, way to take what could have been a bad situation and work it out professionally!

Todd - it's unfortunate that they took your gesture wrong but it's good that you were able to talk things out instead of using litigation. Communication is an amazing thing when you use it :) Thanks for the post.

I think it makes sense to sit down and understand where both parties are coming from and then try to come to some resolution.

The child and the fence . . . priceless.

That happened to me once.  I thought my neighbor was being nice, he always cut my front lawn, he always cut it in the afternoon, I prefer to mow in the evening.  It takes him 15 minutes to do, I can knock it out in 5 minutes. 

So oneday he was behind schedule and I wanted to get done early so I decided I would mow both lawns.  He heard that mower start and ran outside and asked me to not do it.  I asked what the problem was and he informed me that I really had no idea how to mow, my back yard was very apperant.  I cut it to short, an a zig-zag, what ever fashion, and it made every other lawn look bad. 

A lesser man would have been offended, but a lawn man I am not, I admit it.  I practically run with the mower to get it done.  I complied with his wishes and he takes care of the front yards. 

Funny story! This could've resulted in such an awful outcome.  I think the key was an expeditious, polite, active listening conversation that resulted in everyone getting what they needed. Kudos to you!

Great example of how proper communication can make things happen...

I'm very impressed with how you handled this. If I were the seller, I don't know that I could have been so gracious. Well done!

WoW, you need to pat yourself on the back... Job well done! OMG, kids peeing on the fence is just really too much, that would turn off every buyer no matter how much they liked the home! Congrats on a great solution to a big hindrance to getting that house sold and it could have turned the complete opposite direction without the intervention. Also a great solution for people to work together!

Hi Todd, how fortunate that everybody behaved like rational adults, ate the obligatory crow, and got the problem resolved. I do not believe I have had a similar situation, and I hope I can display the same degree of professionalism should the occasion every arise. Thanks for sharing.

Wow, looks like you resolved that situation nicely.  It had a potential to be disastrous, but encouraging people to talk is always the best idea.  Nice job!

Todd,

Well you pulled it out of the fire.  However, I can't believe you didn't think the neighbor would have been offended with your first offer.  You should have iced that cake better and it would have gone down easier.

I want to commend each and every one who commented on the post. You all seem to agree on talking it over and being level headed.

Now....when we want to have a dialog with other countries leaders to work out our differences....it should be the same thing. Maybe have a beer in the back yard with a couple of fueding parties to work it out.

A new slogan, beer before bombs ......????

As a stager, many times I have gone to assess a property, only to look out a window at a neighbor's derelict property. Sometimes (although doesn't sound like it in your case) it is just because the sellers view is looking on an area the neighbor doesn't really see & sort of forgets about, like a side yard where they keep trash cans and so on. I always ask if they might be able to talk to the neighbor, but most people feel that they can't. So, my usual solutions are to either put sheer drapes on the windows facing that view, so you can let light in, but the sheers stop the eye from really looking at the view, or if the seller has mini-blinds, we leave them just partially tilted inside edge down. That lets light in from above, but you can't see the downward view. In one extreme case, I advised the seller to build a wood fence to completely block the view of the next house. They took my advice. Of course that left them without the funds to stage. I do think I'm a great stager, but nothing I could have done would have made up for the ghastly view. It was the right thing to do.

Great Title!  Great article.  I will take the lesson.

I hope this helps!

Tony

Great Title!  Great article.  I will take the lesson.

I hope this helps!

Tony

I love this story!  It goes to show what REASONABLE people can do to solve a problem!

Huh, it never occured to me it could backfire that way, I would have assumed it was a money issue as well.  Always best to be careful!

Todd - I love it ! You really are a salesman! Masterfully done. This post is why you have so many subscribers.

This was a good story. I enjoyed the scenarios. Anyway in the end it was handled properly. Cost the seller a bit of money, but the neighbor benefited from it in the end.

Todd- I'm so glad your client had a level headed neighbor who wanted to work things out...not to mention a great Realtor to diffuse the situation.  I have a similar listing right now where the "neighbor" isn't as level headed.   Go figure.  :o)  However, I'm very optimistic things will work out.  Thanks for sharing your story. 

Seems to me that what you started with was an ugly home in your clients neighborhood. There were some choices made that caused a small war. In asking the neighbor to "Ice The Cake" you were trying to paint a picture of that neighbor that wasn't real, and they didn't take the request well.

It is admirable that you found a way to fix the "problem" but I would have opted out of creating the problem in the first place. The quickie spruce on the neighbors house might have gotten your seller a couple more dollars today, but in six months from now, if the new buyer asks if you all knew that their next door neighbor was a pig, what are you going to say?

Not trying to be the party pooper here but after almost 19 years in this bizz you learn that putting out fires that you started in the first place can get exhausting and expensive...just sayin'

Nice Todd!  Great way to handle it and a good reminder on how to handle things professional.

Very touchy situation.  That is even harder than explaining to the seller what is wrong with the house.

Too funny!!  I think the best way to handle it would be just what you all did, though I think at the very beginning if the communication had been better, there wouldn't have been a problem in the first place.  I'm betting that 95% of problems in this job stem from miscommunication.  Glad it worked out! 

 

 

PS - I can not believe the kid peed on the fence but moreover, I can't believe the parents condoned it!!  YIKES!!!!

The most creative was the kid at the fence. What a (no so) subtle message. Seriously, glad it worked out.

In my neck of the woods a person could build a career out of having these little chats with neighbors. Hummm...maybe I could expand my business!! lol Reminds me of the house I had for sale that was next to an auto body shop. Every time I showed the house they moved their work outside and sanded on metal till we were done. It was so obvious they didn't want someone to buy the house because the owner had refused to sell them the lot in front of his house to them. So one day I decided enough was enough. I walked over to the auto body shop and offered to help the owner there to buy the house and property so he could split out the land. I told him after he got the land he wanted I wood be glad to list and market the house till it sold. He was so kind to me that day. Even though he was not able to buy the house and land he never made any more noise when I showed the house.

Todd

One of the first things I learned in this business is to set your ego aside and take it out of the deal. I can't tell you how many deals I have witnessed that have 'gone south' due to an agent's ego. Good job!

Hi, Todd. Congratulations on the feature....lotta comments! Were you able to use this lesson in your home schooling as well?

It was horrible for the seller to offer that as though the buyers were on welfare without first going to understand the situation and explain his position. We had our neighbors offer to paint our house a couple of years ago so their's could sell. We had taken the siding down and it looked bad. But they offered in an email of how they were coming over in two days to paint at no charge to help us out. We were extremely insulted to say the least. If their agent was honest and just told them their house was overpriced that would have been step one. If they knew how to market, they would have said how the neighbors (us) just finished a major expansion, renovation and are picking colors to figure out what color to paint in the spring so look how well people love this area. But, no, they came to us as though we needed a handout. Assuming this as fact, always starts things on the wrong foot, regardless of how well intentioned it is. Be careful of assumptions. You know what they say, it can make an ...

Sometimes it doesn't matter what you say.... once you let the cat out out the bag.  I would simply ask the how they would feel buying a car from a car lot where all the other cars looked like junkers.... perhaps he feel your listing is looking better next to his "clunker"

Best of luck!

Sometimes it doesn't matter what you say.... once you let the cat out out the bag.  I would simply ask the how they would feel buying a car from a car lot where all the other cars looked like junkers.... perhaps he feel your listing is looking better next to his "clunker"

Best of luck!

Nothing like looking a gifthorse in the mouth!......i'd say "when can you start???":)

I love that story! I am so glad that they hammered it out and you got the sale!

Todd,

You handled it with the care that was needed.   I totally understand what your clients were offering and how it might have been taken in offense, sitting down and discussing the problem was the correct solution to the problem.  Congrats.

Wow!  The homeowner had every reason to be concerned that his neighbor's actions were impacting the marketability of his home for sale.  Before offering to clean up the yard (because that does sound like an insult to me), I would have had the two parties sit down and discuss how great it's been living next to each other, but hey, buy the way, could you do me a favor and help me out by keeping the kids' toys out of the yard, etc because I don't want your new neighbor to get the wrong impression...

Boy, this one took on a mind of its own didn't it. Thank you everyone for the kind comments and I'm sure the seller is pretty happy being out from under the property now also. I will respond to everyone, but you are going to have to give me some time, because business is good and don't have a lot of time to respond to this many comments all at this time.

Darryl - I'm not sure they were reasonable at first, but I think in the end it worked out very nicely.

Debbie - I keep hearing that we got lucky with the different result. I wish people could be more reasonable in life as one day it maybe them in the sellers position.

Bob - I'm glad it did in this case, I do have to admit seeing the kid peeing in the yard wasn't looking good for it working out, but we didn't mention that one in our sit down meeting.

Larry - But having your head in the sand keeps it out of the sun also and makes sure you don't get a sunburn. (LOL)

Hey Todd, when I'm ready to sell my own home, I think I'll have you come and talk to my next door neighbors!

Sounds like a small mistep in the beginning didn't completely derail things because you clients were level-headed about things.  Sometimes the best way to present negative information is to be the messenger rather than the originator of message.  Letting the neighbors know that feedback from potential buyers and other agents was the cause of concern would soften the blow every time. I think alot of us use this strategy for getting price reductions on our listings as well.

Wow Todd. That one could have gone either way. Glad that it worked out well

Todd, I commend your seller!  How many seller who even offer to pay for it?

Congrats on that one!!!

DeeDee Riley

Some time before, I did need to buy a good house for my business but I didn't earn enough money and couldn't buy something. Thank God my fellow proposed to try to take the credit loans at banks. Thus, I did that and used to be satisfied with my term loan.