|
the note I put on people's mailboxes today
did it make a difference? not so far, some people even took it and left their cars in the street :( They want to completely blame the real estate bubble for their values dropping but if out of 100 potential buyers, 10 cross off this neighborhood because people left their portable basketball courts out, their trash cans out, and cars everywhere then the prices will drop exponentially further than they need to, to get houses sold. They'll be the first to yell at their neighbor but wont take care of their own community. Makes me so frustrated.
Quote:
|
IMHO i'd find that pretty annoying and preachy and probably leave it crumpled up and littered on the road (unless I knew where it come from then i'd throw it on that person's lawn), no matter how much truth there is in it.
i'd be like "stop trying to tell me how to run my own life and go f*ck yourself" but that's just my opinion |
dola
I understand and appreciate what you're trying to do...that just seems like...idk...the most obnoxious way to go about it |
Good idea, but hopefully you were able to spell check and proof read it for grammatical errors.
|
I think it was well written and agree with everything you wrote.
The sad thing is, about 10% will probably read it. |
I would put the following on your mailbox in return:
A copy of your "tips" followed by: If you ever fail at any of these things even once, I'm shitting in your mailbox. |
well the best part is most people think these things but refuse to or dont say them. Im just saying what most people think, Ill bet I get some "amens" too.
|
Quote:
better or worse than in my shoes? |
Depends on whether I had gotten permission first, I guess.
|
Quote:
I'd say... go for it... I have 3 dogs. ;) |
I agree with most above, a flyer like that would make me want to do the opposite just out of spite.
|
I agree with DT, I see what you are trying to do but my opinoion would be "If I wanted his advice I would ask him"
And if any of my neighbors suggested I should mow or water my lawn I would probably be pretty miffed |
Quote:
Yeah....I'd read up until the "park in the garage or driveway", and then I'd wonder if this was a neighbor or a fucking meter maid. Don't expect to get invited to any block parties anytime soon..people would be afraid you'd start carding everyone. |
Quote:
well than you couldnt be mad when your appraisal on your Refi shows up 50K less than what you hoped....which is inevitably the next complaint I hear, "I cant believe my home is only worth $X". You should see this one home where they park their cars in the cul-de-sac like a parking lot, you cant even make a circle. with your car. |
I also agree with DT. Mind your own business, keep your mouth shut, and never rat out your friends. Nobody's going to read it and the people who do won't care one bit what some schmoe down the street thinks.
|
It depends on the situation I think. I don't own a house or anything, but if you guys have some kind of neighbourhood meetings and talk about the dropping value, or regularly talk to neighbours and the majority complain about the dropping value... I would've brought up the idea of making a list like this to hand out. Judge their reaction from that. If they were open to it, great then do it.
If this was just out of the blue and I got something like this in my mailbox, I wouldn't pay attention to it. |
Quote:
yeah but who the hell are you to tell them where they should and shouldn't park their cars? I think a better tactic would have been invite people over to discuss how to make the neighborhood more appealing. |
Quote:
Wow, I couldnt disagree more and think that many of our neighborhood's (all those that have problems) stem from attitudes like these. In the community I live in these things are an epidemic. I watched someone drive right next to a kid on the bike and when he fell over the car kept right on going. I thought that that was awful on so many levels it prompted this reaction. |
One day our whole neighborhood had bags on their mailboxes. Written right on the bags?
"Please do not put on mailboxes." plus more about how its not legal, bla bla bla. But our 'hood of 200+ houses had 'em. Needless to say, that bag went right into the garbage, even if it was a donation bag, I don't care. |
Quote:
actually.... in this neighborhood, Im the sales agent, the person they come to for appraisals, the person they complain to about the neighborhood, the person they turn to for news about the neighborhood and surrounding area, and I live here too SO I dont believe that there is anyone more qualified to do this for this community. that may not be the case for all communities but considering I spend all of my work and home hours here I think Im the expert on XXXX. the funny part is I was talking to a resident who is completely in agreement and I realized that the people who do this stuff aren't going to listen anyways and the people who dont will say "Amen." so it probably wont do any good cuz the neredowells wont care what their home is worth....until they try to sell it, that is. oh, and they wont care if a home gets broken into or their kid is run off the road....until it happens to them, that is. eh, whatever. I did it anyways and I think I did the right thing. |
Quote:
Look, the bottom line is that it comes off as too high and mighty. I'm better than you, this is the way I do it, and so should you. You don't think that your letter might come off that way to some people? I know you mean well, but I agree with Lathum's suggestion of talking to people about effective ways to improve the neighborhood. |
Quote:
Right, if they come to you and ASK you you are by all means the most quailified but to just distribute your advice unsolicited, I dunno, I would think that person was being a jackass, Again, not a personal attack on you, just my opinion if one of my neighbors did that to me |
Quote:
you make a good point but.... this neighborhood has no meetings, ever. |
Quote:
...actually these are the covenants and restrictions to the community, some people just choose not to follow them. They actually signed a contract to follow them, perhaps they didnt read the contract. Many people in another thread called people idiots who dont read and follow contracts but it happens so I suppose that could be it. Ill bet on a lack of care though. |
Is half the neighborhood for sale or something? Or is it likely to be in short order (I ask since that seemed to be the way this was approached initially)
By & large though, my initial reaction would pretty much be what DT described. And I'd give serious consideration to shitting in your mailbox at some point. I'm assuming that this would be a neighborhood with covenants/HOA rules or something that deals with at least some of those things (local city/county ordinance maybe). If so, then they should be dealt with through whatever mechanisms those establish. If not, then a lot of this falls in the category of MYOB. In any event, if I wanted your opinion I would have asked you for it. And until I do, pour yourself a nice steaming cup of STFU. edit to add: Obviously you were posting while I was typing, since you cleared up some of the covenants thing. I guess that leaves me with the question of "are you the proscribed mechanism for handling covenant violations"? If not, then I would consider this out of line and would have a pretty serious problem with you. Good thing we don't live in the same neighborhood, huh? ;) |
Sounds like the property values may currently be higher than they deserve to be. You may be trying to artificially raise the values higher than the current residents can support.
|
Quote:
thanks. |
Quote:
I think this might be only the 2nd time we've ever agreed on anything. Let's not go making a habit of it hmm? |
Quote:
I don't think we have to worry about that ;) Then again, we agree on not wanting it to be a habit so ... :eek: |
Quote:
is it your job to enforce these rules? |
Quote:
dammit! |
This is exactly the reason that Telle and I refused to buy a home that required joining a HOA.
No uptight windbag with a manicured lawn and prestenciled parking spaces out front is going to drop this trip into my mailbox. Not without getting my foot up their ass that is. Its one thing to complain about housing value, its another to knowingly do things that detract from it, but it is their right to do so without someone sticking uppity schmuck letters in their mailbox unrequested "suggesting" that they do otherwise. Its not your place to tell people how to live day to day. |
Quote:
+1 Although I'm generally pro-zoning in the broad sense, my experiences with amateurs trying to manage property (or much of anything else) is pretty much exclusively bad. To the extent that I'd be pretty hard pressed to decide whether I think the Holiday Inn Express guy could do a better job of emergency brain surgery or the average homeowner could develop & implement rational rules governing anyone else's property. This is such an issue for me that it was one of the most researched things about the house that we're in now. Technically speaking there is a HOA but is strictly voluntary on the <$50 annual dues, it has zero enforcement power, has zero rule making authority and exists for the narrowly defined purpose of maintaining the flowers & landscaping on the area where the small entrance-to-the- neighborhood sign sits. The only other covenant that applies to any of the property in the neighborhood requires that all homes include a garage that does not open toward the front of the house. That's a HOA I can live with. |
I agree that what you wrote is correct, and yeah, by coming to you for advice they kind of put that leadership hat on you, but all I could think of after I read it was the lady in that animated movie "Over the Hedge", when she calls someone and says "our HOA says that your grass shouldn't be higher than 1.5 inches, and today I measured it at 2 inches...". Sure, she is right, but it wasn't the best way to convey the message.
|
Quote:
Aren't there ways to enforce the covenants in the HOA rules? I'm guessing a note on people's cars isn't one of them, and people will throw this thing away. Put me in the JiMG/DT camp. |
to answer some questions:
- enforcement by the HOA and most HOA's is minimal. It is a Felony to apply a "false Lien" so most property managers weigh on the side of caution (because they can be sued personally) and do nothing. - I felt in the above I was giving examples that weren't even of the extremes but were the more mundane and feel anyone pissed is probably doing this stuff. They wont care until it happens to them. Then they'll raise the roof. - In this community 15% are for sale not including the builders. - Parking in the street, like i pointed out is an epidemic which is exacerbated by the narrowness of the street. There are sections that you need a traffic person to stop the flow on the other end so your direction can make it through all of the way. Some cul-de-sacs are literal parking lots. - The neighborhood is filled with children. Almost every home has at least 1. - People are continually complaining to eachother and me about the above regarding the cars, basketball goals, trashcans by the street or left in front of the home all week, etc. - I witnessed the driving thing myself which was the most awful thing of all of the above. - I continually am trying to explain things to appraisers so as to help people's value be kept from being lowered. I guess I could do the opposite and help people's values go into the toilet. - They signed the agreement to follow the covenants and bitch when others dont yet they do this themselves. -Finally, at the end of the day it made no difference at all and there are cars and kids everywhere and the cars are flying through the zig zags of parked cars. Oh well, when they bitch to me Ill continually tell them their houses are worth less and less. They'll be pissed about that too. |
Quote:
I dont know of any other way as we have no meeting(s). It's do something or do nothing. I chose to do something, and later they will continue to gripe that they're values suck. Would you want to buy in any community that welcomed you with cars in the road that you have to zig zag around? Probably not, so they'll lower those prices so you'll not think about it. |
Quote:
I also wouldn't buy in a community where a self righteous neighbor tried to tell me how to live my life. And you'll continue to have no meetings until someone takes the initiave to call one. |
As long as you signed it with your name, I really don't have much of a problem with anything you wrote. If it was anonymous, then i'd throw it in the trash.
|
Quote:
You'll have lower prices due to this anyway, so I can see where you're coming from in regards to the cars and other things. |
Quote:
Take initiative? Ill refer you back to your earlier comments (and many others, sorry), no offense. Thats what I did IMO. |
Amateur.
You completely overlooked asking your neighbors to turn their Wi-Fi off due to health reasons. :rolleyes: |
Quote:
it was anonymous but that wasn't a big deal to me as I was talking to some people while handing them out. I just didnt think about adding a name or anything like that. I completely stand behind every bit of it so if someone were to ask, I'd proudly say it was me....I guess I shouldve added my name. It may have held more or less weight I dunno, I didnt think about it. |
Man, I hate that shit. Usually when I see somebody drive by and try to put shit on/in my mailbox driveway, I throw something at them. You want to get your message out, rent a soapbox and stand in the middle of the street and let people choose whether they want your message.
I even have people in my neighborhood drive down my driveway and knock on my backdoor to tell me they can a) sell my house for loads, or b) trim my branches, etc. |
Quote:
I;m not saying you didn't. I just think you would get a far more positive response by suggesting your neighbors meet to discuss the community as opposed to distibuting unwanted advice through mass distrabution. |
Quote:
TBH, Im not sure ANYTHING will change in this community no matter what. I tried and did what I thought was best. I will continue to give kids extra room in the street and try to help people re-finance their homes, but when they start bitching about it, Ill ask them what they did about it. |
I wonder how many trees had to die in order for people to ignore Flasch's note
|
In our neighborhood and community, anyone posting flyers on cars or on the doors of homes is a violation of a civic statute that restricts solicitation--with the exception of church groups, school fundraisers, and Girl Scouts (gotta love those cookies)--and anyone soliciting homes on the do not solicit list can be escorted out of town and fined.
So, just as an addition to this thread, another way to increase the value of your home is to protect your privacy and use law enforcement to escort flyer stuffers out of town. ;) |
Quote:
I think you are missing the obvious solution here. If the rest of the community is below your standards, maybe it is time to look for a better community. |
Quote:
it was on their mailbox, I am not selling anything but I guess it is loosely under the solicit definition, and am a resident subject to the same C&R so I think that legally It'll be alright. Luckily, in this community I was "right" to do what I did. Like most have stated, I doubt it will do any good though. |
| All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:45 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin Version 3.6.0
Copyright ©2000 - 2026, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.