Love's Real Stories

You may be able to ignore the knee-high grass in your neighbor’s yard, but a home appraiser probably won’t.

When calculating the value of a property, an appraiser factors in surrounding neighborhood conditions. Neighborhood nuisances like an overgrown yard or a persistent odor could in some cases bring down the value of adjacent homes by 5 to 10 percent, said Richard L. Borges II, the president of the Appraisal Institute.

What you call a bad neighbor, the appraisal industry calls “external obsolescence.”

Some problems are not always apparent, like a nasty but quiet neighbor, and you can kind of get away with them. But the obvious stuff, like a yard full of rusty cars next door, or the old motorhome parked across the street with weeds growing around the flat tires might be enough to bring down your appraisal value.

Of course, the perception of what’s unsightly varies by neighborhood. The rusty cars are more likely to be considered a problem in residential neighborhoods than out in the country where we consider rusty cars part of the landscape. It’s possible that even a roof covered with large solar panels might be considered obtrusive in some areas, Mr. Borges said, though the impact on nearby homes would be far less negative than if the property was run-down.

“It’s very much case by case,” he added. “This is why the appraiser should be geographically competent, with knowledge of how significant the external factors are in that particular market segment and on that particular property.”

Not all nuisances noticed by an appraiser are measurable, either. “I’ve never seen a location adjustment because of barking dogs or loud teenagers,” said one certified appraiser. The appraiser has to be able to provide some sort of evidence for that adjustment. “The lender requires that we provide them with a comparable property with a similar external obsolescence.”

The external factors that appraisers deal with most frequently have to do with proximity to infrastructure — power lines, commuter rails, highways. But over the last five years, he said, “the ‘bad neighbors’ have tended to be lenders or government agencies that have foreclosed on a property but haven’t maintained it that well.”

What a neighbor thinks is a nuisance may be perfectly legal. Mr. Borges gives the example of a homeowner in a subdivision, who upset the neighbors by building an over-sized extra-long garage for his R.V., but had the necessary permits, as it turned out.

Condos are easier. Bylaws usually restrict the things that are the common neighborhood problems, and the homeowner’s association will enforce the rules so you can avoid confrontation.

Neighborhood nuisances may potentially be solved with help from the local authorities. If those rusty cars aren’t registered, or if chickens and horses are a zoning violation, a phone call might end the problem.

The question of how to deal with confrontation can only be answered case-by-case. A code enforcement officer gives this advice: “Some people aren’t worth starting a fight with. If you start it, they’ll never let it die. On the other hand, we usually do a pretty good job of mediating a situation when it’s needed. We are happy to discuss a situation privately before making it official. Sometimes it’s better if we don’t go out, and neighbors can work things out in a friendly way.”

My grandmother would say, “Make ‘em a pie, and go visit ‘em. That’s how you get a good neighbor.”