I realized it's been a while since I updated everyone on the neighbor drama.
Basically, the husband and I have partially given up our fight - at least along one boundary. We're ceding the side of the yard to the neighbor, but we're putting up a big, ugly wooden fence just like he didn't want. We went to home depot and got the cheapy panels and the hubby put them up in one afternoon. They look like hell on his side, but we moved our bushes that he threatened to take out and put them in front of the panels on our side, so it's actually not bad. They do serve the purpose of blocking the view of him and his backyard out, so that's a plus. I wish they were taller - the 6 foot height doesn't do much to block a 2-story building. Oh well, such is life I guess. We're planning to do a lattice-work structure with climbing plants like something my husband saw online as well to help further block the view and add some additional growing space for flowers.
Now, he's onto this kick in the back. The difference between our surveyors was 22 feet and somehow he has decided to be "generous" and compromise at 6 feet - as in we can have 6 of the 22 disputed feet. Um... no. A genuine compromise is 11 feet - not 6 and since he didn't compromise at all on the side nearest our house, I don't feel inclined to give him any additional feet on boundary nearest his house. We could pursue all 22 feet and have the boundary be really near his back deck, but I'm not that big of a jerk - too bad that isn't a mutual trait between us. He sees nothing wrong with taking land as close to our windows and deck as possible, but he wants us to basically give up our land nearest his windows and deck. How does that even make sense? It doesn't. I guess it's a character flaw of his - he only sees things from one side. His. He doesn't see how being kind in this situation would have potentially worked in his favor. Oh well.
So, that's the update. The neighbor is still being a complete jerk. We lost land on the side, but I don't intend to lose any more if I can help it. I asked our surveyor for another estimate to mark the corners and find a landmark that is buried, but I haven't heard back from him yet.
Showing posts with label that neighbor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label that neighbor. Show all posts
Friday, October 25, 2013
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Ranting About The Neighbor From Hell
I need to get something off my chest. I hope my neighbor-to-be flies away for the winter and decides that my neighborhood is just not the place for him. Then he can sell his McMansion and a nice family with some kids can move in next door. Maybe a family that isn't crazy. Wouldn't that be a surprisingly awesome change of events?
In case you haven't been following the drama, the new neighbor is an old fat guy with some serious entitlement issues. He basically thinks anything he can see is part of his lot. Our lots are interlocking L's and he won't accept that my back yard juts into his back yard. He thinks he owns not only half of my front yard, but the majority of the back as well and that's just simply not the case.
To make matters worse, the lot lines associated with our properties have always been this way since the day the lots were cut. There is a bit of an error in the deeds, but in the past 60 years nobody has had a problem with that. There have been no quarrels related to the lot lines that are recorded and in fact, nobody has ever even bothered to have a survey done because there has never been an issue. Until now. This jackass moves in and hires a surveyor that did a shotty job and basically told him what he wanted to hear -- that he owns the whole damn town.
We've also had our own survey done and unfortunately, it doesn't agree with his. He maintains that his is superior (realllly bad complex) despite the fact that my surveyor trained his. Adding insult to injury, the town is 0 help. They keep saying we have to take it to court to prove the land that we've been using and that has been associated with our property for 60 years is really ours. We consulted an attorney and court will cost $40K+ and could take upwards of 5 years or more.
That's just insane. Why is it so easy to buy property in this country, but so damn difficult to prove that it's actually yours? I feel like anyone at any point in time could just hire (pay off) a surveyor to say that they own your lot and unless you have a lot of cash hanging around, you're pretty much screwed. Even if you do have the money sitting around, you're at the mercy of the courts. Never mind if the property has been a part of your yard for 60+ years, is fenced, has been maintained and has old-growth shrubs on it. That's completely irrelevant. What matters is who has the most money, which judge you get and how lucky you are.
Because of the screwed up rules in Massachusetts, I highly recommend that nobody, NOBODY buys property here. You will be at risk of it being stolen not only by the state, but by overzealous neighbors that are better off economically than you.
I know nothing will come of complaining. Politicians don't care. The town doesn't care and it appears that most of the voting block is too ignorant to elect anyone other than the crooked losers that are currently in office creating the laws that make daily life difficult to begin with.
I know it's not good to put bad vibes out into the world, but I really really really hope something happens to the neighbor that makes him decide he needs to live elsewhere. Maybe he gets caught for tax evasion or has an ill family member that needs to be cared for in a far-off state. I don't know - something, anything would be good at this point. I feel like he's one of those people that constantly lie and cheat and it just never ever comes back to them. He's a horrible two-faced son of a bitch and Karma seems to be turning the other cheek at him. I just HATE it when people like him squeak by in life without ever suffering the consequences of their actions. It gets under my skin like no other because if I so much as a step out of line, Karma bitch slaps me back into place. Why doesn't it seem to work like that for the people like him?
In case you haven't been following the drama, the new neighbor is an old fat guy with some serious entitlement issues. He basically thinks anything he can see is part of his lot. Our lots are interlocking L's and he won't accept that my back yard juts into his back yard. He thinks he owns not only half of my front yard, but the majority of the back as well and that's just simply not the case.
To make matters worse, the lot lines associated with our properties have always been this way since the day the lots were cut. There is a bit of an error in the deeds, but in the past 60 years nobody has had a problem with that. There have been no quarrels related to the lot lines that are recorded and in fact, nobody has ever even bothered to have a survey done because there has never been an issue. Until now. This jackass moves in and hires a surveyor that did a shotty job and basically told him what he wanted to hear -- that he owns the whole damn town.
We've also had our own survey done and unfortunately, it doesn't agree with his. He maintains that his is superior (realllly bad complex) despite the fact that my surveyor trained his. Adding insult to injury, the town is 0 help. They keep saying we have to take it to court to prove the land that we've been using and that has been associated with our property for 60 years is really ours. We consulted an attorney and court will cost $40K+ and could take upwards of 5 years or more.
That's just insane. Why is it so easy to buy property in this country, but so damn difficult to prove that it's actually yours? I feel like anyone at any point in time could just hire (pay off) a surveyor to say that they own your lot and unless you have a lot of cash hanging around, you're pretty much screwed. Even if you do have the money sitting around, you're at the mercy of the courts. Never mind if the property has been a part of your yard for 60+ years, is fenced, has been maintained and has old-growth shrubs on it. That's completely irrelevant. What matters is who has the most money, which judge you get and how lucky you are.
Because of the screwed up rules in Massachusetts, I highly recommend that nobody, NOBODY buys property here. You will be at risk of it being stolen not only by the state, but by overzealous neighbors that are better off economically than you.
I know nothing will come of complaining. Politicians don't care. The town doesn't care and it appears that most of the voting block is too ignorant to elect anyone other than the crooked losers that are currently in office creating the laws that make daily life difficult to begin with.
I know it's not good to put bad vibes out into the world, but I really really really hope something happens to the neighbor that makes him decide he needs to live elsewhere. Maybe he gets caught for tax evasion or has an ill family member that needs to be cared for in a far-off state. I don't know - something, anything would be good at this point. I feel like he's one of those people that constantly lie and cheat and it just never ever comes back to them. He's a horrible two-faced son of a bitch and Karma seems to be turning the other cheek at him. I just HATE it when people like him squeak by in life without ever suffering the consequences of their actions. It gets under my skin like no other because if I so much as a step out of line, Karma bitch slaps me back into place. Why doesn't it seem to work like that for the people like him?
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Every Neighborhood Has "That Neighbor..."
It looks like the old saying is true - that every neighborhood has "that neighbor". You know, the one that mows his lawn at 5am, hangs outside watching kids like a creeper and is generally just unpleasant to be around. In our neighborhood, "that neighbor" happens to be the one next door.
Lucky me.
While he hasn't technically moved in yet, he still finds ways to constantly irritate me. Whether it's him standing outside like a creeper all the damn time being obvious about eavesdropping (our lots are close together), watching my kids play like some kind of pedophile, or complaining about one thing or another that I do, he makes me want to risk the jail time to get in one really good swing at him.
Yep, he's that irritating. Surely nobody would blame a hormonal pregnant woman for losing her composure and finally calling enough enough when it comes to an idiot neighbor that just doesn't know when to back off and leave.
The latest drama involves captain asshole sending a love-filled email complaining that I was harassing him by asking the town to enforce their own bylaws! Can you believe it?! Yes, I am completely in the wrong to envoke the protections put in place by the town to prevent losers like you from coming in and making the town a hell-hole. I am not the first neighbor to call. I am simply the only neighbor with the experience to know which department to call and the conviction to keep on it until I get a reply. I didn't do anything wrong. There was no accusations of illegal actions as he claims, I was simply asking the town to do their job. I can see where this has gone wrong - #1.) The town wasn't really interested in actually enforcing bylaws because they are scared poopless of a lawsuit and #2.) The neighbor isn't interested in playing by anyone's rules but his own. I'm not sure what he thought I should have done - stand by while he flaunted disdain for bylaws in a way that would effect my property, or knock on his door and talk to him which has had exactly a 0% success rate in the past. Neither of those seem like a great option, so I went to the town and let them deal with it.
I feel the need to mention that I am not the first person to call the town on him. That alone has said something. Also, the town is really not the easiest entity to deal with and quite frankly, most people don't have the persistence needed to pursue the necessary channels to make sure bylaws are being enforced. If wanting my rights and the towns bylaws enforced makes me unneighborly, then so be it. He pulled up shrubs, removed and discarded of a temporary fence and even called the cops. He has threatened to sue us and everything else. I'm not sure how any of that is very neighborly. All I've done is request for the town's bylaws to be upheld and for our two surveyors to come to an agreement as to where the line is so that we can put up a fence. We have young kids and a dog, a fence does not seem unreasonable.
Honestly, I hope this ass-hat just falls off the face of the planet or something. I don't want to wish him dead because that's just way more bad Karma than I need at the present, but I'd really really really like for his Karma to catch up to him so he can maybe be a little less of "that neighbor" in the future.
Lucky me.
While he hasn't technically moved in yet, he still finds ways to constantly irritate me. Whether it's him standing outside like a creeper all the damn time being obvious about eavesdropping (our lots are close together), watching my kids play like some kind of pedophile, or complaining about one thing or another that I do, he makes me want to risk the jail time to get in one really good swing at him.
Yep, he's that irritating. Surely nobody would blame a hormonal pregnant woman for losing her composure and finally calling enough enough when it comes to an idiot neighbor that just doesn't know when to back off and leave.
The latest drama involves captain asshole sending a love-filled email complaining that I was harassing him by asking the town to enforce their own bylaws! Can you believe it?! Yes, I am completely in the wrong to envoke the protections put in place by the town to prevent losers like you from coming in and making the town a hell-hole. I am not the first neighbor to call. I am simply the only neighbor with the experience to know which department to call and the conviction to keep on it until I get a reply. I didn't do anything wrong. There was no accusations of illegal actions as he claims, I was simply asking the town to do their job. I can see where this has gone wrong - #1.) The town wasn't really interested in actually enforcing bylaws because they are scared poopless of a lawsuit and #2.) The neighbor isn't interested in playing by anyone's rules but his own. I'm not sure what he thought I should have done - stand by while he flaunted disdain for bylaws in a way that would effect my property, or knock on his door and talk to him which has had exactly a 0% success rate in the past. Neither of those seem like a great option, so I went to the town and let them deal with it.
I feel the need to mention that I am not the first person to call the town on him. That alone has said something. Also, the town is really not the easiest entity to deal with and quite frankly, most people don't have the persistence needed to pursue the necessary channels to make sure bylaws are being enforced. If wanting my rights and the towns bylaws enforced makes me unneighborly, then so be it. He pulled up shrubs, removed and discarded of a temporary fence and even called the cops. He has threatened to sue us and everything else. I'm not sure how any of that is very neighborly. All I've done is request for the town's bylaws to be upheld and for our two surveyors to come to an agreement as to where the line is so that we can put up a fence. We have young kids and a dog, a fence does not seem unreasonable.
Honestly, I hope this ass-hat just falls off the face of the planet or something. I don't want to wish him dead because that's just way more bad Karma than I need at the present, but I'd really really really like for his Karma to catch up to him so he can maybe be a little less of "that neighbor" in the future.
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