Dear Property Developer

[Ophbalance]

BG: I have 5 kids. Two of them are special needs, both are on the spectrum. One is high functioning asperger. The other is PDD-NOS. The other three are mostly normal... but we have two that are in line to be tested. The range from age 4-11. My wife, so far, has had 3 back surgeries. Right now she suffers from having clots in her lungs, and to add to THAT fun, has cancerous nodules there as well. We live in the country, in a development, in NC. It seriously is the middle of nowhere. We don't get cable, just satellite. /BG

Generally, I'm home 4 out of 7 days of the week. The other 3 I work in an office 50 miles away from the house. At present, I maintain my own business as a web guy, contract out to another web guy, and my main day job is... web guy . Because of the issues my family has, with health issues and recovering from the last few years, I work a butt load of hours. 7 days a week. My wife is out of commission all but maybe 4 hours a day.

Most of the neighbors (and us) allow our kids to roll without much adult supervision out in the cul de sac. As a result, there's a good chance that things will be left out on the front of my property. And for some reason, MY property seems to be the main place where things get left out by my kids... and those that aren't even mine. My kids love to share snacks, drinks, toys, whatever. Sadly, many a wrapper has come to live on my front lawn because of this. And most days they roll back in as it's falling on darkness which leaves little time for getting the most out of them cleaning up. And it's not JUST my kids out there, it's the cluster of us in the cul de sac.

Over the weekend we were in the middle of cleaning up the front. Unfortunately, a family up the street had an emergency and we dropped everything to help them out. This meant that there's trashbags and other things waiting to head into the dump sitting on my driveway. In addition, it's been raining every time I have the time to run the mower. As a result, my properties grass is shin high.

Today... oh, I saw red today. There's a property beside us that has been in rental status since it was completed 5 years ago. The lot is shit. There's just no better way to put it. Where the rest of us have at least half an acre, this thing is around a quarter. And most of the water from the development channels to it. There's barely room in the rear of the lot to do anything, and being a 3-4 bedroom two story, I wouldn't want it for my family. And most of my neighbors feel the same. This house has sat empty for the last month, month and a half. The grass there at that point was nearly waist high.

The family that sold the land for development hired a new developer, apparently. All told, there's around 30 lots on the tract of land, and we're in the last of the lots. And today I got a lovely little note: "Please clearn yard. And mow. Covenants mandates properties to be mowed + cleaned. We (Developer) will be glad to hire someone to do it + send bill". I called to verify, and though the guy sounded chipper, he can just fuck right the hell off. There is NOTHING in the covenants that match what he's putting forth. A vague "maintained" wording, but nothing as specific has what douche nozzle has put. And to be certain, I cannot be fucked to make this asshats life easier in selling the house. NOT MY FUCKING PROBLEM BRO.

Does the yard need mowing? Yep, and it'll get done when I damn well feel like it and have time to do it. Will the yard be cleaned of trash? Again, yep, when I damn well feel like it and have time to do it. Will it be free of toys? Fuck no. If someone coming in doesn't like kids and the mess that they bring? Sorry, too fucking bad. We're not in a retirement village.

Oh, and the other wonderful phrase from this guy "We've been getting complaints". Hmm... well, nope, I don't think you have. Because see, I TALK to all my neighbors. And they also all have kids, and aren't overly bashful about saying they don't want to see something happen in my yard.

Fuck off wee man, for if it's to court we go, it's going to be time to amend the covenants when they get thrown out by a judge. That's going to be the result if I win. Because if they cannot be enforced or are too vague, well then they don't belong.

[Ophbalance]

As an aside... I do fully grasp that the front of my property is a bit of a mess at the moment. It's going to need to wait until the weekend before I'll have time to work on it again. It's the implied threat from this pissant that has me boiling. I'm almost hoping he tries to bring someone onto my property, as I'm quite curious how fast a squad car responds in my area.

[Headset Hellion]

The thing that pisses me off the most about this story is that it sounds like it should have been pretty obvious that you were in the process of cleaning up the yard. I cannot stand when someone tells me to do exactly what I am doing!

[Ophbalance]

The thing that pisses me off the most about this story is that it sounds like it should have been pretty obvious that you were in the process of cleaning up the yard. I cannot stand when someone tells me to do exactly what I am doing!

That is one of the sticking points, yes. But it would be fairly obvious, had this "developer" actually talked to anyone who knows us, about our situation. Further I find it incredibly a dick move to just pop this in my mailbox (not even in an envelope, just a yellow piece of lined paper) without first attempting a face to face contact.

[Aethian]

Should have told the post office then he could have been charged for postage to send it plus to send it back to them.

[Ophbalance]

As an update. My county allows for trespass to be considered if 1) the person has been given warning that they are unwelcome on the property OR 2) there is a sign posting a warning.

I got the guy's voicemail, and it turns out he's from Coldwell Bank. And so, the supposition this is all due to the house next door appears to be a foregone conclusion.

I let this person know that:

• I find it very unprofessional that he left a note before talking face to face with me
• I also find it unprofessional how he makes it appear compulsory to do these things to meet compliance with rules that are not even there
• If he HAD spoken to any of my neighbors, would actually know our situation
• Given the above, find it VERY likely the neighbor complaints were a fabrication
• Given my warning that any attempt to come onto the property is now considered trespass
• Given warning that any crew sent to attempt any cleanup would also be considered trespass
• Laid out that cleanup was underway when an emergency forced us to discontinue. A mess is far less important then a family in crisis. Specifically, a Vet with PTSD and very cryptic messages sent to his family.

Honestly, my hackles would not be up if this person had come knocked on my door and said "Hey, I'm trying to sell this house over here. If you're already working on some cleanup, great! It would really help me if you could". Sending me a "We're in charge of your development now, clean up" in a letter? Fuck the fucking fuck off Mr Fuckington.

[Lyse]

Wait - are they the sellers of the neighboring house or the owners of all the properties? What is their authority over what you or your other neighbors do?

[Ophbalance]

Wait - are they the sellers of the neighboring house or the owners of all the properties? What is their authority over what you or your other neighbors do?

I live on what was once farm land. The family that owned said land parceled it out to be developed somewhere around 2000. This family still lives on adjoining property to our division.

One of the first things stated in our covenants is that this family, in perpetuity, holds control over the covenants set forth when dividing the plots into salable acreage. They, their children, children's children, etc. They are responsible for maintaining the road in our little division, and we are responsible for following the 8 or so rules set forth. Mostly these rules are don't have odd colored exterior homes, no pre-built homes, no one is to live in a shed or non-permanent structure. No farm animals, and no working on cars or storing non-working cars. If you build a non-permanent structure, get permission first. Do not do anything noisome or harmful to other homeowner's property values.

That's pretty much it.

Of the 30 some odd lots that are in this division, there are currently none that are without homes. Every single lot has been developed. There are three rental properties managed by the owning family, but the rest are all owned by folks like me. The house beside me has been through two different "rent to own" families. Neither have worked out. Neither were due to anything we did, just the families fell apart or had financial issues.

Coldwell is claiming that they are acting as agents for the original owning family, and is now their developer. What I don't really get is... to what end? There's no longer anything to develop. The lots are full, beyond the rental beside me, the other two are full. In reality this person has very little that they personally do to me. They would have to involve the county. And then bring me to court. Should they do so, and the covenant they claim I broke is found to be unenforceable, I can move that the court remove it entirely. If, however, I'm found to be at fault I must redress the situation. And if I should ever want to build a shed, or put in a larger pool requiring a contractor, then I'm going to be shit out of luck because I've now picked a fight with these folks.

EDIT: I've not looked yet, but there's now a for sale sign on the house beside me from what I've heard. I'll eat my hat if the selling company isn't Coldwell.

[MoonCat]

First, it's illegal to put anything into a mailbox that isn't the US mail. Yeah, I know some people put newspapers into them. It's still illegal, it's just that most people don't care. But that guy could get into trouble for that if the postal delivery person catches him doing that. Not sure if you could report him to the postal service for that. He sounds like a coward. Why not just knock on the door and talk to you?

Second, there could well be a nosy busybody somewhere on your street who feels it's his or her God-given duty to bitch about things like grass getting a little high or bits of trash or whatever. Been there, been the victim of that. It's possible that someone complained.

Just be cautious. Housing court judges are can be snarky.

[Ophbalance]

Oh, I plan to be above reproach in my dealings with this guy. That's how you win at their game . And having seen the sign tonight, it is indeed Coldwell selling the house next door.

[Racket_Man]

This jerk sounds like the Head of the Homeowners Association in the movie version of Over the Hedge.

From memory

Your grass is 2 and 3/4 inches high. The HOA''s standard is 2 1/2 inches high. CUT THE GRASS NOW!!!!! YES I actually measured it

[Ophbalance]

This jerk sounds like the Head of the Homeowners Association in the movie version of Over the Hedge.

From memory

What's sad is there's probably truth to that. When we were house hunting we looked into a place that was closer to where I work. They were in Phase I and wanted to really move their houses and consequently the pricing was great. The list of covenants was... looooooooooong. I recall that having a pool was a dicey proposition. Further, you had to hide garbage cans/RVs/anything out of the ordinary behind a hedge or fence. The same applied to any Dish and even the heat exchanger for the A/C. But the one that got me, and really turned me off, was they had listed that you MUST mechanically edge your sidewalk xx amount of times annually. I could never see living somewhere that required that much Junesque or Rogeresque attention to property detail... and to be PAY to be told how much you such at this? Nope, no thanks.

[EricKei]

Maybe it's time to have a chat with the people these guys supposedly represent.

[Ophbalance]

Maybe it's time to have a chat with the people these guys supposedly represent.

Though admirable, it's unlikely to go anywhere. My county is... oy. It's very much good 'ol boy territory. They don't take much kindly to us yanks (whom make up at least 80% of the families living in this development). Nor did they take kindly to those non-muriken workers that built most of the houses. The husband of the pair, who's now deceased, made it plainly known that he wouldn't have sold to us yanks if he had much an option in it. Well, that'd be breaking several laws, but that's the way they felt about it. I very much doubt I'm going to have much of a rapport with the surviving widow.

I truly expected a phone call back today. I have not yet heard back, and don't know that I will. And in speaking with the neighbors none of them have received their own love note. It seems likely that I was the only one to get one, unless it was someone at the beginning of the development.

I *DESPISE* folks that talk straight up shit. You're a fucking adult... there's no reason for deception to get by in this world. And it's extremely off putting from a brand standpoint.

IF I can find a number for the widow, I suppose I'll give her a ring. If this person is NOT their agent in all matters pertaining to the development, I'll want to run this up his office's chain of command. After, that is, the yard is "cleaned up".

[Tama]

Are you any sort of minority? Or no, barring that even, it may be your special needs children. Having grown up around such men, I can safely say they generally don't like "those" people either.