The A**hole neighbors of mine

[Anonymous]

Time for a countersuit!

[Anonymous]

I wish, but on what grounds? Too bad being an asshole isn't against the law.

We've thought about going after her for attorney's fees, but here's no guarantee we'd win (we're in Virginia where it's next to impossible to win such a suit) and we've already wasted over $8K and way too many grey hairs over this. Not about to go throwing good money after bad.

[Anonymous]

I would really be hard to stop if PITA neighbors persisted with me. I happen to know money is an object with them. Know when to say when OP, or you might end up paying dearly. Choose your battles very wisely. If it is very important to them, know when to let go, unless you are okay with unknown and untimely retaliation?! If a PITA neighbor started with me, they would be extremely surprised how it would end - not in their favor that is for sure!

[Anonymous]

so sad the way people don't respect property rights. you own the property, do with it as you see fit. that you even have to go through the HOA is disgusting enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, it would be nice if some people had asshole signs in front of their house so we could not move in next to them, incurring time, hassle, investment and expense. They fail to realize the world does not revolve around them, making our purpose in this universe to remind them.

Have you considered getting such a sign?

[Anonymous]

We were very accommodating to our neighbor doing a renovation, and guess what we got? $3,000.00 worth of damage from her construction crew constantly turning around in our driveway. I wish I had just blocked the driveway off. Of course I am a good neighbor, so I will just be paying for the repairs, and remembering what to do next time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in Bethesda (yea, I have my gripes with it) and wouldn't you know I've had trouble from every neighbor on every side of me. I just learned that the two backyard neighbors have gone to our architectural review board to ask if they would be affected by any excess water that "might" drain from the backyard.
................
It's all about ME ME ME and more ME And how does it affect ME.

Nothing personal
If excess water does drain from the backyard, they will be able to sue you now.

Build in some other area. Bethesda is already overbuilt. Why do you want to build there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our wonderful neighbors built an addition a few years ago. We all get along great but, really, that construction project really strained our relationship for awhile. After all, as their immediate neighbors, we had to put up with a lot of the headaches with none of the benefits. For instance, trucks backing down our shared driveway (beeping away) at 7 am, a porta-john on the line between our front yards, strange workers / trucks coming down the driveway ALL THE TIME (no way I could leave DC out there for even a few seconds to ride his bike), noise, noise, and more noise (even on the weekends - neighbor tried to keep all the work to the work week but, when the contractors ran short on time, they were hammering away on Sunday mornings too)! Their yard, which borders ours, was ripped up so all water flowed to our grass, leaving huge puddles. All the additional traffic on the shared drive resulted in cracks and divots. Thus, we all had to go in and reasphalt the drive when the work was completed. In the end, it was very, very difficult for us. They had a beautiful new addition and we had built-up resentment that we needed to sock away for the sake of peaceful living. All this to say, your neighbors should talk to you - yes. BUT you really need to consider their feelings and peace of mind. Just because your Architectural Review Board says it's okay, doesn't mean that the neighbors are particularly happy with your choices. It just means that they know that there is little they can do to stop it. Our neighbors did their best to go out of their way to make it easier on us (even if there was little they COULD do most of the time -- after all, they couldn't live in their house so they weren't even onsite most of the time!)) but it was still very difficult.

Are you kidding me? You are living in the real world lady. Sometimes you are going to be inconvenienced. Sometimes things will be loud and messy. OPs neighbors exhibited hostility and passive-aggressive behavior and, yes, this would irritate me too. And, by "consider their feelings" what does that even mean? If they are being considerate as they can then what should they do? Not build the addition? GMAFB.

We did a renovation 2 years ago and thank the lord none of our neighbors were as high maintenence and fussy as some of you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're on Foxhall Rd and one neighbor built a large barn-like house in their own backyard. Didn't knock down the original home, a quaint little victorian type in keeping with the neighborhood. Just awful. It is their property so they are allowed to do what they want, but the whole street was appalled. I'm sure they thought the complaining neighbors were a#$holes also. And the neighbors thought they were. Oh well.

This is a totally different situation that OP is describing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our wonderful neighbors built an addition a few years ago. We all get along great but, really, that construction project really strained our relationship for awhile. After all, as their immediate neighbors, we had to put up with a lot of the headaches with none of the benefits. For instance, trucks backing down our shared driveway (beeping away) at 7 am, a porta-john on the line between our front yards, strange workers / trucks coming down the driveway ALL THE TIME (no way I could leave DC out there for even a few seconds to ride his bike), noise, noise, and more noise (even on the weekends - neighbor tried to keep all the work to the work week but, when the contractors ran short on time, they were hammering away on Sunday mornings too)! Their yard, which borders ours, was ripped up so all water flowed to our grass, leaving huge puddles. All the additional traffic on the shared drive resulted in cracks and divots. Thus, we all had to go in and reasphalt the drive when the work was completed. In the end, it was very, very difficult for us. They had a beautiful new addition and we had built-up resentment that we needed to sock away for the sake of peaceful living. All this to say, your neighbors should talk to you - yes. BUT you really need to consider their feelings and peace of mind. Just because your Architectural Review Board says it's okay, doesn't mean that the neighbors are particularly happy with your choices. It just means that they know that there is little they can do to stop it. Our neighbors did their best to go out of their way to make it easier on us (even if there was little they COULD do most of the time -- after all, they couldn't live in their house so they weren't even onsite most of the time!)) but it was still very difficult.

Are you kidding me? You are living in the real world lady. Sometimes you are going to be inconvenienced. Sometimes things will be loud and messy. OPs neighbors exhibited hostility and passive-aggressive behavior and, yes, this would irritate me too. And, by "consider their feelings" what does that even mean? If they are being considerate as they can then what should they do? Not build the addition? GMAFB.

We did a renovation 2 years ago and thank the lord none of our neighbors were as high maintenence and fussy as some of you are.

I have no idea what's wrong with this account of a neighbor's experience. She was mightily inconvenienced, and took no action against her neighbor. Why on earth are people acting so defensively?

[Anonymous]

I can argue that I was inconvienced by my neighbors tiny homes hurtning the property value of my larger home. I don't get why people do lawsuits without talking first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So....should we all forgo any sort of remodeling so that we don't inconvenience our neighbors with noise or trucks or porta potties on our property during the day?

This is one of the funniest posts I've seen in a while. If you are going to put a public toliet on your front yard, yes, maybe you should consider the effect on your neighbors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So....should we all forgo any sort of remodeling so that we don't inconvenience our neighbors with noise or trucks or porta potties on our property during the day?

This is one of the funniest posts I've seen in a while. If you are going to put a public toliet on your front yard, yes, maybe you should consider the effect on your neighbors.

why? it is temporary. I wouldn't think twice about that and I'm sure my neighbors would not care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can argue that I was inconvienced by my neighbors tiny homes hurtning the property value of my larger home.

Oh, poor you! I'm sure your neighbors will be sympathetic, unless perhaps they were there first.

[Anonymous]

OP I can relate to psycho neighbors and we have a drunk with power HOA. People can be downright bat shit crazy about their homes, other homes and anything to do with homes.

That said, drainage issues are very expensive and aggravating. Our lovely neighbors regraded and set up their drainage with river rocks and all to drain into our backyard. Bastards! This is apparently not illegal. We spoke to them and they told us we should just regrade. Don't even get me started about how complicated and expensive that would be. We had already spent thousands and thousands on sump pumps and other drainage things and then they regrade to screw us more. The only "good" thing that came from it is we had a small crack in our foundation and they decreased our property value with all the water issues and now we pay lower taxes.