Vacant houses

[Anonymous]

A house on our street has been unoccupied for 3 years, as the owner is elderly and unwell and moved to a nursing home at that time. The house is falling into disrepair. Anybody have experience with this? It's becoming such an eyesore, not to mention the fact that it seems obvious that nobody lives there and I'm afraid it will attract crime. This is in Montgomery County. Any advice?

[Anonymous]

You can report it here:
http://www3.montgomerycountymd.gov/311/SolutionView.aspx?SolutionId=1-Y3KNW

Was the lawn being mowed/snow being shoveled?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can report it here:
http://www3.montgomerycountymd.gov/311/SolutionView.aspx?SolutionId=1-Y3KNW

Was the lawn being mowed/snow being shoveled?

Lawn was not mowed until another neighbor filed a complaint, then a lawn service was hired. Next door neighbors remove phone books/junk mail etc. Not much snow this year, but that was not removed.

[Anonymous]

Help them out and be decent. It could be you one day

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Help them out and be decent. It could be you one day

What does that mean? Nobody lives there. The owner will not be returning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Help them out and be decent. It could be you one day

What does that mean? Nobody lives there. The owner will not be returning.

This. Reporting it incentivizes the owner and his family to fix it up and sell it or rent it out if the owner is not returning. Vacant homes attract everything from vermin to crime and can bring down the whole block.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Help them out and be decent. It could be you one day

What does that mean? Nobody lives there. The owner will not be returning.

This. Reporting it incentivizes the owner and his family to fix it up and sell it or rent it out if the owner is not returning. Vacant homes attract everything from vermin to crime and can bring down the whole block.

I agree with that. At the same time, though, don't be a busy-body. Focus on the things that actually affect you and ignore the things that don't. A house that is "an eyesore" isn't your business. A house with rats, is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Help them out and be decent. It could be you one day

What does that mean? Nobody lives there. The owner will not be returning.

This. Reporting it incentivizes the owner and his family to fix it up and sell it or rent it out if the owner is not returning. Vacant homes attract everything from vermin to crime and can bring down the whole block.

I agree with that. At the same time, though, don't be a busy-body. Focus on the things that actually affect you and ignore the things that don't. A house that is "an eyesore" isn't your business. A house with rats, is.

OP here. Thanks for the advice, but I don't feel like I'm being a busy body. This has been an issue for several years. The railing on the porch fell over the other day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Help them out and be decent. It could be you one day

What does that mean? Nobody lives there. The owner will not be returning.

This. Reporting it incentivizes the owner and his family to fix it up and sell it or rent it out if the owner is not returning. Vacant homes attract everything from vermin to crime and can bring down the whole block.

I agree with that. At the same time, though, don't be a busy-body. Focus on the things that actually affect you and ignore the things that don't. A house that is "an eyesore" isn't your business. A house with rats, is.

OP here. Thanks for the advice, but I don't feel like I'm being a busy body. This has been an issue for several years. The railing on the porch fell over the other day.

We reported a situation just like this with the property next door to us (not in DC area, though.) We spent a year feeling bad for the owner, then we found out that another immediate neighbor almost didn't buy their house because of the disrepair of the one next to ours. Thus ended the sympathy. And the owner has been fixing up the property.

[Anonymous]

OP, what's the address?

[Anonymous]

Hope its not DC. A vacant house can sit for decades and not be "touched"

There's one on my block since I moved in in 2008. Family does come and cut the grass, but on our one and only snow day this year they were a no show.

Bigger issues than being so involved with something that has noting to do with you "personally".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hope its not DC. A vacant house can sit for decades and not be "touched"

There's one on my block since I moved in in 2008. Family does come and cut the grass, but on our one and only snow day this year they were a no show.

Bigger issues than being so involved with something that has noting to do with you "personally".

Have you reported it to DCRA? They can hike the property taxes up several notches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hope its not DC. A vacant house can sit for decades and not be "touched"

There's one on my block since I moved in in 2008. Family does come and cut the grass, but on our one and only snow day this year they were a no show.

Bigger issues than being so involved with something that has noting to do with you "personally".

How does it not impact people "personally" (why the quotes?) when other properties in their neighborhood fall into disrepair?