Seller frustrated by junked-up home next door

I have been trying to sell my home for a year with no luck. My real estate agent tells me that it’s because of the bad condition of the home next door. It looks awful. I already have complained to the city, but nothing changed. What can I do?

This is one of the most difficult problems to address, and one of the advantages of living in a community association is not having to deal with a neighbor’s junkyard.

You already have started down the path of asking your municipality for help. You need to go back to the city and continue to follow up again and again if necessary. It may take continued complaints before code inspectors take action, and when they do, it may take time for the process to play out.

If you haven’t spoken with the owner yet, politely initiate a conversation. There are many out-of-town landlords who don’t regularly monitor the properties as long as the rent checks are on time. If this is the case, explain why the condition of the house is important to both of you.

If this problem is affecting other sellers in your neighborhood as well, you should all work together to get better results.

You might want to put up a tall fence or hedge to limit the view of your neighbor’s house. If the house and yard are in bad condition, but the neighbor is otherwise not a nuisance, this tactic might work to get your property sold.

Unfortunately, you also may have to lower your asking price. I have seen estimates that home values drop by about 5 percent in situations similar to this.

If nothing helps, you should see a local real estate attorney about possibly fil- ing a lawsuit. The nuisance being caused would have to be fairly extreme for this course to make sense, but it can be done in certain circumstances.