Two covered cars in the driveway, bushes growing out halfway into the sidewalk, house in disrepair, taller than allowed fencing with Beware of Dog signs, it’s sometimes not hard to spot someone you don’t want to live next to.
Huh. Some variation of this house exists on any given block in my city except maybe the neighborhoods where the prices are well over $2 million. No HOAs. I guess my threshold for “annoying neighbor” is a bit different from yours.
Sure, these houses exist everywhere, but most people avoid buying houses next to them. If Zillow bought such a house they’d take a loss to unload it unless they baked it into their model.
I think I’m just used to a housing market (seattle) where that is such a tiny blip it couldn’t possibly affect the price. Maybe untrue elsewhere.
Edit: it also seems like a small thing to worry about at a point in time since neighbors change. Annoying neighbors move away, or a new annoying neighbor can buy the house next door at any time. I’m not paying extra for something that is completely out of my control and could change tomorrow. The potential for annoying neighbors is not a feature of a given house so much as a feature of all houses, in my mind. But this attitude is probably more prevalent in people who don’t live in neighborhoods governed by HOAs where certain “annoying” behaviors are regulated away.
I can't speak for everyone. But I definitely think that a lot of people are put off by buying a house next to a Beware of Dog guy even though they know that one could move in tomorrow. Also, in California, a lot of people are in neighborhoods who could never afford to move in but own the home and don't have to worry about increasing taxes.
