I hate to see anything neglected or abused, animate or inanimate, so I understand what you are feeling. Maybe you will get lucky and someone friendly with decorating talent will buy it and make both you and the house happier.

Hope and pray a decent person/family buys it and puts some labor into it.

Why tenants trash places, I do not know. Personally, I take BETTER care of property that isn't my own. Why so many feel that, because it's not theirs, they can trash it or waste it or whatever is beyond me. Not well raised!

I bought a new house a couple of years ago. Beautiful, unique place, 1.5 acres, part of what was an old dairy farm back in the 1800s. My house is made up of outbuildings from that farm. ONe neighbor's is the old HUGE dairy barn - really nice. But the house behind me, which was the original farmhouse, was converted into I think three apartments. It is completely trashed. The tenants are nasty, unfriendly, leave their trash and stuff outside all over the place. It IS depressing. Owner is, I've been told (absent) a 78 year old man who "wants to move to Florida". I'm so hoping it goes on the market soon. But then again, sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for. At least these icky people leave me alone. Still, hoping it gets sold to a single family and gets fixed up. It's a piece of trash. Down the road the other way is a property that just went on the market for $1 million, 8 acres of farmland. It's bizarre around here that way.

Feel the same way -- I'm often very very sad (sometimes weepy) to see unloved houses ... and always hope that someone will buy or rent them and turn them into a "home" ...

My daughter & SIL bought the worst house in the neighborhood a couple years ago. It was actually a charming little Cape that had seen a rough run of tenants and owners for a number of years.

They have worked hard to restore the house and landscaping and have been touched by the number of people from the neighborhood who stop by when they're working in the yard to say Thank You for how it has changed the feel of the whole surrounding area.

I understand how someone like you would be impacted by the neglected home near yours. I am hoping that it, too, will be purchased by someone who will take pride in bringing it back.

The house across the street from me is vacant. The lady died and her children put it up for sale through a realtor. She had several open houses and finally the for sale sign came down. Now 4 months later, the snow is not scooped, the blinds are pulled, no one visits the house. Don't even see any steam/smoke coming from the chimney. Sad to see a nice small brick home sit empty in this winter weather.

It's been heartening here to see the older, kind of neglected one-stories turning into charming homes, some MCM and some cottagey. There is one on the corner that has been ailing for awhile, finally on the market. I don't know what will happen to it, but it might help if they remove the tree that fell on top of the separate garage! This is generally a well-kept neighborhood, but there's always a few, ya know?

I have a similar experience here with one of my neighbors. The house is nothing like mine though - different builders, etc. The original owners took immaculate care of the house. We were good friends with them until they moved after about 12 years. The husband was incredibly handy - did all kinds of built-ins, trim work, finished the basement himself, did all landscaping, etc. She is obsessive/compulsive, so she kept the interior immaculate in terms of cleanliness, etc.

They moved away and a single divorced guy moved in. Amazing guy - we became great friends with him. However, he travels nonstop for his job. He originally had two dogs and his teenage daughter lived with him until she left for college, so the house wasn't too bad. After she moved out, dd started dog sitting for him when he was traveling. The second dog, a bulldog, went from being house trained to peeing/pooping all over the living room. He used pee pads for it, but half the time he'd miss the pad and just pee/poop anywhere. It was DISGUSTING (I would go with dd for the evening visits sometimes). At one point, I opened the pantry door where he kept the dog food and tons of pantry moths were everywhere. I told him about it but he never did anything about it, at least not while dd was dog sitting. In addition to that, he just didn't do any upkeep. Everything is falling apart.

After his dd graduated college, he moved to NYC but kept the house. SHe lived in it for a couple of years, and would complain to him all the time about much needed repairs but he blows everything off. There was a leak somewhere in the roof that was coming through the ceiling of the bathroom - we were all worried it was going to come crashing down on her at some point. Not sure whatever happened. She finally decided to rent an apartment so the house is empty now. He comes down occasionally on weekends. I haven't been over there since he moved to NYC and took the dog with him. All the neighbors like him - like I said, he's very nice guy, funny, etc. He makes a ton of money so it's not that he can't afford to take care of the house. My ds mows the lawn when necessary so at least the exterior doesn't look too shabby.

We saw our old neighbors over Christmas break and told them they'd be heartbroken if they ever saw the condition of the house after all the blood, sweat and tears they put into it. I don't know why he doesn't just sell it - it's just a headache. We live in a beach community though so I guess he still likes coming as a little getaway from the city. But ugh, it's so sad to see it suffering from neglect!

It's a sad thing, an unloved house, but it's not a home until *someone* comes in and puts love into it. Hopefully your new neighbor will have a heart like yourself, or offer her a part of yours, showing her how it's done.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and stories, everyone. You've all made me feel better and more hopeful.

I'm sure the new buyers will make you feel better!

The house next door to us has had four different owners in the time we've been here. Two were too cheap to do anything (one was upset because we called the gas company about smelling a gas leak after they refused to do anything -- it was a $5 part they could replace themselves). A third would have spent money and had some great ideas for updating, but the couple divorced and the money went there instead. The same realtor had handled both sides of the transaction and must have either avoided inspections or gotten someone who would be easy because you could see visable wood rot in the trim that wasn't repaired at one turnover. When the latest owner bought, we found out there were rats in the attic (guess how they got in?). The current owners bought with a pretty generous allowance for repairs, but they ran out of money and are now going at a slower pace, but the house with weird mojo is now getting TLC -- and it is a good thing to see. Hang in there.

This post was edited by lascatx on Tue, Feb 4, 14 at 13:23

Totally understand, went though something very similar. A house across the street, which was the same model as mine before we increased the size of our kitchen - was totally destroyed. When it originally sold a few years ago it was gorgeous, it had been well loved. A multi-generational family bought it and lost it to foreclosure on a private loan a few months back. I saw the home after the foreclosure, it was horrible I could not even believe these people could live like this. It looked like they threw stuff on the carpet, spots within spots. Grimy walls, broken doors, broken tile and holes in the walls. You could tell that the damage had been there awhile. I came home from viewing the house feeling sick to my stomach. It was hard to imagine what seemed to be normal family lived like this. Their cars were always kept nice, the yard was presentable and they dressed well, so unbelievable. A short time after the foreclosure the house was purchased by investors as a flip, one of the investors let me have a look at it before they fixed it up. I toured it again about 3 weeks ago and they did good job on the fix-up, it is a bit of a cookie cutter flip for me but many buyers love the look. Crossing my fingers that the home will be bought by people who will care for it.

I have a vacant house directly across the street for ours. It started life as a wonderful house in the 60's. Wife left and husband let it go. Sold to a family we became friends with. Divorce and went into foreclosure. Sold to out of state owners and was rented. Each renter destroyed the house. Now its been vacant for 5 YEARS!!!! It is bank owned but they don't do anything with it. People stop all the time and ask us if we know how they can buy it. But they can't because its not for sale. It makes us crazy!

The basement has been flooded for a few years. The inside is filled with garbage. There is a tree growing out of the floor in the living room through the hole in the roof. At one time this was the nicest house in the neighborhood. WHYYY doesn't the bank just sell it????? It makes our whole family nuts to have this house in this condition. I would think the house would have to torn down at this point but who knows.

not sure if this makes you feel better or worse, but i wanted to add a happy angle. we lived in the house next door to my parents, who still lived in the house i was raised in from birth until i got married. we both sold our homes within days of each other last year so we could move together as a unit across country. it was so freaky to be sitting in my kitchen the day of my parents' closing (a week or so earlier than ours) and see new owners come "home" for the first time and walk out on the back deck. i hated the feeling.

however, a few months later, we got an email from our old neighbor with photos of the new owners mulching and taking care of all the new shrubs and plants my parents had added the year before. it was SO nice to see the pride they were putting into their new home.

hoping you get new neighbors with pride of ownership!

debrak, I often wonder that myself. How does it make sense for the bank to hold onto these foreclosures for years instead of selling them?

I have the opposite problem in my neighborhood. What started out as a neighborhood of small split levels, is now turning into an entirely different neighborhood. Houses like mine are torn down and much larger ones, irrelevant of lot size are replacing them. This will be great when we sell, but for now I lament about how I used to like how the neighborhood looked.

No one likes to look out their door and see an eyesore. So unfair for those who take pride in their property.

These posts remind me of my parents first home, a small home that my mother kept immaculate. The exterior was also well kept and the little lot manicured. I'm glad she never had the opportunity to see what happened to their little jewel, and it makes me ill when I pass by: some screens are bunching out of the windows and there are odd shapes stuck on the glass. Shutters are askew and missing pieces. The front door is filthy, 'bushes' are completely overgrown and there are pieces of oddments littered all over the property including 5 gallon buckets under the front windows, also notable: the crooked garage door with a panel missing....I can only imagine what the house inside looks like. Trashed.

I imagine as long as the bank owns it
it's a write off.
Once they sell
it's a loss.