Me and the Mrs’s live in a very nice small neighborhood. Single family homes but they have small lots. We were told when we moved out here to get a small lot because you’ll be spending so much of your time out doing things that the last thing you want to do is be tied to your lawn. Makes perfect sense, and most of the time is true.

But occasionally you do want to enjoy your yard. We’ve put a lot of time and money into it and it really looks nice as you can see from the picture. That’s a small part of it, a tsukubai based water feature. We got in the mail a notice from the home owner association. Saying that people have commented on how nice our backyard is (we’re a corner lot with no fence along the sidewalk.)

But for the last few years we’ve not been able to enjoy it. You see, the neighbors behind us suck.

Now, don’t get me wrong, we live in a really great neighborhood full of great neighbors. Every other one we talk to and wave hi when they drive by. They all seem to get along nicely.

But behind us they have an old rottweiler that has the horrible combination of never being corrected for barking constantly and being incredibly bored because they never play with him. Which of course means if you take a step outside while the dog is out his incredibly loud barks go on for the entire time. And unfortunately our master bedroom and living room overlooks the back yard, which means if their dog is outside, you’re not sleeping or watching TV. The dog is so loud in our interior bathroom with no windows you can hear the damn thing plain as day. We’ve called the humane society which handles dog barking in our county. They put the neighbors on notice, and then the wife comes over and rants and raves about how horrible we are for turning them in. I suggested a bark collar, which worked on our dog permanently when he wore it for about an hour over 9 years ago and he never barks now. She started freaking out saying how inhumane it was and such. I wanted to deck her right there in my driveway for suggesting I was inhumane for correcting our dog once instead of running the chance that a neighbor would try the old poison in a steak routine after months of no sleep.

Their kids are also apparently little bastards based on what all the other neighbors say. I think the bark collar probably needs to be used on them also. The neighbors have the obligatory giant trampoline right up against the fence which is the only time you see the kids in the back yard.

Personally the kids playing on the trampoline doesn’t actually bother me, it’s when they’re out in the hot tub carrying on till 1am. The hot tub that sits on a couple cinder blocks. The hot tub sits underneath the speakers attached to the house. While the speakers are banned by the HOA completely, the hot tub needs to be part of a structure like a deck, rather than just sitting on cinder blocks in the yard. Typically I don’t find HOA agreements of much use. But I start to see why they’re necessary in some cases.

So now for the good news. They disappeared a few weeks ago. Up and left on a Wednesday. Just a few weeks away from the kids school being over. They then sent a few post cards to neighbors saying that they were moving up to a bigger better house and all that. Since then they’ve been by twice to clear more stuff out of the house (except for the trampoline and the hot tub) and clean it up a little bit. A few days ago the for sale sign went in the yard. They’re asking less than they paid for it a few years ago, but based on sales in the neighborhood, they should be able to get at least 10% more than what they paid, and that’s being conservative even in this market. Their front yard faces the neighborhood park. They have an outdoor gas fireplace. Shouldn’t be a big deal to put it up for sale normally.

We looked at the brochure, they didn’t do a damn thing to the house since they bought it new. They never even installed a ceiling fan or anything. Except for the rather extreme wear and tear, they had no effect on the house at all. Whole sections of the fence they put up needs replaced from water damage since they never adjusted the sprinkler system. Several window screens need replaced. It looked like they were renters rather than owners.

Heh, and have you ever seen yellow countertops? At least since around 1979? They got ‘em.

So who would move with a few weeks left in the school year? And on a Wednesday, before even listing your house, and with a U-Haul rather than professional movers. Something didn’t seem right. Lots of neighbors speculating on what happened, even as they notice and enjoy the incredible difference in the peace and quiet in the neighborhood.

Today the newspaper has an article about the county’s office that handles foreclosures. I hit the website, and you can search for the legal documents of every foreclosure that’s been filed. Sure enough, there they are. They did an 80% 3/1 ARM with a 20% second mortgage that they couldn’t afford in the first place, and it adjusted to 6.99. They have until August to sell the house before the foreclosure finalizes. Very bad financial decision, which is now coming back to bite them right in the ass.

Oh and by the way. These people are Realtors® with Keller Williams in Colorado Springs. You know, the people who supposedly specialize in knowing how to avoid this type of thing. The ones that should be keeping you from buying more house than you can afford. Someone who should be counseling you as a buyer.

So I wonder if this is divine justice? Nah, couldn’t be. Because then they’d learn from their mistake. Somehow I doubt these people will figure it out.

They’re over there right now doing a few last minute things before they do an open house for the day. I wonder if they tell the potential new buyers the speakers have to go and the hot tub they’re leaving also will need a lot of work before it’s allowed. But the house itself is incredibly well built and is overall in great structural condition. And for the price its a steal. The money you’d save can fix the issues pretty quickly. And you’d have a lot of great neighbors. That’s the house there right in the center of the picture, you can see the fireplace in the front yard and the trampoline in the back. That’s us on the mid-left.

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