We just did our fence last year, we don't have a backyard neighbor but do have 2 side yard neighbors, so we told both of the neighbors & neither of them wanted to assist with the replacement. 1st we had to find out if the fence was on the property line or if it was on ours or the neighbors. Both fences were on the neighbors' property & since the backside of the fencing faced into our yard DH put in new metal posts & framed the fence right next to the old fence but on our side of the property line. That way the backsides were together & we had a pretty fence facing in. I just read over this & don't know if I'm making any sense at all. We built it ourselves so don't know about finding a company. Everything worked out fine, both neighbors have dogs & nobody got out. Good Luck. Bev

Bev--so there were two parallel fences right up next to each other? What was in between, or were they touching? I doubt we would do that b/c I think the fence is on the line; plus it's rotting and not worth leaving up. However...I could be wrong. The fence faces us so I don't know whether that would change if the neighbor pitched in financially. Maybe then we could do the fence every other section--I've seen that done in other neighborhoods (I mean that every other section is facing your yard and the others are facing the neighbor's yard). Thanks for letting me know about the property line thing...do you have to call an inspector or something? I do have a property deed thing so I'm going to look at that tonight. Although this project is probably still months away from actually happening.

We don't share fencing in our neighborhood as we have rear entry garages, and the only area fenced is the area inside the driveway. The small strips between the driveways and the neighbors' is left unfenced (does that make sense?) Anyway, when we replaced our fence they took down the old fence and put up the new posts in one day, and did the rest the next day, so we were only exposed for 1 day. Not a big deal. If you are only doing the one side, I would think it could be done in a short time. I think I would approach the neighbor and just say "we were thinking about how badly the fence between our properties needs to be replaced - what do you think?" If they are interested in helping that gives them an opening. If they aren't, then you have to decide if you want to pay for them to have a nice fence, or do what Bev did and just put the new section just inside your property line. I would worry about trash build up between the 2 fences that might be hard to clean out. But, there is also an upside to it being only your fence. Nothing like putting in a new fence and the neighbors putting in a new bed and burying fence slats in dirt so they rot that much faster and are susceptible to termite invasion that way. Or if they have big dogs, that can take a toll on a fence too.
We had to have a building permit in our town (we have fencing restrictions, height and type) and that is probably why, so you should probably check with your city. I would definitely do the metal posts, and if you can afford, cedar makes a really nice fence and lasts a bit longer than the standard wood fence. And termites don't care for cedar. As far as finding a contractor, you might check with Lowe's or Home Depot - they may offer fence installation and then you know it would be backed by reputable people. Otherwise, look at other people's fences - sometimes they have signs on them that say who installed the fence. Be sure to get 2-3 bids, and then check your choice with the BBB before you hire them. If your city requires a building permit, be sure the fence company knows that (they should) and takes the responsibility to get the permit for the work.

Deb--really great post! Thank you for all those suggestions and ideas. I don't know why I hadn't considered Lowe's or Home Depot! We definitely have those available to us so I can keep them in the mix, at least to compare bids and all that. I'm sure our HOA has all sorts of restrictions on fence type and height and you have reminded me that I need to find out from them what those are. I guess I didn't even realize you can do metal posts with wood fences. I don't think the neighbors have a dog at all (neither do we) but they are very shy. We know their names and say hi to them when we have an opportunity, but they are not very talkative and don't go out of their way to talk with us much! But, he did ask us whether we were okay with him moving back a portion of his fence (on his property, the front part of the fence that faces the street) even though we really had no say in the matter. I think he simply did it out of courtesy, so that says to me that they are considerate people and it won't be too weird to approach them about the fence. I just don't want to come across like
1) I'm asking them for money, or
2) I'm pressuring them to contribute.
The way you posed it, I think I could say that without feeling the above. Thanks!