The folks across the street purchased their house last autumn. The folks who lived there before were hard-working people when it came to landscaping. It looked good. The new people either have no concept of what to do OR just don't care. It looks horrible.

The woman next door goes out almost every weekend and buys stuff for the yard. Then she does nothing to care for them. And, what she buys and where she plants them are generally not appropriate! It is so difficult for me to not do some dead heading on her perennials, but the missus forbids it.

Last year, my neighbors 2 little dogs ran out into the street and jumped on 2 pitbulls this guy was walking on a leash. They lived, he asked for vet bill compensation, it scared him, so he then decided to fence in "his" property which borders my flag lot. Years ago he all of a sudden claimed this strip of land was his and accused my DH of trespassing, so we offered to have it re-surveyed....again and pay half. We had little rebar posts put up. He built this 250' long wall on his side of the rebar.....at first saying he was leaving it bare plywood on our side and expected "US" to finish OUR side. We have a flag lot, sitting behind everyone, out in the woods on top of a hill(higher up than everyone also)....this fences in my driveway....why would I pay to have HIS fence completed?.....right? Then his worker cut down a BIG tree...on my side. :0) He offered to complete the fencing on our side instead of replacing the tree and we accepted.....nuts right? :0) Also there's NO gate....it's still open to the street. We LOVE it tho....it's like he instantly disappeared....I have a pretty flower garden on my side, those are sprinkler heads....this is a winter pic....planted clematis on the trellis's.....:0)

Nicole, that fence is sweet! I have problem neighbors next to me and across the street. Next to me is a rental house. Right now the tenants are lovely. It's the owners who make me nuts. There is a fence between the properties. It's on their land and was put up by a former owner. It is disintegrating and looks awful. They replaced some fence on the propert but not this one. I offered to pay half just to get rid of this eyesore. Nope, they wouldn't do it. The owner is a wealthy doctor. I swear they do it out of spite.

things across the street are so bad. The owners don't live there and it has become derelict. They do just enough maintenance to keep the officials off their back.

the rest of the street is lovely and it is a very desirable suburb. Lucky me to get the two bozo neighbors.

The south side of our acre abuts a conservancy that is part of an HOA. They refuse to take down thirty dead ash trees and some dying 'volunteer' elms outside our fence. We have written to the HOA president, reminding them that when these trees fall onto our property they will be liable for removal of the fallen trees, damages to our lawn during removal, and damages to our mature bushes and trees. We could lose 200 feet of shrubs and five 60' white pines. The man and his wife brought an arborist over last summer to look at the situation, but...nothing happens. Homes within the HOA sell for around $1M. There are about 75 SFH's in the development. (I just checked; there are 90 homes.)

We have paid $7K to have dead ashes and elms removed from the east side of our property. The HOA has only removed those the city declared hazardous to pedestrians. Our arborist estimates $5K to remove the dead trees to our south. (Not that we could remove them without permission; they aren't on our property.)

I don't have any really near neighbors, but the closest one, about 1,000' down the road from me, our properties separated by thick woods, is a ding bat. She has 3/4 of an acre on the bayou, and a long access road going back to it. If it was just her, it wouldn't be a problem....I can avoid her....but she has a son in his early 20's that has been in all kinds of trouble. She is an enabler of the highest order. She bought him a brand new pick up.....expecting him to go to work and pay for it. Instead he and some friends drove it to Houston, got drunk, crashed it through the arms of a railroad track barrier, left it sitting on the tracks and a train hit it. They ran.....took a cab home. Fare was $80 and when she got mad at him, he threw her down the steps of the beach type house they live in, and ran out into the woods....with a pistol....threatening to kill himself. Unfortunately, he didn't do that..and if you think that is mean of me to say it....you don't know him. Anyway, an hour or so later, the mosquitoes chased him out of the woods and the deputies hauled him off. He has almost shot me twice....heard the bullets zing past my head. When I called the sheriff dept about it, his mother threw a fit....accused me of lying. Actually, the first time it happened, I didn't press charges, the second time I did. Now he is on meth. He is crazy and cruel. He kills all the wildlife he can.....including alligators, river otters, pelicans, as well as anything else he can find. His mother had him "hauled off" to Austin. Her ex dumped him out on the street and gave him some money and said don't ever come back. Of course, he called one of his useless friends and they went to get him. I don't know if she let him move back in or not, but she is stupid enough to do it. He has been a problem since he was 12 years old. I kept hoping he would grow up and move on. Instead he got his girlfriend pregnant and his mother let her and the baby live with her. I am about half afraid of him and if he ever sets foot in my house, I guarantee they will carry him out feet first.

chisue, are the dead trees closer to or more visible to your house than to homes in the HOA?

Well, I feel lucky after reading all your misery. All my neighbors are amazing. We have Ed, "The Street Nazi," who knows everyone's business. He will dish the dirt on the neighbors, but we all know, he'll dish the dirt on us too. We have "Crabby Bob," next door who is fine as long as nobody parks near his driveway.

Nobody owns any barking dogs, but there is a reason for that. Mountain Lions and Coyotes roam the bordering wilderness, so people keep their pets inside. We can hear distant roosters and a couple times a day, donkeys LOUD bray. Other than that, life is good.

Marilyn C, it appears you have it the worst. Stay safe.

My next door neighbor is a never been married woman in her mid 80's. My husband and I are retired and I have end stage renal failure. I am on peritoneal dialysis that I do at home at night. About every two weeks she comes over to ask my husband to do something for her or ask his advice about something. About a year ago I was home alone, she came over rang the doorbell and proceeded to walk in my house all the way to my bedroom. I was coming out of the bedroom and she scared me to death. I was so angry with her and told her never to walk in my house again. I could have shot her and told her this. Didn't seem to phase her one bit. She has done it again. Guess she doesn't remember the GUN I mentioned. She never looks at me when she is in our home. She asks him to make copies of directions to and from the place she is going. Whether its for a wedding or a dry cleaners. She needed to go to comcast here in our town but didn't want to go the direct route down the freeway so we finally told her to get in the car and we would take her there. She has asked us to cook food on our grill for her and the food looked spoiled to us. She is hard of hearing and won't get hearing aids. She wants everything done at her house for free. Someone cuts her grass and its a good size yard, She has a friend that she picked out at Home Depot and they also take her places. She has no family in our town they all live in another state and do not visit. She asks to use our phone to make long distance calls to them as she only makes a few calls a year she told me and it isn't worth it to her to pay for that service. But its ok for me to pay for it. Now the big news at her house is she wants to have some painting done and is now interviewing painters. I pity the poor painters they will never do it to her satisfaction. When she worked she never had trash collection either. Said why do I need it I only have one bag a week. Her house looks like it. Once a month she vacuum's. Once she had me and another neighbor over and when we were getting ready to leave she poured our glasses of soda back in the bottle. This grossed me out. I never go there to visit or eat anything. She told my husband if my newspaper is laying in the driveway for days you should call 911. If you see me in the yard and I've fallen just leave me don't move me let the paramedics do it. We will call 911. Hope I remember the number. lol

We live on dead end street in a woods--all very nice homes. Our next door neighbors are so nice but they need more room so they are building a garage in front of their house. It's just in the beginning stages but I can't imagine what it will look like. I hope it doesn't lower the value of our home but I am sure they will have a problem if they ever sell.

Nothing crazy here, but we did have inconsiderate neighbors at a lake home we once owned. Houses are the street were all close together with small yards that faced the water. Our dock on both sides were connected.

We never had problems with two different owners throughout the years. The new family, actually two, (sisters and each itheir families ) would be up every weekend. They would have extra company and set up tents! They played

loud music, sat on our deck because it was sunnier, used an outdoor portable fire pit that had a bad odor..... You get the idea.

What was once an ideal spot to relax with peace and quiet turned into a nightmare. We wound up selling the house to them for above market price in cash. They wound up tearing it down for more yard space!

I guess I am the crazy neighbor. I don't really have many complaints about my neighbors, but this is a newer neighborhood so maybe I just haven't figured them out yet. ;)

I do have a neighbor somewhere in the neighborhood who is apparently a closet alcoholic. There is a stretch of sidewalk where I regularly find wine and other alcohol bottles. These are the small bottles that hold about 2 cups. Dh and I suspect the drinker needs to hide the drinking so they get the smaller bottles that are more easily concealed and throw them out away from home and work.

Marilyn, I feel badly for you. Your neighbors son sounds like a psychopath. Keep your doors locked.

Marilyn, I would be scared to death! Someone that crazy and unfeeling is best locked up, but I know that can't happen unless he commits a specific crime. Well, if anyone is tough enough to handle a possible situation, you are.

I'm lucky enough to have wonderful neighbors, all of them. I wish some were a little friendlier, but to each her/his own.

I am the "crazy" neighbor. My "crazy" is that I refuse to let the lowlifes take the streets or my freedom. I roam freely at night and I have made the city dim the streetlight in front of my house. I don't like criminals having light to see by. Give me dark so I can see them. I'm "crazy" enough to get involved and take action instead of expecting others to do it for me. I think it's a good "crazy" to be actually.

I do have all nice neighbors on my street now. I am known by some as "the one who made the neighbors" sell and move. They were a couple of really mean nasty, vicious women who got together went after my family. My children were terrified. It happened quite some years ago. The police wouldn't help us so I took matters into my own hands. Actually they dug their own hole. I just threw the dirt over it. Since they have been gone we have a really nice neighborhood. I know most of the people on my block by name and even those we don't know by name are all friendly and approachable. A long time neighbor was the one that told me I had the reputation for getting rid of the trash. A cop told her I was "dangerous". LOL I treat people better than they treat me. I'll be the first to help someone in need. But if they want to believe the silly legend I'm fine with that. LOL No one seems to be afraid to eat the Xmas cookies I hand out each year.

wow, marilyn_c. I don't anticipate a happy ending to that saga. Good luck.

"Street Nazi" and "Crazy Bob" - LOL! I think there is one in every neighborhood. Good one. And probably I could be called a "Crazy Roberta" cause I hate when people mow a foot over onto my lawn or cut a tree on the line that doesn't even belong to me. I actually think we who live in the country are less tolerable of infringement. ha.

Snidley -- The dead trees -- mostly tall, mature trees -- are closer to our home, but at least twenty homes in the HOA have a clear view of them from back yards that face the open field of the conservancy. I'd guess the field is roughly 75 X 100 yards. There are yet more dead ashes throughout the complex, including some along the creek that runs along our and their east boundary. The city forced them to remove dead trees along the walking paths within the HOA property and the public sidewalk at their south boundary. Our city forester is friendly to us and has sent letters asking for the removal of all the dead trees. Still nothing. (There are also dead trees in the yard of our neighbor across the creek -- who grows her own pot. The emerald ash beetle has been a boon to tree removal companies here for two years.)

Bossy -- These are not 'picturesque'. They tower over some still-living trees and invasive bushes along the boundary between our properties. Two years ago we spent $500 to have branches removed after they'd fallen into our yard. (No damage to our plantings on those two occasions.) The prevailing wind is towards our property.