An older thread, but I guess it's been a little slow as it wasn't that far down the list. Pinkpaula notes that the fence is built in accordance with her area's codes. These regs will vary by city and perhaps neighborhood. In some areas a fence wound need to adhere to a setback to allow for maintenance without trespass onto the neighbors property. In other areas there is a maintenance easement parallel to the property line to allow for this (unlikely in a neighborhood that old). From the description it sounds like the kind of neighborhood I grew up in. It wasn't uncommon for a driveway to run between two houses or for two drives to run parallel. Most wouldn't allow for opening the car door until you were past the house. Down the block, one neighbor A built a fence on the property line only to realize neighbor B's driveway was too narrow for his pickup truck. Neighbor A ended up taking out a section of the fence in the back, neighbor B would use neighbor A's driveway and cross over. Will it effect the resale? Since that's what most of the homes in the neighborhood will have to deal with than it shouldn't have a major impact. Your comparable isn't a house on a big lot and a big yard, it's the other houses in the neighborhood that are close together. The reality of this situation is that if you can't open your car door while in the driveway it's likely that you couldn't have gotten out of your car without trespassing on your neighbor's lot to some degree. With your backyard and garage it sounds like you're fine, but your guests aren't. I'm with Kaismom on this. If fences are allowed on the property line in that area there's no reason for him not to put it there. He didn't want to sell part of the land, that's his call. The posters that are calling him a jerk are sympathetic to your plight but unrealistic and most would not be inclined to give up their property rights if the situation were reversed.

The suggested new windows would make a huge difference! but other than that, yes to beefier window trim; paint the screen door teal also; it looks to me that there is room for a more substantial and attractive porch light (could even paint one to match the door) or have one added to the porch ceiling; and nice sized house numbers next to the window on the porch; beef up the porch column and add half columns (width not height) to the spots where the railings meet the siding; a trellis or outdoor art to the blank wall. If you have a good local garden center, they may have a designer on staff who will create a good layout for landscaping - often for free if you buy all the materials from them. Just tell them that you need lower maintenance. That big hedge is seriously overgrown and needs to be trimmed and shaped.

I'm responding to your first picture. The low, sagging "ceiling" that is created by the bottom of the tree canopy makes the place look overall, neglected. It will look tidier if your create some clearance between the tree canopy and the face of the house. Also, If the structural appearance of the tree is important to you, you'd remove the left limb that starts out like an upraised elephant's trunk. It's headed toward being a major part of the canopy but looks substantially out of whack with the overall branching patter. (It should have been removed years ago and it's getting to the now-or-never state.) To achieve visual appeal of a house, it's necessary to have an inviting and secure path to the entrance. It should be obvious, easy to use and not confined ... all things that would appeal to a human. It should take the mystery of how to get into the house without getting dirty or bruised. Some simple, distinct landscaping would help, too. Groundcover around the base of the tree would look better than dirt and be easier to maintain than trying to grow grass.

UPDATE: We decided to at least do the "demo" of the bushes. I failed to mention that we have a tractor with attachments. After unsuccessfuly trying to "salvage" two bushes, we decided to take our chain saw and cut all of the bushes down on the inner side of the driveway. Then, we took the grapple and started knocking over and pulling the roots. After that was the bucket to start picking up debris and moving it to the forest (6 acre lot) in low areas. Here's what it looks like: