Cut the Grass! Or not? …176

#homeowner #lawn #realestate

Deerwood Realty and Friends Podcast

Subscribe Here https://www.youtube.com/c/Deerwoodrealtystl

An article today describes a homeowner who is upset to find that his neighbors don’t appreciate his lack of lawn mowing.

Thoughts/questions:

1. I believe the neighbor was using sarcasm as a weapon.

2. It’s always kind of strange when someone writes a letter and then says they are in the majority…they might be…might not…is there, like a vote on this type of thing?

3. I can’t stand tall grass or terrible yards. But that’s me. I get it, some people don’t care about how their lawn looks. There’s a limit though, even with me. I am probably top third in my neighborhood in keeping the lawn cut. If I let it go for two weeks in the spring though, it’s going to look terrible. So, if I go on vacation or something, we are going to have a terrible lawn unless….my neighbor cuts the front. And, he does! When he goes out of town, I cut his yard…no issue whatsoever. The neighbor behind me has some kind of grass that just doesn’t grow. I think he cuts it like twice a year and there are no issues with it being overgrown or anything.

4. We never really know what people are going through. When someone is overwhelmed, apparently like in this case, they focus only on keeping going. They aren’t nearly as concerned with appearance…and I totally get that. This is why I try to give people the benefit of the doubt. In my own real estate business, we are often times confronted with working with buyers and sellers who might have things going on in their lives. Marriages, deaths, births…so I tend to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. There are limits, but just try to be a good human.

5. I’ve seen this argument used by the homeowner in the article a lot: If the person who was upset about my crappy yard had only come and talked to me face to face, it would have worked out. I’m trying to think about how that conversation goes…Hey man, would you please cut your grass, it looks awful. Then, the homeowner will go to reddit and say, “I can’t believe someone told me in person my lawn is terrible and should be cut”

And

On Reddit, other places online, the homeowner will get sympathy about their plight. It’s pretty much guaranteed. So I don’t think that the neighbor confronting you about your yard is going to change anything.

What changes if someone did come and tell you your yard was trash? You’re still dealing with some sort of family issues. Are you really going to change because your neighbor confronted you?

6. It’s interesting that the homeowner says that he is not in violation of any HOA or city ordinances. Do you even know what your laws or codes are with relation to the height of your grass? I have no idea. One person that did know was the BTK killer. He was a psycho. Look him up. Not a great fellow. Are all code officers secretly serial killers? No. Are some a little off…most definitely.

The question of whether something is within legal limits and whether or not it bothers your neighbors are two different things. I think it would be fair to say that people who live in a subdivision tend to like to have things look a certain way.

I’m reminded of a friend of mine. For years, he’d lived in the city of St. Louis.

7. What did you think about the postmarked letter?

8. As for revenge, is it required in this situation?

9. You know, there are times when you assign a motive to someone and it’s not accurate.

10. There is an issue that people just don’t seem to get:

11. What would you do in this situation? Would you run to reddit, do nothing, or actually make an effort to take care of your yard? Put a comment in the comment section below.

Sources: https://www.newsweek.com/no-mow-may-neighbor-passive-aggressive-letter-new-dad-sparks-fury-1706838

https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/upiot5/received_in_the_mail_from_a_concerned_neighbor/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Rader

Contact me at media@deerwoodrealtystl.com

Check us out at https://www.deerwoodrealtystl.com/