How Neighbors Can Kill the Sale of Your House

January 15th, 2008 categories: Home Sellers

Do you know what your neighbors say about you/your house/neighborhood when your house is for sale? Let me tell you, it may not be pretty.

Your neighbors may be killing your chances for a quick sale at the highest price. And with increased competition, buyers are paying more attention to negative attributes, including the neighbors.

The Buzzkiller

The buzzkiller is a well-meaning neighbor who isn’t really looking forward to sharing information with the buyer that will kill their enthusiasm to buy. Usually approached by the buyer agent or buyers directly, the neighbor will inadvertently or only if asked, reveal information about the house, neighborhood or complex that could scare the buyers away - rightly or wrongly.

From neighbors, I’ve found out about pending condo complex assessments, plans to build new construction across the street, flooding problems in the area, etc. I hate having a neighbor reveal it to me because I can’t verify the info, explain it or not waste my clients’ time by showing them the house if I know the issue would be a deal breaker- it’s best for the listing agent to let the info out FIRST and not let the neighbors reveal it.

The Nosy Retiree

I have personal experience with this one. As a buyer agent, I look for the nosy neighbor (the one staring out the window as I drive up, or selecting the showing time to pull weeds from the sidewalk) and have been known to chat them up. Nosy retirees have lots of time and a lot of opinions about you and the other neighbors and they have been waiting, yes waiting, to tell someone. Who better than your prospective buyers!?!

When I went to sell my house, I knew my nosy retiree neighbor would not be able to resist adding her two cents or at least scaring off buyers my stalking them.

During my open house, my neighbor walked by the front of my house no less than 4 times. And she wasn’t subtle - she walked in front of the house and then stood there watching the open house visitors. Then, she got in her car and drove by it one more time for fun. You know it was bad when I was asked, “What’s with your neighbor?” Should I reduce the price by $10,000 or $15,000 so you’ll just buy it?

I received feedback from other agents that they “met my neighbor.” I didn’t need to ask who.

The Slob

This one is obvious. I recently sold a house where the entire neighborhood was very well maintained, except for one house. The messy house stood out among the rest, with chipping paint, lots of stuff in the yard and lots of cars in the driveway. All of this screams, “Troublesome Neighbors.” Troublesome neighbors have loud parties, they race cars or ATVs up and down the street, they scream at their children and hit them in the middle of the street. Buyers don’t need to see the neighbors to infer their lifestyle - the trash is usually enough.

Sometimes though, the messy neighbors are actually outside, being chased by the local law. This happened during a showing I did earlier this year. Read How’s the Neighborhood and Why Swear Words Don’t Sell Houses.

The Mee-too Neighbor

No one has sold a house on your street in four years and a week after you put your house on the market, your neighbor lists theirs. What does this matter? Two signs on the same street starts to make buyers wonder, “What’s going on here? Why is everyone selling at the same time?” And, you better hope their listing price isn’t lower than yours because as Ricky Ricardo famously said, “You’ll have some ’splaining to do.”