[PMD1969]

[W72-Bandit]

^ lol! I was thinking the same thing!

[67drake]

I had to deal with things like this when I lived "in town". It was a nice neighborhood but always 1 or 2 rental properties that looked like this. I complained to the alderman and the city and the owners got dogged till they fixed up their properties. One owner actually sold their rental and it was bought by a landlord who actually fixed it up.

[rexs73gto]

If they were the only one to complain about drainage , maybe you can ask for a study to be done for the drainage & if & when it comes back & says it drains ok then they will have no grounds to complain & you get your 3rd garage. Also can you pay like we do herre even if someone disagrees we can pay for the variance to be able to build anyway. ?? To a city or township money usually talks louder then small complaints. Here we can pay for the variance to go through. When I built my garage I just took the flat drawing to the city & said how much for the building permit, gave them the drawing & the cost to build & when she gave me the price I said how do I make the check out, & wrote it out as she was telling me how much so I didn't give her a chance to say NO. She stamped the drawing & I handed her the check & she gave me the permit. I'm now about 70% building on my property which if I would have asked if I could have built it , I'm sure they would have turned it down. But I didn't ask I just said how much for the permit & wrote the check which didn't give her a chance to think about it or turn it down. After I got the permit the guy next door complained but the girl at the city told him we gave him a permit theres nothing you can do now.

[PonchoV8]

Hopefully he got his garage despite their opposition.

Originally Posted by rexs73gto

If they were the only one to complain about drainage , maybe you can ask for a study to be done for the drainage & if & when it comes back & says it drains ok then they will have no grounds to complain & you get your 3rd garage. Also can you pay like we do herre even if someone disagrees we can pay for the variance to be able to build anyway. ?? To a city or township money usually talks louder then small complaints. Here we can pay for the variance to go through. When I built my garage I just took the flat drawing to the city & said how much for the building permit, gave them the drawing & the cost to build & when she gave me the price I said how do I make the check out, & wrote it out as she was telling me how much so I didn't give her a chance to say NO. She stamped the drawing & I handed her the check & she gave me the permit. I'm now about 70% building on my property which if I would have asked if I could have built it , I'm sure they would have turned it down. But I didn't ask I just said how much for the permit & wrote the check which didn't give her a chance to think about it or turn it down. After I got the permit the guy next door complained but the girl at the city told him we gave him a permit theres nothing you can do now.

I attended a newly created HOA meeting in a "transitional neighborhood" where I own a property. An old man got up to complain that his neighbor "built a garage as big as his house" and it didn't have a window in it so he couldn't see what's going on in there.
(1) Bullcrap, the garage isn't half the size of the house which is mandated by codes. (2) The neighbor did the wise thing by not allowing some busy-body old man ability to snoop on him minding his own business.

[1beautifuldaughter]

Originally Posted by rexs73gto

If they were the only one to complain about drainage , maybe you can ask for a study to be done for the drainage & if & when it comes back & says it drains ok then they will have no grounds to complain & you get your 3rd garage. Also can you pay like we do herre even if someone disagrees we can pay for the variance to be able to build anyway. ?? To a city or township money usually talks louder then small complaints. Here we can pay for the variance to go through. When I built my garage I just took the flat drawing to the city & said how much for the building permit, gave them the drawing & the cost to build & when she gave me the price I said how do I make the check out, & wrote it out as she was telling me how much so I didn't give her a chance to say NO. She stamped the drawing & I handed her the check & she gave me the permit. I'm now about 70% building on my property which if I would have asked if I could have built it , I'm sure they would have turned it down. But I didn't ask I just said how much for the permit & wrote the check which didn't give her a chance to think about it or turn it down. After I got the permit the guy next door complained but the girl at the city told him we gave him a permit theres nothing you can do now.

That was some years ago that I went for the variance, I actually won.
The funny thing is that when I turned around and said, "I'm trying to do the job tastefully for the good of the neighborhood, and not build the 1500 sq ft building I'm allowed to build without a variance that would be just 5 ft from your property right outside your back door".
They both shut up and sat down, and they passed my plan and I built my garage.

the way I figure it now is that they must have a pretty bad drainage problem right in the kitchen and bath area

[1beautifuldaughter]

Was a regular bi level with two car garage,, The third one back with white caddy is the third one added with a bedroom above it. This was ten years ago when I built it.

[PonchoV8]

Here you're allowed to build a fence and height is not controlled (within reason). I see a need for one.
Maybe a house shape one with green foliage?

[Transporter]

Originally Posted by 1beautifuldaughter

Was a regular bi level with two car garage,, The third one back with white caddy is the third one added with a bedroom above it. This was ten years ago when I built it.

Should of made your garage deeper!

[arbys]

Originally Posted by PMD1969

That's saying a lot when it comes down to that! Little relief for the straight shooter.

[PonchoV8]

Originally Posted by arbys

That's saying a lot when it comes down to that! Little relief for the straight shooter.

Oh, that's rich!

Originally Posted by 1beautifuldaughter

Almost $10.000,00 a year in property taxes to look out of my bedroom window and see this every morning.

That's part of living around people. And that's a LOT of taxes to being paying to have houses so close together.

[zeebo]

Originally Posted by PonchoV8

Oh, that's rich!



That's part of living around people. And that's a LOT of taxes to being paying to have houses so close together.

you better believe it..thats water front taxes in michigan..jeez..for 10k a year i better be living on about 500 acres....i feel for ya..your neighbors are waayyy too close....

[1beautifuldaughter]

Originally Posted by zeebo

you better believe it..thats water front taxes in michigan..jeez..for 10k a year i better be living on about 500 acres....i feel for ya..your neighbors are waayyy too close....

We where considering moving but with the house next door looking like it does, we have to wait for some kind of improvements to happen next door or take a loss on the house,,, Not fair!

[Bob Dillon]

Originally Posted by 1beautifuldaughter

We where considering moving but with the house next door looking like it does, we have to wait for some kind of improvements to happen next door or take a loss on the house,,, Not fair!

How much do they want for the house next door? Check the address on Zillow.com and go from there. Maybe it's for sale, or would be for the right price.

ETA: One turn-down does not mean it's done forever. I would hire a local planner-ask a real estate salesperson or your attorney-to present it to the governing body (city council, planning commission, whatever) instead of doing the presentation yourself.

Make sure the planner knows the people on the planning commission or council-a local person will, that's why you're paying them.

When I was on city council I was always more likely to vote approval when a project was presented by someone I knew and had confidence in. For instance, the planner would have anticipated the almost standard complaints by neighbors (traffic, view, and drainage ALWAYS come up-it's ordinary) and would have had counterarguments or perhaps even studies ready to rebut the argument.

In my opinion, they're worth the money. Talk to one and see what it would cost.

[muscle_collector]

i know its a different topic, but I love those year cadys. post some pics up if you would.

[Deadhead]

If the neighbors own you can try a raft of things:

Call building and zoning Dept. See if they will make them make the repairs for the safety of occupants and neighbors. Obviously many code violations

Health Dept. and express similar concerns.

Social Services. With all the taxes you are paying maybe the Govt. will cough up some money for the poor people to get their house fixed or bring in their own housing improvement entity to do the repairs with taxpayer money. Regardless of your feelings about this, the $ is already there. Might as well do some good.

Think about it, the municipality would be motivated to get the property value up so they can collect more taxes. There are tons of programs with public money to facilitate this. If you go to the Govt. with a good attitude and spinning it as though it will be to THEIR advantage to do it, you may be surprised at what happens. Talking to a private consultant before hand can give you a few good tips on the way it can be presented to be more likely to get the locality to participate. Builders will help you find this person.

When you get it resolved, the way it changes your life is well worth it believe me. I spent 6 years trying to get worthless meth heads extracted. Night and day difference in daily life.

Edit: Somehow missed the last post of this. Might help somebody else though.

[Hedgehead]

Originally Posted by PMD1969