Does Your Neighbor's House Affect YOUR Appraisal?

I get asked this question all the time, "Will my neighbor's house affect my appraisal?" And the answer, is an emphatic YES.  If your neighbors take excellent care of their home, it will help keep your value up.  If their grass is like a park, their house does not have flaking paint, their house just simply has great curb appeal-kuddos to them!

However, on the ugly side...if your neighbor's grass is two feet tall, they have Christmas lights still hanging in July, oil all over their driveway, dead trees etc-well you get the picture, this can lead to your home being devalued by 5 to 10%.  The appraisal industry calls this neighbor "external obsolescence" which means this is a factor that is beyond your control...but it still affects your property.

If your neighbor has a lot of cars all over the place, it may prevent your home from selling.  If someone comes by to look at your home when it's on the market and there are barking dogs, that could deter someone from wanting to live there as well.  The best approach is to try to talk with your neighbor first, however, this does not always work.  And, when it does not, the City typically has code enforcement that can help you.  It is USUALLY better to go to the neighbor first to try to resolve it.  Sometimes that does not work as it is a case by case situation as we are dealing with all sorts of personalities as we know.

The biggest form of external obsolescence has been with homes that have been foreclosed on.  Many of these homes have gotten so run down and the weeds are so high.  Many Cities are enforcing the real estate agents that take these listings from the banks to take care of the grass (or lack thereof) and make the curb appeal much better or there will be fines.

So, yes, your neighbor's house and neighboring homes do affect the value of your home.  Try to get things cleared up before putting your home on the market if you can.  Many times, these things are beyond our control and unfortunately, it is what it is and we can only do what we can do.  We cannot control everything.

Joan Patterson, B.A., G.R.I., Realtor, License #01431647
Keller Williams Realty
951-204-1864
http://inlandempirerealestate.kwrealty.com