Real Estate and dead grass?

Question

My neighbor is renting out his house to renters. The renters are choosing NOT to water their grass, and their grass is dying. Our grass is nice and green, however, we live right next door to them.

(We live in Southern California and we do NOT belong to any association nor do we pay any association fees).

Will my neighbors decision to not water his grass make our property vaule decline here? (My mothers house is paid off due to life insurance after her husband past in 2004).

Also: Who is responsible for painting the sidewalks red near a fire hydrant and mail boxes. The police do not understand that it is very hard to see the red since it is faded, and I am always told 'Call your home owners association" and I keep on saying 'We don't have one, we never had one, we don't pay fee, we don't pay fees." Who is to paint them? The city of Perris? The Country of Riverside?

Answer 1

I live in Perris, Ca and my husband is a deputy sheriff. According to him, it is a Code Enforcement Issue.

The city of perris does have a Code Enforcement Unit.

You will find the information below along with a phone number to contact them. You can complain about the grass and right down to the Weeds in someone's yard.

That reminds me.. I have to go weed my yard!

Answer 2

Your neighbor's brown lawn is not likely to affect your value.  Let's hope they keep the landscaping under control otherwise, though.  

In many areas, the fire department actually handles hydrant maintenance itself, including painting.  If city hall itself can't help, try calling the fire department.

Answer 3

The city pays for the side walk painting, the police are not involved at all.

Call the owner of the house next door.    This is damage adn neglect of their property and they need to know about it.

Your property values are not determined by grass.

Answer 4

I can feel your pain, I would be pissed of. You can try to talk nicely to the houseowner, if you know his address (you can look it up in the tax assesment.

The world is no fair and yes, a broken down lawn will lower real estate value in the neighborhood.

See, if the city has an ordinance in regards to lawn care.

If you can swallow your anger, try to reason with the neighbor. Learn to know him/her. Be really nice. Sometimes you can catch  flys with sugar.

Good luck!

Answer 5

Sadly, if you live in Southern California, the current real estate market is having much more of an effect on your declining property values than dead grass would.

The red paint is typically taken care of by city or county services.  My first suggestion would be to call the local fire department because that's who the red curbs are for. They can tell you who paints them.  The only responsibility the police have in this matter is to ticket people that park there.

If your home has its own mailbox, then you are responsible for it. If your mail is delivered to an MBU (multiple box unit) that was placed by the Post Office, then they are responsible for it.

If you want to paint your house number on the curb, then you are responsible for it. Simply go to a stationary store and buy some 4 inch number templates and some dark reflective spray paint. First paint a white square with non-reflective paint so there is a background, then, using the templates, paint the numbers using the reflective paint.