Are You a Good Neighbor?
We all have to deal with our neighbors. Some of us are fortunate to be blessed with kind, friendly and respectful neighbors, but some of us are not so fortunate and we end up with the neighbors from hell. If you own your own home, you are pretty much stuck with your neighbors. If you rent, you can wait until your lease is up and move someplace else. In the meantime, you will have to put up with those rude neighbors. It seems that sometimes people do not realize how their behavior affects others. Could you possibly be the real problem? You probably are saying no I believe I am a good neighbor. Well, maybe you are not as good of a neighbor as you think.
Are you or someone you know:
The Nosy Neighbor - These are the people that are always peeping out of their window to see what everyone in the neighborhood is doing. They may also strike up conversations with other people in your neighborhood or building, just to get information on everyone's comings and goings. These types of neighbors can be good sometimes, because if something happens, they usually will be able to tell the police a blow by blow description of the perpetrator.
The Messy Neighbor - These are the people that keep all types of crap in their yard. These people could care less how the outside of their home looks. If animals get into their trash, they take their sweet time picking it up or not pick it up at all. They leave old toys and ornaments in their yard. If they ever open their garage, it is so full of stuff that you can't fit a car or anything else in it. Don't be surprised if they hang up a clothes line outside to air their laundry.
The Complainer: These people complain about everything.They complain if a blade of grass grows too long onto their property. If you have company and your guests park in front of their house, they are the first ones to knock on your door asking your guests to move their cars.
The Borrower: These are the ones that always need to borrow something from you and either they never return what they borrowed or its not returned in the same condition they received it. After the tenth time of borrowing your lawnmower, you would think they could have saved up for one of their own.
The Irresponsible Animal Owner: These are the ones that let their animals poop in your yard or allow their animals to dig up the flowers you spent all season nurturing. Let's not forget the ones that just let their animals loose to roam the neighborhood. There are also the ones that leave their animals tied up in all kinds of inclement weather. This is just totally irresponsible.
The Noisy Neighbor: These are the people that have a party every night. The music is always blaring or they are always yelling and screaming. Then you have to deal with the children screaming and crying, and let's not forget the dog that annoyingly barks all day, everyday.
If you find that you are guilty of any of these nuisances, please keep in mind that we all want to live in a clean and peaceful neighborhood. We all may have our moments that we are not good neighbors, but you should be mindful of how your behavior affects your neighborhood. Your bad habits can affect the property values in your community. Most homeowners associations welcome complaints, but don't put your neighbors in the position to have to lodge a complaint against you. Be respectful of your neighbors and of your community, because some of us take pride in our homes. Are you a good neighbor?