The "quarter million dollar tenements"

Though I would love to take credit for this phrase, I can't. It was muttered by one of my neighbors a few weeks ago when we were commiserating about how some of the homeowners in our subdivision were maintaining their properties. We have an HOA, and a property management company (take that term very loosely), yet it seems lately that the neighborhood is going to hell.

With the lower interest rates available right now, more and more of the homeowners in our area are renting their properties. Fine... as long as you maintain an active presence as the "home owner" and make sure that the property doesn't devaluate. Weeds growing out of cracks. Grass as high as mid-thigh. Bubba and his 6 kids running amok and knocking out three panels of the back fence. I don't see any maintenence here, do you?

Which leads me to the lack of management from our new "property management" company. Our last company maintained the public/community areas. There were beautiful flowers. The planters were weed free. They also drove around and inspected the neighborhood. And, if you were in violation, you got what I fondly call a "nastygram" from them. When you wanted to make improvements on your home, you had to submit the changes and get them approved by the board. I had to jump through hoops to get my paint scheme approved when we resided and painted our house. (For those of you who don't know my color scheme... eggshell and brick red trim.) Since when is painting your garage door, the trim of your home, your front door, and even your planter boxes black part of the approved color list for the neighborhood? Management? Maintenence? Not so much!!!

So, what prompted me to complain about this today? Last night at a little after 10pm, as I was outside smoking, two cars pulled up and parked across the street in front of my neighbor's house. The one who fondly coined the phrase "quarter million dollar tenements". He was out in his garage working on the train track he's building. These teenage boys, who I know do NOT live in our neighborhood proceed to get out of their cars and "hang out". I've put up with this crap at the past two houses I've lived in, and I vowed I wouldn't put up with it again. So, I asked them if they were lost. "Nope, just waiting for someone." I told them "Not on our street you aren't. Go wait somewhere else." After some sassing and back talk from them, I assured them if they didn't leave I would "call the police to escort them to a more appropriate waiting area". After a few more nasty comments, they got in their cars and took off. Where was my neighbor? Getting a baseball bat and the phone off his wall in the garage.

The "quarter million dollar tenements"! Anyone looking for a new house? We've got some waiting for you.