NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – When Kelli Gapski and her husband bought a house north of Detroit, they thought they found paradise.

Then, new neighbors moved in next door and soon acquired a noisy Doberman-Rottweiler mix.

A work-at-home Web designer (she chronicles her neighbor troubles on www.theneighborsfromhell.com), Kelli bore the brunt of the animal’s incessant barking. Prevailing upon the dog’s owners accomplished little. Neither did bringing in the authorities. The neighbors bought another dog.

The Gapskis spent $1,000 to put up a fence. They paid $40 for an anti-barking device, which emits an ultrasonic tone meant to quiet a dog. The neighbors even equipped their pooch with a battery-charged collar, which issued a shock when the dog barked. Nothing worked.

So the Gapskis gave up.

“We don’t deal with situations, we just move,” says Kelli.

When they tried to sell, the Gapskis learned that difficult neighbors aren’t just a nuisance — they can even drive down property values.

Some states require sellers to disclose neighborhood nuisances (noise, smoke, odors), if they exist. That can discourage some homebuyers and give others negotiating leverage.

“Every time a buyer came to look at our house, the dog would go ballistic,” Kelli says. “We started the house at $195,000 and had to drop it to $170,000.”

She couldn’t blame the buyers. When she and her husband home-shopped, if they heard a dog bark they would turn on their heels and get back in the car.

Rubbing money the wrong way Taking on noisy neighbors can be costly and have other social consequences.

The New York Times recently reported on a well-known bond trader who took umbrage about noise from upstairs in his co-op apartment building. His actions included having the neighbor, an older retiree who had lived in the building without incident for years, arrested for assault.

The co-op board and nearly all the association’s members lined up against the trader. He eventually was forced to sell his shares and move, but not before tens of thousands of dollars were spent on legal maneuvers by both sides.

Actor Jim Belushi fought a well-publicized battle with his Brentwood next-door-neighbor, erstwhile Batman nemesis, Julie “Catwoman” Newmar. The dispute involved a new wall Belushi built and resulted in a $1 million lawsuit. It ended with her apology and a $10,000 payment from her for legal fees and penalties.

Hulk Hogan and his neighbors in Belleair, Fla., have wrestled over noise and smells from the Hulkster’s private menagerie.

At various times, officials have spotted five chickens, one rooster, seven dogs, one cat, bird cages, and a ferret on the property. One neighbor moved a master bedroom to the other side of the house.

Sean Connery was on the receiving end of a lawsuit in New York, where a downstairs neighbor in Connery’s son’s building accused the actor of making his life hell with loud music, water leaks, and rats.

What you can do If you’re enduring an inconsiderate neighbor there are some steps you can take. First, make your neighbor aware that there is a problem. Be as nice as possible.

Bill Seavey relocated recently to Cambria, Calif., where he plans to open up part of the house as a small bed and breakfast. Because neighbors may have concerns about parking, he made an extra effort to establish good relations, introducing himself early on and trying to appear as affable as possible.

If friendliness doesn’t work, a warning might. Consult the local rules and regulations – if you’re in a condo or co-op ask the association’s board about its policies, and let your neighbor know he’s in violation.

The next step is to get an objective, third-party involved, a community mediator.

The last step is to use the legal system by calling the police or instituting a law suit. This can be expensive, and will probably make it impossible to patch up your relationship afterwards.

Remember, too, that inconsiderate actions can indicate deeper personality problems. If any attempts you make to alleviate the problem cause you to fear for your safety, back off. Get the authorities involved immediately.   ]]> http://neighborhell.com/?feed=rss2&p=17 0 http://neighborhell.com/?p=16 http://neighborhell.com/?p=16#comments Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:34:34 +0000 admin http://neighborhell.com/?p=16 Starting today, I’m going to start a series of reviews, accompanied by screencasts, of reviews of social networks, social bookmarking services and social media sites on the Spring.  You can see my initial list there which I’ll be modifying as this series goes along.

Listal is a social networking site where you can find people who share your tastes in movies, books, music or games.  Lists and collections are shared via a simple url like (in my case) http://springnet.listal.com and they give you widgets to plug in to your blog or website.

The site stands out for it’s tight integration of tagging, friends, finding others, forums and messaging.  The “explore” feature is hot, it lets you scan through reviews of movies, tv shows, books, games, dvds, and music. 

pingbacks austincast.com/blog bastropbuilder.com/blog compuslides.com/blog gameslides.com/blog magickpapers.com/blog shopslides.com/blog touroftexas.com/blog spring.net/blog socobuzz.com/blog web2.0slides.com/blog webgirlvillage.com/blog wholetech.com/blog wmeyers.com/blog

pingback austincast.com/blog bastropbuilder.com/blog compuslides.com/blog gameslides.com/blog magickpapers.com/blog shopslides.com/blog touroftexas.com/blog spring.net/blog socobuzz.com/blog web2.0slides.com/blog webgirlvillage.com/blog wholetech.com/blog wmeyers.com/blog workontheweb.com/blog

Sheriff

Republican – Rosanna Abreo vs. Terry Pickering.  Abreo is the incumbent and Terry Pickering is a Travis county veteran deputy sheriff. 

Democrat – Stg. Glenn “Skip” Wobus vs. Tommy Oates, a former DPS Trooper.

Pct 1 Justice of the Peace

 Wayne Smith, Retired FBI agent and former Pct. 1 Justice of the Peace

423^rd District Court

Republican – Derek Van Guilder, Bastrop Lawyer vs Charlotte Hinds, appointed to the post last year by Rick Perry

Democrat – Ernie Bogart, Elgin Attorney, vs. Chris Duggan, Travis county assistant district attorney

Pct 3 Commissioner 

Democrat – Incumbent John Klaus vs. Martin Brown

Precinct 1 Commissioner

Democrat – Bastrop Council member Dock Jackson vs. Willie Peterson of Bastrop

President

Democrat – Hillary Clinton vs. Barak Obama

Republican – John McCain vs. Mike Huckabee vs. Ron Paul