Keep the Neighbors Happy

When we’re selling or renting a house, the neighbors can help make it a pleasant experience or a real nightmare.  Bill and I always try to talk with the neighbors and listen to their needs and concerns.  We want the neighbors to like our house and appreciate the improvements we make.  We also want the neighborhood’s values to benefit from our sales price.

We recently bought a house in a very nice neighborhood where the values had taken a terrible turn downward.  We did a beautiful rehab to the house and property, spending about $24,000 on improvements.  The neighbors were patient with the noise and tolerant of our trucks constantly blocking the road.

During the rehab, we encouraged the neighbors to drop by and check out our progress.  We asked them to help keep an eye on the house, which made them feel a part of the process and helped us keep the house safe.

Also, as a great testament to the amazing talents of our contractors – Joey English, Matt Smith and Keith Casey – several of the neighbors asked for their phone numbers.  It does my heart good when our team benefits from future work in a neighborhood.

When the rehab was finished and the house cleaned, we tucked a ‘Choose Your Neighbor’ flyer behind the flag of each mailbox in the subdivision.  We offered the neighbors a referral fee of $250 if they would help us find a good buyer for the home.  We also thanked them for their extreme patience and understanding while we worked to make the house something they would be proud to have in the neighborhood.

On the backside of the flyer, we included information about our upcoming Open House and invited them to stop by and see the finished product.  And here’s the key to dissolving any anger about our low price: we listed all of the recent sales in the neighborhood, stating that those sales dictated our list price.  It’s hard to argue with the facts.

Listing the recent sales helped the neighbors understand how we determined our list price.  It also helped them recognize that the house was a killer deal.  Several of the neighbors brought their family members to the Open House in hopes that they could benefit from such a good deal.

As a matter of fact, before this article is printed, we can almost guarantee that our buyer will be the brother of the guy who lives up the street. 

When we rehab a house and list it for sale, we want to make a profit, of course, but we also want the neighborhood to benefit from our time spent there.  Being considerate of the neighbors, working diligently to find a good buyer, and helping to improve the values makes the experience a pleasant one for all.

Bill & Kim Cook are a husband and wife real estate investing team. They live in Adairsville, Georgia and have been investing in real estate since 1995. They specialize in buying single-family homes, mobile homes and mobile home parks. They also run North Georgia REIA and teach folks how to successfully invest in real estate.