I just saw a story this morning about how ANYONE can OUT their ROTTEN NEIGHBORS! The site is called WWW.ROTTENNEIGHBOR.COM and I personally feel that it could have a profound impact on us as real estate agents! Think about how difficult it would be to try and sell a home that was right next door to a "Rotten Neighbor" or worse yet, the "Rotten Neighbors" home themself? And what about when working with buyers? Don't we have a fiduciary duty to look out for their best interests? But then again, does this kind of thing violate fair housing laws if we aren't the ones saying it? It is merely other peoples opinions, but they are allowed to be as "candid" as they want and can certainly state things and do openly state things that if said by us would be a direct violation of fair housing!
CLICK ON THE PICTURE ABOVE TO SEE THE FULL VIDEO FOR THIS STORY!
So what do you think, are we obligated to let our clients know about this site? Do you think we should check the site before going on a listing presentation to see if the prospective sellers are near any "rotten neighbors" or are the "rotten neighbors" themselves?
I KNOW PEOPLE ARE JUST VENTING, BUT I DON'T THINK THEY REALIZE JUST HOW MUCH A SITE LIKE THIS COULD REALLY HURT THEIR PROPERTY VALUES WHEN THEY WANT TO SELL THEIR OWN HOMES! This is the same thing as the neighbor who complains to the police about the people who speed in their own neighborhood, so the police come out and start issuing tickets and guess who is one of the ones who also gets a ticket? THE SAME NEIGHBOR WHO ORIGINALLY FILED THE COMPLAINT!
I think that it's a great idea! But, you're right...what goes around, generally comes around. Plus, one person's "rotten" neighbor might be someone else's "dream" neighbor!
I used to have a little old lady for a neighbor and she used to unlock my gate and let my dog out to run the neighborhood. I complained to the police about it and they did nothing. I asked her several times to not do this and finally I had to threaten her! The other thing that bothered me about her was that she knew more about what was going on in my house than I did!
This was okay until I broke up with my girlfriend at the time and had another lady over. Then I got back with the original girlfriend and guess who I spied talking across the fence? ;-)
Bob Mitchell
ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.
I would not recommend this site to buyer clients, and if they ask I will point out the possible unreliable nature of comments found there.
Gary, I thought the exact same thing when I heard of this site this morning.
Rosario, I think I will follow your advice on this one "proceed with caution" and "at your own risk" since we can't rely solely on others opinions! We all know what opinions are like!!!