TL;DR: We have a neighbor crazy enough to make us want to move. We have a nice house in a nice area with a nice park. We started a daycare that is getting a little bit big. We're only planning to live in this town another five years, and would have to switch from a 15 year mortgage to 30 year to afford a bigger house in a nicer area and I hate debt. Help please?
This is a little long, but I've got a really tricky situation with lots of complex parts. Please help!
Last year a new neighbor moved in. She is fairly insane. Her mom won the lottery and bought her the house. She's into a lot of hard drugs, she curses and yells at people on the street all the time. She brings around a lot of unsavory people—people she has personally told me are former drug dealers—which I think might still be current drug dealers. She moved in late May, and from August through November she had the police at her house on an average of once per week—and a few of those were calls from us. Our houses on this street are fairly close together, and we don't have fences. She piles trash in her backyard, and bags of dirty old clothes that are ripped open. We've had several break-ins on our quiet street since she moved in. She recently had her kids taken away and has calmed down considerably. There isn't much activity next door, but then again it's also winter and they're the type to keep the garage door open during all warm months, running around screaming F-bombs outside.
So here's my question: Should we put the house on the market since she has gone quiet?
Other factors:
I just feel kinda bad for abandoning this place. We really like it and it suited our nice family, but our needs have kinda changed. Really it was the neighbor that pushed things to a breaking point, and since she's quiet now I'm hopeful that someone else would be more likely to buy it. But is that unethical? I feel like I'm pawning it off onto someone else. I mean the house itself is in great condition, and I've made some nice small additions and cleared out a lot of the brush in the back yard. So it's a good property. But we can sometimes hear her yelling F-bombs while inside our own house, and even when outside we can hear her cursing inside with the windows closed. But like I said, she's been quiet for about one and a half months now, and I think she might be getting therapy. I'm so conflicted. I also really hate moving. We barely moved when I was growing up and I feel like that's all I've done since college. The driveway is a big pain point, especially as I'm kind of a perfectionist (I'm a UI/UX designer and photographer).
Please help with any advice!
This is a little long, but I've got a really tricky situation with lots of complex parts. Please help!
Last year a new neighbor moved in. She is fairly insane. Her mom won the lottery and bought her the house. She's into a lot of hard drugs, she curses and yells at people on the street all the time. She brings around a lot of unsavory people—people she has personally told me are former drug dealers—which I think might still be current drug dealers. She moved in late May, and from August through November she had the police at her house on an average of once per week—and a few of those were calls from us. Our houses on this street are fairly close together, and we don't have fences. She piles trash in her backyard, and bags of dirty old clothes that are ripped open. We've had several break-ins on our quiet street since she moved in. She recently had her kids taken away and has calmed down considerably. There isn't much activity next door, but then again it's also winter and they're the type to keep the garage door open during all warm months, running around screaming F-bombs outside.
So here's my question: Should we put the house on the market since she has gone quiet?
Other factors:
- My wife runs a daycare. The daycare parents were starting to get upset and one of them even called the police. They seem better now, but I'm worried if it starts up again.
- Our street is otherwise really quiet, and we love the location across the street from a park and surrounded by trees front and back. There's even a walking trail in the woods and playground equipment.
- The house itself was a good deal and is somewhat new and well contructed. It has a nice bonus room where my office is, and for the price we couldn't find anything in town that beat it.
- We started the daycare after buying the house, as my wife decided she wanted to stay at home after having our first child in 2014. We started out with four less than one year olds, but now they're all growing up bigger, in addition to my daughter who will be 2. We would like more space for the daycare, like a walkout, as it currently takes up a good chunk of our livable space. We also really need a fence for the kids to run around, and that will be expensive.
- We're on a 15 year mortgage. We did this so we could quickly build up equity, so we bought a little bit smaller house as a result. So if we sold this spring, we would have enough to put down on a bigger house that costs up to 75% more if we did a 30 year mortgage.
- My wife could get licensed and take on more than 4 kids if we had a bigger space, which would increase our income and/or pay for a larger house.
- We are only planning on staying in this town for another five years or so, as we'd like to move back to Kansas City at some point where our family is, but for now I'm really happy with things are with my current job, especially while my kids are little, as it has a good work-life balance.
- My wife is expecting, so we'll have a second kid and space is already limited. But it's also hard to move while she is pregnant as she gets very sick. She was pregnant last time and it was not ideal.
- I love the yard at my current place. Lots of big trees with shade in the back, a small creek that sounds nice when it rains, and earlier this last summer I built a pretty nice rock patio that we really enjoy.
- My driveway is a wreck right now. We had a lot of spalling from ice and ice melt, and I patched it and it looked ok. Then I sealed it and it all went to hell bubbling like crazy. I've had two different professionals try to remove it and they can't. Chemicals and pressure water sandblasting don't work. So I'm worried the really ugly driveway would turn off buyers, even though the house itself is great.
I just feel kinda bad for abandoning this place. We really like it and it suited our nice family, but our needs have kinda changed. Really it was the neighbor that pushed things to a breaking point, and since she's quiet now I'm hopeful that someone else would be more likely to buy it. But is that unethical? I feel like I'm pawning it off onto someone else. I mean the house itself is in great condition, and I've made some nice small additions and cleared out a lot of the brush in the back yard. So it's a good property. But we can sometimes hear her yelling F-bombs while inside our own house, and even when outside we can hear her cursing inside with the windows closed. But like I said, she's been quiet for about one and a half months now, and I think she might be getting therapy. I'm so conflicted. I also really hate moving. We barely moved when I was growing up and I feel like that's all I've done since college. The driveway is a big pain point, especially as I'm kind of a perfectionist (I'm a UI/UX designer and photographer).
Please help with any advice!
