A Man Is Struggling To Sell His House Thanks To A Neighbor Who Keeps Sabotaging Showings. He Wants The Home For His Son, But Can’t Afford It

Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below.

A home seller says his neighbor may be intentionally derailing the sale of his home so his son can buy it at a lower price.

In a post shared on r/RealEstate, the homeowner explained he listed his four-bedroom home for close to its appraised value of $250,000 in a quiet community with good schools and low crime. But after a month on the market, things aren’t going as planned.

The Neighbor Wants To Force A Price Drop?

“One of the showing realtors asked if we had any problems with our neighbors,” the original poster wrote, after loud music and motorcycles disrupted a scheduled viewing. He said the same neighbor has a son who called to make an “unrealistic offer” on the house. OP declined, telling him to go through the listing agent.

Don’t Miss:

Now, he believes the father is sabotaging other buyers to stall the sale and force a price reduction. “We feel the dad is trying to sabotage any potential buyers… in the hopes that we won’t be able to sell our house and therefore will keep lowering the price until his son can afford it,” he wrote.

Commenters Urge Legal Action

The top response suggested getting a lawyer immediately. “Document/record all such instances. Then follow through with a civil suit for damages if necessary,” one person advised. “Hopefully the cost of defending himself… will help him realize that he must stop.”

Others shared similar stories. One person said, “I’ve only sued one person in my life. And it’s my neighbor. Didn’t do it lightly, but it’s made things massively better.”

Several commenters referenced “tortious interference” as a potential cause for legal action. “If they can prove that the neighbor only does it when people are coming to look at the house… they could potentially have a civil suit,” someone explained.

Trending: Missed Nvidia and Tesla? RAD Intel Could Be the Next AI Powerhouse — Just $0.81 a Share

Alternatives To Suing

Not everyone thought a lawsuit was the best option. A few suggested discreetly removing the for-sale sign and limiting showings to weekday mornings.  One commenter suggested that the realtor should inform potential buyers upfront that the neighbor’s disruptive behavior stems from his desire for his son to purchase the house. That way, buyers would know the situation isn’t typical and could view it in context.

Another person shared that the same thing had happened to them. They decided to flip the script by putting a note in the listing that the neighbor was trying to scare away buyers in order to purchase the property under market value. According to them, that transparency worked.

See Also: Arrived Home’s Private Credit Fund’s has historically paid an annualized dividend yield of 8.1%*, which provides access to a pool of short-term loans backed by residential real estate with just a $100 minimum. 

Some Think It Might Be A Losing Battle

A few people had more negative opinions: “You don’t have a quiet street with a nice community. You have a loud street with a loud, obnoxious neighbor,” one said.

Still, many agreed that no buyer wants to deal with a neighbor from hell. “If I were a buyer, I would like to find out that the neighbor was an a**hole during a showing and not after the purchase,” another wrote.

Whether the homeowner goes the legal route or finds a way to work around the disruption, the message was that the neighbor may not be breaking laws, but he is definitely breaking deals.

Read Next: Backed by $300M+ in Assets and Microsoft’s Climate Fund, Farmland LP Opens Vital Farmland III to Accredited Investors

Image: Shutterstock

This article A Man Is Struggling To Sell His House Thanks To A Neighbor Who Keeps Sabotaging Showings. He Wants The Home For His Son, But Can’t Afford It originally appeared on Benzinga.com