Lake and Marina “Neighbor” Rants:

Think I can help you Lakeliving, my lawn needs raking and my gutters could use some cleaning

I do provide a Florida man yard and gutter service package which includes me not showing up when I say I will, and when I do show up I'll probably fall off my ladder and sue you, the quote will be 3x of what it costs anywhere else in the US, and my work will be sub-par.

My Florida peeps will appreciate the sad reality of that statement regarding the work force down here.
 
Andy, are you still on track to retire at 50?

Trust me, it's a worthy goal. I made it to 61. I love every minute of retirement. And I DO NOT need to "work" to keep me busy. I have plenty to do.
I retired at 50. We work to stay busy because you can only play so much golf, bowl, play racquetball, boat, wax cars, go on cruises, yardwork, shoot, stuff around the house, etc etc etc...... I get tired of doing that stuff all the time! Ha! Just stay occupied is what I'm trying to say....
 
Our dream when we retire is to run the ICW from Chesapeake Bay to Miami. Gotta get a bigger motor by then though ...
Might keep the 20 as a kicker for the slow cruise portions.
 
I live ion a waterfront street n a lake community, and our town restricts short term rentals to just 25 houses that have permits. There is one on our street, but at the other end. I have never had to deal with them.

There is a push in Texas to make it illegal to restrict short term rentals. God I hope that never happens!
 
Pleasant STR Update to an Old Thread:

(Short Version): Next door STR sold a couple weeks ago. New owners took occupancy last week. We hope to meet them the next time up to our cottage. With the township now enforcing an STR ordinance ban, we are finally free of that problem. Hopeful we have nice new neighbors. I’ve heard good reports already about them from our other neighbors who met the new owners last weekend.

(Long Version): Some in this forum advised me back in 2019 and 2020 the only way to really do anything was to push back legally, and push back hard. We’ve spent the better part of this past 1.5 years doing that. Attending township meetings, filing complaints, documenting every renter that stays and what takes place (photos, time stamps, nuisance activity, logs of conversations about renting, etc…), forming a local anti-STR residents group to keep the issue alive locally with the township board and community through meetings, newspaper editorial letters, etc….

This eventually led to the township moving to ban them vs. regulating and allowing them. It also led to legal action against our neighbor as he continued renting the place full time as an STR after the full ban went into affect.

Technically there is still one more court case pending against him (which is both for his violations of the ban and continuing to rent up to this past June, and for perjury from the first informal hearing before a magistrate this past winter). Us and our neighbors witnesses in the case/trial.

This pressure led to him listing the home for sale in June. It sold July 25th, new owners closed and got occupancy on Aug. 5th. We think the now former owners is hoping that his sale of the place will lead to the court case being dropped by the township (which probably will happen…I’ll know for sure by Aug. 23).

Reflection: Horrible experience. I was gun-shy of “being that guy” when I initially got advice from some of you to push the issue strong civically and legally. However, that advice, and A LOT of diligence and work on our part, has led to the best outcome possible: township ban on STR’s, enforcement of that ban (although that could be more robust), eventual legal action against STR ban violators, and finally in our case, the STR owner bowing out and selling the property.

Not a path I would have willingly choose these past few years. However, I share the long version above for those in similar situations. If you are in a similar situation, there is a chance at some eventual relief. However, you have to work at it. You have to be “that guy” in keep records, report every problem, and work to keep pressure on those in power to do something about it.

Depending on your local situation, you may need to go above and beyond to make it happen. That said, you can make it happen. Best of luck to anyone else dealing with problematic STR’s.

A1DAB5EF-B9C5-4572-B56D-D7755DED3155.jpeg
 
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I'm glad you finally get some good news. I have owned short term rentals, but they were in a condo at the beach that was 90% rentals. I would not want to rent a house because I know it would make for bad neighbors. There are places for rentals, but there are also places they should not be allowed. I'm glad yours got handled for now, and probably the future.
 
Pleasant STR Update to and Old Thread:

(Short Version): Next door STR sold a couple weeks ago. New owners took occupancy last week. We hope to meet them the next time up to our cottage. With the township now enforcing an STR ordinance ban, we are finally free of that problem. Hopeful we have nice new neighbors. I’ve heard good reports already about them from our other neighbors who met the new owners last weekend.

(Long Version): Some in this forum advised me back in 2019 and 2020 the only way to really do anything was to push back legally, and push back hard. We’ve spent the better part of this past 1.5 years doing that. Attending township meetings, filing complaints, documenting every renter that stays and what takes place (photos, time stamps, nuisance activity, logs of conversations about renting, etc…), forming a local anti-STR residents group to keep the issue alive locally with the township board and community through meetings, newspaper editorial letters, etc….

This eventually led to the township moving to ban them vs. regulating and allowing them. It also led to legal action against our neighbor as he continued renting the place full time as an STR after the full ban went into affect.

Technically there is still one more court case pending against him (which is both for his violations of the ban and continuing to rent up to this past June, and for perjury from the first informal hearing before a magistrate this past winter). Us and our neighbors witnesses in the case/trial.

This pressure led to him listing the home for sale in June. It sold July 25th, new owners closed and got occupancy on Aug. 5th. We think the now former owners is hoping that his sale of the place will lead to the court case being dropped by the township (which probably will happen…I’ll know for sure by Aug. 23).

Reflection: Horrible experience. I was gun-shy of “being that guy” when I initially got advice from some of you to push the issue strong civically and legally. However, that advice, and A LOT of diligence and work on our part, has led to the best outcome possible: township ban on STR’s, enforcement of that ban (although that could be more robust), eventual legal action against STR ban violators, and finally in our case, the STR owner bowing out and selling the property.

Not a path I would have willingly choose these past few years. However, I share the long version above for those in similar situations. If you are in a similar situation, there is a chance at some eventual relief. However, you have to work at it. You have to be “that guy” in keep records, report every problem, and work to keep pressure on those in power to do something about it.

Depending on your local situation, you may need to go above and beyond to make it happen. That said, you can make it happen. Best of luck to anyone else dealing with problematic STR’s.

View attachment 30898
Wow, what an ordeal. I only read the first page of this, (I couldn't take much more as my blood was boiling) but sounds like all of your diligence paid off. Nice work and thanks for all the tips and insight for anyone else who may be facing the same issue.
 
My lake house WAS an rental prior to us. My neighbors seemed happy when I told them we would never be renting it out.

I couldn’t imagine the anger I would have if my neighbor rented their place out and had to deal with your stories.
 
I am so glad out neighborhood dont allow VRBO. I can just imagine your headaches.
 
Our current house was a rental as the owner lived in California. The neighbors are happy we are here. In a unique twist of fate we had friends over that we met down here and when they showed up the guy said “I’ve been here before!” I guess some of the force rented it for a Memorial Day party or something.
Good story Jeff and happy to hear you prevailed.
 
In a unique twist of fate we had friends over that we met down here and when they showed up the guy said “I’ve been here before!” I guess some of the force rented it for a Memorial Day party or something.
Now that is a funny twist. Did your guests like what you have done with the place? ;)
 
Great ending, glad it's over for you. It's surely been a lot of work.
 
I threw out a casual offer on a dump down next to me that wasn't seriously considered because the daughter of the deceased prior owner got dollar signs in her eyes. My wife wasn't on board either. I offered money based on it being a tear down, which it was... or so I thought.

A flipper bought it, threw a ton of cash at it (it needed everything) and still sold it for a profit (almost $300/sq. ft. which is unheard of here).

The couple that bought it is STR-ing it and thus far (and it's only been this summer), things are working out OK. They have house rules and have gone out of their way to emphasize the yard's boundaries (I border them on all sides), no dog rules and a quiet time. They check in with me often to be sure we've had no problems. And so far, they've been good neighbors. I know something will arise, but the owners live nearby and I know they will nip it in the bud. That said, it's a very small place (850 sq. ft.) and not on the water, so it won't every be anyone's party house (or so we hope). So far, so good.
 
We live in an association which has strict rules that must be adhered to, one f them being Not allowed to rent
 
For years the only way my family got on the water was to rent a place on the lake for a week. But the owner was next door. That being said I am very fortunate that none of my neighbors rent. I also have standing orders that if they want to sell, see me before going to an agent. Best way to control your neighbors is to be your neighbors. Of course I would then be short term renting out that place, but again owner on premises.

You can see I am all over the place on how I feel about STR.
 
For years the only way my family got on the water was to rent a place on the lake for a week. But the owner was next door. That being said I am very fortunate that none of my neighbors rent. I also have standing orders that if they want to sell, see me before going to an agent. Best way to control your neighbors is to be your neighbors. Of course I would then be short term renting out that place, but again owner on premises.

You can see I am all over the place on how I feel about STR.
I agree so much. I dislike the idea of rowdy STR coming next door BUT there are a lot of families that dont have the luxury of owning on the water, so im glad families can make memories without having to shell out for the ever increasing price for waterfront.

Unfortunate that the only way to prevent a bad renter next door is to not allow renters next door.
 
Rant #2 for the day: Lake-house only…not boat related.

New lakeside neighbors since last August. Seemed really nice, and we thought we were developing a friendship with them. I gave them all our lake contacts up here, and helped them with many things last summer…including connecting them with a DEAL on a used jet ski lift from someone else we know up here that gave them a great deal since they were our new neighbors.

They tell us last year they are leaving their dock where it has been the previous 4 years with previous 2 owners. That puts it about 30’ off our propertly line, and they have 97’ of frontage, so still off to the side of their cottage, but also way off the property line. They are also excited they will be extending it out another 60’ to 100’ total. Nice given our shallow shore line. We only go 70’ and have another 150’ to go before it starts to drop in depth. We were happy for them.

We are also like “good to know”. We have always put our dock in its sea wall dock notch as recommended by other neighbors when we bought our place in 2016. It is unfortunately only 10’ off the line, so barely enough room to park our boat on the left side of the dock for port door access dockside. Never an issue before as we had plenty of space for docking. Our lake can be rough at times and close quarter docking is often not doable on the main body of the lake that we are on.

Our dock goes in 2 weeks ago in normal spot. New neighbors are waiting on their new additional sections of dock, so there’s is not put in yet.

Apparently (per another neighbor) they put it in this past Wednesday morning. We happened to be downstate at home. They put their dock in about 1-2’ off the property line. They moved it over about 25-28’ towards us. It leaves us with about a 25’ approach alongside their dock to even reach our dock, in about 1.8-2’ deep shallow water, and with just 1-2” of leeway to pull between our docks and theirs when we get up to our dock. So another 24-25’ of that to get beside our dock.

Our dock on right. Our boat center. Their dock boxing us in on left. Picture taken on fortunately a calm day.
07A289B3-43C3-48D9-B5B5-274A93EA6696.jpeg

Anyone that know’s the main body of Houghton Lake knows that much of the time you are not on a dead calm. Lots of summer northerly directional wind and waves on the main body of the lake. I cannot really dock it there now without using their dock to “walk it up” and into our spot, or getting off in water and walking it up.

Our dock also has a 6x10 end L’s platform that L’s off to the right. Until I remove it and reconfigure the end piece and leg supports, I cannot just pull up on the right side of my dock. Again, they knowingly boxed us in.

They could have warned us whenever they changed their mind on their dock placement (we exchanged phone numbers last summer And have talked MANY times throughout this past summer, fall and winter). Lots of opportunities to warn us we’d need to move our dock or get boxed in. Ideally they could have held off one more summer with the changes, and put theirs where it has been in the past so we could game plan where we’d be moving ours to along our 50’ of frontage next year.

Neither was done. Instead they boxed us in without notice or warning. They did it after ours was already in for the season. I got up the same evening they had done it for our boat inspection the next day, and found the docks in this state.

My full time neighbor on the other side walked over when I arrived. He said he had walked over and gave the new neighbors a heads up if they continued putting it in at that spot (they had the first section in the water), they’d box us in. Our friend and full time neighbor said the new neighbor was pretty undiplomatic and unconcerned with the “insight” so our full time neighbor walked away, and the new neighbor continued.

I called the new neighbor after this to see if they were upset with us, why they boxed us in, see if he know how it would impact us, and why they didn’t at least warn us in advance of our dock going in so we could have put ours somewhere else. Literally all I got, three different times!, was “I am legally on my property. I don’t see what the problem is.” and then silence. He never uttered any other words, and had a very cold and passive-aggressive tone. Us high school teachers certainly recognize passive-aggressive tones; it’s the staple of many high schoolers. Ha!

I ended the call flabbergasted and fuming before my tone and word choice changed.

However, as actions speak louder than words, I now know what type of people I’m dealing with. I cannot believe we went from a problematic STR with pervious owners from 2019-2021, to these people. :mad:

The first neighbors were wonderful. Everyone else on our street is friends, and we all do things together periodically. Some amazingly nice people on our small dead end street.

But for the life of us, for...the…life…of…us…we keep getting the short end of the “neighbor stick” with the lakeside cottage on our north property line.

After 3 and a half years of crazy, problematic but unrelated events up here (STR issues next door, drunk snowmobiling crashing into our cottage and catching the lakeside from on fire, storm damages roof and interior from water form that storm, faulty pontoon welds and losing last month of 2020 summer boating to get it repaired, and losing all 2021 boating due to fired electrical system repairs, and now this most un-neighborly of lakefront moves…

I am considering selling it all and moving on with my life. Drastic? Yes! However, I am giving it some serous thought.

Already got a market analysis on lake house on friday. Dealership salesman I have dealt with on other purchases is putting together estimates on the Bennington for me: if they buy it, if they consignment sell it, suggested market value if I sell it myself (my plan if we move forward with this idea).

Everything else (dock, supplies, cottage toys, home furnishings, etc…) I know the value of and could sell off independently. I have approximate values for all that.

Wife says it’s too soon and too knee jerk. She is right about that.

However, I have really reached my breaking point as another summer season dawns with more issues (for context, our boat is fixed but with MANY minor damages all over it from careless handling by serivce department this past year while they had it).

At the same time, boat and lakefront market is insanely hot still. A total sellers market. My lake house market analysis is slightly higher than double our purchase price in 2016 + all major updates since then. Given that value range alone, there is an nice incentive to cash out and leave these troubles behind. We could earnestly say we gave it a serious try and tought it’d be our ideal future retirement plan (although I’m retired, my wife has about 8 years and younger two kids are in/going in college so grounded down state a lot). However, I am really feeling like the heavens have spent 3 years telling us that it is not the move to make. Maybe it’s time I/we listened?

Anyway, I promised my wife I will only collect estimates and data, and we can circle back to this in late July after we’ve had time to absorb everything and make a clearer headed decision. We will see what the summer head leads to.

For now, I am mentally exhausted with everything up here.
 
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I am so sorry you are going through all of this. The nature of lake houses are they are on top of each other, and some people just suck. Sometimes all you can do is ignore and control your responses.

Add to that the difficulty of owning a second house. It is hard enough taking care of one house, but two? When you are not at one full time, frustration mounts. We have all arrived at our "retreat" only to find a leaky roof, varmin, or worse. Enough for even the most positive person to consider giving it all up.

But then other days......well those days make it all worth while.

Your wife is correct of course, make that decision while sitting on your boat in July on a spectacular day. That is the only way to know you truly want to give it up.

If you do decide to keep it, which I hope you do, maybe there is a local handyman that can check on your place before you arrive. I know when I receive a call about a problem and possible solutions, I feel much better than walking into problems.

I wish you the best of luck, and patience
David
 
It's hard to understand why people act the way they do sometimes. I applaud you for taking the high road, I don't know if I could have done that.
Do have any idea what his motovation is? Isn't he kind of boxing out one side of his dock too?
 
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