Everyday Tactics #2 : Lawns

So you're looking to buy a house.  This is usually the biggest purchase in a person's life, by far, and most people only buy 1 or 2 houses in their entire lifetime.

You've got to take the time, to do all the research, so you can get it right.

There are many things to consider when buying a house, and there are many potential problems to think about.  Some of the worst issues would be:

1.) Pollution (both current and past)

2.) Crime in the area

3.) Shoddy construction of the house itself

4.) Insect infestation

5.) A lien against the property 

Another thing I have thought about a lot more in recent months, is the lawn.  If you are buying a house that features a lawn, there are 2 main problems you're facing.

(1) You are going to spend a lot of time and / or money maintaining your lawn / yard.  What would you do with those thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours if you could spend them on something else?  Having a lawn / yard means plunging into a maintenance war that you can never win. 

I know people envision their kids playing in the yard, but you can always go to the park instead.  The park will probably have a lot of great equipment that you will never have in your yard, and someone else maintains it for you.  Your kids will only play outside in that carefree way for a relative handful of years, but that lawn / yard is a permanent part of your property.  

If you do have a lawn, and you are tired of maintaining it, consider fencing off a large portion of it, and then let that section of grass grow undisturbed.  Life is short.

Some people do actually enjoy maintaining their lawn / yard, in a Zen kind of way, and making the lawn / yard look great is their hobby.  I can totally understand this.  If you actually enjoy doing it, then it is worth it, because you are getting an emotional payoff out of it.         



(2) When the houses in a neighborhood have yards, people can put their dogs in those yards.  You've spent a lot of money to buy this house and you probably plan on being there for a long time.  Chances are you'd like to be able to hang out in your yard.

What if some ignorant jerk next door has a dog with a really annoying bark?  To make things worse, this dog could be one of those dogs that barks at everything it sees, including the things that it thinks it sees.  Gee, great.  That's what I want to deal with everyday of my life. 

Give me a break.  If there are no yards, then there can't be a dog in the yard next to you.  Do not underestimate how much of a problem this could be.  I, personally, embrace confrontation and I always look to resolve things decisively through a mix of diplomacy, logic, and, when necessary, self righteous aggression.

It surprises me that so many people are willing to go to great lengths just to avoid direct confrontation.  There are 2 main ways that an animal deals with a threat: "fight" or "flight".

"Forever putting up with that thing you hate" is an approach that seems specific to human beings.  You should not let someone have their way just because they are willing to be the biggest jerk in the room. 

So, if you are the type of person that likes to avoid conflict, and your neighbor has some asshole dog that barks at everything, that's a bad mix.  It doesn't matter what kind of windows you have.  You will hear it.  I'd say something like 1% of all dogs are actually trained well, because training a dog to be a "good dog" is a lot of work, and why should someone put in that work when they can play games on their phone and binge watch reality TV instead?       

Maybe you talk to your neighbor about it, but nothing changes.  Maybe you report the problem to your local police force, but they don't really care.  One of my personal favorites, is this article.  Someone in Seattle got sued by their neighbor because their dog's loud barking was a constant problem.  The plaintiff won the case to the tune of $500,000.  It's not clear if that exact number will stand uncontested, but wow.  I wouldn't like having a half million dollar judgement hanging over my head.  The story is worth a quick read, and it's a good reminder that "hell is other people" as Sartre would say. 

Anyway, the general point I'm trying to drive home, is this: House shopping is a great time to over prepare.  Maybe you are the type of person that always enjoys preparing, but even if you aren't, it's worth it to take that detailed approach this one time, because you're making such a huge purchase.

You can't afford to get it wrong.