Yes, I'm absolutely OK with people wanting to do whatever they want with their property. You don't seem to be.
I'm not OK with buying a house in an HOA and having a neighbor violating the rules they agreed to when buying their home. Again, the rules are fully disclosed up front. Don't like it? Don't buy. Maybe my perception is a bit colored because my previous neighborhood started going downhill and I was tired of seeing trashy dumps. Luckily I got out without taking much of a hit but the only reason was because the lady who bought my old home had grandkids in the town and my neighbor referred her to me.
What's next? Do you want the government (or HOA) poking into your house to see if you like porn (that might lower the neighbor's property value) or if you live like a slob?
No, what I want is people to respect their neighbors. I shouldn't have to ask a neighbor with tall grass to mow it, nor should I have to tell someone to put up their ghosts and vampire decorations because tomorrow is Christmas. I understand that shit happens and you can't always get the lawn mowed on time or the decorations put away. I'm talking about the same people who week after week, year after year, have these same issues.
You guys saying "Oh, show your neighbor respect and talk to them" miss the point that a) you're probably going to make an enemy of the neighbor regardless and b) they're likely going to tell you to get screwed or ignore you. Offer to help the neighbor? Well look what happened to my FIL in the previous example -- they let him mow it and didn't even say thanks. Here is another case in point:
I have a neighbor whose back yard butts up to the side of my front yard. They have a mound in it that is typically a weed-filled mess and sits on the border of our properties. I'm not talking a couple of dandelions; I'm talking weeds that reach 2 or 3 feet tall. Anyway, I asked the neighbor if he would mind if we cleared the mound, landscaped it, and planted plants on it and maintain it going forward. He started making excuses and said we could plant around their "plants." Obviously, this guy didn't get it.
Since we weren't getting anywhere talking to him, my wife and I decided to plant tall decorative grass around it within our property to hide the eyesore. The clueless idiot got mad and couldn't understand that and came over to talk to me about it. "I saw you guys cleaning around the mound and planting. What do you want me to do?!?!" Seriously? That was his response? I told him "How about taking care of it or if you aren't willing, letting us maintain it?" More excuses, more waffling, and most importantly, more weeds. A year later, they got the hint and cleared it off, dropped a sheet of landscape fabric, and dumped mulch on it. Now, it has weeds all around the edges and looks crappy again. I talked to the guy, it did no good, we decided to hide it as best as we could, and the asshole gets mad and talks to me about it acting like an innocent victim.
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