Getting Ready to Sell and Dealing with a Neighbor's Unsightly Clutter

[Scott Phillip]

We're planning on listing our primary home for sale in about six weeks. It's in a Boise subdivision (no HOA), on an acre, and in immaculate condition. Our neighbor mostly keeps his home and front yard maintained, but the back 1/2 acre of his property is a wreck - several old cars, a hodgepodge of sheds and zero landscaping. His unsightly back yard is visible through an existing chain link fence from the street.

I'm worried his mess may impact the sale of our home. 

The good news is that three months ago he set posts for a 6' tall cedar fence that would screen most of the problem areas. The bad news is that he's made no progress since then and made things worse by building a shoddy lean-to against a ramshackle shed that's fully visible from the street.  

I've politely asked him to finish the fence and even volunteered to help; my effort seems to be in vain. I've also built fence and a large berm on my property to help screen out as much of his mess as possible.

What have you done to deal with similar issues?

Should I politely ask him to finish the fence again, threaten to report him to code enforcement for his multiple unpermitted outbuildings that don't comply with zoning if he doesn't finish the fence, report him to the county for the myriad of existing violations, just live with it, or something else? 

Here's the icing on the cake: his central air failed earlier this summer and he now has at least five window units on the house, propped up with two-by-two sticks! It's mindboggling that someone could own a half-a-million dollar property and not take care of it!

Thanks,

Scott