The nightmare across the street

[Joshua Feit]

I am the new owner of a duplex in Atlanta. I believe it is a solid investment that is going to show great returns over the long term, but it has a problem in the short term:

Across the street is another duplex, and the tenants staying there are ridiculous. Loud, rude, intimidating, blaring bass at all hours. Best I can tell, they are not employed, as they have been a presence at all hours of the day. They even recently moved a couch outside and now use the front lawn like a second living room.

I'm all for letting people live their lives, but the problem is that no one want to rent my apartment (one side vacant currently). The clear reason is because of the neighbors -- everyone who has come out for a showing has said so. These folks are scaring my potential tenants away.

What have I done about it? Nothing yet! I am thinking of reaching out to the property owner, but I also don't want to get these tenants ticked off at me. I wouldn't put it past them to make my life even more difficult.

So the question is: what would you do?

PS -- The obvious first question I am anticipating is, 'Why did you buy this place knowing this was going on? Well, I didn't know. I was on-site 3-4 times before purchasing, and it was always quiet. Go figure!

[Radley Estrada]

I recommend speaking diplomatically with the neighbor landlord as well.

In my complex, we had a lot of late night loitering in a parking lot easement shared by neighbor properties.  Once I installed security cameras, the loitering became non-existent.  The security cameras also gave my tenants peace of mind about their safety, and justified my rents.  My neighbor landlords appreciated my efforts as well.

Maybe with big brother watching, the neighbor tenants will be less likely to "hang around" outside of the property.