Secret property sale

I live on a battleaxe property block arrangement. My property is the one fronting the street whilst the neighbour that adjoins my backyard fronts the water. I have lived here for just over two years. The whole block was originally just one single waterfront block. My neighbour bought the whole block about five years ago, subdivided it and sold my house to me and built his house on the water.

We share a common driveway at the side of my house. That is, the common driveway leads to his house and also to my garage which is situated in my backyard. The side of my house abuts the driveway.

Recently, my neighbour has been mowing my lawns and painting the side of my house. He has also been trimming some hedges in my front yard. For a while, I wondered why he is giving all this free service. We are on good relationships but I have never heard of anyone giving free house maintenance to their neighbours on a regular basis!

Then two days ago, the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. I am on the buyer database for many local real estate agents. Two days ago, I received an email with pictures advising of a new listing. It was my neighbour's house.

Now this house has not been listed on realestate.com.au. There is no for sale sign at the front. Everytime I have thanked the neighbour for his unasked for home maintenance, he tells me that he just enjoys it and tells me that he also enjoys living where he is.

My question to this forum is: why is a secret sale going on? Why has my neighbour deliberately tried to and continues to hide from me the fact that he is sellling his house. Is there something dodgy going on? What is the motivation for him to hide the fact that he is selling his house from me?
 
I live on a battleaxe property block arrangement. My property is the one fronting the street whilst the neighbour that adjoins my backyard fronts the water. I have lived here for just over two years. The whole block was originally just one single waterfront block. My neighbour bought the whole block about five years ago, subdivided it and sold my house to me and built his house on the water.

We share a common driveway at the side of my house. That is, the common driveway leads to his house and also to my garage which is situated in my backyard. The side of my house abuts the driveway.

Recently, my neighbour has been mowing my lawns and painting the side of my house. He has also been trimming some hedges in my front yard. For a while, I wondered why he is giving all this free service. We are on good relationships but I have never heard of anyone giving free house maintenance to their neighbours on a regular basis!

Then two days ago, the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. I am on the buyer database for many local real estate agents. Two days ago, I received an email with pictures advising of a new listing. It was my neighbour's house.

Now this house has not been listed on realestate.com.au. There is no for sale sign at the front. Everytime I have thanked the neighbour for his unasked for home maintenance, he tells me that he just enjoys it and tells me that he also enjoys living where he is.

My question to this forum is: why is a secret sale going on? Why has my neighbour deliberately tried to and continues to hide from me the fact that he is sellling his house. Is there something dodgy going on? What is the motivation for him to hide the fact that he is selling his house from me?

Probably nothing to do with you :)

ta
rolf
 
He painted the side of your house and you thought this was normal?

Have you ever heard the expression: "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts?"
 
Probably nothing to do with you :)

ta
rolf

I just don't understand the motivation behind him not telling me / misleading me despite me bringing up the topic several times in an indirect fashion. For example, I may say how nice it is for him to be around and he just agrees and has told me that he and his wife will be around for some time.

I have never heard of this situation happening before and it does worry me. Since it is a battleaxe block, my neighbour and I do share a common driveway and whoever moves in will affect my living conditions.

Furthermore, if someone is trying to sell a property, you would think that you want massive marketing exposure, not some covert operation.
 
He painted the side of your house and you thought this was normal?

Have you ever heard the expression: "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts?"

This neighbour is a builder by trade and he renovated my house before selling it to me. At the time, I thought that he was just being an exceptional neighbour. He told me that it was "after sales service"!

What treachery do you think is going on?
 
Being waterfront you would think high price depending on area and he maybe
just wanting to keep this from family and friends.

I'm in a similar situation were Im planning to sell a waterfront and dread the
thought of family and friends finding out the final sale price.

I will be using a local agent but the property will not be marketed locally and
no sale sign out the front.
 
Why not just ask him why he didn't mention it to you?

No I have bought up the topic indirectly on several occasions leaving him ample opportunity to mention it to me.

1. Me: It is really good that you are around.
Him: Likewise. We will be around for some time.

2. Me: Property prices are depressed on our street at present.
Him: Lucky you and I are not selling.

3. Me: Where do you think you will move to when you and your wife eventually downsize?
Him: Haven't thought about that. My wife and I like living here.

Therefore, I do not want to upset the apple cart and expose his charade.

I would appreciate your thoughts as to why this charade is going on and possible motivators.
 
This neighbour is a builder by trade and he renovated my house before selling it to me. At the time, I thought that he was just being an exceptional neighbour. He told me that it was "after sales service"!

What treachery do you think is going on?

If there are any other things around the house that need fixing up, like brickwork pointing, fences, leaky gutters, etc. then now might be a good time to ask him to fix them before asking what he is up to.
 
Is your neighbor a banker?

If so he has probably lost his job, cant pay the mortgage (or wont be able to soon) and trying to keep it all hush hush. There's blood on the streets in finance at the moment.
 
If there are any other things around the house that need fixing up, like brickwork pointing, fences, leaky gutters, etc. then now might be a good time to ask him to fix them before asking what he is up to.

:) Good suggestion but makes me even more worried about the motivation behind this covert operation. I have been trying to figure out why since I found out but can't work it out.
 
You don't need to expose his "charade" or embarrass him. Just ask in "I noticed you are selling. What changed your mind. Are you staying in the area? Where are you planning on moving to? Hope we haven't done anything to make you move." Keep it friendly, lighthearted and non-accusatory.

People say what they think the listener wants to hear all the time. We assured a tenant a few years ago that we had no plans of selling because we didn't. Things changed fairly quickly and we decided to sell. At the time that we assured him we were not selling anytime soon, we were not lying.

I cannot even begin to fathom what could be your neighbour's reason and really don't see a problem in simply being open and telling him you have seen that he has changed his mind and is selling. It all depends on your relationship with him I suppose as to how you tackle the question. Surely he doesn't think he can actually sell and move without you hearing of it?
 
Isn't there more to life than worrying about why your neighbour is selling their house ? You don't seem to have had any issues with his maintenance work so just get over it. Covert operations? Heavens almighty you would think this is some deal being done between the Russians and Chinese to assist Syria. :rolleyes:
 
I have never heard of this situation happening before and it does worry me. Since it is a battleaxe block, my neighbour and I do share a common driveway and whoever moves in will affect my living conditions.

There you go. Here lies the reason I would say. Maybe they don't want you influencing the sale by turning off a buyer in such a poor market who you judge to be inappropriate to live next to. This is a fear based tactic that could easily backfire on them - especially now you have found out their caper!

Not saying you're going to do this - just trying to determine the psychology of your neighbour. :)
 
My question to this forum is: why is a secret sale going on? Why has my neighbour deliberately tried to and continues to hide from me the fact that he is sellling his house. Is there something dodgy going on? What is the motivation for him to hide the fact that he is selling his house from me?
OK, if you think about this logically, it could be a few things. Your neighbour wants to sell, but does not want to let you know, so that:
a) You don't get upset and try to disrupt the sale, by say, parking in the common driveway making access difficult and potentially putting off intending buyers.
b) He's embarrassed to tell you that he has run into financial difficulties.
...or something else.
That's probably why he's making your place look better by trimming hedges and painting the side of the house that everyone will see. It is not trying to help you so much as maximise his sales price.

I would not worry about it. Enjoy the free help.....while it lasts. :)
 
Isn't there more to life than worrying about why your neighbour is selling their house ? You don't seem to have had any issues with his maintenance work so just get over it. Covert operations? Heavens almighty you would think this is some deal being done between the Russians and Chinese to assist Syria. :rolleyes:

I am somewhat annoyed because I feel that I have been deceived and continue to be deceived.

Furthermore, when I bought the house from him two years ago, knowing that it was a battleaxe, I must say that I was partly persuaded to purchase because I thought that he would be a good long term neighbour. I understand that people can buy/sell at any time but still I do not understand the covert manoeuvers going on.
 
OK, if you think about this logically, it could be a few things. Your neighbour wants to sell, but does not want to let you know, so that:
a) You don't get upset and try to disrupt the sale, by say, parking in the common driveway making access difficult and potentially putting off intending buyers.
b) He's embarrassed to tell you that he has run into financial difficulties.
...or something else.
That's probably why he's making your place look better by trimming hedges and painting the side of the house that everyone will see. It is not trying to help you so much as maximise his sales price.

I would not worry about it. Enjoy the free help.....while it lasts. :)

These are logical thoughts / hypothesis. I have had similar thoughts to what you propose. Nevertheless, I don't understand why he would think that I would try to disrupt the sale. We have been on good terms since I moved in and I would not have thought that he thought I was such a type of person.

Secondly, I definitely enjoy the free house maintenance but continue to worry about whats happening behind the scenes. Certainly, he is doing the lawns, hedges and painting for his benefit rather than purely mine as any prospective buyer's first impression of his house is via the driveway that passes by my property.

Thirdly, I would have been interested in purchasing his property but talking to the agent he is asking for too much in my opinion. The agent tells me that he has already rejected some offers beyond what I think is the market value. As my neighbour does not know that I know that he is selling, I have not bought it up with him.
 
Maybe let him know you have "heard the news" and would be happy to discuss buying the property from him. He would save on fees and it could be the quickest, easiest sale he gets.

Even if he isn't interested in selling to you for the price you think it is worth, if it is indeed overpriced, by the time he has worked out that nobody is going to overpay, he may indeed come back to you with a deal that you like.
 
I heard a story about an architect doing a reno addition for a family in Mosman. It got to the last hurdle when the family pulled out because they could not afford to do the renos, nor to live there any more. When the family went to put the property on the market they put the condition to the real estate agent that no for sale signs be put up. The agent replied that apart from their house and one other, all the other houses on the street are already on the market.

Get a grip. They have no obligation to advise you of their plans to sell.
 
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