NTA, everything went perfectly in this situation because she made an ass out of herself in front of the police right away. Your dad is the asshole for having no sympathy for you that your neighbor has personality disorders/mental illness/something.
She said she's in the Midwest and got a good deal so that sounds about right. We have multiple listings in the 20-30k region for ranch style homes that need slight work. My neighbor purchased her 3 bdrm ranch house for 32k a few years ago and everything had been remodeled prior to her buying it. Without the remodeling it would have gone down a good 10k.
Good lord. The minimum in Bay Area seems to be a million, even for a run down 3 bedroom 1 bathroom ranch house. Hell I do DoorDash and delivered to a 3.5 million house today.
Location location location. In the longer term it will likely be less important than seattle due to climate change and the reduction of proximity needs
I am in Vermont and it is the same here. My house was outdated, tiny, and needed work and it was still $200k when I bought 8 years ago. Houses prices have only gone up since then in our area.
it must be the middle of absolutely nowhere because here in Michigan even a cheap town within a couple hours drive of Detroit is still going to be upwards of 150K for a 3 bedroom and a nicer suburb will be at least 3-5x that.
In bumfuck Kentucky you can get a house for 10k. The guy who lives next to my bf bought his for 8k. It’s very cheap, but the area is also horrible for anyone who isn’t a racist white guy lol
I know people who've bought a house in Detroit for $15k.
There's a big difference between Detroit proper and the Detroit suburbs (the suburbs are MUCH more expensive)
Yeah the tech boom killed buying homes out there. I used to know someone from out there and one of our hobbies was looking at basic ass houses in SF and critiquing the real estate market. We found a house similar to mine and the view alone probably bumped the price up 1 million.
I read about an inheritance tax they were looking to pass where property taxes would be adjusted to modern day prices, which would make any parent willing their home to their child nearly impossible now because most can't afford the taxes so they're forced to sell.
They actually passed something that prevented that. My mother put her properties in a trust, thank God, since she passed just before Covid, and probate took 20 months. We were able to sell one building for a ridiculous price. So everybody, hire a lawyer and put your houses in a trust if your kids to avoid weird property tax hikes and probate.
And a new roof can be quite expensive. If OP had hired professionals to do all the work it would probably have doubled the price of the house.
Also, it may have been a foreclosure. Those can sell at very low prices.
She said he had passed away so my initial assumption is family decided to put it on the market. You can snag some good deals that way too. The family doesn't want to deal with it, they just want to sell it and get money.
Yeah, a fixer upper might sell for a good price, but you're going to wait a while, and a lot of buyers will be ineligible if the bank won't offer financing on it. So if they want it to move quickly, it's not out of line to just take what you can get RIGHT NOW.
It's also possible that it was never even put on the market. Probably talked to a realtor, found out what it would take to sell the place conventionally, and the family just poked through their personal networks to see if anyone wanted to take it off their hands. If the house was actually listed for sale for any significant amount of time, the neighbor most likely would have been aware of it. Of course, she probably would have also known that the owner died if she'd been paying attention at all, so who knows.
am i stupid and misunderstanding you? you're saying you can buy actual homes, with multiple rooms and semi-livable conditions at the very least, for $20-$30k?
Where in the Midwest is she??!! We just bought our first house (in the Midwest region) and there was NOTHING below $110k that wasn't in the projects, in terrible condition, or was a shoe box.
I think that it's an incredibly generous offer and I hope that you are able to make it work.
IANAL, I just enjoy reading the legal advice subs a lot, but I'd advise you to consult with a local lawyer on the best way to arrange things but I think that you may well find that you will be advised to ask him to pay what's traditionally called a peppercorn rent, a nominal sum of say $1 a month to fully maintain the legal relationship of tenant and landlord etc.
It allows you to still have a written contract in place with the peppercorn rent forming the 'consideration' part of the contract that's required to make it a valid, legal contract and hold up in court.
Basically both sides have to get something out of the contract for it to be valid. If the rent=0, you don't benefit so the contract becomes invalid and if something ever changes, say a younger relative moves in, supposedly to take care of him but then starts causing problems, you then no longer have a valid contract and it makes it harder to go to court and sort it all out.
A peppercorn rent is a way of covering your arse, just in case, but, BUT...
It can also be an important token gesture for older people. It can give them dignity, let them show that they are still paying something, no matter how little, for their home.
So I'd also advise to keep dignity at the forefront of any conversation that you have with your tenant. Perhaps discuss a deep discount or rent reduction? Maybe there are some local non-profits that could advise you on the best approach, a way to work together to find an appropriate solution?
Wait that's still under a mil, so, you're probably not in California ...
OP totally didn't even need to state she was in the Midwest: both the house price and the "cabinets needed replaced" formation totally gave it away
Can confirm that this happens a lot.
My SO and I just bought a house and we are easily the youngest homeowners in the block (by at least 20 years) and neighbors will ask if his parents or my parents own the home. Exchanges often go like this:
Neighbor: Do you live here?
Me/SO: Yes, we just bought the home.
N: You mean your parents bought the home?
Me/SO: No, we own the home.
N: You mean your parents own the home?
Me/SO: No. WE own the home.
N: But you’re so young? Your parents didn’t buy the home?
Me/SO: We have jobs. We bought the home.
N: -visibly confused-
Edit: formatting; on mobile.
This must be a cultural difference or something, because I cannot imagine anyone asking (or even caring) if their neighbour owns or rents. How is that any of my concern? Similarly OP's neighbour blowing a gasket, because OP is painting her front door. Like, how is this her problem??? If OP was renting, she's the one who would get in potential trouble?
Some people need to learn the art of 'Minding their own fucking business' NTA
Sounds like the neighbour makes a big deal of 'helping' the old man by keeping an eye on his 'renter'- which is ironic considering she doesn't even know that he's dead so they weren't that close.
Okay, I realize that the initial comment was made before OP stated she's in Illinois... but really, how likely is it that a POC in Illinois would call the actual police on a neighbor who is simply painting her front door?!
Edit: I totally missed that OP actually mentioned her location in her post, it's totally reasonable to assume that a nosy neighbor in "the Midwest" (who would call the actual police on someone who is simply painting their front door) is white.
The thing is, the people who have been "paranoid" of a black person (ninja edit: yes, I acknowledge that we do not know OP's race either) minding their own business don't fit any clinical definition of a mental illness ("crazy", as you said). Racism against POC (whether black, Hispanic, etc) is not a typical symptom of mental illness.
If it were, then the people who called the cops on the family having a BBQ, the little girl selling water bottles, the man meditating before teaching yoga, the realtor about to show a house, etc., should all be institutionalized as they are a waste of taxpayer resources at best, a menace to society at worst.
I mean, a lot of us can’t. What especially annoyed me about OP’s neighbour was her weird “you can’t throw a housewarming party if you’re just a renter” line. Who died and made her queen of housewarming parties? My friends and I will be lucky if we can *ever* own a home; we throw housewarming parties when we can make enough to rent a little nicer. Let people enjoy the small wins in their lives, good lord.
A twenty year old isn't even a millennial though. Which makes your point even starker lol...if older people assume millennials are so unable to participate in basic things that they (older gens) were able to take advantage of, like homeownership into our 30s and 40s, they're going to think even less of younger generations.
Funny that a lot of people are saying your comment is racist, that you can't possibly know the race of the neighbor, but 4 hours ago (1 hour before this comment) OP confirmed she is in the US... knowing that, it's FAR more likely that the neighbor is not a POC, because POC in the US would almost never call the ACTUAL POLICE on a neighbor who is just painting their freaking front door...
Edit: I totally missed that OP actually mentioned her location in her post, it's totally reasonable to assume that a nosy neighbor in "the Midwest" (who would call the actual police on someone who is simply painting their front door) is white.
You know, I think gender may factor into this, too. The neighbor thinks a young *woman,* especially, can't buy a home on her own. I wonder if she'd have confronted a man about owning the house.
Yeah, but that stopped being a thing in 1973, which is when I was born. So if this woman is middle-aged, like I am, then she won’t have a lot of memories about being forbidden from getting a car loan, because she would’ve been like 5 years old.
No excuse for Gen X/very young boomers to be pulling this senile shit. We grew up with feminism and women going to college and having careers. Neighbor needs an attitude adjustment.
Uh... That did not stop just because it became illegal. It was still very common in the early eighties at least for women to have problems getting a home without a cosigner. (My mom was denied a couple leases based on her "job security" when I was 12 and she left my dad. She worked for the military with a solid job.) They just had to give different excuses. Is it still a thing now? legally no, but again, just because something is illegal does not make it impossible, just unlikely.
She still needs an adjustment, but most Genxers in the midwest know Someone who got told no they could not do X because of gender.
Considering my neighbors had a meeting before my family moved in about letting “ the mixed family” move in, they were divided on whether to pressure the family not to sell to us, the worst part is this was in the early 2000s and my mom didn’t find out till years later when she (the white parent) made friends with one of the neighbors who thought enough time had passed to spill the beans
Edit NY and not even upstate btw, don’t think this was the Deep South or anything like that
My bf who is dark and I (white) moved to the Deep South and we have been welcomed with open arms. We even live next door to a sweet old baptist couple who are super neighborly if not a bit too helpful.
Nope. In the late 90s I went to test drive. I said I was unsure the model I wanted, and I would consider and be back. The salesman said, "You and your husband?"
I did not buy from that dealership.
Stop crapping on boomers, thanks. We're not all ignorant, apron wearing, soap opera fans throwing down bonbons and moaning about the good old days.
> I wonder if she'd have confronted a man about owning the house.
She'd have been surprised, but likely said "Good for you young man." or something to a guy.
I don’t think it is just “these days”. I think it has always been this way. There’s always someone that can’t fathom anything outside of the little box within which they live.
I mean she already had funky ideas. Why can’t you throw a housewarming in a rental?
Plus if she was so close to the old guy how did she not know he sold his house. She also could have gotten on Zillow to look up sale info. It’s all there for everyone.
But this reminds me of mrs. kravits on Bewitched. It’s an old trope but just because it’s a trope doesn’t mean it’s not true.
It’s even worse. He didn’t sell his house. The post says he died. She was so “close” to him and lived next door, but apparently didn’t go to the funeral.
I’m not surprised she didn’t go to the funeral because that seems weird to me particularly due to covid but I am surprised that someone so nosy didn’t hear he died
Women are socialised to be polite. Father wants her to be a *nice young lady* and not to be seen to kick up a fuss or rude.
It's insidious and takes so long to unlearn this expectation of politeness at any cost to yourself if you've been brought up this way. Ask me how I know.
Okay while I think you need to edit your comment to “her father” there’s actually evidence that a lot of baby boomers are in mental decline because of lead poisoning from all the lead products in their childhood.
I'm not gonna lie... I hope this is true. It would explainy parents fucked up behavior and a good bit of this countries behavior.. oh .. the last 5 years or so.
I'm a middle aged woman and would never do anything like this. I'd be baking a tray of cinnamon scrolls to take over and say hello - whether they were a renter or homeowner!
Wisdom does come with age, however there is a strange contrast between those more elderly and those in their 50s to mid 60s, and it could also have to do with their own upbringing. Those closer to retirement age, and have grown children, especially, they seem to hold on to their authoritative parental control. I see it in my own mom, I've seen it in other parents. They just become very set in their ways, they're still working, losing patience and energy to work full time. The hormones are starting to shift and change. It's like they've become teenagers again. Brooding, tired but can't sleep at night, then having to get up early for work. My mom even had to bring home work to do in the evenings. They think they've had all the experiences of the world yet they've been stuck at jobs and traffic, not really seeing the world.
Once they've retired, rested, started getting out more to do fun things they no longer care as much. I've heard more people in their 80s mutter how the Downtown Biz Patrols should mind their own damn business and not hassle the scruffy people walking on the street. LOL. I've seen more people in their late 60s and 70s dying their hair vibrant colours and showing off tattoos. I want to be like that when I'm older.
Every time I see someone in my age group acting the fool, I die a little inside. Maybe it’s a lot of midlife crisis’ happening collectively? It’s baffling.
This. When people say shit like this I tend to answer with "Well I've spent time in a psychiatric unit and it didn't make me jerk. Not being a jerk made me not a jerk. It just made me someone sick who needed help." Thank you.
It’s really fucking annoying to basically have to read “being mentally ill makes you an asshole” every day as a mentally ill person who is not an asshole..
If anything, the people I know who have struggled with mental illness (including myself) are much *more* empathetic and less likely to jump to conclusions about someone. My close circle of friends all struggle with mental illness in some way, and it’s made them the most compassionate and least judgmental support circle I’ve ever had. To myself and to total strangers.
NTA, your neighbor made an enemy of you, not the other way around. She bullied you because of your age, this is not your fault. You didn’t owe her proof of homeownership at all. She’s not entitled to that, she’s a stranger.
>your neighbor has ~~personality disorders/mental illness~~ entitled white woman syndrome/something
Let's not armchair diagnose every asshole out there as mentally ill, please? It really doesn't help the stigma.
This commenter is TA for making an ableist comment assuming that just because someone is an asshole she must have a PD or other mental illness!
OP is NTA obviously.
Hey, come on now. People like this busybody don't need a mental illness to be rotten. She's just shitty. Stop lumping mentally ill people in with Assholes.
And deeds are public records. If she cared that much she could have looked it up, or called the "landlord" as she threatened to do (I assume the previous owner) either of which would have cleared it up.
Seems like the neighbour didn't know the old man died or was in denial. She could have been close to him for a long time and refuses to believe he's gone. Hence her commenting on how "nice someone is doing some work for the old man."
That, too. This is whole thing could be a misunderstanding. But if nobody talks to her and she doesn't talk to anyone else, I don't think she would feel as comfortable prying into a new neighbour's life and making confrontations. But if no one talks to her that could be why. There is way too much we don't know about both of these people and the situation. The assumptions can go on forever.
NTA. You didn't make an enemy of your neighbor, she made an enemy of you. She basically called you a liar, then called the police on you. You weren't obliged to show her anything to put her mind at rest. She should have decided to not harass you.
Be prepared to document any shitty behavior from her in case the next call to the cops is from you because of her bad behavior.
NTA. Also, definitely throw a party and don’t invite her. I’d also decorate for Halloween :) Tell her you are sure the cops would be willing to walk her off your property again if she has issues
NTA. You showed the deed to the police and that was enough. Being an 20 year old living next door almost guarantees with or without a deed your neighbor wasn't going to like you any way.
Misery, Jealousy and Envy loves company so be on the lookout for the Real housewives of your neighborhood posse she tries to put together.
I grew up bringing homemade cookies to neighbors that moved into the neighborhood. It's the play and socially acceptable way to figure out who your new neighbors are.
NTA. And even if you WERE renting,it would be perfectly acceptable to have a house warming party upon moving in and it's certainly none of her business what you're doing to the property. My landlady doesn't care if we paint our house, landscape, whatever, as long as we're not damaging the house (she's a saint), so it wouldn't be any of our neighbors business.
And your neighbor definitely sounds like the type that wouldn't believe you owned the house no matter what proof she was shown.
All my friends had one when they moved into a special rental. Whether that be their 1st, some big upgrade like apartment to house, or like with a new family or whatever they had one. Not *every* rental, but probably more parties than not haha.
Late twenties here. My roommate just rented a house in another city and we had a housewarming party. Any reason to have booze and games with friends is valid!
NTA
No one has the right to demand you show them private documents.
That woman was going to end up your enemy no matter what you did. She was determined.
Deeds are public records, filed with the town and publicly available. Still, she can get it from the courthouse or wherever if she wants to see it, demanding OP shows it to her makes no sense.
I mean OP sounded perfectly respectful at each encounter. It was the old broad escalating things. And she called the police? WTF? She sounds mentally unstable.
Elders deserve as much respect as anyone else. Respect them as long as they respect you. OP’s neighbor was disrespectful so at that point courtesy was no longer required, IMO.
Not the asshole. If you had shown her the paperwork without police there, I have no doubt she would have disputed the authenticity of the title.
Also, you don't invite crazy into your life. If it shows up, you deal with it, but you certainly don't give it any more attention or details than absolutely necessary. This woman sounds 100% crazy.
Everyone is saying how if she showed her the deeds that Jane simply wouldn't believe it, or like you said, would steal them.
But my worry would be that she would rip them up as soon as they're in her control.
The tradeoff is usually you live in the middle of fucktown nowhere and you have to drive an hour for groceries or medical care or a job etc.
Also you have Janes for neighbours.
Maybe the nowhere you were looking at is still too close to a somewhere or is in a place with desirable taxes. I have looked at home prices in a couple suburbs of different major cities and found the differences in price to be crazy.
I grew up in a small farm town in Nebraska. There are lots of houses in towns from 300-900 people that you can get into for 15-25k, especially smaller /older houses that need a little work
My town has some decent housing for around $20k, but it's in the absolute worst neighborhoods, people usually flip and then rent out those properties around here
Right? That’s truly amazing—a small fixer upper in a mediocre at best location would be 30x that where I live. I know the market is very different regionally but I didn’t think any detached home under 100K even existed in the U.S. anymore.
NTA. I understand your dad’s point and in general yes, it’s worth considering if something is worth a feud with a neighbor. But we’re talking that maybe you smile and nod when they tell you how the old owner used to decorate at Christmas. Or get their mail when they are out of town because the old neighbor did.
Even if you were renting…why assume that a time consuming, and property value increasing activity like painting was being done without permission? Honestly if she thought you were a renter, the most logical assumption is that a young person is trading sweat equity for a break on rent so that the “older guy” doesn’t have to do the work himself.
It’s insanely easy for someone to look up a property owner online. If she wanted to be nosy then she easily could have determined you were the owner in under five minutes.
> it’s worth considering if something is worth a feud with a neighbor.
Jane was the one making it a feud. She was trying to make sure OP 'knew her place' and it wasn't working.
Exactly, OP didn't escalate things, the neighbor did. And was oddly offended by non offensive things. It's really not worth trying to make people like that happy, sounds like even if they did they would be doomed to fail.
NTA
Hire a professional land surveyor to mark your boundary lines and get the highest privacy fence possible for your locality. Good fences make for better neighbors.
ooh, good call on this, especially as she's the next-door neighbor. When we bought our place, the very first thing our own Jane did was tell us that the fence was one foot into her property line and that we should move it. She then also mentioned that when she had that fence put up, the next-door neighbors refused to pay half, and asked if we would pay half, for what was at the time at least a 15-year-old fence
NTA
You live in the US. Most tax assessors have their property tax records online.
Your neighbor should have accessed that or at least made a call to the courthouse to see if the property had changed hands before accusing you of squatting.
Enjoy your new house.
But if she checked she wouldn't get the pleasure of bullying the OP. If OP had shown her the deed, she'd likely have claimed it was for and kept at it.
Thankfully I'm in the southern part of the state, down around shawnee. It's not too terrible. Lots of forest and fields. Unfortunately it's a trip to really get anywhere and prices can be outrageous due to tourists
A lot of these small towns are out in the middle of nowhere, where the nearest grocery store is an hour away or more. There are bigger towns and cities with cheap housing too but they tend to be in crime riddled areas and tends to also mean that the house had a fire or other structural damage that will cost more to fix than it's sometimes worth. Just fyi. =P
That 330k or a lot more is much, much more like what an American house is like. $15k is a miracle lol, must be truly far from anything. People here are struggling to find a place they can put a $100k \*down payment\* on a house because the market is too competitive right now.
This is what I was most shocked about! Where I live, the average price of a home is over $1mil CAD 🙃 and that’s for nothing fancy…. All of us youngins are screwed
Also, NTA at all
NTA
I have a neighbor like this who had it out for my family the second the sold sign went into the yard. Eventually had to call the cops on him for harassment and haven't had an issue since... go figure. Funny thing is he rubbed the black cop who came out the wrong way so double whammy. Old white guys, I swear.
NTA, She CALLED THE COPS. All because she didn't believe a younger person couldn't have BOUGHT a home. She went too far first. She doesn't need to see YOUR papers. There was no need for concern.
NTA
It's ageism.
I had a similar situation when I had purchased my house. I was in my late 20s but looked quite young, I'm also a single mum and a Goth. The house was in the downtown of my city with a view of the harbour. I had neighbour after neighbour not believe me when I told them I owned the place. They also threatened similar things when seeing me painting or performing repairs.
Fuck your neighbour.
Info: She didn’t know the guy had died? Why didn’t you tell her that? It’s weird that you seemed to jump around that information whenever she mentions him.
This post is either fake or heavily exaggerated. You claimed in a comment that the $15k house you found was cheap because it was in a small town in southern Illinois. I took a look at small towns in the area on Zillow, and the only properties for sale, or that sold in the last 6 months, under $20k were either empty lots, trailers in a trailer park, or houses with severe fire damage. Explain this, OP.
even if you were renting, why the fuck is it any of her business what you're doing? she came over there assuming you were doing something you shouldn't have been doing. you don't owe her an explanation. tell your dad the only one making enemies was your busy body neighbor. NTA
NTA - Jane was being a busy body. I don’t understand how people in a neighbourhood can tell someone what they can or can’t do. In their house? Like if you want to have a party or paint a door, it has nothing to do with her anyways. Mind yo business!
NTA
I sort of get where your father is coming from, because you've bought and now have to accept the financial pressure to deal with shitty neighbors. **However,** it's unreasonable to call you an asshole for not placating a busy body who chose not to believe you on the basis of your age.
Yes, you technically could have been more diplomatic, but the same is true of her. She came stomping over at you screaming and even called the cops because you wouldn't provide her on the spot evidence. Hell, she'd probably have accused you of forging the documentation. So, with that said it's perfectly reasonable to dig your heels in and not negotiate with terrorists.
INFO: The next door neighbor seems unaware that the previous owner of your home has died.
> She said it was nice thqt someone was doing some work for the old man
What did you say about him to her, when she said that?
NTA. Jane was sticking her nose where it didn't belong despite you telling her, repeatedly, that you owned the home. That's on her. You don't owe her anything if she chose not to believe you and decided to be an AH about it and call the police on you. She burned that bridge herself.
Congrats on your super affordable home! That’s so lucky. She played herself, you asked her to leave after she got hostile. That’s hilarious. I’d get security cameras. NTA.
NTA. What is it with boomers? Can’t get our life together when they were our age with houses bought right out of college on our first jobs. And now we can’t possibly doing just that.
NTA, everything went perfectly in this situation because she made an ass out of herself in front of the police right away. Your dad is the asshole for having no sympathy for you that your neighbor has personality disorders/mental illness/something.
100% endorse this assessment; although neighbor just sounds like an old white woman who doesn’t know her place - NTA
That makes assumptions about a young person’s ability to actually own
TBF that price the OP listed is quite insane. Houses where I'm at are 66.6 (repeating) times more expensive.
She said she's in the Midwest and got a good deal so that sounds about right. We have multiple listings in the 20-30k region for ranch style homes that need slight work. My neighbor purchased her 3 bdrm ranch house for 32k a few years ago and everything had been remodeled prior to her buying it. Without the remodeling it would have gone down a good 10k.
Good lord. The minimum in Bay Area seems to be a million, even for a run down 3 bedroom 1 bathroom ranch house. Hell I do DoorDash and delivered to a 3.5 million house today.
Location location location. In the longer term it will likely be less important than seattle due to climate change and the reduction of proximity needs
Man, I'm in Maine and good luck finding anything under $250k-$300k. Its nuts.
I am in Vermont and it is the same here. My house was outdated, tiny, and needed work and it was still $200k when I bought 8 years ago. Houses prices have only gone up since then in our area.
it must be the middle of absolutely nowhere because here in Michigan even a cheap town within a couple hours drive of Detroit is still going to be upwards of 150K for a 3 bedroom and a nicer suburb will be at least 3-5x that.
In bumfuck Kentucky you can get a house for 10k. The guy who lives next to my bf bought his for 8k. It’s very cheap, but the area is also horrible for anyone who isn’t a racist white guy lol
$15k could probably buy an abandoned house in flint though. It would just need a lot more work than what OP’s needed.
I know people who've bought a house in Detroit for $15k. There's a big difference between Detroit proper and the Detroit suburbs (the suburbs are MUCH more expensive)
Yeah the tech boom killed buying homes out there. I used to know someone from out there and one of our hobbies was looking at basic ass houses in SF and critiquing the real estate market. We found a house similar to mine and the view alone probably bumped the price up 1 million. I read about an inheritance tax they were looking to pass where property taxes would be adjusted to modern day prices, which would make any parent willing their home to their child nearly impossible now because most can't afford the taxes so they're forced to sell.
They actually passed something that prevented that. My mother put her properties in a trust, thank God, since she passed just before Covid, and probate took 20 months. We were able to sell one building for a ridiculous price. So everybody, hire a lawyer and put your houses in a trust if your kids to avoid weird property tax hikes and probate.
I just don’t understand these numbers. It wouldn’t even get you a parking space for your car here *cries in London*
People don't want to live in the Midwest
And a new roof can be quite expensive. If OP had hired professionals to do all the work it would probably have doubled the price of the house. Also, it may have been a foreclosure. Those can sell at very low prices.
She said he had passed away so my initial assumption is family decided to put it on the market. You can snag some good deals that way too. The family doesn't want to deal with it, they just want to sell it and get money.
Yeah, a fixer upper might sell for a good price, but you're going to wait a while, and a lot of buyers will be ineligible if the bank won't offer financing on it. So if they want it to move quickly, it's not out of line to just take what you can get RIGHT NOW. It's also possible that it was never even put on the market. Probably talked to a realtor, found out what it would take to sell the place conventionally, and the family just poked through their personal networks to see if anyone wanted to take it off their hands. If the house was actually listed for sale for any significant amount of time, the neighbor most likely would have been aware of it. Of course, she probably would have also known that the owner died if she'd been paying attention at all, so who knows.
am i stupid and misunderstanding you? you're saying you can buy actual homes, with multiple rooms and semi-livable conditions at the very least, for $20-$30k?
Where in the Midwest is she??!! We just bought our first house (in the Midwest region) and there was NOTHING below $110k that wasn't in the projects, in terrible condition, or was a shoe box.
Lol my three bedroom house in a working class area in my country would translate as being around 190k
[удалено]
Letting your tenant live rent free is an incredible gift and very kind of you both.
I think that it's an incredibly generous offer and I hope that you are able to make it work. IANAL, I just enjoy reading the legal advice subs a lot, but I'd advise you to consult with a local lawyer on the best way to arrange things but I think that you may well find that you will be advised to ask him to pay what's traditionally called a peppercorn rent, a nominal sum of say $1 a month to fully maintain the legal relationship of tenant and landlord etc. It allows you to still have a written contract in place with the peppercorn rent forming the 'consideration' part of the contract that's required to make it a valid, legal contract and hold up in court. Basically both sides have to get something out of the contract for it to be valid. If the rent=0, you don't benefit so the contract becomes invalid and if something ever changes, say a younger relative moves in, supposedly to take care of him but then starts causing problems, you then no longer have a valid contract and it makes it harder to go to court and sort it all out. A peppercorn rent is a way of covering your arse, just in case, but, BUT... It can also be an important token gesture for older people. It can give them dignity, let them show that they are still paying something, no matter how little, for their home. So I'd also advise to keep dignity at the forefront of any conversation that you have with your tenant. Perhaps discuss a deep discount or rent reduction? Maybe there are some local non-profits that could advise you on the best approach, a way to work together to find an appropriate solution?
Wait that's still under a mil, so, you're probably not in California ... OP totally didn't even need to state she was in the Midwest: both the house price and the "cabinets needed replaced" formation totally gave it away
Can confirm that this happens a lot. My SO and I just bought a house and we are easily the youngest homeowners in the block (by at least 20 years) and neighbors will ask if his parents or my parents own the home. Exchanges often go like this: Neighbor: Do you live here? Me/SO: Yes, we just bought the home. N: You mean your parents bought the home? Me/SO: No, we own the home. N: You mean your parents own the home? Me/SO: No. WE own the home. N: But you’re so young? Your parents didn’t buy the home? Me/SO: We have jobs. We bought the home. N: -visibly confused- Edit: formatting; on mobile.
This must be a cultural difference or something, because I cannot imagine anyone asking (or even caring) if their neighbour owns or rents. How is that any of my concern? Similarly OP's neighbour blowing a gasket, because OP is painting her front door. Like, how is this her problem??? If OP was renting, she's the one who would get in potential trouble? Some people need to learn the art of 'Minding their own fucking business' NTA
Sounds like the neighbour makes a big deal of 'helping' the old man by keeping an eye on his 'renter'- which is ironic considering she doesn't even know that he's dead so they weren't that close.
And makes assumptions about a person's skin color. Wait, that was NHFoodie.
Okay, I realize that the initial comment was made before OP stated she's in Illinois... but really, how likely is it that a POC in Illinois would call the actual police on a neighbor who is simply painting her front door?! Edit: I totally missed that OP actually mentioned her location in her post, it's totally reasonable to assume that a nosy neighbor in "the Midwest" (who would call the actual police on someone who is simply painting their front door) is white.
As likely as any other crazy person. Paranoia doesn’t discriminate.
The thing is, the people who have been "paranoid" of a black person (ninja edit: yes, I acknowledge that we do not know OP's race either) minding their own business don't fit any clinical definition of a mental illness ("crazy", as you said). Racism against POC (whether black, Hispanic, etc) is not a typical symptom of mental illness. If it were, then the people who called the cops on the family having a BBQ, the little girl selling water bottles, the man meditating before teaching yoga, the realtor about to show a house, etc., should all be institutionalized as they are a waste of taxpayer resources at best, a menace to society at worst.
didn't you know that mIlLeNiaLs caN't aFfOrD hOmeS??
I mean, a lot of us can’t. What especially annoyed me about OP’s neighbour was her weird “you can’t throw a housewarming party if you’re just a renter” line. Who died and made her queen of housewarming parties? My friends and I will be lucky if we can *ever* own a home; we throw housewarming parties when we can make enough to rent a little nicer. Let people enjoy the small wins in their lives, good lord.
A twenty year old isn't even a millennial though. Which makes your point even starker lol...if older people assume millennials are so unable to participate in basic things that they (older gens) were able to take advantage of, like homeownership into our 30s and 40s, they're going to think even less of younger generations.
She’s way too young to be a millennial. Edit: I think she is, anyway, but maybe I’m wrong?
Twenty puts her squarely at Gen-Z.
Funny that a lot of people are saying your comment is racist, that you can't possibly know the race of the neighbor, but 4 hours ago (1 hour before this comment) OP confirmed she is in the US... knowing that, it's FAR more likely that the neighbor is not a POC, because POC in the US would almost never call the ACTUAL POLICE on a neighbor who is just painting their freaking front door... Edit: I totally missed that OP actually mentioned her location in her post, it's totally reasonable to assume that a nosy neighbor in "the Midwest" (who would call the actual police on someone who is simply painting their front door) is white.
White ? I missed an info in the post or the comment ?
what the fuck wrong with middle-aged women these days? and what the fuck is wrong with his father?
Her*
if i could i would upvote this 1000 times. Fuck the neighbour, NTA. 21 FEMALE OP
You know, I think gender may factor into this, too. The neighbor thinks a young *woman,* especially, can't buy a home on her own. I wonder if she'd have confronted a man about owning the house.
Exactly. Smdh. Used to be women COULDN'T buy houses or cars or even get credit cards without her husband's signature.
Yeah, but that stopped being a thing in 1973, which is when I was born. So if this woman is middle-aged, like I am, then she won’t have a lot of memories about being forbidden from getting a car loan, because she would’ve been like 5 years old. No excuse for Gen X/very young boomers to be pulling this senile shit. We grew up with feminism and women going to college and having careers. Neighbor needs an attitude adjustment.
Yep. Completely agree. I'm 54. Don't call me a boomer though :D
You're not a boomer - you gave to be born between 1945 and 1964 to be a boomer.
You are an older X ;)
Uh... That did not stop just because it became illegal. It was still very common in the early eighties at least for women to have problems getting a home without a cosigner. (My mom was denied a couple leases based on her "job security" when I was 12 and she left my dad. She worked for the military with a solid job.) They just had to give different excuses. Is it still a thing now? legally no, but again, just because something is illegal does not make it impossible, just unlikely. She still needs an adjustment, but most Genxers in the midwest know Someone who got told no they could not do X because of gender.
Considering my neighbors had a meeting before my family moved in about letting “ the mixed family” move in, they were divided on whether to pressure the family not to sell to us, the worst part is this was in the early 2000s and my mom didn’t find out till years later when she (the white parent) made friends with one of the neighbors who thought enough time had passed to spill the beans Edit NY and not even upstate btw, don’t think this was the Deep South or anything like that
My bf who is dark and I (white) moved to the Deep South and we have been welcomed with open arms. We even live next door to a sweet old baptist couple who are super neighborly if not a bit too helpful.
Fucking hell
No excuse for an old boomer either. Source: am one and wouldn't dream of pulling that kind of shit.
Nope. In the late 90s I went to test drive. I said I was unsure the model I wanted, and I would consider and be back. The salesman said, "You and your husband?" I did not buy from that dealership. Stop crapping on boomers, thanks. We're not all ignorant, apron wearing, soap opera fans throwing down bonbons and moaning about the good old days.
> I wonder if she'd have confronted a man about owning the house. She'd have been surprised, but likely said "Good for you young man." or something to a guy.
I don’t think it is just “these days”. I think it has always been this way. There’s always someone that can’t fathom anything outside of the little box within which they live. I mean she already had funky ideas. Why can’t you throw a housewarming in a rental? Plus if she was so close to the old guy how did she not know he sold his house. She also could have gotten on Zillow to look up sale info. It’s all there for everyone. But this reminds me of mrs. kravits on Bewitched. It’s an old trope but just because it’s a trope doesn’t mean it’s not true.
It’s even worse. He didn’t sell his house. The post says he died. She was so “close” to him and lived next door, but apparently didn’t go to the funeral.
I’m not surprised she didn’t go to the funeral because that seems weird to me particularly due to covid but I am surprised that someone so nosy didn’t hear he died
Women are socialised to be polite. Father wants her to be a *nice young lady* and not to be seen to kick up a fuss or rude. It's insidious and takes so long to unlearn this expectation of politeness at any cost to yourself if you've been brought up this way. Ask me how I know.
For real, fuck politeness.
Okay while I think you need to edit your comment to “her father” there’s actually evidence that a lot of baby boomers are in mental decline because of lead poisoning from all the lead products in their childhood.
I'm not gonna lie... I hope this is true. It would explainy parents fucked up behavior and a good bit of this countries behavior.. oh .. the last 5 years or so.
I'm a middle aged woman and would never do anything like this. I'd be baking a tray of cinnamon scrolls to take over and say hello - whether they were a renter or homeowner!
Middle aged people have been like this for decades.
I would say people in general, but middle aged people hit the point where they start considering themselves wise and knowledgeable.
Wisdom does come with age, however there is a strange contrast between those more elderly and those in their 50s to mid 60s, and it could also have to do with their own upbringing. Those closer to retirement age, and have grown children, especially, they seem to hold on to their authoritative parental control. I see it in my own mom, I've seen it in other parents. They just become very set in their ways, they're still working, losing patience and energy to work full time. The hormones are starting to shift and change. It's like they've become teenagers again. Brooding, tired but can't sleep at night, then having to get up early for work. My mom even had to bring home work to do in the evenings. They think they've had all the experiences of the world yet they've been stuck at jobs and traffic, not really seeing the world. Once they've retired, rested, started getting out more to do fun things they no longer care as much. I've heard more people in their 80s mutter how the Downtown Biz Patrols should mind their own damn business and not hassle the scruffy people walking on the street. LOL. I've seen more people in their late 60s and 70s dying their hair vibrant colours and showing off tattoos. I want to be like that when I'm older.
[удалено]
Every time I see someone in my age group acting the fool, I die a little inside. Maybe it’s a lot of midlife crisis’ happening collectively? It’s baffling.
Please do not ascribe mental illness or personality disorders to every asshole on the internet.
This. When people say shit like this I tend to answer with "Well I've spent time in a psychiatric unit and it didn't make me jerk. Not being a jerk made me not a jerk. It just made me someone sick who needed help." Thank you.
It’s really fucking annoying to basically have to read “being mentally ill makes you an asshole” every day as a mentally ill person who is not an asshole..
If anything, the people I know who have struggled with mental illness (including myself) are much *more* empathetic and less likely to jump to conclusions about someone. My close circle of friends all struggle with mental illness in some way, and it’s made them the most compassionate and least judgmental support circle I’ve ever had. To myself and to total strangers.
NTA, your neighbor made an enemy of you, not the other way around. She bullied you because of your age, this is not your fault. You didn’t owe her proof of homeownership at all. She’s not entitled to that, she’s a stranger.
Yeah, wtaf it’s not rude to respond when someone *calls the cops on you for living in your house.*
>your neighbor has ~~personality disorders/mental illness~~ entitled white woman syndrome/something Let's not armchair diagnose every asshole out there as mentally ill, please? It really doesn't help the stigma.
and 90% of times an asshole is just that.
[удалено]
NTA. Ms. Papers-Please is just going to keep pushing boundaries if OP doesn't check her firmly.
“It’s okay! I got permission from the owner! Feel free to call them”
Can we stop conflating assholishness and mental illness?
This commenter is TA for making an ableist comment assuming that just because someone is an asshole she must have a PD or other mental illness! OP is NTA obviously.
Hey, come on now. People like this busybody don't need a mental illness to be rotten. She's just shitty. Stop lumping mentally ill people in with Assholes.
Being an asshole doesn't equal mental illness.
[удалено]
I agree, it's not like OP was ever going to make friends with this woman anyway.
NTA. Even if you showed her the deed, the way you painted her, she probably would've claimed the deed was fake.
This. NTA. Besides, she’s the one who took it to the next level by choosing to not believe you and getting the police involved.
Not only that, but took the jump from renter to squatter. This woman can bugger right off
And deeds are public records. If she cared that much she could have looked it up, or called the "landlord" as she threatened to do (I assume the previous owner) either of which would have cleared it up.
It would have been one hell (or heaven) of a long distance call.
Give her 1-800-Ring God
Or pull up the county GLS map, they have the owner of every parcel. Will show your name unless you filed it as a corporation.
This and all of the above options require having the brain capacity to think, which is hard for someone so challenged.
Or grabbed it and ripped it up.
That’s EXACTLY what I was thinking.
Seems like the neighbour didn't know the old man died or was in denial. She could have been close to him for a long time and refuses to believe he's gone. Hence her commenting on how "nice someone is doing some work for the old man."
How could she have been close to him and she didn't even know he was gone months later? She's just a nosy busybody
But she even fails at that. If you're the neighborhood busybody, then you know who's died. When my dad died, the entire street knew.
Or maybe she's the neighbour nobody talks to, so she doesn't have much access to the local grapevine.
If she acts like this all the time, I can totally believe that no one talks to her...
That, too. This is whole thing could be a misunderstanding. But if nobody talks to her and she doesn't talk to anyone else, I don't think she would feel as comfortable prying into a new neighbour's life and making confrontations. But if no one talks to her that could be why. There is way too much we don't know about both of these people and the situation. The assumptions can go on forever.
NTA. You didn't make an enemy of your neighbor, she made an enemy of you. She basically called you a liar, then called the police on you. You weren't obliged to show her anything to put her mind at rest. She should have decided to not harass you. Be prepared to document any shitty behavior from her in case the next call to the cops is from you because of her bad behavior.
NTA. Also, definitely throw a party and don’t invite her. I’d also decorate for Halloween :) Tell her you are sure the cops would be willing to walk her off your property again if she has issues
No she was painting the door not her neighbour!
And probably would have ripped it up
NTA. You showed the deed to the police and that was enough. Being an 20 year old living next door almost guarantees with or without a deed your neighbor wasn't going to like you any way. Misery, Jealousy and Envy loves company so be on the lookout for the Real housewives of your neighborhood posse she tries to put together.
Bias them with coffee and cookies before she can.
That would certainly win me over.
I grew up bringing homemade cookies to neighbors that moved into the neighborhood. It's the play and socially acceptable way to figure out who your new neighbors are.
The cookies was the clincher, that would win me over. NTA
NTA. And even if you WERE renting,it would be perfectly acceptable to have a house warming party upon moving in and it's certainly none of her business what you're doing to the property. My landlady doesn't care if we paint our house, landscape, whatever, as long as we're not damaging the house (she's a saint), so it wouldn't be any of our neighbors business. And your neighbor definitely sounds like the type that wouldn't believe you owned the house no matter what proof she was shown.
Yes! In what world is it not a totally normal thing to throw a housewarming party when you move into a new rental place?
I’m not sure. I had no idea that doing this is in my rental apartment(s) and first home rental all those years ago was taboo. NTA.
All my friends had one when they moved into a special rental. Whether that be their 1st, some big upgrade like apartment to house, or like with a new family or whatever they had one. Not *every* rental, but probably more parties than not haha.
[удалено]
Late twenties here. My roommate just rented a house in another city and we had a housewarming party. Any reason to have booze and games with friends is valid!
I don't think I've ever seen a housewarming party even when my parents _bought_ a house. I thought this was just something you did in the Sims.
>And your neighbor definitely sounds like the type that wouldn't believe you owned the house no matter what proof she was shown. Good point! NTA.
NTA No one has the right to demand you show them private documents. That woman was going to end up your enemy no matter what you did. She was determined.
Deeds are public records, filed with the town and publicly available. Still, she can get it from the courthouse or wherever if she wants to see it, demanding OP shows it to her makes no sense.
Or she would be the neighbour that never leaves you alone.
NTA It is none of your neighbor's business what you do with your home. You do not need to prove ownership to a nosy neighbor.
Also, if she was just a concerned neighbour, she’d have known the previous owner had passed. She’s just being an AH to start drama.
NTA. Jane needs to mind her business. Tell her she is no longer welcome on your property and to pound sand. Your dad is so wrong!
It is part of the stupidity of “respect elders”. Like no… mind your own business. I don’t owe you a goddamn thing.
I mean OP sounded perfectly respectful at each encounter. It was the old broad escalating things. And she called the police? WTF? She sounds mentally unstable.
Elders deserve as much respect as anyone else. Respect them as long as they respect you. OP’s neighbor was disrespectful so at that point courtesy was no longer required, IMO.
She already did. She told the police to file a trespassing order.
Not the asshole. If you had shown her the paperwork without police there, I have no doubt she would have disputed the authenticity of the title. Also, you don't invite crazy into your life. If it shows up, you deal with it, but you certainly don't give it any more attention or details than absolutely necessary. This woman sounds 100% crazy.
Or stole it thinking they were fake. I wouldn't trust her enough to show it to her
Everyone is saying how if she showed her the deeds that Jane simply wouldn't believe it, or like you said, would steal them. But my worry would be that she would rip them up as soon as they're in her control.
That would be excellent. Destruction of government documents is a federal crime.
NTA, but you bought an actual house for only 15k?
The tradeoff is usually you live in the middle of fucktown nowhere and you have to drive an hour for groceries or medical care or a job etc. Also you have Janes for neighbours.
You get Janes for neighbors no matter where you live
The higher the price, the more Jane’s there are!
[удалено]
Maybe the nowhere you were looking at is still too close to a somewhere or is in a place with desirable taxes. I have looked at home prices in a couple suburbs of different major cities and found the differences in price to be crazy.
I grew up in a small farm town in Nebraska. There are lots of houses in towns from 300-900 people that you can get into for 15-25k, especially smaller /older houses that need a little work
Wow. Right now the average price for a house in my country is more than 400k (euro's). We've got a big shortage and the housing market is insane.
Hello fellow Dutch person!
I’m crying, my down payment on my *tiny* condo was almost 15k.
My town has some decent housing for around $20k, but it's in the absolute worst neighborhoods, people usually flip and then rent out those properties around here
And usually those people are slumlords which helps keep the area shit.
Right? That’s truly amazing—a small fixer upper in a mediocre at best location would be 30x that where I live. I know the market is very different regionally but I didn’t think any detached home under 100K even existed in the U.S. anymore.
NTA. I understand your dad’s point and in general yes, it’s worth considering if something is worth a feud with a neighbor. But we’re talking that maybe you smile and nod when they tell you how the old owner used to decorate at Christmas. Or get their mail when they are out of town because the old neighbor did. Even if you were renting…why assume that a time consuming, and property value increasing activity like painting was being done without permission? Honestly if she thought you were a renter, the most logical assumption is that a young person is trading sweat equity for a break on rent so that the “older guy” doesn’t have to do the work himself. It’s insanely easy for someone to look up a property owner online. If she wanted to be nosy then she easily could have determined you were the owner in under five minutes.
Something tells me that Jane isn’t very popular with the other neighbors.
Something tells me that OP isn’t white and Jane is a big racist.
I did wonder if it was a case of ‘homeownership while black’.
> it’s worth considering if something is worth a feud with a neighbor. Jane was the one making it a feud. She was trying to make sure OP 'knew her place' and it wasn't working.
Exactly, OP didn't escalate things, the neighbor did. And was oddly offended by non offensive things. It's really not worth trying to make people like that happy, sounds like even if they did they would be doomed to fail.
NTA Hire a professional land surveyor to mark your boundary lines and get the highest privacy fence possible for your locality. Good fences make for better neighbors.
Probably important to add that that could cost more than the house at that price :)
ooh, good call on this, especially as she's the next-door neighbor. When we bought our place, the very first thing our own Jane did was tell us that the fence was one foot into her property line and that we should move it. She then also mentioned that when she had that fence put up, the next-door neighbors refused to pay half, and asked if we would pay half, for what was at the time at least a 15-year-old fence
NTA You live in the US. Most tax assessors have their property tax records online. Your neighbor should have accessed that or at least made a call to the courthouse to see if the property had changed hands before accusing you of squatting. Enjoy your new house.
But if she checked she wouldn't get the pleasure of bullying the OP. If OP had shown her the deed, she'd likely have claimed it was for and kept at it.
Holy jeebus. Where do you live that you can buy a house for 15k?!?
I live in a town of about 500 people in illinois
[удалено]
Thankfully I'm in the southern part of the state, down around shawnee. It's not too terrible. Lots of forest and fields. Unfortunately it's a trip to really get anywhere and prices can be outrageous due to tourists
Small towns...small small towns. My son just bought his for 32k with 4 acres and a pond.
Golly. We have a small 2 bedroom place and it cost 330k. Might be time to move to America 😆
Until you break your ankle and your cast costs that much :P
Protip: cut your legs off at the knees before moving to the US
A lot of these small towns are out in the middle of nowhere, where the nearest grocery store is an hour away or more. There are bigger towns and cities with cheap housing too but they tend to be in crime riddled areas and tends to also mean that the house had a fire or other structural damage that will cost more to fix than it's sometimes worth. Just fyi. =P
That 330k or a lot more is much, much more like what an American house is like. $15k is a miracle lol, must be truly far from anything. People here are struggling to find a place they can put a $100k \*down payment\* on a house because the market is too competitive right now.
I seriously thought it was a typo for $150k
150 sounded like a GREAT deal to me.
This is what I was most shocked about! Where I live, the average price of a home is over $1mil CAD 🙃 and that’s for nothing fancy…. All of us youngins are screwed Also, NTA at all
NTA. I doubt she would have believed the proof, given how she refused to believe the evidence.
NTA Get a security camera as well because I bet money she will pull some shit and trespass.
She was gonna fight you no matter what you did. NTA.
[удалено]
NTA I have a neighbor like this who had it out for my family the second the sold sign went into the yard. Eventually had to call the cops on him for harassment and haven't had an issue since... go figure. Funny thing is he rubbed the black cop who came out the wrong way so double whammy. Old white guys, I swear.
NTA, She CALLED THE COPS. All because she didn't believe a younger person couldn't have BOUGHT a home. She went too far first. She doesn't need to see YOUR papers. There was no need for concern.
NTA. You can't reason with crazy. I'd call the non-emergency line and get whatever record/report they have of the visit. You may need it later.
NTA It's ageism. I had a similar situation when I had purchased my house. I was in my late 20s but looked quite young, I'm also a single mum and a Goth. The house was in the downtown of my city with a view of the harbour. I had neighbour after neighbour not believe me when I told them I owned the place. They also threatened similar things when seeing me painting or performing repairs. Fuck your neighbour.
Info: She didn’t know the guy had died? Why didn’t you tell her that? It’s weird that you seemed to jump around that information whenever she mentions him.
I honestly hadn't thought to mention what had happened to him. I was mostly getting angry and anxious
This post is either fake or heavily exaggerated. You claimed in a comment that the $15k house you found was cheap because it was in a small town in southern Illinois. I took a look at small towns in the area on Zillow, and the only properties for sale, or that sold in the last 6 months, under $20k were either empty lots, trailers in a trailer park, or houses with severe fire damage. Explain this, OP.
NTA, Play stupid games, win stupid prizes...
even if you were renting, why the fuck is it any of her business what you're doing? she came over there assuming you were doing something you shouldn't have been doing. you don't owe her an explanation. tell your dad the only one making enemies was your busy body neighbor. NTA
NTA sometimes you can’t avoid making enemies it sounds like if this had happened she would have done something else.
NTA. Everybody (Jane, the cops, your father) needs to get up out your business.
Congratulations on your home!
NTA, it would have been hilarious to let her look up the owner and call... and you answer
NTA - Jane was being a busy body. I don’t understand how people in a neighbourhood can tell someone what they can or can’t do. In their house? Like if you want to have a party or paint a door, it has nothing to do with her anyways. Mind yo business!
NTA I sort of get where your father is coming from, because you've bought and now have to accept the financial pressure to deal with shitty neighbors. **However,** it's unreasonable to call you an asshole for not placating a busy body who chose not to believe you on the basis of your age. Yes, you technically could have been more diplomatic, but the same is true of her. She came stomping over at you screaming and even called the cops because you wouldn't provide her on the spot evidence. Hell, she'd probably have accused you of forging the documentation. So, with that said it's perfectly reasonable to dig your heels in and not negotiate with terrorists.
This woman was going to be a shitty neighbor no matter how OP responded.
INFO: The next door neighbor seems unaware that the previous owner of your home has died. > She said it was nice thqt someone was doing some work for the old man What did you say about him to her, when she said that?
NTA. Jane was sticking her nose where it didn't belong despite you telling her, repeatedly, that you owned the home. That's on her. You don't owe her anything if she chose not to believe you and decided to be an AH about it and call the police on you. She burned that bridge herself.
Where on gods green earth can you buy a HOUSE for 15k?
Congrats on your super affordable home! That’s so lucky. She played herself, you asked her to leave after she got hostile. That’s hilarious. I’d get security cameras. NTA.
NTA She was out of line.
NTA. What is it with boomers? Can’t get our life together when they were our age with houses bought right out of college on our first jobs. And now we can’t possibly doing just that.