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My dad lives on 20 acres. Part of that acreage is across the street from the land his house sits on. There is a house next door to him that was originally built and lived in by one of his cousins but she moved away and sold the house to a doctor and his family from California. Anyway, they've been good neighbors for several years. This neighbors wife's parents are elderly and her dad has Alzheimer's. They are moving them to Texas to live with them and offered to buy the 5 acres across the street to build the elderly parents a house. My dad pow-wowwed with everyone in the family and decided against selling. My sister recently went to visit and was incensed to find that the neighbors built their parents a house RIGHT on the edge of the property line where my dad has a driveway/road going around his liveable property. The neighbors have enough of their own land to have either set the house behind their own or added a few extra rooms onto their own house without it needing to sit right on the edge of my dads yard. She says it looks terrible as to it's placement and it ruins the private feel of the rural property. I suggested putting up a very tall privacy fence of some sort or planting REALLY tall hedges along the road to block the view of this house. They tore out all the pine trees separating their property to build the house in the first place. My sister says large hedges or a wall of evergreens might blend into the natural landscape better. I am looking for screening suggestions)
Okay, so different plants would be suitable in that area than here. Let me think and see if I can remember what works well from my years growing up in that neck of the woods.
I went and did some looking to see if I could find anything familiar, and ran across this site from TAMU which might be helpful. The Wax Myrtle on there is something I'm familiar with from here, as well, as it's used a lot, especially in Sun City, where fast-growing privacy is wanted.
On a different note, another worry my sister had is that if the neighbors ever move that the two houses would be sold seperately. I think it's more likely that it would be sold as property containing 2 homes, ie..a mother in law or guest house. I know it's not any of our business, but with rural property having such close housing all of a sudden I wondered if anyone had experience with this sort of thing.
First of all, why is this your sister's business. If your dad (the property owner) is not upset, why is your sister poking the hornet's nest?
Secondly, the doctor and his wife own the property. It is theirs to do with as they wish. For whatever reason, they decided to build the second house near the property line. Has anyone tried to find out why? Maybe it is in an area where they can keep an eye out for their father better (if he has Alzheimer's Disease he might wander away). Maybe it is a soil issue, maybe it is a utility access issue, there are several reasons why they made the decision to build where they did, and the county government apparently had no problems with it so they issued the permits.
If they want to separate the properties, that is their right to do so. What is the difference between having the guest house permanently occupied by the parents and the other house occupied by the doctor and having two different families living in the two houses if they are sold separately.
Your sister needs to butt out. You may not like what they have done with the property, but it IS their property. Put up the barrier (fence or plants) and let it go.
My dad lives on 20 acres. Part of that acreage is across the street from the land his house sits on. There is a house next door to him that was originally built and lived in by one of his cousins but she moved away and sold the house to a doctor and his family from California. Anyway, they've been good neighbors for several years. This neighbors wife's parents are elderly and her dad has Alzheimer's. They are moving them to Texas to live with them and offered to buy the 5 acres across the street to build the elderly parents a house. My dad pow-wowwed with everyone in the family and decided against selling. My sister recently went to visit and was incensed to find that the neighbors built their parents a house RIGHT on the edge of the property line where my dad has a driveway/road going around his liveable property. The neighbors have enough of their own land to have either set the house behind their own or added a few extra rooms onto their own house without it needing to sit right on the edge of my dads yard. She says it looks terrible as to it's placement and it ruins the private feel of the rural property. I suggested putting up a very tall privacy fence of some sort or planting REALLY tall hedges along the road to block the view of this house. They tore out all the pine trees separating their property to build the house in the first place. My sister says large hedges or a wall of evergreens might blend into the natural landscape better. I am looking for screening suggestions)
A friend of mine wanted something that would grow above his wooden fence, create a screen and require next to no care - gooseberry bushes. They grew very fast, had his screen in a couple years. They'll just keep thickening up. He also works for the county, I'm not sure how easy they are to find.
Grape vines are an idea too.
Last edited by claudhopper; 12-30-2012 at 08:16 PM..
I'm confused. You're saying there is enough room for evergreens?
If it doesn't bother your folks, let it be. It's not your property yet.
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