I was young and bought my first house, and it was a starter home. I paid $74,500, but it was in a good location. I bought it in February, and while the house next door looked a bit rough, I thought it was just winter and certainly the owner would make the place look good come spring.

Spring came and I learned that the owner was an unemployed attorney. He lied and told everyone in our HOA that we went to Harvard. This was pre-internet BTW, so lies were easier then. He was very active in the HOA, but none of the people there knew it was his house that was the worst one in the entire HOA. When I told them they were shocked. Now our HOA was voluntary, as our neighborhood was older and HOA's were not common back then.His back yard was worse than the front and had weeds that were four feet tall. I talked to this guy and he had no interest in taking care of his house. Turns out he was a functioning alcoholic, had been disbared, and lost his job. The city where I lived was gutless in their code enforcement and did nothing. I trimmed the tree that was so big and so overgrown that it was creating a tunnel over the public sidewalk in front of his house. As it was over public property I trimmed it.

This went on for years. One day I'd had enough, the weeds in the back yard were so thick I was scared he would toss one of his cigars that he smoked non-stop in the grass and the place would go up in flames. So one day while he was out I mixed up a sprayer of roundup and sprayed his entire backyard. A few weeks later all the weeds are dead… unfortunately while I was in his yard I looked into the sliding glass door. I saw a house full of trash, floors covered in mid and dog shut and his waller on the couch where he would sleep. It was gross…

I did not get caught, I sold the house, in February, and the buyer didn't say anything about the neighbor. To be fair, I talked the HOA and we did a “clean up" day on this guy's front yard. It helped me sell my home.

About a year later they found him dead in the house. It's been totally renovated, and 35 years later my little $75k house that I sold for $100k is listed at $300k.