Deerwood Realty and Friends Podcast
Saw this article the other day on the former head of PIMCO, who for years has been battling his neighbor over every sort of issue. How can someone with a 1.5 billion net worth be so miserable that he feels his home is a prison? And, he’s not the only one, there are many celebrities who run into issues with their neighbors. I’m not surprised…but this is a PSA…if you live in a shack down by the river and your neighbors aren’t a bother, you are currently living in a better situation than this poor billionaire….let’s take a look
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Thoughts/questions:
1. There it is. A person worth 1.5 billion dollars says he feels like he is in prison in his own home. Think about that. This is someone who could move pretty much anywhere in the world, yet he sits in a home and has this ongoing dispute with his neighbor. It’s insane. As I’ve told you since we started…if you feel this way, move. Life is too short to be in a situation like this. I get that you think that you are the one being harmed…but it’s just not worth it to have problems with your neighbor…to live the remaining years of your life out as a prisoner in your own house.
2. These people literally have a court order that keeps them from playing music outside their own home! That’s how litigious the neighbor spat is. In our neighborhood, you will often hear music on the weekends outside…it’s generally people working on their cars, their yards, etc. It’s not really an issue. I get that it could be an issue if people were blaring music at all hours of the day…but I’m fortunate to have good neighbors, I guess.
3. “fears going into the backyard” Is that any way to live? And then “couldn’t have a wedding reception”, and couldn’t have a birthday”.. that’s kinda messed up. All I can do is relate to what I’m used to. Sometimes, one of our neighbors or us will have people over…if I think it’s going to be a nuisance I usually send a text letting my neighbors know that if things get out of hand, just text me and we’ll work it out. And, when my neighbors have people over, I tend to be more happy for them than angry about noise or parking…These billionaires don’t have the luxury of doing that I guess.
4. I don’t understand this…who does she have to announce to that she is going outside? Are the neighbors really calling the police on her in her own yard? What is the violation? Is this someone being a little dramatic?
5. Bill Gross’ reputation…if he ever had a good one to begin with, is definitely shattered. No one thinks of him now as the bond king…they think of him as a vengeful person who can’t get along with his neighbors. Is that accurate? Who knows? One of the odd things about our culture now is that we seem to think of people as singular things. Like the king of bonds can’t be an ass, or that a public servant can’t be stupid. But why do we think that? People are so complex….and they can be different things to different people at different times. It’s wild.
6. You can see the pettiness here. There is a net that covers glass sculpture…it’s blocking the nieghbor’s view..but the structure isn’t even in his yard. What rights are you entitled to if it’s not even your property? It’s madness. It’s almost like these people don’t realize that some people’s houses back up to retaining walls, or commercial parking lots, etc. Certainly not guaranteed a view of anything like an ocean or anything like that.
7. I get it…You are mad that someone filed a complaint about your protective netting…but maybe the answer isn’t to escalate the situation further. This probably runs counter to everything that made him successful in the business world. But he’s now a billionaire who might just end up in prison for STUPID reasons. At some point there has to be a time when the fighting stops.
8. I have no doubt that both neighbors are terrible people. This is obviously not all one sides fault. But what is the point of this? It’s to show the other one how great they are. These are simple quarrels that anyone could be involved in. To hold these people in high esteem is foolish.
9. This seems reasonable…on the surface. But it’s ridiculous in practice. You CAN play music when you are outside, but you CANNOT play music when you are not outside. This makes sense. The absurdity is that there is a court order outlining this.
10. Do you want to live somewhere where the only time you see your neighbor is if you have to discuss pending lawsuits or are outside on your own property? You are a billionaire! And you have restrictions like this?
11. I don’t understand how the neighbor filming the other neighbor and having the video get to the public domain doesn’t constitute harassment when the neighbors are in a highly publicized neighbor spat. Maybe under normal circumstances it wouldn’t be harassment, but there is every motivation for one neighbor to try to embarrass the other neighbor or goad them into committing a crime for further legal proceedings.
12. Singing loudly? Violating the order by singing along loudly to the music? Calling the cops for that? See, this is petty. The whole thing is petty. It makes great news fodder though.
Just look at how important it is and how lucky you are to have good neighbors. It’s not relative to the money that you have…it’s entirely based on the people who are living around you. More money, especially in this case, does not equal more happiness.
I’ve personally had sellers who have wanted to move from gorgeous homes because they didn’t feel like they fit in with their “stuffy” neighbors and it wasn’t worth it to them to continue to live with that. They had the money, and they recognized it was just better for them to leave than to be in a neighborhood where you don’t feel all that welcome. Money does not determine the quality of your neighbors..remember that.
Sources: https://nypost.com/2021/09/22/investor-bill-gross-says-neighbor-has-turned-his-house-into-a-prison/
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