What kind of neighbor are you?

     I was reading an article on renting versus owning (or buying) your place to live.  Renting has some advantages like cheaper insurance (renters versus home owners), lower maintenance costs, and more freedom to move.  And of course home owning has advantages too.  A renter will always have to pay rent while a home owner just might one day pay the mortgage off.  A place to live should not ever be viewed as a monetary investment   because changes are more than likely you will lose money or break even at best.  Home ownership is best viewed as an investment in your family and community.  How that investment pays off depends on what kind of neighbor you are.

    I live in what I call a cookie cutter neighborhood.  All the houses are roughly the same.  All about the same size, same color, and the same value.  There are two big difference in each place:  how the owners relate to their property and how they relate to their neighbors. 
   
   One family has a poorly maintained yard with debris scattered around the yard.  They have junk cars in the back, a big hole in the front of the house, rarely mow the grass, and have a dog tied to a tree in the front yard.  The property is an eyesore to say the least.  Another neighbor has a self build out building.  The walls are made of pressboard and covered in black tarpaper.  The wind has long ago ripped the tarpaper to shreds and the pressboard has turned brown with age. 

   The man across the street has a neater yard but deals in sports cars, particularly old Mustangs  with loud engines.  Noises coming from his yard makes it seem as if one is living in the infield at a NASCAR event.  Of and let us not forget the family with the big boxers that allows them to run the neighborhood without benefit of restraints. 

   It isn't just the noisy irresponsible neighbors that distract from the neighborhood.  There are some quiet neighbors that live in a clean place.  But they never   fix up the place: no flowers or trees  or friendly waves hello to anyone.  They exist for whatever reason. 

   Then there are a few good neighbors.  Once a man named Johnny  lived next door.  He planted flowers and mowed his grass and said hello and helped one  with the chores of daily life.  He was a good neighbor.  Another man who lives across the street keeps his house well maintained and has professional landscapers plant his flower gardens and trim his trees.  He has a nice yard.  Another neighbors home looks almost as neat but he does the work himself.  and he says hello now and then.

   Then there is that special neighborhood resident that has the professionally installed outbuilding,
the new carport cover, the manicured lawn, the fish ponds and memorial gardens and the fruit trees and the litter free yard.  This resident not only maintains his property but can be seen pickup up trash around the neighborhood and can be heard wishing others well. 

   Is this a nice neighborhood depends on which neighbor one chooses to be.