Real estate agents aren’t the one’s buying the houses. If people don’t like the ramp it will lower the price they are willing to pay regardless of the listing price. In most markets people don’t pay the listing price.
Having said that, I can’t see this having any significant devaluation of housing prices in the neighborhood. Perhaps they will add shrubbery at some point but I don’t see any need to disguise the ramp - it is what it is, a necessary access point for the occupants of the house. It seems about as inoffensive as is possible, so I’m having difficulty following several of the arguments put forth in this thread.
In Australia there is an increasing awareness in government circles of the need to incorporate the principles of Universal Design into more housing to deal with an aging population.
Any half-decent real estate agent should be able to take a house with those sorts of features already installed and market it to the right demographic at a profit.
It actually reminds me a lot of the breastfeeding in the pool thread.
It all comes down to what people consider “common courtesy”. One person’s common courtesy is another’s intrusion. It sounds really nice and all when you say, “I think it’s good to take your neighbors’ feelings into account when you’re changing the look of your house,” but in reality that can be really hard! What constitutes ‘reasonable accommodation’? Can one reasonably accommodate and unreasonable person? Should people be expected to try? How hard, and for how long, and to how much expense?
Every single person on your block will have different answers to that question. I think in the end, as long as you’re following the law, you’re in the clear.
We have a neighbor who just installed a handicap ramp for his daughter with cerebral palsy. My husband said he felt badly because he wasn’t around to help him build it.
I’m confused by how this ramp is supposed to impact the property value of the neighbours. I can understand how someone interested in buying the house with the ramp might view the ramp as a negative, and be willing to pay less for that house. I cannot understand how a prospective buyer of one of the neighbours’ houses is going to view the ramp at the house across the street as something impacting the price they are willing to pay. “Oh, it’s the perfect house. Just the right size, and the basement finished exactly how we’d like it to be, and even the landscaping is wonderful. We can move right in and don’t have to do anything! But there’s a wheelchair ramp across the street, so we’re only willing to pay $215,000 instead of $225,000.”
If they sued and I was on the jury I would award the family all legal expenses and then find out if I can assess punitive damages against the plaintiffs. Who are obvious assholes.
One of my neighbors is sweet. Really sweet and nice and kind. Better yet quiet. She would sooner smack herself than use a car alarm or leaf blower sweet. But every single year she puts up the ugliest fucking Christmas decorations imaginable. Lights in clashing colors, a mishmash of religious symbols, a stuffed Rudolf and some elves, a giant freaking lit snow globe about an inch from our property line for cripes sake. Offends my Jewish heart it does. She doesn’t take them down until March.
We don’t live in a gated community so I don’t get a freaking say in it. I also hate the neighbor’s choice of summer flowers. Again I don’t freaking get a say.
I have no idea why the hell some people don’t understand this concept.
The ramp is fugly - but the person who suggested using the garage is nuts. There’s enough of a rise there that the thing would basically make the garage unusable.
Yes, you can make it look prettier, and I’m surprised the family doesn’t do so for their OWN enjoyment.
Oh - and for what it’s worth: the neighbors are jerktards. While it’s quite possible they might have been able to design something that looked nicer, the one they have built is solid, will last, and will work. The girl in the wheelchair shouldn’t be a captive in her own home, or endangered with an inferior ramp, just to please the neighbors.
In the picture it looks like trees are planted and there is a flower bed planted in front of the ramp. It looks like a new neighborhood. I wonder how many other houses have fully landscaped yards. It’s possible it by this time next year it will look much better.
I think this whole story was just that. A story. Something to sell news. It looks to me like they already planned on making it look nice. Not sure why the concrete is stained but a coat of paint would make it look good and protect it from the elements. The owners already landscaped around it so it should blend in nicely.
But chair lifts aren’t supposed to be pretty - they’re supposed to be functional. I didn’t mean to insult you or your lift - I’m sure your lift is very nice.
chair lifts are DC powered specifically so they work if the power goes out. Unless you’re using it like a Ferris Wheel it’s going to be there for you. There is a huge advantage to a lift over a ramp. The person in the chair will be able to use it without assistance. A ramp is difficult to use for those pushing the chair and the person in the chair trying to negotiate it uphill. The lift isn’t a hazard with ice like a ramp is.
