Little Bird, Little Bird: What Do You See?

The multiple-dwelling residence next door to me was abandoned at least two years ago and has fallen into quite a state of disrepair: the yard is dead; the main house looks forlorn; the back two-story apartment is as it was left, with broken windows upstairs. I check on it every time I go into the backyard and when Mia runs to the fence and barks, but it's been the same for a long time.

Now, it's changed.

The two broken windows upstairs have been replaced and there is a venetian blind on the "big" window that faces my yard. I think it was done either Sunday or Monday, but I'm not sure because the first time I noticed the change was Monday, when I arrived back home from work. I'd love to see a new owner complete much-needed repairs and inhabit the property, but I don't think that's what's going on.

No one has been there: no trucks, no workers. Sometimes, I hear construction noises, but I've never seen anyone. The driveway runs along our shared fence, with a large open garage at the back of the main house and a parking area by the two-story rentals. No one has been there: no one.

So, here's my conspiracy theory.

On the other side of the property is a small home occupied by a lot of people, including some who sleep on the grass (I think). I'm also pretty sure that the garage has been turned into an extra room as the cars are always parked in the driveway or at the street edge. There are always people outside the home and recently there have been extra vehicles, which indicate to me that the people who live there have guests (lots of Hispanic families in the area rent a home and fill it with relatives from Mexico who come to work, but don't want to pay for separate living). When I moved into my home as a lessee, the landlord wrote into the agreement that no more than 6 people could reside in the home and he also included a statement that he would check on occupancy monthly. He arrived at the 6 based on 2 persons per bedroom, but also based on his experience with other rentals in which he found as many as a dozen or more people camping. I noticed a similar housing situation when the young couple bought the home on the other side of me, which they have since abandoned: relatives from Mexico often slept on the floors and in the garage.

I think the people on the other side of the property have come through the fence separating the two properties (there are several wooden planks missing), gone upstairs (the stairs are next to the fence), have made some minor repairs to the apartment -- and are illegally living there. They probably would also be in the downstairs apartment, but that door faces my backyard and I would see them, whereas anyone can come and go without my knowledge due to the placement of the entrance to the upstairs apartment.

I'm not going to report this suspicious activity because it's better to have someone on the property than to have it vacant -- and the fact that the windows have been replaced indicates that whoever is living there is taking care of the apartment. I don't know which bank owns the property, but no one has set foot on the ground next door in well over a year, which indicates no one really gives a rat's ass about the condition of the real estate. Pretty soon, it'll be cheaper to raze the property than to repair it, one of the associated costs of the real estate crash in the area.

Because it really isn't any of my business I'll keep my nose on my side of the fence unless what's going on there becomes an issue in my yard.