To think my neighbour's Halloween decorations epitomise how abusurd their setup is? (Pic attached)

[Carla786]

My 'next-door neighbours' have still not moved in, 3 years after they claimed to be arriving in their forever home. There's been a recurrent pattern with the house next to me where it gets redone by the latest buyer, elaborately & noisily & then gets sold on. No one has ever lived there for much longer than a year. (We suspect there is some kind of property-trading ring going on : our house was bought by my grandmother's parents in the 30s when prices were lower, but obvs have skyrocketed since. It seems criminal when there are so many people waiting for homes. Several other houses on the street are the same, it feels a bit ghost-town & def not neighbourly)
It was the same with this neighbour. They did heavy building works for a new basement & granny flat, among other big changes -noisy & very dusty, which was bad for several of our family who have asthma. Not to mention that I was doing my A levels then . And these are still nowhere near complete 3 years after they started. They haven't moved in : OK, it's not finished yet, but I suspect they'll follow the same pattern as previous owners.
But ofc they wanted to put these lovely decorations up, at the house they've never yet lived in & probably won't- and they're still up today.
My mother sent the pic (I'm at uni)- she's a bit of a conspiracy theorist & thinks the gravestone messages are a threat. I definitely don't go that far, though it feels bad taste. I love Halloween but have never liked gravestone decor, esp as the local cemetery is round the corner & we often visit my grandfather's grave.
MN verdict? Are the neighbours CFs, with this as the icing on the cake? Or are we overreacting?

TLDR : Neighbours who have taken 3 years to move in due to noisy dusty building work for a supposed forever home have decided to put up gravestones on the front lawn of a house they've never lived in and probably never will. Gravestones went up before Halloween & are still here today.

Am I the only one wondering why so many people buy houses near OP and her mum and then apparently can’t get away quick enough?

A lot of shops I've seen have Xmas stuff up already, I don't mind that much about it being the wrong time frame, though it does seem silly. The issues are much bigger than a few gravestones.

I think you’re talking out your arse, OP, sorry.

Your grandmothers parents bought your house in the 30s, did they?

Hurrah for them.

Thats not real life. Everyone else has to participate in the “property trading ring” as your mum calls it 😂

As a pp said, it’s Friday night, you’re at uni, go out and enjoy yourself and stop worrying about your mums neighbours Halloween decorations.

Why does it seem silly?

Christmas is 2 paydays away for most people.

Its because they find out the house next door to them is haunted...or they could possibly be sick of the curtain twitching? 🤔

Thanks for the reminder!! 😭. Maybe the neighbours will put a santa suit on the skeleton for Christmas 😆 🤣

@Carla786 YANBU, ignore the pile on merchants.

Or dress them up like carol singers 🤣

🤣🤣🤣. That sounds like it should be out of the gremlins!! Tis the season to be jolly.. 🎶

I’m loving the Halloween decorations!

I don’t understand how much work one house needs? Surely if multiple people are buying it, doing work and selling it there can’t be much left that’s not brand new? Have I misunderstood?

Im beginning to think its Amityville they are buying 😬😬😬🤣

Come on, that's clearly not what I'm saying.

I KNOW housing is in crisis now, I know I'm very lucky to be in this position.

That's the issue here : I'd welcome neighbours who move in & stay.

The issue is that a reccurring thing has been people buying up, redeveloping, selling on s, & never living there, or at best sporadically.

That was what my mum meant by a property trading ring, as thus has happened with several houses adjacent to us. I think that's a jump, I don't believe that myself.

I meant stuff like Xmas trees. I mean, it's only 7 Nov. I don't really mind, just feels a bit early.

Thank you! It seems some are just laughing at the picture rather than reading the background.

I'm obviously not complaining about people buying the house, the issue is never moving in but doing huge renovations!

I remember watching a TV programme about professional Christmas decorators. Lots of the houses were owned by clients who loved overseas, and rarely, if ever, lived in the UK properties. They were seen as investments. Yet they spent a fortune paying professionals to decorate them for Christmas. It would make me sad too OP if I had to live in a street of empty houses.

My DH rented an apartment in London while he was working there (we’re in Scotland). It was a newish development and the whole block was deserted! Baffled us that anyone would buy an apartment, furnish it and leave it sitting empty.

I think the responses on this thread are strange. Of course no one wants to live in a street of empty houses with Halloween decorations up a week after Halloween.

Money laundering , they’ll never move in!

Will you moan about valentines stuff being in the shops before Christmas too and easter eggs in before the 1st of January? Christ, that actually could be bad for you if the neighbours decided to put a giant rabbit skeleton in place of the santa version 😬.

Ha, my mum watched that recently. I think she sees the gravestone messages to us as a threat like in the film where the couple are told to 'Get out!'

I think that's totally silly..though tbf she's a bit on edge I think as we did have a previous neighbour who was quite intimidating after we didn't want to sell up our house to make way for their planned huge extension.

Rabbit skeleton could be funny at Halloween, there's a weird amount of books out recently about spooky 🐰.

Yes, but unfortunately AIBU tends to attract those who like to snipe and jeer. You'd be better off posting in the quieter property section.

So you are saying that this house and others on the same street are in an endless loop of being bought, redeveloped and sold on again without anyone ever living in them?

Why would this happen? Do you have any theories?

Eta: is this in a very wealthy area?

The house next door to me (a 4 bedroom detached) is owned by a widow with dementia who lives with her children. It has been effectively empty for the past 3 years and Im quite happy with that. Every 3 weeks of so someone appears to do the garden and check on the house. Otherwise its deserted. If I grassed them up to the LA they would get charged double council tax but Im not going to do that. I dont want it sold to someone who will redevelop it as a HMO or a noisy multi generational home.

Tell your mum to calm it , unless theres a bunch of flies buzzing about her bedroom 🤣😬. Start enjoying yourself, your at uni, why are you not out having fun? Its not like the skeleton next door is going to come alive and terrorize her.

You’re all wrong.

That is not a Halloween decoration. It’s real.

That’s an owner who took too long to finish the renovations.