Homeowner Says Neighbor Kids Used His Garage as a Soccer Net — Then Their Dad Aimed a Pitching Machine at It

A homeowner says he tried to be polite for more than two years while neighbors treated his shared driveway like a public street, his yard like a playground, and his garage door like a target. But when the neighbor’s dad set up a pitching machine aimed straight at his garage, the whole thing finally boiled over.

He explained in a Reddit post that he and his family moved into their first home about two and a half years ago. The house sits at the end of a shared driveway with four other homes feeding into the main street. The other homes have their own driveways off the shared stretch, but his home is at the end, where that shared drive turns into his private driveway at the property line.

The trouble started immediately.

On moving day, one neighbor had parked in front of the entrance to the new homeowner’s driveway, blocking the moving truck from getting through. The homeowner introduced himself, explained they had just moved in, and asked the neighbor to move the car and not park in front of the driveway.

The neighbor apologized and moved it.

Then he immediately moved it back.

That was the first sign of what the homeowner said became an ongoing pattern. The neighbor had his own driveway and two-car garage, but cars from that house kept ending up in places that made it harder for the homeowner to get in and out.

Then the kids started using his space too.

The homeowner replaced old floodlights with Ring floodlights and started getting constant motion alerts. The neighborhood children treated his driveway and front yard like a playground, but he said this neighbor’s kids were especially involved. They used his garage door as a soccer net, with one child playing goalie while another took penalty shots at the door.

At one point, the homeowner said he heard the dad say something like “extra points if you hit the camera,” then take a kick at the window.

The homeowner spoke to the mother and asked her to talk to the children. He said he was almost overly apologetic because he felt bad rocking the boat so soon after moving in. The mom was friendly and understanding, and that specific issue stopped for a while.

But the parking continued.

There were always excuses, like family being in town. The homeowner repeatedly told them the parking made it harder to get in and out and that he was worried one day he would be blocked completely.

Eventually, that happened.

He came home from the airport with his parents and found a car he did not recognize parked parallel to the neighbor’s car, completely walling off his driveway. He went to the neighbor’s door, rang the bell, and knocked. He said he could hear people on the other side of the door move out of the room, but nobody answered.

Another neighbor eventually walked by and told him it was that family’s guest and that they would have the person move.

The homeowner messaged the wife to explain what happened. Again, he apologized for knocking so much. She ignored the message. The next day, he sent a picture, and she only replied that she did not know whose car was next to theirs.

After that, the yard and driveway issues kept coming and going.

The kids were often in his front yard or driveway playing, riding bikes, and running around. He tried to let it go unless they were causing damage, like roller skating in his grass.

Then things escalated again.

One day, while he was at work, he got a camera alert showing the neighbor’s kids in his front yard with a baseball bat. Then he saw the dad bring out a pitching machine, aim it down the shared driveway directly toward the homeowner’s garage, and set up the kids near the property line as batter and catcher.

Within a minute, a ball hit the garage door.

Since the homeowner was at work, all he could do was speak through the camera and ask them not to hit his garage. No one apologized. He said he heard what sounded like the dad saying it was a foam ball.

The next day, he kept getting alerts showing the kids wrestling over a football in his driveway and playing catch in his yard. He was preparing to grow grass again soon, so he went outside and told them to move it up. One child gave him attitude but moved. He then texted the mom more directly than usual, saying they were being disrespected and asking them to respect his property.

At first, they tried to say it was not their children. When he sent a screenshot, they did not respond.

Finally, he saw the husband outside and decided to talk in person instead of texting and risk sounding worse than he meant to. He asked if the man had a minute to talk. The neighbor told him he was going to get his trash cans and said he could walk with him.

The homeowner tried to keep calm and asked him to talk to the kids about staying off his yard and driveway.

The neighbor did not respond with an apology.

Instead, according to the homeowner, he said they were kids and would naturally be attracted to the yard and want to play in it.

The homeowner asked about the pitching machine, pointing out that it had been aimed directly at his garage. The neighbor again said it was a foam ball and only going about 11 miles per hour.

The homeowner asked why, if it was no big deal, he had not aimed it at his own garage.

The neighbor said the kids wanted the length.

Then he called the homeowner a weirdo for watching him through the camera and talking to him like a weirdo. He also started saying he had moved there because he had a family and that the homeowner did not understand how families and kids work.

That was when the homeowner lost the polite tone.

He told the neighbor to stay off his property and stop parking in front of his driveway or he would have the car towed. The argument escalated from there. The neighbor claimed he was allowed to park on the easement. The homeowner said the HOA had told him to tow the car if it happened again.

Afterward, the homeowner felt awful that it had reached that point. He wondered if he had been wrong to lose his cool or if he should simply accept that neighborhood kids will use his space because “it is what it is.”

But from the details he shared, he had already tried the soft approach for years. He asked politely. He apologized while asking. He texted. He spoke in person. And every time, the message seemed to come back the same way: his property was somehow fair game because the kids wanted more room.

Commenters overwhelmingly told him he was not overreacting. Many said the neighbor’s kids should not be playing on his driveway, yard, or garage door, especially after the parents had been told several times to stop.

A lot of commenters focused on the liability issue. If one of the children got hurt while playing on his property, people warned that he could end up dealing with the consequences even though he never invited them there.

Several commenters said the parking problem needed to stop immediately. Since the HOA had reportedly told him to tow any car blocking the driveway, commenters encouraged him to actually follow through instead of continuing to knock on doors and ask nicely.

Others suggested no-trespassing signs, extra cameras, motion-activated sprinklers, and calling police when people were on the property without permission.

A few commenters understood why he felt guilty because kids were involved, but they argued that the father was the real problem. The dad was the one allowing or encouraging them to use someone else’s property, aim equipment toward the garage, and treat reasonable boundaries like an insult.

The strongest advice was blunt: politeness had not worked. If the neighbors would not respect the property line voluntarily, then towing, police reports, and documented complaints were the next step.