Tiny North Carolina town's fury at historic home turned into an 'eyesore' with trash piled high outside

Neighbors are disgusted that a historic home has been turned into an eyesore with rubbish spilled across the front porch and garden.

The house on National Avenue in the historic district of New Bern, a small town in North Carolina, is a neo-Classic build with columns.

But unlike the beautiful houses beside it, the home is neglected with overgrown weeds and hedges and dying pot plants in the front yard.

Broken furniture, boxes of rubbish, and cardboard boxes are piled high on the front porch and yard, and ripped fly screens on the windows.

On the street and garden outside are broken down cars, some covered by tarps and sheets.

The owners was ordered by a court to clean it up because it was violating the town's land use ordinance, including using the home as an automotive graveyard and violating open storage regulations.

Neighbors along the street are worried the state of the house will tank their property values and claim their health is affected.

'My quality of life is not good because I have to live next to this,' neighbor Maureen Lagasse told WITN.

'It's not a good idea for city officials to allow this kind of thing to continue because I know they're trying to attract people to New Bern for retirement.' 

However, local real estate broker Stewart Downey said the house wouldn't have much impact on property values.

'If we're talking about a home not for sale, not actively on the market, the property next door probably isn't going to affect the value too much,' he said.

'There's a chance that prospective buyers would not necessarily want to make a purchase with a house next door that wasn't in the best possible condition.'