A Massachusetts homeowner claims she has failed to sell her $1 million Cape Cod home for eight months due to the noise from the newly installed pickleball courts from a nearby country club.
Judith Ann Roan Comeau says she listed her Sagamore Beach home and expected it to be sold within 30 days like other similarly priced homes in the neighborhood, but was surprised to find it still on the market over half a year later.
“We have a beautiful view of the bay, we have beautiful gardens, and we’re so close to the beach,” Comeau told Boston.com. “There was something wrong.”
She listed the three-bedroom, three-bathroom property for more than $1 million before she was forced to remove her listing on Aug. 10, the outlet added.
Comeau alleges that the pickleball courts at the Sagamore Beach Colony Club, a 100-year-old private tennis club, were “snuck in during COVID” and placed 30 feet from her property line are the culprit to her unsellable house.
With the home on the market for eight months, Comeau says she had over 60 people view the home, including many coming back for a second look.
“Each time, no matter what time it is, someone is playing PICKLEBALL,” she wrote on Facebook.
“They refuse to use quiet balls or paddles (the members don’t enjoy them as much), will not limit the hours, said only 1 court, now added another,” she railed to the “Pickleball Noise Relief” Facebook group.
The Facebook group is dedicated to “connecting families who are dealing with the unintentional but significant noise nuisance of pickleball courts.”
Comeau says she bought her home knowing the club was nearby and never ran into an issue with the tennis players.
“Not once have we ever complained about tennis, I actually kept an eye on the courts and kicked kids out who were damaging the courts late at night. Now 16 people can play at once,” she said.”
Having fought and complained about the Pickleball courts for the past four years, Comeau says no one has done anything including “every department” in town, as her arguments for softer balls and paddles have “gone on deaf ears.”
Her attempts to drown out the noise by playing music at her house are often stopped by Pickleball players complaining to her about her noise.
“They knock on my door and send emails to lower my music on my deck so they can enjoy their tournaments and event,” Comeau said.
“Imagine being that (entitled) not to care what your neighbors are dealing with. I have always had great caring neighbors until we moved to THE VILLAGE,” she added.
Comeau has taken to recording the noise level from her deck with readings consistently staying in the high 70s-low 80s weighted decibels.
“Pickleball Noise Relief” founder Rob Mastroianni says it has become a “new phenomenon in residential communities.”
“It’s really insidious, this noise that people are enduring now so close to their homes,” he told Boston.com.
A real estate lawyer representing Comeau and two other residents says he is writing a letter to the club urging they move the courts.
“This is actually a growing issue,” Jonathan Polloni told the outlet. “With the rise of the pickleball we were also seeing a rise in more complaints.”
“I can’t imagine any judge saying that it’s OK for us to have to deal with this,” Comeau said. “I hope that it can just be ended, I can say no pickleball, I could put my house on the market, and ride off into the sunset.”
