Hi!

Just for kicks, I recently went to look at a tiny house that has been on the market for a year and seemed to be ridiculously low-priced. I expected to find black mold or a dead body, but the situation instead is a derelict canal behind the property, less than six feet from the back of the house! It is about 20 feet wide and runs the entire length of the property and of the adjacent properties. The canal has slowly filled with furniture, a few shopping carts, and a lot of old tires. The canal is contained by cement walls approximately 4 ft. high. The first few feet are dry and have brush and small trees growing up. The water level slowly drops off to what I imagine is about three feet deep in the center. I saw a frog and a turtle floating on some wood out there. The realtor claimed this area sometimes Âdries up, but the neighbors informed me that this isnÂt the case  and then they said "what a shame it is." Clearly this canal/swamp/moat of stagnant water has kept this little house from selling.

Is there anything that I could do to turn this into a habitat of some kind  or to make it more pleasant to look at and be near? (There are so many mosquitoes!) Is it silly to imagine planting something that might soak up some of the water? On the other hand, is the best thing to put up a high privacy fence or to just forget the house all together? I love gardening but am overwhelmed at the prospect of even cleaning it out. Yikes, what if it is deep out there? Is this house a terrible investment that I will never be able to sell? Is the drop-off and water a liability? IÂd hate to think of someone getting hurt! Are there experts who could advise me what to do?

Thanks for any advice/ideas!