As her Bob problem persisted, she began spicing her flower beds with chili powder. “It was absolute misery,” she recalled recently. Peafowl mating season in Southern California coincides with tax season, the most hectic time of year for an accountant. Shumakova was working from home at the time, and Bob’s daily perambulations-she called the bird “Bob”-were more than an annoyance. If Shumakova hadn’t already been awake, staring at her ceiling and questioning her life choices, she was now, as 10 pounds of bird clomped around on her roof’s shingles and clambered atop the metal chimney guard, belting out his honking song. After making a few hooting calls, he would tumble down onto the roof in a sort of controlled fall. The breeding season was ramping up and this male was an early riser. Then, a few months after settling in, she noticed that one particular peacock had taken up residence in an oak tree’s branches hanging over the front yard. Despite the home’s curb appeal, the inside needed renovations. Fifteen other buyers made offers, but Shumakova and her fiancé outbid them all. The peahens had the fancy headdress, but they were a gray-brown color and were sometimes trailed by a couple of peachicks.Ĭompared to the real estate horror stories Shumakova had heard, a flock of ground birds didn’t seem like a dealbreaker. It wasn’t the breeding season, so the males didn’t have their stunning, five-foot-long train, but they were still dapper with their blue throats and crown feathers that looked like they could pick up AM radio frequencies. Shumakova had, in fact, observed several of the large birds in the neighborhood. It seemed ideal, but as the couple reviewed the seller’s disclosure form, one item stood out: “peacocks.”

Situated on a shady street in a neighborhood called Chapman Woods, the ranch-style home featured a front porch where, as the real estate ad put it, one could “enjoy the breezes!” The backyard boasted an inviting pool surrounded by red and pink roses. One morning, she perked up over a listing for a three-bedroom in her price range. She and her fiancé had been house hunting for more than a year with little luck.

That was the story for Darya Shumakova, an accountant living in Los Angeles. There were too few homes and too many buyers, and when you added a pandemic to the mix, it wasn’t easy for a first-timer to enter the market. In July 2020, home prices in Southern California, never a cheap place to live, were rising.

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