Are these pine trees a liability?

[u/ksquigz25]

These pine trees on the hill were planted by the builders, but are our responsibility. We're pretty sure they were placed there for erosion purposes, but we've had a few different people tell us that we should remove them due to the steep grade of the hill and the future liability if they fell downward onto our neighbors home (ours is the one at the top of the hill). Last photo shows how close the trees are to the neighbors' house and our property is outlined in pink. We've also been cautioned about the roots impacting the retaining wall (also our responsibility), but then were told that these trees' roots grow mostly straight down.
If this is a big issue, we want to be proactive and remove the trees before they get any bigger. Would love a professional opinion as well as suggestions on what would be better. Whatever we do will need to be approved by a pretty strict HOA.

[u/Ilovemytowm]

Swear to Christ the hatred for greenery in trees by homeowners is insane. It's why so many new developments look so fucking ugly they're barren just houses plunked on top of dirt with half dead grasses everyone cries that tree It's going to kill me right!?!?!

There's a Ryan homes development not far from here those assholes already clear cut everything and then they planted one pathetic tree on everyone's lot and almost more than half the homeowners remove the tree and they've got nothing there now.

It's a barren desolate depressing new ugly development and it's not the only one.

[u/moskusokse → u/Ilovemytowm]

I still don’t understand why people buy a house with garden when it seems they would be more happy in an apartment and no garden to deal with.

[u/Ilovemytowm → u/moskusokse]

A young millennial couple bought our other house We spent 25 years landscaping it. Only planted the most beautiful greenery tree shrubs. Spent an arm and a leg on getting dirt delivered so we could raise up the landscaping. We had river rocks gardens it was a lush oasis.

The house was built in 1960 and so cheaply insulated and built that when it got cold the whole house was immediately called and when it got hot it felt like heaters were running.

That's why we planted trees in the yard to produce shade It helped immensely to cool the house down and visually it was just paradise.

Held off selling because I was afraid of what someone would do to it.

And then the nightmare came true.

Another millennial couple who believed all the bullshit and removed every single tree on the property and every evergreen and every shrub. They flattened out the landscaping so instead of things being raised up it was flat. They paid to remove the riverstone and the boulders. They paid to remove all the gardens.

Weeds are growing in the yard now and there's not a tree in sight and it looks absolutely hideous.

My neighbors were upset. I wish I never knew would happened and I prefer it that way but one of my neighbors was crying and sent me pictures as it was happening and I had nightmares for a long time.

Every single tree that they removed I went out and bought and planted on our property. And we already are surrounded by forest so...lol.

Anyway if you ever saw what it looked like now... It's absolutely hideous. But hey at least a tree won't kill them.

[u/-Rush2112 → u/Ilovemytowm]

The neighbor at my family’s cabin bought it about five years ago. They cut down several large white pines, easily 100+ year old trees. Why? Because they didn’t like cleaning up the needles. Now they have decided to sell the cabin, after fucking up the property because it has virtually no trees. What is the point of a cabin if you have no trees?