A discussion in tax class yesterday and today about how if people (like OJ Simpson's neighbors, who actually litigated this) live in a house near a high-profile murder than causes their property value to fall, does that count a "casualty loss" defined as stuff like fire, flood, tornado. (The answer: no) But we learned in class that two people's parents live in or near houses or apartments that were once the sites of murders. Fun. Other things that cause property values to fall but are probably not casualty losses:

Loud dogs
Ugly plants
Ugly dogs
Loud plants
Unseasonably cold temperatures
Lingering manure smell from nearby stables
Surly mailman
Lousy school system
Nuclear war