Know The Neighborhood And Your Neighbors

Buying a house what to look for neighbours.

If you’re looking to buy a new home then you need to consider the neighborhood you’re moving into. This seems like an obvious thing, but I’m talking about the deeper stuff you can’t really see when you take your first tour through the house and have a look around. Just because all the other houses look nice enough doesn’t mean that the people that live in them aren’t a little bit crazy or that a closer look wouldn’t reveal a whole lot of problems in your chosen neighborhood.

Chances are that if you’ve been around long enough you’ve experienced bad neighbors at some point in your life. They can really ruin your life. The first apartment I lived had a real jerk living below me. He would smoke out his window and blow it right up to our place all the time. Anytime we were making a little bit of noise he would call the front desk and complain (this was a big corporate building). If we were vacuuming in the middle of the afternoon he would call and complain. The security guard actually came to our place once and said that the guy was furious because we were vacuuming in the middle of the afternoon. I even had a shouting match with him once because we were doing something noisy at a perfectly acceptable time of day.

Almost everyone has experienced a bad neighbor at some point in their life and it can get terrible. If your neighbor wants to be a real hassle they can call in the city inspectors because a tree on your property is getting too big or you’re not maintaining something to the exact code and it can be exceptionally expensive to repair those sorts of things. You wouldn’t think that anyone would have the time or inclination to pursue that sort of thing but there are people that live to make everyone else miserable and they’re awfully good at it.

How do you avoid a bad neighbor when you’re thinking about moving somewhere new? Well, if you’re actually serious about a place then you need to go door to door and introduce yourself. Ask the neighbors what they think of the area. Chat with them about their favorite restaurants in the area, etc. Just get them talking. The friendly people will be more than happy to chat you up and the ones that are going to be jerks will give you the cold shoulder and act purposefully frosty to you. If you get enough of those in the neighborhood or someone is clearly a misanthrope then you can move on to another house.

It’s about more than just your neighbors, though. There are certain neighborhoods that get really into Christmas and encourage everyone on the block to put up tons of lights and decorations. I’ve lived in several towns with neighborhoods like that and it always seemed like if you were going to be the one house that wasn’t willing to put up decorations then you were going to be shunned. At the very least you were going to be annoyed with how enthusiastic your neighbors were. It’s possible that if you don’t celebrate Christmas or you just don’t like doing all those decorations and you move into that sort of neighborhood then you’re going to have trouble every holiday season. You want to avoid that. Again, you can solve that problem by talking to the folks that live in the area or you can just purchase a house around Christmas.

You really have to look up crime statistics for a neighborhood before you purchase a house. Chances are good that unless you’re in a terrible area you’re not going to find much trouble but you want to know what’s going on. What if someone in the vicinity has been vandalizing homes for years? Perhaps one of the neighbors has a behaviorally challenged kid that insists on damaging property constantly. You need to know about this stuff because the little things can really build up and make you crazy over time. Plus, you’ll end up getting in fights with the neighbor that can’t control their child.

In some neighborhoods – usually planned communities and gated communities – there are upkeep standards. You need to keep your lawn at a certain length and it needs to not look dead, trees have to be trimmed a certain way, etc. Your real estate agent will inform you of those things before you move in but you should seriously consider whether the neighborhood is nice enough to warrant meeting those standards of if they seem a little ridiculous. Perhaps you’ll just buck against the very nature of someone telling you what to do with your lawn. Mostly those standards are a good thing because they make everything look nice and keep home and land values high.

If you’re not planning on getting to know your neighbors you probably shouldn’t move into a suburb. People in tight areas like that love to gossip and if you’re not involved they’ll just gossip about you. They’ll assume something is wrong with you and the rumors will spread like wildfire. Ironically, when you live in much smaller places in the city people don’t really give a damn about getting to know you and certainly won’t care about gossiping. Neighborhoods often have a certain style to them so make sure that you’re comfortable with that style, whether it’s the suburbs with all the soccer moms and business dads or an artist’s area in a city.

As with many aspects of buying a home, it’s important to be as informed as possible about the neighborhood you’re moving into. You want to know everything you can so you can be comfortable and confident in your purchasing decision. Then when you buy you’ll be thrilled with the new people you’ll be meeting. Choosing the right neighborhood and neighbors can make all the difference in your quality of life.

Buying a house and want to know about the neighbours. What people want to know when buying property.