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And even if things are wonderful after you move in, there's no guarantee they'll stay that way. Your lovely neighbor could move and be replaced by the Neighbor from Hell at any time. Likewise, a house can develop a serious problem without much warning.
There's a level of risk involved in home ownership that simply can't be avoided.
Or die, and leave her house to her drug addict son, his nutty wife, and loser kid. You just live with it.
We were allowed to stay in a vacation house overnight, prior to purchase. It was vacant at the time, and on an island in Lake Michigan. We did end up buying it.
So, if it's a vacant house, there is precedence, and I can't believe WE are the only ones that ever did so.
We were allowed to stay in a vacation house overnight, prior to purchase. It was vacant at the time, and on an island in Lake Michigan. We did end up buying it.
So, if it's a vacant house, there is precedence, and I can't believe WE are the only ones that ever did so.
That's an entirely different animal.
It is common to have lots of strangers stay at a vacation home. It isn't common to have strangers stay at your home.
Depending on where you are, you might be able to find a rent-to-own arrangement. It will rule out some (many) properties but could alleviate your concerns. The terms are usually longer than a week though.
go on airbnb or vrbo etc and rent a place as close as possible. For instance I live in a condo complex where one or two folks rent on-line in as little as a one week period.
Living in complex one full week would tell you a lot if you want to buy a unit there.
also drive around at around 8pm during xmas time to see how many folks have xmas lights up tells you a lot.
Huh? What does THAT tell you? That there are a group of people who like to put nails in their roofs to hang up lights? That has no bearing on if the people inside are "good" people. That just means they like to decorate. Now if it was May and they still had up Christmas lights.... THAT is an indication of seriously lazy people...lol.
also drive around at around 8pm during xmas time to see how many folks have xmas lights up tells you a lot.
What do Christmas lights say about a neighborhood? I see them in plenty of neighborhoods. I also see plenty of neighborhoods where there aren't any for a variety of reasons - lots of elderly, lots of Jewish folks, lots of people don't want to spend the money, lots of people don't care, etc. So what does this tell anyone about a neighborhood? Aside from some people put up Christmas lights and some don't?
The worst thing you can do is not answer. If it's someone going to try to break into your house, that's the signal they are waiting for telling them no one is home.
And the loud "BANG!!!" they hear 4 seconds later is the signal that I actually was home, and keep loaded firearms in the house.
I very rarely answer the door to a stranger. There's no reason to. I work from home , and don't have time to take off work and chat with strangers about things that don't concern me.
And if you ever do want to buy our house, and want to ask the neighbor, good luck with that. He's harmless enough, but he's nutty as a squirrel's pantry and has had more strokes than I've had cheeseburgers. He'll have to interrupt you every thirty seconds to remind him whether you're there to buy our house, or his. Get all the information from him that you want; garbage in, garbage out.
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