New Next Door Neighbors (rentals, college, costs, driving)

[twelvepaw]

Originally Posted by Jan Alaska

Cows people ... I live next door to a farm and our closest neighbours are cows.

When I lived in rural NY I lived next to an old civil war era graveyard. Now THEY were the perfect neighbors- never a peep out of them

[phonelady61]

when I do move in ten or twelve years I hope to never see any of these people ever again . They hole up in their house like a bunch of hermits . I'm not like that at all I sit out on my deck and I take care of my front flower beds and my back vegetable garden and I wave etc . when I wave they run back in their house I cant believe that .

[High_Plains_Retired]

OP. Do a search on CD for the word neighbors. Unfortunately about all you will find are horror stories.

There are no valid ways to check to see how your new neighbors will respond to you moving in. The best you can do is to expect the good and bad aspects of human nature to take their course and hope that the good wins.

Our own experiences with close neighbors while owning residential homes in several cities were both good and bad. However, now being older and unable to recover from the losses that can come from having terrible neighbors, we bought a small retirement farm that has no neighbor closer than 3/4 of a mile away. Then too: the neighbors are the same race as us, so no racism; they are the same political party as us, so political hatred; they are both native Texans so I know they, like us, were probably taught to live and let live; and so far they haven't turned psycho and gotten into our business. So far we've been out here nearly seven years and all's well.

[gentlearts]

Originally Posted by rekab23

I just love it when people have this pre conceived notion, that those of us that rent are all lowlifes. It's true yes, that sometimes renters will tear up a house, and not take care of it...but we're not ALL like that.

I know you all are not like that. If I were renting, I would not be like that. However, if you deny that a renter does not care about a property as much as a homeowner does, you are lying.

[jbgusa]

Originally Posted by tarajane2013

If there is a neighborhood you like and find a house there, how do you know how your near neighbors will be? It seems to me to be the luck of the draw. What if we buy a property and move in and the neighbors are from hell ? I guess we could build a tall fence. Is there a way to find out or call the Chamber to find out how that neighborhood is ? We are very quiet, private people and never bother our neighbors and I would expect the same...... I am not snobbish just want to be left alone with no hassles. I grew up in the sticks and I have respect for other people but there are those that are hard to live next to . Thank you

I don't know. We live in a townhouse development, cheek by jowls with two neighbors. Our neighbors have gone from "neighbors from hell" to great to greater on both sides. Our current neighbor on one side came to our son's Bar Mitzvah and we have repeatedly gone to their house parties. The other neighbor, a Muslim from India, has gone with us to synagogue for ecumenical functions, and we have long, stimulating discussions in my driveway deep into the night.

[cully]

We were able to drive around the neighborhood of one particular house several times, all times of day, any day of the week. We were also able to go inside since it was vacant. One time we were on the deck and noticed the numerous beer cans in the back yard and then the neighbor's teenage son made passes at our female friends. That was that. The agent had not said anything in advance but did make the property easily available at least. Afterward he said, yeah, he thought that might happen. The mom was single and having problems with her troubled son. So we went another way.

[reneeh63]

Get the largest property you can afford in the most rural area you can find.
Build a high fence all around the property...or at least your house.
Never answer your door.
Keep your garage door closed at all times.
Have a P.O. box so you don't have to step outside for your mail.
Pay someone else to do all outside maintenance so you have no possible interaction with any neighbors or passersby.

I always thought I was a loner...! I never talk to a neighbor and avoid looking at anyone and never open my door. That's been enough for the 13 years in my subdivision - we all have relatively small 5,000-10,000 sq. ft. yards and I don't even have a fence. I'm not sure how some of the people on here manage to have so much difficulty! Most people really don't give a crap about anyone other than themselves so if you don't cause trouble you don't get trouble.

[High_Plains_Retired]

Originally Posted by reneeh63

..f you don't cause trouble you don't get trouble.

Unfortunately your theorem fails to recognize there are sometimes troublemakers in a neighborhood.

[engineman]

My experience: every neighborhood has at least one a$$hole. We have owned 9 places in 4 states.

There was one where the teen was only good at making noise.

Another was a man who was compulsive about cutting his lawn, sometimes at 6am.

There was another man who drove a 1947 car that screwed up everyone's TV reception.

There was the house up the street that had a toilet sitting on the flat garage roof for over 5 years.

There was the retarded kid who liked to throw things over the fence into our swimming pool.

There was the airline stew whose daughters thought it was party time every time she went on a trip.

In AZ there were coyotes running up and down the streets.

Look carefully.

[NOLA2SGF]

Last summer I bought a house next door to my steady boyfriend/companion for the past 15 years. So, I know that I like at least one of my neighbors.

There are lots of other neighbors, of course, on the other side of me, across the street, and behind my property. Most of my neighbors are old and retired, like me, and they seem to share the same values in general (keeping the lawn mowed, not having wild parties, and being friendly but not intrusive). So far they have all been ideal, but you never know. Even if you have a situation with perfect neighbors all around you, new neighbors could move in from time to time.