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Like when you park in your driveway, they can see your license plate and obviously know what state you are from, unless you got your license plate changed beforehand or if you moved in state.
I get all these weird fantasies about what futures neighbors are thinking about me without actually seeing me. For example, I daydream of a day when I move from NJ to NM (which I want to do after college hopefully) and I wonder what people will think of me when they see a car with a NJ license plate and with my rented U-Haul truck. They will be like, "Uh-oh, my neighbor is from NJ, they are probably rude and grew up off the Parkway and they probably can't drive well!" or they might be like, "Wow moving from the Mid-Atlantic to the Desert Southwest was a great decision for them. They probably hated the climate and the scenery back in NJ!"
How would it even be possible to know? We haven't even met yet so how could I ask them? Rental cars come with different license plates all the time. Wouldn't this be the worst form of stereotyping? Does every truck licensed in WA belong to a logger? Every Cadillac from FL belong to an octogenarian? Every Jeep from CA belong to a weed smoking surfer dude?
I prefer to keep an open mind about new people at least until after I've SEEN them!
Of all the things I thought about when we moved from MO to WA State, the last thing was what do neighbors think about when they see MO license plates. I mean, the very, very, last thing.
It's not like there are no people in NM driving around with NJ or other NE state plates. Besides, you could also be a NM native who spent a few years living in NJ.
It was a local move... we rented several miles up the road. I've lived most of my life in this area.
And... I did end up becoming the HOA president. It's not a real busy job... There's only about a dozen of us, and all our HOA does is maintain our private road... and all I have to do is call in the guy to grade and add gravel twice a year... but no one wanted to do it.
I think you make a very good point, some people who live in a neighborhood will start guessing about their new neighbor immediately, especially if they are next door. It's a good idea to start off on the right foot and to some people a NJ license plate can be negative unless they are also from NJ and then they'll probably be happy to welcome you haha.
Even before you arrive, if you purchased the house, people start talking about how much you paid for your home. I was amazed how much people talked about this when I lived in an HOA in Florida. Real estate prices were the #1 conversation.
When we moved to our current home we had the same state lic plate so nothing to set off gossip.
Parnassia is correct that your UHaul may have totally different state plates. I just rented one to to move a sofa and it had AZ plates (I'm in FL).
Just like starting new in anything you have to go slow and find out what's what. Who's nice and who's not. Our neighborhood is cordial but we don't have parties together and I know we have different political beliefs from many of our neighbors. All we all want is peace and quiet on our street, and we have it.
If I saw that my new neighbor had plates from at least a few hundred miles away my first thought would be "wow, they are probably in for a surprise" given the that climate would undoubtedly be different here than "there". My second thought would be "I wonder if they have a dog (too)?" And my third thought would be "Maybe I should go over and say hello".
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