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Definitely for some folks the best neighbors are none at all, but for most of us we can get along fine with others and actually enjoy interacting with people. As someone else mentioned, I would rather have a few quirky individuals than none at all, I am way too much of a social animal.
But I do like the "feeling" of no neighbors and being in the country when I want it, with all the critters (sans the deer, swans and geese) of Coldjensens, (I hate those raccoons too!)-all on a small city lot basically downtown of a very large city, now that is the best of all worlds.
However it is also true that many nice areas you run into neighbors who call code enforcement, police, or HOA becuase your lawn is 1/2" too long (they actually measured it), or becuase your trash cans or curtains are the wrong color, or because you left your garage door open for more than 2 hours, becuase you had a tent set up in your back yard for two days, or because your kid left his bike on your lawn overnight. . . .
and this is my neighbor. somebody put him out of his misery please!
However it is also true that many nice areas you run into neighbors who call code enforcement, police, or HOA becuase your lawn is 1/2" too long (they actually measured it), or becuase your trash cans or curtains are the wrong color, or because you left your garage door open for more than 2 hours, becuase you had a tent set up in your back yard for two days, or because your kid left his bike on your lawn overnight. . . .
This reminds me of a prank we played on our neighbors- great friends, really funny lawyer that works in the Justice Dept.- We created this very professional looking mockup on the computer with a logo and letterhead, graphics and everything of a fictitious HOA in our neighborhood about the state of his lawn, "that it has come to our attention..." (he was in fact letting it die to replace it) and warning of severe penalties if he didn't bring it up to community standards pronto!, and left it on his door. As it turned out, they were on vacation and his brother-in-law was house sitting. He was livid! Couldn't believe the gall of such an intrusive HOA!- the funny thing was that one of the severe penalties was "the cutting back of margarita hours in the garden (his speciality) - which should have given his brother-in-law a clue.
When our neighbor came back, the first thing that he did was run down to our house and regale in the story of his brother-in-law's fast and furious phone calls to him.
He had that memo proudly displayed on his refrigerator for months.
Drive by at different times of the day and on weekend. Try to introduce yourself to the neighbors before you buy, you can get a little idea of what they are like. I bought a townhouse and thought it would be a quiet area until I moved in, The walls were paper thin and the neighbors hung out by the door all day. I worked at home so I was bothered by it. It was very much a click something like high school. I had to move even though the townhouse was beautiful. I now have space between neighbors. I believe neighbors can make or break the quality of life.
Definitely for some folks the best neighbors are none at all, but for most of us we can get along fine with others and actually enjoy interacting with people. As someone else mentioned, I would rather have a few quirky individuals than none at all, I am way too much of a social animal.
But I do like the "feeling" of no neighbors and being in the country when I want it, with all the critters (sans the deer, swans and geese) of Coldjensens, (I hate those raccoons too!)-all on a small city lot basically downtown of a very large city, now that is the best of all worlds.
I'll play in "show off my garden view" hehe
[IMG][/IMG]
Very very Nice!
We will get there (tons more work in the garden yet; needs more flowers "of all colors" as all we have now is tons of hostas & heavily surrounded by trees & other greeneries that we haven't put a name to yet) hopefully in a couple years or so...
I've had good neighbors and I've had bad. However, the bad includes one neighbor who had crude outspoken over-the-fence comments to say when I started a small garden in my suburban back yard. He also sued me over that same fence. In another state, I had another neighbor who sprayed two large 40-year old trees in my front lawn with RoundUp while I was gone. The neighbor who killed the trees has never even replied to my cordial greetings of "hello" since the day we moved in over fifteen years ago. Neither neighbor was friendly so I'l never what their problems were.
These two neighbors are the reason I will never again purchase a house where the lot is not at least five acres and the reasons I recently bought a small farm surrounded by 20 acres. Simply put, there's just too much untreated mental illnesses out there to try and gamble you will not end up living by one of these socially-functioning nutjobs when you buy a house on a postage stamp-sized lot.
Drive by at different times of the day and on weekend. Try to introduce yourself to the neighbors before you buy, you can get a little idea of what they are like. I bought a townhouse and thought it would be a quiet area until I moved in, The walls were paper thin and the neighbors hung out by the door all day. I worked at home so I was bothered by it. It was very much a click something like high school. I had to move even though the townhouse was beautiful. I now have space between neighbors. I believe neighbors can make or break the quality of life.
Oh yeah... can definitely attest to that.
Mass produced paper thin walls!!!
Definitely for some folks the best neighbors are none at all, but for most of us we can get along fine with others and actually enjoy interacting with people. As someone else mentioned, I would rather have a few quirky individuals than none at all, I am way too much of a social animal.
But I do like the "feeling" of no neighbors and being in the country when I want it, with all the critters (sans the deer, swans and geese) of Coldjensens, (I hate those raccoons too!)-all on a small city lot basically downtown of a very large city, now that is the best of all worlds.
I'll play in "show off my garden view" hehe
[IMG][/IMG]
That is exactly how we are. Our neighbors are only 300' away, but we cannot see them There are two to three acres of woods on each side and behind us. In the winter we can see a little bit of their houses. Thus, they are close enough to borrow a cup of sugar, but far enough away that I can go get a coke out of my wife's car in the morning while wearing only boxers and not worry about embarrassing anyone.
We do not have a garden to show off though. Our lot is only 100 feet wide so the woods some almost right up to the house. In the back the pool goes almost right up to the woods. Take any dense jumble of trees and bushes and that is what our "garden" looks like. I did widen the deer trails so we can scamper though the woods when we want to donate some blood.
We will get there (tons more work in the garden yet; needs more flowers "of all colors" as all we have now is tons of hostas & heavily surrounded by trees & other greeneries that we haven't put a name to yet) hopefully in a couple years or so...
Thanks
You gotta love those Hostas- they grow like weeds and look great in the spring and summer - they don't grow well out here at all- we do tend one in pot that is the remnant of an unsuccessful batch planted by my partner's father- in his memory.
Love the wildness of yours, spaces like that let your thoughts flow freely! Trust me, keeping it wild and natural is a lot less maintenance haha
Only had bad neighbors once. They were bad when I was growing up and they were bad when I moved back into the same house when I was older with my own kids. These guys seem to think they own the cul-de-sac, always parking cars that needed work all over the place. City code couldn't do anything about it because he would move them every 2 days as required by law. By moving them, I mean he would switch places with the vehicles.
His drive way and yard was also a mess. His fence was falling over and the backyard must have had over 100 bikes in varying stages of decay. It sucked and he wouldn't do anything about it. Unfortunately his property is really killing everyone else's property value.
We don't have this problem now, where we live. If anything, I may be the bad neighbor. The kids are loud when out in the pool and we park one of the cars on the street because the drive way is too steep and since we just moved in the car cannot fit in the garage. From comments of the neighbors it sounds like we keep the yard up much nicer than the previous owners. lol
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The kids are loud when out in the pool and we park one of the cars on the street because the drive way is too steep and since we just moved in the car cannot fit in the garage. From comments of the neighbors it sounds like we keep the yard up much nicer than the previous owners. lol
