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also, get up early and do a "test-drive" of your work commute at work times, as if you lived there. Both ways.
Excellent advice. Also, try the drive in bad weather, if you can. At least stop to think what the commute will be like if your local version of bad weather (snow, heavy rain, high winds, whatever) is happening when you need to go to work.
Google Street view helps too. It shows you who's hanging around the area. One home I was looking for had kids waiting for the school bus at the end of the block, so it seemed okay.
In the end you really never know. Be cordial with neighbors, but remember that familiarity can breed contempt.
You can buy next to the perfect neighbors and they can sell in 2 months to trouble makers.
At first I thought the person you talked to was wrong to tell you that info, but he wouldn't want you to move in next to him and be mad at him. But if your homeowner tells people who want to buy his place the same thing no one will get their home sold.
The houses will sell. They'll just sell for a much lower price than the current owners wished for.
This is one of the ways neighborhoods become blighted: a horrible nuisance develops or a really problematic neighbor moves in, and everyone who can afford to do so flees even if they have to take a substantial loss on their property. As you can imagine, it can quickly turn into an irreversible downhill spiral.
Has anyone knocked on a neighbors door next to a home for sale and how did that person react?
Or do you just check out the neighborhood and see how well the properties are kept up?
For the house I bought six weeks ago, this was easy. I bought the house next door to my boyfriend of the past fifteen years. I had often been over at his house, and became familiar with the neighborhood and some of the neighbors through him. I already knew that most of his neighbors are older (as we are), quiet, keep their property looking nice, don't have kids or pets around any more, and so on.
For previous homes, I have made a point of parking near the home to observe on several Saturday nights before buying the home, to see how wild things got. I don't know if that worked, or if I was just lucky. I never knocked on anybody's door, though.
Let me tell you : there is nothing worse than bad neighbors. I'm a privacy freak who hates noise, air, and light pollutions. I have lived next to men who worked on cars and made noise that became unbearable. Barking dogs, screaming kids, loud music, ugly white yard lights are the bane of my existence. Trashy people are the worst. When I retire, I'm going to a gated adult community. I think there ought to be buildings for people who love the quiet life.
Hey, he's mine, too! On our first date, I told him that I didn't want to marry. He didn't either. I'm a divorcee, he's a widower, we're in our 60's and like the way this is going.
I definitely hung out in the cul-de-sac as well as general area during different times of the day and night as well as nearly accosted any neighbors I could to chat them up. They were all real friendly, mostly elderly long term residents with a few younger couples like us started to move in. The area was mostly decent, with a few rougher or scruffy holdouts and corners.
That being said all those original neighbors have long since moved out or passed on so you certainly can't guarantee your neighbors- the replacements fortunately have all been as fine and friendly as neighbors could be if not quite the same demographic. The neighborhood meanwhile completely transformed to a desirable downtown adjacent enclave with prices to match.
I kind of miss the scruffy parts though and there are very few fun Naval aviators and other interesting working/middle class folks moving in any more to replace those that have left- those buying places for $1.2M cash next door, while nice enough, just aren't quite the same as we are used to. Fingers crossed we will find enough in common to bridge the bit of a culture gap. They scoped us out as just as we did when they were looking at the place so I guess we seem to pass muster enough for them haha.
the american watch dog site is a good one to find out if your new neigbors are pedophiles etc
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I never knocked on anybody's door, though.
