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I live in a peaceful working class neighborhood so of course there are exceptions. Look for homeowners with a long history. It seems like there is a "structure" here that keeps people looking out for each other. Not willing to cut and run if a problem arises.
I notice a lot of these examples were new neighborhoods. I wonder if there is some sociology there - could be someone's master's thesis.
If you find a neighborhood attractive and the neighbors seem quiet - there are options like dogs and burglar alarms that may be much cheaper than stretching to buy in an expensive neighborhood. Professional burglars will target the wealthy neighborhoods- that's where thee money is.
Until recently, I lived in a lower middle class neighborhood and the people were incredible. Good, blue collar people who took care of their homes, who were friendly. Yes, tehre were some large families but so what. My new hood is wealthier but people aren't as friendly and maybe it's just me but I'm starting to hate the keeping up with the Joneses christmas lights thing and dumb HOA
I would try to get a home in the best neighborhood you can. I think it is best to have the cheapest house in the neighborhood - we live in one where most of our neighbors are richer than us - its good that way
Exactly! Always best to be the cheapest house in a great neighborhood....especially when you go to sell it.
I like the comments about crime data on Trulia and the percentage of renters to owners. I would look at those before I bought in a lower class neighborhood. Too many renters equals potential problem neighbors.
We have some here, although nothing like older, rust best cities have. Several of my clients are detention deputies and they told me about a specific neighborhood and how most of their customers came from it. It is largely an apartment and "affordable housing" development that was built about 12 years ago.
I was pretty much the only one who parked his car in the garage, watered his lawn when needed, fertilized monthly, mowed weekly, mulched twice a year, etc. Almost everyone else just didn't care, and their yards looked like poop. We had a HOA, but no one really participated and it fell apart. Soon, redneck above ground hillbilly pools were popping up.
Do you live in my subdivision? LOL
I've never understood why people don't park in their garages. Especially in the midwest with the cold and snow and ice. That is why they are there!
I've never understood why people don't park in their garages. Especially in the midwest with the cold and snow and ice. That is why they are there!
Yeah, I'll never understand why people buy a house with a garage, yet still park their cars on the street. Well, I know why, they fill up their garage with crap. In my old neighborhood, my one neighbor basically ran a repair shop outta his garage. Always fixing cars, and even doing painting. It was unbelievable and actually illegal.
But yeah, in Ohio, it gets cold in winter. Who wants to scrape off snow and ice off their cars every morning? Not me. I laughed at the rif-raff idiots every morning who had to do that with their cars that were parked in the street. The best was when we got enough snow that the plows had to come down the streets. Most of the scum in my neighborhood refused to pull their cars into their driveway. So the plows had to plow around all the cars, leaving weird walls of snow in the street. It was so annoying. I was so happy to sell my house.
And guess who bought my house? A redneck bigot who defines "rif-raff". LOL
Trulia has crime data on their real estate maps.
I think you must buy in a neighborhood where you can become good friends with your neighbors. Why live somewhere where your neighbors are strangers?
Some people don't care about becoming "good friends with your neighbors". I live in a small town so any place I live I'm probably going to know a few people. My next door neighbor on one side is the manager of a fast food restaurant and I know him from there. The one on the other side works for an auto parts store that I frequent, his wife works for the Humane Society where I also go sometimes and her father works with me. My brothers sister in law just took over managing a mobile home park across the street so I guess I know a few people here already but I'm not into getting warm and fuzzy with the neighbors.
IN GENERAL if I bought a home in a lower middle class neighborhood would I expect neighbors to be worse than a middle class or upper middle class area? I can buy a nicer home in these areas for the money but wonder if there would be more crime, noise, etc.
Again I am talking about a lower middle class neighborhood, not a ghetto.
My first house was in a lower middle class, white, (working class) neighborhood of homeowners. There were a few other young families who were, as we were, buying their house to avoid renting. School was not an issue, because we were all either pregnant or we had pre-school children.
We all panned to leave after a few years.
The "lifers" were not friendly, and really disliked outsides. They were obsessed with their cars and gadgets. Their children were taught that "boys will be boys" and were allowed to run wild in the neighborhood and to be destructive. This was thought of as normal male behavior.
The girls dressed like little adults, if you get my drift.
Yep. My first house was a starter home in a lower-middle class neighborhood. We had it built in the housing boom in 2001. It was a nice neighborhood at first, but it didn't take long to realize that their is a direct connection between income and the overall quality of your neighbors.
I was pretty much the only one who parked his car in the garage, watered his lawn when needed, fertilized monthly, mowed weekly, mulched twice a year, etc. Almost everyone else just didn't care, and their yards looked like poop. We had a HOA, but no one really participated and it fell apart. Soon, redneck above ground hillbilly pools were popping up. No one took care of the common grounds at the front of the neighborhood. The grass there just went unmowed and full of weeds for months at a time. It looked horrible.
Then the recession hit and forclosures hit hard. Property values dropped big time. Homes were empty for years. Had a a squatter 2 doors down for a while. When these homes finally did resell, it was for about 30% less the what it cost to build them 8-10 years prior. So now people were moving in with an even LOWER income. Nothing but rif-raff. I waited until last year, and finally put up my house for sale. Since I always put a lot of money in my house and yard, it was in pristine condition and sold in 3 days. But at $10k less than what it cost me to build 13 years prior. But I was happy to get outta that dump.
Looking back, I was naive and didn't know anything about being a homeowner and how income and location determines the quality of neighborhood. We couldn't afford a middle or higher-middle class home at the time. So we got what we could afford. What we should have done is kept renting for another 5-6 years as our income rose and bought when the housing prices crashed.
So you may be a great person, who takes pride in his house and yard. But if it is a lower-middle class neighborhood, you will be surrounded by rif-raff most likely. Proceed with caution.
Pretty much mirrors my experience. Some of them DID take care of their homes, but what they thought were improvements, were often eyesores.
In my working class neighborhood experience, the automobile situation was out of control.
Often there were more vehicles than people. The father would have one car and one truck and a motorcycle. The wife, a mini van and an old sports car. The teenagers and kids in their 20s didn't go to college, so there's two or three more cars. If Grandpa and grandma moved in....well you get the picture....
But, we sucked it us and made money on the deal instead of wasting it on rent.
Pretty much mirrors my experience. Some of them DID take care of their homes, but what they thought were improvements, were often eyesores.
In my working class neighborhood experience, the automobile situation was out of control.
Often there were more vehicles than people. The father would have one car and one truck and a motorcycle. The wife, a mini van and an old sports car. The teenagers and kids in their 20s didn't go to college, so there's two or three more cars. If Grandpa and grandma moved in....well you get the picture....
But, we sucked it us and made money on the deal instead of wasting it on rent.
Yep. My neighbors on one side had 5 kids and 6 cars total, because some of them drove. So they had 4 cars in the driveway, and 2 always in the street. None in the garage because it was fill of crap and they did auto repair in it. It was like a used car lot next door. Ugh.
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