Talking to future neighbours

tannoy_2

Thanks everyone. Looks like knocking on peoples doors isn't as intrusive as my partner and I thought, if done in a friendly manner. I guess that most people would be pleasant enough and if they're not then that may be a sign. Now just need to generate the confidence to go-a-knockin'.

goldbyron

I have done this in the past and you do have to allow for factors of course. People may be offish if they have just come in from work or are cooking their dinner...I know I can be a bit irritated if someone knocks on my door when I am busy. Where I used to live several years ago (in east London) I knocked on a neighbours door. He was a bit offish but said it is a very quiet area etc. We moved in and he later confessed he thought we were prospective burglars and this is why he was a bit off. We also found out he was partially deaf and so obviously the slightly noisy neighbours were a minor issue for him! He also said it was a quiet area in the hope that if we were prospective buyers he would be putting us off as we were a young couple at the time and he thought we could be noisy. LOL. So bear everything in mind when you get the response.... Some people may put you off because they don't like the look of you and they don't want the current neighbours to move. Some people may not wish to be rude and say it is a lovely area when it isn't as they want their neighbours to move. Others may just have a different perspective to you! Its complicated and quite frankly you only really know until you live somewhere.

Hammyman

I did similar. I was greeted at the door directly opposite what is now ours by a skinhead bloke with a beard and covered from tattoos from head to foot. If you'd met him on a Saturday night in town you might be more than a bit wary but he was as sound as a pound and his missus is quite normal and works for the council

geoffky

Hammyman wrote: »

I did similar. I was greeted at the door directly opposite what is now ours by a skinhead bloke with a beard and covered from tattoos from head to foot. If you'd met him on a Saturday night in town you might be more than a bit wary but he was as sound as a pound and his missus is quite normal and works for the council

tatoos and a skinhead but his wife was NORMAL ?:T:T

mouseymousey99

I'd also go and have a look at different times of the day (& night) if you have concerns. You can see how parking pans out in the evening when people are at home, very different from the daytime. I'm in NHW and people sometimes phone up when looking at houses in the area. Hope it all works out.

tannoy_2

Very revealing night.

We went to the property and bumped into the sellers walking to their car. That was a bit awkward.

After walking up and down the stair well a few times, we plucked up the courage to knock on a door. The lady who answered couldn't have been more friendly. She even invited us inside for a cuppa - we graciously refused.

Then we met a man in the stairwell having a smoke. He was friendly enough and said he loved living there. Then he pointed us to the door of someone else who would be more than willing to speak to us.

All three were very friendly and all three revealed to us, unprompted, that windows are being installed in the new year. This was certainly news to us. I asked the sellers directly about planned major works, even specifically mentioning the windows, and they said they knew nothing.

So, I will be renegotiating the sale price tomorrow. What's a fair price to negotiate down to? Half of what the estimated costs will be? More? Less?

People love to talk and I thoroughly recommend any buyers to go knocking of their potential neighbours' doors.

happy_2008

Think i may have to check the neighbours out in the area i am interested in

timmyt

tannoy wrote: »

We have put an offer in for a flat. I've just read an article, a snippet being:



We're thinking of going one step further than walking around the area. I'm thinking of knocking on a couple of our future neighbours doors to ask them a few questions about the block of flats. We were thinking of asking the most recent buyer, according to the data available on mouseprice or zoopla, as he or she may be more understanding of some randoms coming knocking on the door.

Has anyone had experience of this, and if so, what was the response on the doorstep? There is a company that offers to do this for you (google checkthearea) but it's quite expensive and something one could probably do themselves if confident enough.

Any thoughts?

you would be shocked how many buyers of property fail to even ask their seller about the neighbours...and then guess what....they buy and the neighbours are awful.

BUYERS - always ask your seller about the neighbours, and even say hello to them direct

motherofstudents

We always knock and say we are interested in buying the house next door/opposite, and ask what is the area like. You then get an idea of what the neighbours are like etc. When we bought our first house we never gave it a thought, but the second one we asked the sellers about the neighbours and of course they said they were really nice. When we realised they weren't we decided that in future we would always knock and see for ourselves.

goldbyron

LOL to all of this. I loved the feedback from tannoy. The neighbours sound nice anyway. As for the windows this should be revealed in the freeholders enquiries as sols ask if any works are planned in the next 3 years. I would tread nicely and maybe ask for them to contribute towards this - maybe 25-50% of costs - but don't phrase it as 'money off' as they will just think you are trying it on. I would seek clarification from the freeholder though first. I also have to say I have always had more good neighbours than bad - and that is living in the east end. However as a gay couple some neighbours just haven't always been friendly (not in a direct abusive way) and later comments do reveal homophobia. The same thing can happen for couples of different ethnicities etc. I could have said previous neighbours and I did not have a great relationship however they were fine with everyone else (who weren't gay). So you know as I said everyone has different perspectives. One of my best neighbours was very introverted and a bit odd but she was very quiet and never disturbed me. Then I had a neighbour who was really friendly but on a saturday she would have a few and the old music would be cranked up. As I liked her I didn't mind so much but what is good for some isn't for others. I would have a very old couple who moaned about the bushes over growing over a family with a baby crying anyday but someone else wouldn't.