Buying A House, Doubts About Neighbours

whomy5

Hello!

I have a query and would be interested in other forum readers thoughts.

We put an offer on a 3 bedroom semi detached house in a pleasant road and from the outside all the houses look well kept and although the house we are buying needs a fair bit of work doing to it, we knew we liked it the minute we first viewed it and put an offer in the same day which was accepted.

We will hopefully complete within the next few weeks and went for another viewing over the weekend and stayed for 2 hours whilst the owner showed us where everything is and how various things work which made us feel even happier about our move.

However, when we first viewed the house, we knew that the house next door was empty due to the owners passing away and was up for sale. The fellow who owns the house we are buying told us that it has since been sold and that the man who bought it was planning to move his parents into the house.

However he said that he had noticed that 2/3 men appear to have moved in in the last couple of weeks, he said they looked fine and that there was no noise or anything like that, but I am feeling rather concerned that we may have issues arising from a house next that appears to have no particular residents in it and there maybe all sorts of comings and goings.

My other half has no issues with this at all, and couldn't care less about who may be living next door therefore I am wondering if I am just being a little over sensitive, which I think stems from some issues that we have had with our current neighbours who are just ignorant chavvy idiots!

Would you still want to buy a house you love if you were a bit concerned about neighbours or would you just get on with it?

I have a feeling I am making a mountain out of a mole hill, but just wondered what other forum readers thought?

Many thanks:)

Fishingtime

Probably big time drug dealers.

No one can really answer this

PasturesNew

You'll have neighbours wherever you live - and they'lll change/move over time.

What's wrong with 3 fellas?

You need to stake out the property and see the vehicles/see the residents and see if they look shifty to you.

It could turn out to be the local vicar and his two brothers.

Fraise

I agree with Pastures New 100%.

No-one can ever predict what their neighbours will turn out to be like, and no-one can predict when they will move and new neighbours move in.

Just because 3 men have moved in it doesn't mean they're thugs or anti-social. They could be studious medical students who spend all their free time studying.

G_M

But..... they might be... you know.... gay!

hbomb

whomy5 wrote: »

... I am wondering if I am just being a little over sensitive, which I think stems from some issues that we have had with our current neighbours who are just ignorant chavvy idiots!...

I think you have answered your own question!

witchy1066

they could just be someone doing the place up ready for the parents to move in , who knows ,
why not go and introduce yourselves , see what the reaction is ,
if you are having doubts better find out now than when its too late

sulphate

I don't quite follow this - so 2-3 men have moved in but then you say there are no fixed residents? So the seller has seen a couple of men go into the house but no one seems to be living there permanently?

It just sounds like people are doing the place up for their parents to move in. I'm not sure why this raises alarm bells for you.

moneyistooshorttomention

It is easy to have people pushing on a "sore spot". I think that is what the problem is here.

If we have had a troublesome neighbour before, then that "sore spot" is there and we are wondering/worrying if we will get the same again.

I've currently got an "intellectually-challenged" neighbour. So much so, that he has created major problem scenarios because of it and I am having to remind myself that this is most unlikely to be the case again and new neighbours will almost certainly be less likely to create problems because of total lack of understanding of "whats what". Most people will be a good bit brighter than he is...so telling myself to stop worrying I'll get another one like it..

Hence it looks to me like a "sore spot scenario" here.

phoebe1989seb

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

It is easy to have people pushing on a "sore spot". I think that is what the problem is here.

If we have had a troublesome neighbour before, then that "sore spot" is there and we are wondering/worrying if we will get the same again.

I've currently got an "intellectually-challenged" neighbour. So much so, that he has created major problem scenarios because of it and I am having to remind myself that this is most unlikely to be the case again and new neighbours will almost certainly be less likely to create problems because of total lack of understanding of "whats what". Most people will be a good bit brighter than he is...so telling myself to stop worrying I'll get another one like it..

Hence it looks to me like a "sore spot scenario" here.

OTOH, not wanting to worry you Money, but when we moved into our last (detached) house in 2007, the first thing our new neighbour asked was when we intended removing the specimen conifer in the front garden that dropped its pines into his garden. To cut a very long story short we didn't want the tree removed - there was little enough greenery in the area after that particular neighbour decimated the orchard that formerly stood on the plot containing our house, then divided the land and built an ugly bungalow - so he went ahead and cut his side to within an inch of its life, ruining it in the process

Fast-forward to a few days after we completed on our current house in 2011 and our nearest (non-attached) neighbour asks us the self-same question about a similar tree that cast a shadow onto her garden

In this instance we were happy to comply as we could appreciate the impact our tree was having on her tiny garden, whereas our huge plot has more than enough trees to make up for the loss

Hopefully that's just a rare coincidence and you won't be so unfortunate!

As for the OP, I'd wager that the *men* are builders working on the house before the parents move in.......

AlexMac

You're not getting much sympathy here, Whomy, but having been once bitten, I understand why you are 'twice-shy' (as the proverb says). And if you have a concern, then it will niggle (just cos you're paranoid don't mean they ain't out to get you! Our kids had such a bad experience with the downstairs neighbours in a flat that they vowed never to buy anything other than a freehold - and so, really had to stretch the budget, tho' it all worked out after the skint 1st few years! ).

So do something about it. Stake the place out, as the post above suggests- even if you don't sit there all day and all night, visit at different times and suss out what's going on. Ask the nosy neighbour... He or she will love to find another gossip (hopefully). Knock next door, introduce yourself as the prospective new neighbour seeking to be neighbourly or asking about the neighbourhood, shops, schools, etc (they don't know you know they are newcomers...) After all, brass neck costs nothing. Good luck!