Speaking to neighbors before buying the property ?

PasturesNew

You can speak to the neighbours.... but the day after you move in they could change.

I've been in my house 3 years, from ~12 other properties:
- one bought 3 days before mine sold one year later. All OK both times.
- one owned/lived in rented it out to a family with noisy kids
- a rented one changed hands, all OK except they've broken a covenant they don't know about, but it doesn't bother me as it doesn't affect me and as they've not got noisy kids I'd not wish them to leave
- an owned one sold last week and new owner is still moving in bit by bit - yet to see what happens there.
- one with noisy kids moved out and new tenant has no kids but seems to have 4-5 visitors at all hours of the day (who nick the parking spaces of others).
- a renter moved out and a new one moved in, all OK.
- a quiet renter couple moved out and a noisy family moved in.


So it's worth speaking to neighbours - if they answer the doors and if you've got the b0ll0x .... but remember they could all be different by next year anyway.

I googled for words like "police" "in court" "arrested" and the road name as my first look at what's what. I later discovered that somebody had done a full search of everybody in every house before they bought (case of "who you know", not a paid for service) ... and everybody was "squeaky clean", which is why they bought the house as they were moving from an estate with kids from hell.

PasturesNew

G_M wrote: »

You say that as a joke, but actually, not a bad idea!

Have a bag of cupcakes and hand one out as the door is opened when you introduce yourself.

It's sure to break the ice!

If the neighbour still declines to speak to you, you've learned a whole lot about the neighbour!

If somebody turned up at my door bearing cupcakes I'd think "pretentious middle class twits ..... they'll be trouble".

amateur_house

PasturesNew wrote: »

I googled for words like "police" "in court" "arrested" and the road name as my first look at what's what.

I just tried this after reading your post for a road I have offered on. Someone jailed for a bottle attack. It was 6 years ago though, and one of the neighbours told me it was a nice quiet road when I viewed. Definitely worth checking!

sheff6107

I would, even before making an offer. Just introduce yourself and ask if the area is a nice place to live. Whereas you're really checking out the neighbours are normal enough.

QueenJess

I agree with PasturesNew that nothing is certain and they could change, but you can tip the probabilities by having a chat and going with your gut feel. It is always better than nothing!

We also checked out the history of how often the nearby places changed hands (Zoopla), drove round the place on different days/times of night to see what was going on and checked crime rates in the street (try checkmystreet).

jimbog

Knock on the door and say you are planning to move in and could you just ask:

what the local schools are like ?(doesn't matter if you have no kids - one day you might)
is there a neighbourhood watch?
are there local doctors/dentists they would recommend
stick with non contentious points and people are more likely to 'open up'.

The answers don't matter

Asking what the neighbourhood is like might be seen as negative.

G_M

PasturesNew wrote: »

If somebody turned up at my door bearing cupcakes I'd think "pretentious middle class twits ..... they'll be trouble".

I might be pretensious; I might be middle class; but why does sthat make me trouble......?:o

PawelK

I didnt but i was in the situation when i found two bed flat priced close to my top budget and i really liked the place. Wouldnt have found anything similar for that price in the area so neighbours wouldnt influence my decision. If they are serial killers you wouldnt find out anyway.

moneyistooshorttomention

PasturesNew wrote: »

If somebody turned up at my door bearing cupcakes I'd think "pretentious middle class twits ..... they'll be trouble".

:rotfl:With your well-known liking for choccies PN - I have a feeling chocolate brownies might do the trick though:)

Maybe more like "Out to improve the area - that can only be good.....".

00ec25

PasturesNew wrote: »

If somebody turned up at my door bearing cupcakes I'd think "pretentious middle class twits ..... they'll be trouble".

I'd think food poisoning and "forget" to eat them whilst chatting, then feed some to the neighbours cat and see if it died first before eating the rest once it was established they were "safe".

and yes, that applies to brownies and girl guides doing door to door cake sales too