House buying - kids play in street

manhattan

Dont buy a house at the end of a cul-de-sac.
They are magnets for the whole streets kids playing football, riding bikes, shouting, and converging right outside your front door/window.

We are in that situation as stated above, its very quiet when they are at school though lol.

They soon move on when the wife goes all p diddy on them!

WTF?_2

Turnbull2000 wrote: »

Seems wholly unreasonable to me. Do you honestly expect children to stay indoors rather than play innocently on the street so as not to upset you?

Either don't move there, or fall out with the neighbours and tolerate their children for having the audacity to play in their own street.

It all depends what the kids are like - if they are decent, well behaved kids then no problems.

However there's a non-negligible chance these days that you could get a load of cheeky ******** who engage in petty vandalism and anti-social behaviour camped outside the house every evening and weekend.

It's also going to mean considerable extra noise and commotion, no matter how decent the kids are. And then there are the safety concerns when reversing the car etc.

If I had kids I wouldn't mind moving somewhere I knew that there would be other kids playing but if I was single or didn't have kids in the house then I wouldn't want to be anywhere near a play area since it brings no benefits and just exposes you to potential hassle as outlined above.


If the OP is concerned then they should just forget about moving to this location - they will have no real grounds for complaint after they move in since it was obvious that the location would be a kids play area.

diesel9181

i stay near kids, cant wait to move. next time i do im stalking out the house at all hours to see if there are little "angels" everywhere. maybe it would be different if i had kids but i dont. i think i would be better suited in the middle of a field!! at least nobody will cycle past my car and scratch it, or vandalise the trees for the hell of it (parents stand and watch them do it and say nothing!!!)

jarrod1

i live beside 6 public football pitches and a forest park, yet the kids still seem to play football on the street at the entrance to my house,

very annoying

Poppy9

It's obviously and issue for you so give it a miss. You would make yourself very unpopular if you moved in and then started complaining about where the children play etc.

Make a list of what is important to you about the house you are buying. i.e. near to local shops/pubs, private parking, road noise etc.

As a child I grew up with school playing fields at the end of my back garden. I loved it as I could just climb over the fence to join my friends and we had a huge play area. My mother also liked to hear the children playing during school hours and found it very quiet when we moved to a street where you never heard or saw any children playing.

You should also remember though that even if children are not playing in the street they are playing somewhere else. You could buy a house next door to a family where all the children congregate to play in the back garden and you will have balls landing on you, kids bouncing on the trampoline and looking into your garden and loud whooping:D

CB1979_2

basically it's all hypocrisy as others have said "don't mind them playing out, just not outside my house" well unfortunately it's gonna be outside someone's house, and if your's is the most desirable (ie more space away from the main road/entrance) then yours is where they'll play!

it's very simple really, sus out parking if car could get damaged take into consideration, same for garden, same for likelihood of house getting hit.

to be honest if i had kids wouldn't be so much of a problem but would i want teens hanging outside? no chance.

just go and sit at the top of the road straight after school, various times throughout the weekends, unfortunately you don't know the real scenario now the dark early nights are here.

i'd also speak to the direct neighbours & also the neighbours up the road and ask them about the area, etc.

bottomline is are you moving to a chavvy area where kids are generally little t*ssers?

maryotuam

How about approaching the kids next time you visit and ask THEM their opinion of the area. They will be pleased to be listened to and you can gauge what kind of kids they are!

jah72

Thanks for all of your posts, a little overwhelmed by how many in such a short space of time! There is some good advice in there and it is great to hear other views. We don't have children yet, but when we do I really don't want them playing on the street and I would be concerned about them upsetting my neighbours - I guess we aren't all the same.

PasturesNew

JF77 wrote: »

I live in a culdesac and my house is up for sale. My next house will be on a busier road but, with a bigger back garden. The kids annoy me as they bounce balls off my front and garage door and are becoming very cheeky. They think it is ok to run across your garden and yes kids do need to play but why don't they play outside their own house.

Because as they are leaving their house, their parents say "Go play over there .. far away. I can't hear myself think with your noise. Go on ... away with you. Give me some peace and quiet"

b4st4rds

guppy

Probably depends on whether you have kids yourself. If you do, surely its an advantage to have found a safe place for them to play?

I used to love playing in the street with my neighbours, and though we were never abusive, I'm sure a few miserable old sods resented it and hid behind the net curtains worrying about their car paintwork. I imagine I might feel the same today!

Anyway, if you don't like kids, the house with the basketball hoop outside ain't for you.