How did you choose the area you live? (Paranoid about moving to a bad area)

MrsE_2

Summers evenings are when you see an area at its worst.

Any gangs of kids/teens will be out as the cold weather stops a lot of hanging about.

Pez2

Go here:

http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk

Type in the postcode in the right hand box and it'll give you a summary of the local neighbourhood in terms of overall deprivation, crime, health, education, income, etc. The data is from 2004, but still fairly useful I think.

robwend

i brought a house yesterday, but the day before knocked on the ajoining neighbours, i got invited in for a cuppa and chat and they where lovley! they told me all about the area, after that i snapped it up straight away, i feel your neighbours are more important than your house. coz you gotta put up with them!be brave, get door knockin after you have viewed

shelly

robwend wrote: »

i brought a house yesterday, but the day before knocked on the ajoining neighbours, i got invited in for a cuppa and chat and they where lovley! they told me all about the area, after that i snapped it up straight away, i feel your neighbours are more important than your house. coz you gotta put up with them!be brave, get door knockin after you have viewed

To a degree we got the opposite. We had viewed this house and fell in love with it and decided we were having it even before we met the neighbours. As there are only 5 properties on the road, which is private, and they are all detached we decided noise etc wouldn't be an issue.
Anyway, the second time we viewed we were just kinda looking up and down the road and our immediate neighbour came out to ask if we were lost. We said we were buying next door and she was really nice and friendly, we spent time chatting and thought excellent, nice neighbours as well as area.

Well we moved in and since that day neither of those particular neighbours have said a word to us. They don't even put their hand up if you see them outside.
Its not a problem though, the area is excellent and its really quiet. Just seems odd that one day they are really friendly and the next they don't speak at all. I'm all for keeping myself to myself but they had such a turnaround.

The other neighbours though will stop and chat, come round if they want advice or a borrow of anything and take in parcels.




To the OP. As everyone else has said you can only do so much about findng out about an area and neighbours. You could have really nice neighbours but then they move and the family from hell move in. There's not much can be done about it.

MOONLIGHTVELLA

shelly wrote: »

To a degree we got the opposite. We had viewed this house and fell in love with it and decided we were having it even before we met the neighbours. As there are only 5 properties on the road, which is private, and they are all detached we decided noise etc wouldn't be an issue.
Anyway, the second time we viewed we were just kinda looking up and down the road and our immediate neighbour came out to ask if we were lost. We said we were buying next door and she was really nice and friendly, we spent time chatting and thought excellent, nice neighbours as well as area.

Well we moved in and since that day neither of those particular neighbours have said a word to us. They don't even put their hand up if you see them outside.
Its not a problem though, the area is excellent and its really quiet. Just seems odd that one day they are really friendly and the next they don't speak at all. I'm all for keeping myself to myself but they had such a turnaround.

The other neighbours though will stop and chat, come round if they want advice or a borrow of anything and take in parcels.




To the OP. As everyone else has said you can only do so much about findng out about an area and neighbours. You could have really nice neighbours but then they move and the family from hell move in. There's not much can be done about it.

yes we did that went round introduced ourselves thought we were doing the neighbourly thing my life how wrong were we they sometime ago repaired the boundry fence for the previous owner and say it is there's we been through all the solicitor documents and it is ours 100 per cent and the went to the council and paid to look at the same document as we tried to show them now they dont even speak they are terrible and tell us to get a life we cant beleive it never mind we applied to extend they objected so we changed the application and now its going ahead so feel great as they can see now we not going anywhere and no one moving us out all i can say is just keep yourself to yourself and if neighbours speak just speak in passing cause you don't know who to trust these days our neighbours are nearly sixties and i thought they would be better than this

newlywed

Well I live in one of the "bad areas" of our town - in fact it's one of the two areas with the worst reputations

Found that chav link highly amusing - although somewhat exaggerated on the crime side - most definitely correct on the chav descriptions.

I live there because OH was already there in a HA flat (secure, lower rent etc). I was a bit worried but our immediate neighbours in our block are all pleasant enough and for all the worries I had about the area - we aren't in the worst bit of it

So even in an area with a bad reputation - sometimes it's only a few roads that are bad and the rest is relatively quiet


The area we grew up in had a good reputation - but now apparently there is no-where to park, it's getting rougher and crime is rising. The road my parents are in used to be quiet but now seems to have an increasing number of kids loitering in the streets in the evening - from small kids right up to groups of teenagers hanging about.

Definitely go see the area in the evening/weekend to see what it's like at different times. But you can never guarantee who else will move into the street after you've moved there and how the area will change.

Lotus-eater

MOONLIGHTVELLA wrote: »

yes we did that went round introduced ourselves thought we were doing the neighbourly thing my life how wrong were we they sometime ago repaired the boundry fence for the previous owner and say it is there's we been through all the solicitor documents and it is ours 100 per cent and the went to the council and paid to look at the same document as we tried to show them now they dont even speak they are terrible and tell us to get a life we cant beleive it never mind we applied to extend they objected so we changed the application and now its going ahead so feel great as they can see now we not going anywhere and no one moving us out all i can say is just keep yourself to yourself and if neighbours speak just speak in passing cause you don't know who to trust these days our neighbours are nearly sixties and i thought they would be better than this

Let me get this right, you are arguing about who owns the fence........... and whoever owns the fence has to pay for it to be repaired and replaced........ and you are arguing that you want to own the fence?
What advantage is it to own the fence?

Maybe I'm missing something here?

PasturesNew

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Let me get this right, you are arguing about who owns the fence........... and whoever owns the fence has to pay for it to be repaired and replaced........ and you are arguing that you want to own the fence?
What advantage is it to own the fence?

Maybe I'm missing something here?

Yeah, it'd be great if I had a neighbour who took it upon themselves to fix and repair, maintain and generally love a fence.

It'd save me worry, time, expense.

Best neighbours in the world they are!

Addy1

We are hoping to buy round the corner from where we have rented for 2 years. Is on the edge of a posh area on one side and a student area on the other and within walking distance of 2 university hospitals, therefore hoping house price crash won't hit quite as hard as always lots of FTBs and BTLers around.
Our neighbours in rented are absolutely lovely, however there is one problem. They have a child who plays piano at 6am till 8am before school and then from 3.30pm until 10pm with half an hour tea break!!! It is terribly annoying as we are in a thin walled 1970s semi and work shifts.

To make things worse he is still playing Christmas carols........

Anyway the point is, there would have been no way of knowing this until we moved in, as if we had heard it when looking round, we would just think he was doing an hours practise!

JoJoArmani

sarah_elton wrote: »

And check http://www.chavtowns.co.uk/

OMG - I'm moving!

Think I have somehow and without noticing (and no one telling me - how rude!) ...that I must be a Chav.

My city is riddled with them...:eek:

(invasion of the body snatchers...day of the triffids....night of the living dead...IT'S ALL REAL! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE.....)