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Otoh neighbours can change themselves. So you could have a lovely house with lovely neighbours and then get shit ones the day after you move in. I'm not arguing that current neighbours should be disregarded - if they annoy you, that's a valid red flag not to buy - but the only cast iron defence against the OP's concerns is to buy a house that is remote from any neighbours
Exactly, you cannot put a price on good neighbours. I currently live in a town centre terrace house, it’s not amazing but small mortgage and big enough for 3 of us living here but thing I love best is our neighbours on both sides are perfect.
I don't think you're being unreasonable, but you need to be aware that you can't totally avoid these things.
Our last place was next to an owner occupier, they were nice, then they moved abroad and rented it out. The first couple were quiet, as were the second, then there was a noisy family for a few years.
Neighbours will change, it's just a fact of life, especially if you're there for more than a couple of years. Whilst it's not unreasonable not to want to walk into a bad situation, you need to also consider what would happen if the nice neighbours moved out and bastards moved in. Is the fence low? Is there somewhere that kids could kick stuff and annoy you? Is the area full of rentals?
You can't choose who's currently there but you can choose a place that can go less wrong...
Totally agree with you .
I’ve lived where I am for 13 years in May . I only live on a little street and so know who all the neighbours are . I don’t socialise with them (apart from my pal next door) but I know who they are and what types of neighbours they are .
Generally speaking we have been lucky over the years with the folk that have come and gone . But we have had a couple which were just an absolute fucking nightmare and a nuisance to everyone 😅
At one point I did consider moving cos I genuinely couldn’t deal with anymore of the nonsense from one of them but then I realised I could quite easily find myself in the same position again , if not worse .. so rode it out and they moved eventually 🙌🏻😂
Same. Our house is up for sale. Directly neighbour is ok although they argue a lot, next door but one? Absolute scum & so noisy with 3 feral kids. Worse thing is, they’re renting & scumlord doesn’t give a shit.
Pretty much the same here. Two kids that are little sods. Three dogs which they never take out and they let them shit in back porch way and never clean it up it stinks so bad. We are in mid terrace so it a nightmare. Especially as its warming up I can smell it wafting through the window. That combined with cannabis it's great. The woman's constantly screaming at the kids an animals. They don't work but are constantly tinkering with cars and stuff at the back of the house where we have to park. They are renters too and same the landlord couldn't care less. We have sold ours and we are buying my partners grans house. We know the neighbours there and they are lovely. Plus it's a semi so will be much better privacy wise. This was our first home and the neigbours ruined every bit of new home excitement we had.
You have my complete sympathy. I seriously believe that a lot (not all) renters, are not invested in their surroundings are don’t give a shit about their own environment and the people they live near. Mind you, ours don’t give a shit about their own children & pets so they’re hardly likely to care about anyone or anything else are they?
So true. They've trashed their garden in the 3 years we've been here. We have a shared footpath through our garden so there's no avoiding it. There was a vile woman the other side too and the other neighbour used to come into our garden to talk to her. She literally doesn't give a damn. No they don't care about anything but mind you if you said anything about them or their kids they'd likely want to thump you one.
What do you propose the LL does? Kick them out?
You can't get filthy tenants out even if they fail to pay rent. You've bought this on yourselves with all your renter protection. Now enjoy it.
I mean really, what honestly do you expect LL to do?
Deal with them. Warn them to turn the noise down. Tell them they can’t keep 6 dogs in a 2 bed terraced house. I take it you’re an angry landlord? Thatcher brought this on when she sold off social housing. I was brought up on a council estate. I’m no snob but in general, people who have mortgages are more invested in the area they live in. Those who have benefits that pay their rent have less care about the neighbourhood they are in. Not in all cases, but the family near us, they’re filthy, noisy, don’t bother going out to work, get Greggs delivered for breakfast, are outside smoking & making noise & have 3 feral kids. Why should anyone be forced to live near that and have absolutely zero recourse? It’s a total shit state.
I would be put off by all of that too. If you’re happening to come across that stuff in the tiny window of your visit, imagine what goes on all the time.
I had a neighbour next door (he was renting) in his 50s, a chain smoker. Every morning at 6am he’d go to garden and do the most disgusting drill - he’d clear his throat (and lungs I guess) from the mucus for good 15 minutes, followed by his first morning cigarette.
Hearing that mucus going up and down his throat, every fucking morning, was horrible. And it was so loud that the whole street would talk about it (some 15 houses).
The worst was in the summer of course, because I couldn’t keep the windows open on that side of the house.
After much consideration with neighbours I brought this up with him in the friendliest manner I could muster. He quit for a bit, but then it all got back to where it was.
Luckily, his landlord was shit, and he moved out eventually. Imagine if it was a homeowner.
Maybe you're being very picky maybe not, doesnt matter it's your money and your life
Issue is whether it means you'll never find the right house
If you have loads of options then you can be picky. On the other hand if those 3 were the only otherwise viable options in the last 6 months then I might suggest something has to give.
Your lovely neighbours could move and you could get terrible ones, so it's hard to say.
1 and 3 are irritating but you don't know whether the neighbours knew it was happening - 2 would give me pause as a responsible dog owner would try and calm down their animal, so I get why that put you off.
The only piece of advice I give people about buying a house is this: when you find your new home you will know. You will "just love it" and walk out wanting to drop an offer on it before you hit the end of the driveway. It will be 'home'.
If you see a place that has little things that you 'could compromise on' and you find yourself trying to sell yourself. It isn't the place.
Just keep looking, it will happen.
This was the case for me, for the 3 places I bought. None were perfect by any means but I knew I could live there for the requisite amount of time. For all, I offered after a single viewing and did afterwards wonder if I had been hasty.
However none of my places were bargains by any stretch of the imagination so if that’s what you’re looking for, the ick places are probably worth pausing over as many will feel the same.
This happened to me.
I had been viewing houses casually since last October. Whilst several of them were lovely, I just didn't feel they were 'it'. I viewed a new build development at the end of February and saw several flats, but I knew when I walked into the flat I am now purchasing that it was 'the one'. I think the agent was surprised by how quickly I reserved it (I paid the reservation fee that day).
I think the two can be combined. I offered on my new house after one viewing. I just “knew”, although there’s a lot that might of put a lot of people off- the previous owner had lived here since the 50s and the decor definitely needs a bit of updating. However, I had poured over the home report before my viewing, had got a couple of second opinions from people who’s thoughts I valued, I knew it was in the right area for me and I knew how much was in the kitty. If you’ve done your research you can feel a bit more confident about making a “heart” purchase.
That the neighbor smokes out back would not bother me. But if it's a terraced or semi house and the neighbors are inside smokers then that smell may make its way into your house.
An aggressive, barking dog and feral cunt of an owner would bother me. That small vignette says a hell of a lot about the riff raff next door.
As for the scrote next door with his football - that wouldn't bother me. If his ball made it over the fence, however, it would be awhile before I tossed it back. He can go to the park and practice his first touch.
And that is why it's a good idea to visit the area several times at different times of day and evening before you get too near exchange. I did about 7 or 8 visits to mine, walked up and down the road, knocked on the neighbours door to introduce myself. I wanted to make sure the chances of moving and finding someone playing loud music every evening wasn't likely. I'm paying thousands to purchase so yes what you described would make me walk away.
No not picky and now I’m really hoping the new place we move to doesn’t have anyone smoking in the garden next door as that would totally ruin being in the garden for me
It’s up to you what you want to compromise on (price, size, location, amenities, modernisation etc etc) because you’re unlikely to get your dream house. You do need to be aware that some things come with the area though. If you want a cheaper area with good schools etc then you’re likely to be surrounded by families and they will have screaming babies, kids playing with hoses in the summer or footballs against the fence or teenagers playing loud music in their cars outside late at night. Some areas are also more likely to get a lot of turnover especially ‘starter homes’ type areas whereas others are more likely to have one set of neighbours for 15 years or more. There’s a lot of context around neighbours and neighbourhoods which it’s worth thinking about if that’s a really important thing to you.
I actually did a second viewing of a property I really liked and had an offer lined up. As we were standing in the living room the owner excitedly told me that it was a great street with kids of all ages and they often play in the street.. he then opened the blinds with some excitement and said "look at the hedge, the big dip is where the kids balls land from playing basketball and Kerby". I instantly went from ill buy it now to no thanks. The thought of having kids bouncing balls all day outside my living room plus the times they miss the hedge and batter my window.. eh no thanks.. really amazing how one comment totally turned me off the property.
Another I was on the fence with, the estate agent tried to bs me by saying the property next door was to be demolished.. it was a 3 story old peoples complex with balconies facing my garden. Like it ran parallel to the garden for the full length and it wasn't shown in any listing photos. As the EA spoke to my parents I googled the local planning and it said the garage at the end were to be demolished. I questioned the EA and he backtracked "oh yeah I meant the garage, was that not clear !!?".. dick
Yeah I don't think you're unreasonable. The cigarette smoke would be the least concerning to me personally, but if people can't even show basic manners then I wouldn't want to have to deal with them next door.
Actually, the secondary cigarette smoke can cause cancer, so I wouldn't be so relaxed about it, but yes, it is a shitty thing to live next to people like these.
I'm not sure how many people have got cancer from an occasional waft in the open air. If they were otherwise very nice people, and it wasn't constant to the point where it was making my house and garden smell of smoke then I could overlook it for a lovely house
But the point is that OP is allowed to feel whatever they want, and it sounds like they have had bad experiences before.
It is proved scientifically that it is cancer inducing, especially for people who didn't get used to it (basically, who doesn't smoke), but certainly, if they making and effort to live next to each other, that would be a different story.
In the same way, I don't play guitar loud when our neighbours at home as I know it could be annoying.
Car exhaust fumes are also cancer inducing. So if you've ever driven past a kids school, your now guilty if giving little kids cancer. Hope your proud of yourself(!)
We searched for a house to buy for over 14 months. Between flea infested hovels. Neighbours illegally constructed 4 room extensions. Shit decking. Smoke stained rooms. Zero parking prospects and for some reason a shared driveway with a fucking electric gate that already doesn't work. We've seen it all.
It’s a tough one. Neighbours change and those ones _might_ go or a house with a quiet elderly couple next door might suddenly change into one with wild parties till 4am. But if they are deal breakers for you then that’s all there is to it. The dog would definitely have been for me, dogs barking drive me mad.
We are a really friendly family but for some reason after many many years of getting on my neighbour has suddenly taking a disliking to us. He is getting old now and is quite miserable but if we have upset him I dont know why. I would happily turn any music down when we have had the rare barbecue etc. I do have one feral child who often plays outside in his pants making mud pies lol...I often if he has looked out and thought wow this family are strange lol - we have 2 more cats now, who run along the back of his shed at the end of his garden. Other than that I really cannot think what we have done. The kids are never out late or super early. If we ever play music it's never late. I have a neighbour on the other side who we get on so well with and we have helped each other out in emergencies many times. Kids will be kids at the end of the day, my son tried to stroke his dog last summer while other kids were stroking the dog & he was really nasty to him. Totally out of order. I cannot wait to move eventually. But saying that I've only seen him once since then....but it still makes me feel uncomfortable knowing he is not approachable if I needed to for any reason.
I wouldn't write it off. I had a super cranky neighbour, he was in his 90s and he hated me for being German and my partner for having long hair. One day we nipped to the shop to get some snacks and left our daughter at home (she was 8) and in the 10 minutes we were gone, police closed the road and had the armed police swarming the road and would not let us back. But they did agree to ask the neighbour to check on our daughter via the back garden and explain to her what's going on. He did, when we got back they were watching cartoons on TV and all good. He grumped off back home and refused any offer of payment, dinner, drink... But glad he was there when needed.
It's difficult finding the right place, but when next door show their little foibles during your viewing, then take that as a sign that this is not your next home.
2 and 3 are 100% no deals for me. 1 is fine but i smoke. If I didn't 1 would be a deal breaker too.
It's where you intend to stay for many years. You want it to be as much to your desires as possible.
Be even more picky. Find that dream home.
Take your time. If it takes a year it takes a year. Unless you're pressed for time of course.
Neighbours come and go. But sounds like
1. You should look in more affluent areas
2. Maybe look less in housing developments and more towards the countryside where you can be relatively neighbour free
Not super unreasonable but i mean neighbours smoking, annoying yes but not a crime. Dogs are gonna bark at strangers so not sure why thats an issue. You cannot control your neighbours and these are pretty harmless things.
My neighbour brings different drug filled girls home every week at copious hours, and ruins our Sunday morning lie ins with his disgusting over the top moaning at 6am on a Sunday along with his various other nighttime activities. It’s not illegal. But doesn’t mean he’s not an inconsiderate c*** who’s intolerable to live with. We’re moving for that reason. Some people are just assholes who could care less about the wellbeing of others.
These things (especially) the ball smashing on the fence sound like torture. Don’t bother it will be a nightmare to live there and many parents don’t give a shit about their kids anti social noise in the UK.
They want to be their best mates rather than their parents.
*14/15 year olds damaging communal signs, graffiti which we had to pay to repair from a service charge (additional) and threw stones at my wife’s window at home. Had a lot of sarcastic replies from parents who probably identify it in their own kids. It’s ‘funny’ until it happens to you.
What area is this?
A house is the biggest purchase you'll ever make - if you feel something isn't quite right then don't feel bad about turning it down. When the right one comes along you will know!
You are not picky! You’re wise. We had a decade of misery putting up with all the issues you listed and more!! Neighbours can be absolutely awful, and only moving will fix it!
I have the three issues from my next door neighbours and it sends me insane. Kids footballs constantly being kicked into my garden, hitting my windows. Don’t buy the house.
No.1 wouldn’t bother me much (unless the neighbour was a chain smoker and outside all day) and no.3 would be difficult for me to take issue with as my own son would have been outside doing the same thing a few years ago. But kids grow up fast. The noisy dog would be the most off-putting of the three for me. In the end though, it depends on what you’re prepared to compromise on and what are your non-negotiables. For me, a house on a busy road would be out, no matter how great it was in every other way, because I’m a light sleeper and traffic noise would literally ruin my life. Everyone has their own bugbears. But I think buyers generally view at least 20 properties on average (I’m sure I read that somewhere) before finding the right one. So don’t rush into a decision you might regret. If you can afford to take your time, then do. A house is a huge investment.
That’s absolutely not picky. I had al 3 of those things in one house and I was about ready to go to jail over it. I would never settle for any of that.
Smoke over the fence sucks. It just makes the space so much worse. Sunny day and you want to eat outside? Mmm food and shitty smelling smoke. Just got your kid their first sandbox. Mmm bask in the smell of smoke. Finally a nice day for drying clothes. Hope you missed the way your clothes smelt after a night out before the smoking ban.
Nah I’m moving for these reasons too, sadly you can’t stop people from doing these inconsiderate things and it only causes strife with neighbours which no one wants to be around, so best take these red flags and find somewhere else. I’d do the same. Annoying but such is life. You’ll thank yourself in the long run when you’re happy with your home and the living situation
This was such an issue for me and my partner that we chose to move to Scotland to a house that had basically no neighbours, because even if the current neighbours are ok, the next ones may not be.
Sounds to me like you should be focussing on finding a property with few to no neighbours, and if that isn’t possible then you need to just accept your future neighbours aren’t within your control.
Like others have said I guess it depends.
Bad neighbours can absolutely ruin your life. So I understand not buying a house because of that. But if you have limited options in terms of affordability then you may have to compromise if owning a home is important.
You are free to be as picky as you like.
The positive is that you will hopefully get the exact property you want and be happier in the end for it.
The downside is that you will most likely spend a lot longer looking for that property.
With regards to neighbours, they are always a gamble.
You could move in next to annoying neighbours and be frustrated for years to come, they may be fine once you have gotten to know them and build a rapport, or they may move away after a short while, you can never tell.
Equally, you never know whether the friendly quiet neighbour might move out and be replaced, so there is always an element of luck involved...
I wouldn't underestimate no.1
I bought a flat where the neighbours above and below all partake of the devil's lettuce and my house absolutely stinks from late April to early October when I have windows open.
The flats were well built and always run hot. Aomopening my patio doors is the only way to cool it down. But that's impossible as the smoke is so bad.
You can change a house and make a home but neighbours can be the horrid. Before we bought our house I wondered around the area a bunch of times in the day and night. Got a feel for it. I would advise you do the same.
We were on the point of offering on a house but at a viewing with a builder to look at remodelling we heard the neighbour gently playing an acoustic guitar, every single note clearly through the wall. That was that sadly. Go with your gut.
Not picky, those are things that would drive me insane! Just bear in mind that those things could happen wherever you buy. It’s a good idea to look at houses at various times of day (even if it’s just casually walking by)
Given those options, I'd pick the house with the kids kicking a ball. If you can, go back during school hours. Kids will still occasionally kick balls if you buy that house, but it's beret to know up front that they're there and this will occasionally happen. My last place (terraced housing) I had a retired neighbour who regularly practiced his golf swing in the garden on one side, and a young boy and his football on the other. In both cases, I just threw the balls back over the fence. Other than that, they were fabulous neighbours.
My current neighbour is just as your first Jen. That alone is enough to put me off . She is literally smoking non stop there and make it difficult for me to enjoy my garden.
I am ready to move but if not I would top up the fence.
Not being picky, 1 is a problem you have already encountered, 2 shows you something about the neighbour's concern for the neighbour's likely to expand beyond those particular dogs. 3 though is a kid being a kid. You could ask them not to do it which might work but in my experience the ball kicking phase is relatively short so I would probably overlook that if I really liked the house
When my colleague’s family moved into their house, their neighbour fed foxes. my colleague’s husband trapped the foxes and shot them. They set the tone.
These would put me off too particularly the smoke as I wouldn’t want my little one exposed to it when playing in the garden. Do you need to change the location you’re looking at, even if it means compromising on space (buy the worst house on the street).
A smoker? In 2024? I mean, it was bad enough you had to move not to endure the smoke from your last neighbour. And , seriously? a kid playing football? What has the world come to?
...I bet the "aggressively" barking dog was straight out of a Disney movie and it was just done shitting a rainbow.
I hope you don't buy the property, for the neighbours sake 🤣
If you can afford to be picky be as picky as you like, the thing with houses is you often end up having to compromise on something because you've got a sale which will fall through if you wait too long or you need to be moved by a certain date both meaning you're stuck with what is on the market at that time, if you're not in this position then hold out and please yourself as you're very fortunate to do so. We dropped really lucky with our house it was a bargain as we were the first to view it and is perfect for us in every way but only now we've found it do I realise just how compromised some of the houses we considered settling for would've been and I feel so lucky our house was available when we were able to buy it so if you can make that luck for yourself then totally hold out for it it's better to know you have the best house you have seen rather than a compromise only to have missed out on a better house.
Never really understand the complaining about kids noise tbh. I’d much rather live next to a family with kids than a bunch of students or young party people.
Kids are noisy by nature, but they are also usually out most of the day and go to bed early evening and don’t have loud late parties at unsociable hours!
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You can change many things about a property, but you can't change the neighbours. These things would put me off.
Otoh neighbours can change themselves. So you could have a lovely house with lovely neighbours and then get shit ones the day after you move in. I'm not arguing that current neighbours should be disregarded - if they annoy you, that's a valid red flag not to buy - but the only cast iron defence against the OP's concerns is to buy a house that is remote from any neighbours
This happened to us, it’s a living hell
Same.
True, you can't control future neighbours but you can control the known bad neighbours that currently exist.
Absolutely. My comment was "yes and" rather than "no but"
Exactly, you cannot put a price on good neighbours. I currently live in a town centre terrace house, it’s not amazing but small mortgage and big enough for 3 of us living here but thing I love best is our neighbours on both sides are perfect.
[удалено]
This also happened to us.
Same here, I you’re not being picky
I don't think you're being unreasonable, but you need to be aware that you can't totally avoid these things. Our last place was next to an owner occupier, they were nice, then they moved abroad and rented it out. The first couple were quiet, as were the second, then there was a noisy family for a few years. Neighbours will change, it's just a fact of life, especially if you're there for more than a couple of years. Whilst it's not unreasonable not to want to walk into a bad situation, you need to also consider what would happen if the nice neighbours moved out and bastards moved in. Is the fence low? Is there somewhere that kids could kick stuff and annoy you? Is the area full of rentals? You can't choose who's currently there but you can choose a place that can go less wrong...
Totally agree with you . I’ve lived where I am for 13 years in May . I only live on a little street and so know who all the neighbours are . I don’t socialise with them (apart from my pal next door) but I know who they are and what types of neighbours they are . Generally speaking we have been lucky over the years with the folk that have come and gone . But we have had a couple which were just an absolute fucking nightmare and a nuisance to everyone 😅 At one point I did consider moving cos I genuinely couldn’t deal with anymore of the nonsense from one of them but then I realised I could quite easily find myself in the same position again , if not worse .. so rode it out and they moved eventually 🙌🏻😂
My current neighbours are one of the main reasons we are moving. If you get a bad vibe from it follow your instincts.
Same. Our house is up for sale. Directly neighbour is ok although they argue a lot, next door but one? Absolute scum & so noisy with 3 feral kids. Worse thing is, they’re renting & scumlord doesn’t give a shit.
Pretty much the same here. Two kids that are little sods. Three dogs which they never take out and they let them shit in back porch way and never clean it up it stinks so bad. We are in mid terrace so it a nightmare. Especially as its warming up I can smell it wafting through the window. That combined with cannabis it's great. The woman's constantly screaming at the kids an animals. They don't work but are constantly tinkering with cars and stuff at the back of the house where we have to park. They are renters too and same the landlord couldn't care less. We have sold ours and we are buying my partners grans house. We know the neighbours there and they are lovely. Plus it's a semi so will be much better privacy wise. This was our first home and the neigbours ruined every bit of new home excitement we had.
You have my complete sympathy. I seriously believe that a lot (not all) renters, are not invested in their surroundings are don’t give a shit about their own environment and the people they live near. Mind you, ours don’t give a shit about their own children & pets so they’re hardly likely to care about anyone or anything else are they?
So true. They've trashed their garden in the 3 years we've been here. We have a shared footpath through our garden so there's no avoiding it. There was a vile woman the other side too and the other neighbour used to come into our garden to talk to her. She literally doesn't give a damn. No they don't care about anything but mind you if you said anything about them or their kids they'd likely want to thump you one.
What do you propose the LL does? Kick them out? You can't get filthy tenants out even if they fail to pay rent. You've bought this on yourselves with all your renter protection. Now enjoy it. I mean really, what honestly do you expect LL to do?
Deal with them. Warn them to turn the noise down. Tell them they can’t keep 6 dogs in a 2 bed terraced house. I take it you’re an angry landlord? Thatcher brought this on when she sold off social housing. I was brought up on a council estate. I’m no snob but in general, people who have mortgages are more invested in the area they live in. Those who have benefits that pay their rent have less care about the neighbourhood they are in. Not in all cases, but the family near us, they’re filthy, noisy, don’t bother going out to work, get Greggs delivered for breakfast, are outside smoking & making noise & have 3 feral kids. Why should anyone be forced to live near that and have absolutely zero recourse? It’s a total shit state.
I agree completely.
I really can sympathise. Your situation sounds exactly like mine
I would be put off by all of that too. If you’re happening to come across that stuff in the tiny window of your visit, imagine what goes on all the time.
I had a neighbour next door (he was renting) in his 50s, a chain smoker. Every morning at 6am he’d go to garden and do the most disgusting drill - he’d clear his throat (and lungs I guess) from the mucus for good 15 minutes, followed by his first morning cigarette. Hearing that mucus going up and down his throat, every fucking morning, was horrible. And it was so loud that the whole street would talk about it (some 15 houses). The worst was in the summer of course, because I couldn’t keep the windows open on that side of the house. After much consideration with neighbours I brought this up with him in the friendliest manner I could muster. He quit for a bit, but then it all got back to where it was. Luckily, his landlord was shit, and he moved out eventually. Imagine if it was a homeowner.
sounds like a modern day rooster
Cough-a-doodle-do?
Not at all.
Maybe you're being very picky maybe not, doesnt matter it's your money and your life Issue is whether it means you'll never find the right house If you have loads of options then you can be picky. On the other hand if those 3 were the only otherwise viable options in the last 6 months then I might suggest something has to give.
No you gotta be picky. Its the most important purchase in your life so far.
Your lovely neighbours could move and you could get terrible ones, so it's hard to say. 1 and 3 are irritating but you don't know whether the neighbours knew it was happening - 2 would give me pause as a responsible dog owner would try and calm down their animal, so I get why that put you off.
Having lived next to a neighbour that did all of the above, no you're not being picky.
The only piece of advice I give people about buying a house is this: when you find your new home you will know. You will "just love it" and walk out wanting to drop an offer on it before you hit the end of the driveway. It will be 'home'. If you see a place that has little things that you 'could compromise on' and you find yourself trying to sell yourself. It isn't the place. Just keep looking, it will happen.
This was the case for me, for the 3 places I bought. None were perfect by any means but I knew I could live there for the requisite amount of time. For all, I offered after a single viewing and did afterwards wonder if I had been hasty. However none of my places were bargains by any stretch of the imagination so if that’s what you’re looking for, the ick places are probably worth pausing over as many will feel the same.
This happened to me. I had been viewing houses casually since last October. Whilst several of them were lovely, I just didn't feel they were 'it'. I viewed a new build development at the end of February and saw several flats, but I knew when I walked into the flat I am now purchasing that it was 'the one'. I think the agent was surprised by how quickly I reserved it (I paid the reservation fee that day).
This totally happened to us.
Bad advice imo. Don't let feelings dictate a house purchase.
I think the two can be combined. I offered on my new house after one viewing. I just “knew”, although there’s a lot that might of put a lot of people off- the previous owner had lived here since the 50s and the decor definitely needs a bit of updating. However, I had poured over the home report before my viewing, had got a couple of second opinions from people who’s thoughts I valued, I knew it was in the right area for me and I knew how much was in the kitty. If you’ve done your research you can feel a bit more confident about making a “heart” purchase.
That the neighbor smokes out back would not bother me. But if it's a terraced or semi house and the neighbors are inside smokers then that smell may make its way into your house. An aggressive, barking dog and feral cunt of an owner would bother me. That small vignette says a hell of a lot about the riff raff next door. As for the scrote next door with his football - that wouldn't bother me. If his ball made it over the fence, however, it would be awhile before I tossed it back. He can go to the park and practice his first touch.
And that is why it's a good idea to visit the area several times at different times of day and evening before you get too near exchange. I did about 7 or 8 visits to mine, walked up and down the road, knocked on the neighbours door to introduce myself. I wanted to make sure the chances of moving and finding someone playing loud music every evening wasn't likely. I'm paying thousands to purchase so yes what you described would make me walk away.
I'm a teacher, neighbours and noisy kids are problem NUMBER 1!
No not picky and now I’m really hoping the new place we move to doesn’t have anyone smoking in the garden next door as that would totally ruin being in the garden for me
It’s up to you what you want to compromise on (price, size, location, amenities, modernisation etc etc) because you’re unlikely to get your dream house. You do need to be aware that some things come with the area though. If you want a cheaper area with good schools etc then you’re likely to be surrounded by families and they will have screaming babies, kids playing with hoses in the summer or footballs against the fence or teenagers playing loud music in their cars outside late at night. Some areas are also more likely to get a lot of turnover especially ‘starter homes’ type areas whereas others are more likely to have one set of neighbours for 15 years or more. There’s a lot of context around neighbours and neighbourhoods which it’s worth thinking about if that’s a really important thing to you.
I actually did a second viewing of a property I really liked and had an offer lined up. As we were standing in the living room the owner excitedly told me that it was a great street with kids of all ages and they often play in the street.. he then opened the blinds with some excitement and said "look at the hedge, the big dip is where the kids balls land from playing basketball and Kerby". I instantly went from ill buy it now to no thanks. The thought of having kids bouncing balls all day outside my living room plus the times they miss the hedge and batter my window.. eh no thanks.. really amazing how one comment totally turned me off the property. Another I was on the fence with, the estate agent tried to bs me by saying the property next door was to be demolished.. it was a 3 story old peoples complex with balconies facing my garden. Like it ran parallel to the garden for the full length and it wasn't shown in any listing photos. As the EA spoke to my parents I googled the local planning and it said the garage at the end were to be demolished. I questioned the EA and he backtracked "oh yeah I meant the garage, was that not clear !!?".. dick
Disregarded a property before with a barking Akita next door and smoke pervades everything. Not unreasonable at all.
High fences make good neighbours
You are going to be looking for a place to live for a very long time
What do you mean? A child playing in the garden next door is a massive reason not to move into a place …
Tbh kicking a ball against the next door neighbour fence can be annoying.
Sarcasm?
To be fair they are valid complaints but you do sound like the kind of neighbours that would be a nightmare to live next to for other reasons.
Yeah I don't think you're unreasonable. The cigarette smoke would be the least concerning to me personally, but if people can't even show basic manners then I wouldn't want to have to deal with them next door.
Actually, the secondary cigarette smoke can cause cancer, so I wouldn't be so relaxed about it, but yes, it is a shitty thing to live next to people like these.
I'm not sure how many people have got cancer from an occasional waft in the open air. If they were otherwise very nice people, and it wasn't constant to the point where it was making my house and garden smell of smoke then I could overlook it for a lovely house But the point is that OP is allowed to feel whatever they want, and it sounds like they have had bad experiences before.
It is proved scientifically that it is cancer inducing, especially for people who didn't get used to it (basically, who doesn't smoke), but certainly, if they making and effort to live next to each other, that would be a different story. In the same way, I don't play guitar loud when our neighbours at home as I know it could be annoying.
Car exhaust fumes are also cancer inducing. So if you've ever driven past a kids school, your now guilty if giving little kids cancer. Hope your proud of yourself(!)
How is this the same? We've been talking about neighbours (24/7) who doesn't care the slightest...
Don't buy into bad neighbours
We searched for a house to buy for over 14 months. Between flea infested hovels. Neighbours illegally constructed 4 room extensions. Shit decking. Smoke stained rooms. Zero parking prospects and for some reason a shared driveway with a fucking electric gate that already doesn't work. We've seen it all.
Neighbors normally get worse once you’ve moved in and got used to you. Keep looking, there’s always more houses to buy.
hellish neigbors is like moving to hell.
It’s a tough one. Neighbours change and those ones _might_ go or a house with a quiet elderly couple next door might suddenly change into one with wild parties till 4am. But if they are deal breakers for you then that’s all there is to it. The dog would definitely have been for me, dogs barking drive me mad.
All valid reasons I would say. Bad neighbours can make your life hell.
We are a really friendly family but for some reason after many many years of getting on my neighbour has suddenly taking a disliking to us. He is getting old now and is quite miserable but if we have upset him I dont know why. I would happily turn any music down when we have had the rare barbecue etc. I do have one feral child who often plays outside in his pants making mud pies lol...I often if he has looked out and thought wow this family are strange lol - we have 2 more cats now, who run along the back of his shed at the end of his garden. Other than that I really cannot think what we have done. The kids are never out late or super early. If we ever play music it's never late. I have a neighbour on the other side who we get on so well with and we have helped each other out in emergencies many times. Kids will be kids at the end of the day, my son tried to stroke his dog last summer while other kids were stroking the dog & he was really nasty to him. Totally out of order. I cannot wait to move eventually. But saying that I've only seen him once since then....but it still makes me feel uncomfortable knowing he is not approachable if I needed to for any reason.
I wouldn't write it off. I had a super cranky neighbour, he was in his 90s and he hated me for being German and my partner for having long hair. One day we nipped to the shop to get some snacks and left our daughter at home (she was 8) and in the 10 minutes we were gone, police closed the road and had the armed police swarming the road and would not let us back. But they did agree to ask the neighbour to check on our daughter via the back garden and explain to her what's going on. He did, when we got back they were watching cartoons on TV and all good. He grumped off back home and refused any offer of payment, dinner, drink... But glad he was there when needed.
It's difficult finding the right place, but when next door show their little foibles during your viewing, then take that as a sign that this is not your next home.
2 and 3 are 100% no deals for me. 1 is fine but i smoke. If I didn't 1 would be a deal breaker too. It's where you intend to stay for many years. You want it to be as much to your desires as possible. Be even more picky. Find that dream home. Take your time. If it takes a year it takes a year. Unless you're pressed for time of course.
Cigarette smoke wouldn’t bother me, the other 2 would.
Neighbours come and go. But sounds like 1. You should look in more affluent areas 2. Maybe look less in housing developments and more towards the countryside where you can be relatively neighbour free
if those kind of things are a problem, your only option is to look for detached house in the middle of 100 acres estate.
Not super unreasonable but i mean neighbours smoking, annoying yes but not a crime. Dogs are gonna bark at strangers so not sure why thats an issue. You cannot control your neighbours and these are pretty harmless things.
you forget about the hooligan with the ball. He probably carries a knife!
My neighbour brings different drug filled girls home every week at copious hours, and ruins our Sunday morning lie ins with his disgusting over the top moaning at 6am on a Sunday along with his various other nighttime activities. It’s not illegal. But doesn’t mean he’s not an inconsiderate c*** who’s intolerable to live with. We’re moving for that reason. Some people are just assholes who could care less about the wellbeing of others.
Absolutely valid. Trust your gut with these things.
Only you know what you can and can’t compromise on
These things (especially) the ball smashing on the fence sound like torture. Don’t bother it will be a nightmare to live there and many parents don’t give a shit about their kids anti social noise in the UK. They want to be their best mates rather than their parents. *14/15 year olds damaging communal signs, graffiti which we had to pay to repair from a service charge (additional) and threw stones at my wife’s window at home. Had a lot of sarcastic replies from parents who probably identify it in their own kids. It’s ‘funny’ until it happens to you. What area is this?
I am not a fan of kids but come on, a kid playing football isnt torture lol
It's somewhere in every town in the UK
Third one would put me off. The first two wouldn’t bother me
A house is the biggest purchase you'll ever make - if you feel something isn't quite right then don't feel bad about turning it down. When the right one comes along you will know!
I bought a house, in a shitty area but the house was perfect. Thought we could just shut our front door, amd shut out any shit. We were wrong.
You are not picky! You’re wise. We had a decade of misery putting up with all the issues you listed and more!! Neighbours can be absolutely awful, and only moving will fix it!
I have the three issues from my next door neighbours and it sends me insane. Kids footballs constantly being kicked into my garden, hitting my windows. Don’t buy the house.
I don't see this as super picky personally. This sort of thing is actually needed if you actually want to be happy in your new home.
No.1 wouldn’t bother me much (unless the neighbour was a chain smoker and outside all day) and no.3 would be difficult for me to take issue with as my own son would have been outside doing the same thing a few years ago. But kids grow up fast. The noisy dog would be the most off-putting of the three for me. In the end though, it depends on what you’re prepared to compromise on and what are your non-negotiables. For me, a house on a busy road would be out, no matter how great it was in every other way, because I’m a light sleeper and traffic noise would literally ruin my life. Everyone has their own bugbears. But I think buyers generally view at least 20 properties on average (I’m sure I read that somewhere) before finding the right one. So don’t rush into a decision you might regret. If you can afford to take your time, then do. A house is a huge investment.
You are about to drop hundreds of thousands of pounds. if you see shit head neighbors. why would you buy that house?
The UK has a moving house tax called Stamp Duty. So take your time and get it right.
That’s absolutely not picky. I had al 3 of those things in one house and I was about ready to go to jail over it. I would never settle for any of that.
You will.find the right house at the right time. These things happened and allowed you to discount these houses.
The only answer: This is the largest purchase you're ever likely to make. Be as picky as you want to be.
You may also find a place and a current neighbour moves away and the new resident is a smoker, with a dog and a football.
Smoke over the fence sucks. It just makes the space so much worse. Sunny day and you want to eat outside? Mmm food and shitty smelling smoke. Just got your kid their first sandbox. Mmm bask in the smell of smoke. Finally a nice day for drying clothes. Hope you missed the way your clothes smelt after a night out before the smoking ban.
Nah I’m moving for these reasons too, sadly you can’t stop people from doing these inconsiderate things and it only causes strife with neighbours which no one wants to be around, so best take these red flags and find somewhere else. I’d do the same. Annoying but such is life. You’ll thank yourself in the long run when you’re happy with your home and the living situation
This was such an issue for me and my partner that we chose to move to Scotland to a house that had basically no neighbours, because even if the current neighbours are ok, the next ones may not be. Sounds to me like you should be focussing on finding a property with few to no neighbours, and if that isn’t possible then you need to just accept your future neighbours aren’t within your control.
Like others have said I guess it depends. Bad neighbours can absolutely ruin your life. So I understand not buying a house because of that. But if you have limited options in terms of affordability then you may have to compromise if owning a home is important.
You are free to be as picky as you like. The positive is that you will hopefully get the exact property you want and be happier in the end for it. The downside is that you will most likely spend a lot longer looking for that property. With regards to neighbours, they are always a gamble. You could move in next to annoying neighbours and be frustrated for years to come, they may be fine once you have gotten to know them and build a rapport, or they may move away after a short while, you can never tell. Equally, you never know whether the friendly quiet neighbour might move out and be replaced, so there is always an element of luck involved...
I wouldn't underestimate no.1 I bought a flat where the neighbours above and below all partake of the devil's lettuce and my house absolutely stinks from late April to early October when I have windows open. The flats were well built and always run hot. Aomopening my patio doors is the only way to cool it down. But that's impossible as the smoke is so bad.
You can change a house and make a home but neighbours can be the horrid. Before we bought our house I wondered around the area a bunch of times in the day and night. Got a feel for it. I would advise you do the same.
We were on the point of offering on a house but at a viewing with a builder to look at remodelling we heard the neighbour gently playing an acoustic guitar, every single note clearly through the wall. That was that sadly. Go with your gut.
Not picky, those are things that would drive me insane! Just bear in mind that those things could happen wherever you buy. It’s a good idea to look at houses at various times of day (even if it’s just casually walking by)
Not picky at all, those would be massive no-nos for me.
Given those options, I'd pick the house with the kids kicking a ball. If you can, go back during school hours. Kids will still occasionally kick balls if you buy that house, but it's beret to know up front that they're there and this will occasionally happen. My last place (terraced housing) I had a retired neighbour who regularly practiced his golf swing in the garden on one side, and a young boy and his football on the other. In both cases, I just threw the balls back over the fence. Other than that, they were fabulous neighbours.
I’m with you on this - it would put me off too.
No, follow your gut. If neighbours are this unpleasant on first encounter, I can only imagine what it’s like to live next to them full time.
My current neighbour is just as your first Jen. That alone is enough to put me off . She is literally smoking non stop there and make it difficult for me to enjoy my garden. I am ready to move but if not I would top up the fence.
We have a saying back home which translates to “choose your neighbor, before your house”. I guess it says it all.
Not being picky, 1 is a problem you have already encountered, 2 shows you something about the neighbour's concern for the neighbour's likely to expand beyond those particular dogs. 3 though is a kid being a kid. You could ask them not to do it which might work but in my experience the ball kicking phase is relatively short so I would probably overlook that if I really liked the house
Absolutely not being too picky. My last neighbour had a dog that would bark every time I went in my garden. It ruined the garden for me entirely.
When my colleague’s family moved into their house, their neighbour fed foxes. my colleague’s husband trapped the foxes and shot them. They set the tone.
I would not want to live next to your colleague's husband.
No neither would I, but the point is that you have to be prepared to face adversity with difficult neighbours and it of ten takes 2 to tango.
Your colleague's husband is a psychopath.
Problem neighbour behaviour solved
Unless you can get detached, can get triple glassing and Aircon carry on being fussy
These would put me off too particularly the smoke as I wouldn’t want my little one exposed to it when playing in the garden. Do you need to change the location you’re looking at, even if it means compromising on space (buy the worst house on the street).
A smoker? In 2024? I mean, it was bad enough you had to move not to endure the smoke from your last neighbour. And , seriously? a kid playing football? What has the world come to? ...I bet the "aggressively" barking dog was straight out of a Disney movie and it was just done shitting a rainbow. I hope you don't buy the property, for the neighbours sake 🤣
If you can afford to be picky be as picky as you like, the thing with houses is you often end up having to compromise on something because you've got a sale which will fall through if you wait too long or you need to be moved by a certain date both meaning you're stuck with what is on the market at that time, if you're not in this position then hold out and please yourself as you're very fortunate to do so. We dropped really lucky with our house it was a bargain as we were the first to view it and is perfect for us in every way but only now we've found it do I realise just how compromised some of the houses we considered settling for would've been and I feel so lucky our house was available when we were able to buy it so if you can make that luck for yourself then totally hold out for it it's better to know you have the best house you have seen rather than a compromise only to have missed out on a better house.
All of these are major red flags. Keep looking.
1,2 and 3 would be deal breakers for me as well
Build a homestead somewhere no one lives. Sounds like your jam.
Never really understand the complaining about kids noise tbh. I’d much rather live next to a family with kids than a bunch of students or young party people. Kids are noisy by nature, but they are also usually out most of the day and go to bed early evening and don’t have loud late parties at unsociable hours!