Discussion:Be a Good Neighbour/Archive1

I wonder if you could write some ideas for my neighbourhood. We live in a beautiful and special neighbourhood. The lots are 1.2 to 1 acres. My husband of 86 has lived here 50 years and I who am 63 for 23 years. When I married my husband the area was full of people with modest house and large gardens and lots of trees, a paradise for children and everyone was very friendly.

Then the demographics changed and many wealthy families decided to move in because they can build huge houses. We have had 12 huge houses built around us. I mean huge... 5,000 sq ft to 16,000 sq. ft. You can imagine the noise and chaos. They all have private iron gates, pools, gardeners with noisy equipment etc. etc.

My question is how can I be a good neighbour. I feel they could extend a kind gesture to us, rather than old foggies like us going over with a pie. It is very sad and happening everywhere I guess. All the children go to different private schools so there is really no neighbourhood spirit as there used to be. It realy is difficult to canvess as I used to go door to door, but now only Nannies answer the gates and say no. So there is no way to get to know them. Any ideas, Thanks, Andrea Miller

ps Our garden is the only wild one and the kids try and sneak down from their manicured ones behind. I make cookies for them and they love our old house, but their parents don't like them to come.

One thing not to do:

Some good suggestions. You also need to know when to cut your losses (as much as possible). I purchased my house almost 20 years ago and the following morning a guy pounded on my door complaining that his chainsaw had been stolen from the nearby forest.

He may have thought that I was a workman at my house (not to justify his actions in any manner – he was just inconsiderate and rude). Needless to say, the opening from this man was no welcome to the neighborhood.

It might come as no surprise; he is a State Farm Insurance Agent. Like a “good neighbor” – well, I do not think so, but it comes as no surprise given his background.

The neighbor on the other side of me is the complete opposite. Offers of kindness do help as suggested in the piece. In the long run, however, like in all relationships, the truth will shine through.

Had I believed both of my neighbors on my boundary lines, I would barely have a place to situate my house (we have about three acres) and nothing of a mansion for a home. (Not all “corners” are clearly visible.)

On the boundary issue, I will never buy any property without a survey with corners located by a surveyor (forget the “improvement location certificate” document – it will not tell you where the lot lines truly lie and it exists for the benefit of lenders not you/the purchaser.)

I will take up the boundary issue with the next purchaser – for the neighbor on the good side (he is in his 90’s) and there is no need to upset him. My comment brings me to one main point, in some matters –with good neighbors, you may want to let them slide if you are not waiving legal rights (no enchroachment/adverse possession issues present in my case – just perceptions).

For the neighbor on the bad side, I will spring for the equipment to shoot the 1000 foot or so line down the hill and then make my improvements on my side of the line. If I cannot shoot a clean line, I will pay the surveyor to set pins between me and hell.

And my last point – if you are not sure of your neighbors – a physical buffer and good sound insulation sure help. A physical buffer is not always possible. Good sound insulation is something to ask about.

I would never purchase a home without visiting it at many different times of day and night. Once you sign the contract – or worse yet move in, there may be little for a purchaser to do other than cry.

Every person cannot live on an island, but there is still some merit to having some land around oneself to insulate one from the neighbor from hell.

Good neighbors can always be invited the few extra steps over and there will be no need to invite those whose shoes you wish remain pointed in another direction.

re write it. "Wear earplugs "Move House" "lie"

For fu*ks sake.

So, trying to find a version history to figure out what this page said before it was vandalized.

SO SO true. Amazing how many BAD to AWFUL neighbors there are. If you have a good one, consider yourself BLESSED and do everything you can to keep them happy and make them stay put. Here are some nuisances you forgot to mention:

1. 1 Basketball hoops in the front yard. If you live in a community of closely packed houses, these hoops create far too much noise not to be deemed a public nuisance.
2. 2 CIGARETTE SMOKE - smokers are quite literally ASH HOLES, puffing their cancer-causing fumes all over your neighborhood and, if they are TRULY thoughtful, flinging their butts into YOUR yard as a thank you. Smoke travels at LEAST 100 feet in all directions, and is especially repulsive when the air is hot and winds are calm. Unless you live on 20 acres, find someplace else to pollute.
3. 3 LOUD music, and lately video games. Far too many gamers turn up the volume WAY Too high. If you want your ear drums to bleed, use HEADPHONES.

And while I am at it, I second the complaints RE motorcyles, overly loud vehicles both in engine noise and music(loud music in cars should be illegal as it poses a real risk to drivers and reduces the drivers focus on the road), barbecues, and DOGS. If your dog is not QUIET - keep it in a SEALED ROOM WITH CLOSED WINDOWS. Even then it may be a pest - take it to a vet or obedience school and make it be QUIET.

My neighbor has a flatbed truck he INTENTIONALLY modified to make itrun extra LOUD. So now the whole neighborhood SHAKES when this pinhead just idles in his driveway.

Sadly, one of the factors ruining most neighborhoods is that too few homes are owner occupied. TENANTS are generally the worst offenders in all the aforementioned categories. If you can't come up with a down payment, stay in the trailer parks where you belong. Who I BLAME For this is not the tenants themselves (not their fault God gave them hollow craniums), but the greedy landlords who need to buy up whole city blocks in their relentless quest for more money. Going to be fun watching them all lose their shirts as the real estate market collapses. Mark my words: the meltdown in real estate is only in INNING ONE. You will see at least a 33% drop in prices in all the overbought markets (CA, VEGAS, PHOENIX, etc.), probably closer to 50%. The ONLY Factor holding up prices is the continued devaluation of our US dollar.

65.69.81.2 - the article was written with a British "slant" (actually, you used that word incorrectly, it was written only British spelling, a British "slant" would indicate ideals that are particular to Great Britain).

I notice you wrote your opinions from an "idiot" slant, but no one is hold that against you.

65.69.81.2 - the article was written with a British "slant" (actually, you used that word incorrectly, it was written only British spelling, a British "slant" would indicate ideals that are particular to Great Britain) because a British person wrote it.

I notice you wrote your opinions from an "idiot" slant, but no one was expecting you to write from an "intelligent" slant.

I have a neighbor who is a raciest jack-ass. The day I moved into the neighbor-hood he have try to get me out of the neighbor-hood. I was always nice to him. The other neighbor and I did not really paid much attention to this person. That was a Big mistake. My house burned to the ground. That was a mind trip. I got over that because my insurance company told me not to worry. We did not know about what my neighbor was going to do. He lied and got my permits tied up. The permit office I do not blame they was just doing there job. They have been getting so many reports from that man on me that they did not want to take a change that everything was not done by the book.. Now I hate this person and will never turn my back on him again.

The only reason that this person is still walking is because I do not want to go to prison over this piece of crap.

Being a good neighbor is not always a good thing to do. It can bite you in the ass. Look at what it done to me. I have lose over a year of my time and now things cost more. My best friend and neighbor died. We were going to build my home together. Got a saw-mill to cut our own log and the works. When the permits got tied up he went back to work driving the water truck and it rolled over on him and now he is dead.

If I would have treated this asshole like the piece of shit he is and not been nice to him he would not have the guys to do what he did. Now the bi-ch have me on the war path and it is on. He have founded out that I can be a mother-_ucker and he open a box that he found out he can not handle. I have grown to HATE this person.

Make sure that when you tell people to be good to there neighbor that they are worth your time and trouble.

Steve Williams

I can fight and is dam good at it. I weigh in at (160lb) one hundred and sixty pounds and I can unload and stack over (40,000lb) forty thousand pounds of hay inside a barn over two stores high in less then (3) three hour then after that go do some thing else. At one of my job I work on a ranch. The reason that I am telling you all this is just to let you know how strong I am. Very

To 75.52.147.23: Damn that sucks, sorry to hear that. And I thought some of my neighbours were bad. It's a shame when dickheads are allowed to get away with ruining people's lives.

Sometimes, it's a good idea to get to know a few of your neighbours before you decide to move in, even if it's just a short five minute conversation. As you ask how friendly the people in the area are and how much crime is committed, watch their body language and try to gauge their opinion of you. I wouldn't even think about moving in a new area without knowing my potential neighbours. And if they slam the door on you, then it's best to take it as a warning.

And there's little point in beating the crap out of arseholes such as him. That brief moment of pleasure would quickly be eclipsed when he calls the police to arrest you.

To 65.69.81.2: Care to contribute to WikiHow and point out the bias in the article? Or are you only hinting to us that you're not particularly fond of the British?

I suggest you stop using those dated "what-ho" stereotypes and actually help contribute to the site other than trolling discussion pages. But, judging from your recent posts, I would expect nothing else from you.

On Dictionary.com, there are more entries for neighbor than neighbour, so the American spelling would be more appropriate.

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