The house is perfect. It has the right number of bedrooms and bathrooms, a lovely deck and a backyard big enough for a swing set to ease the kids' transition to their new home.
You decide to buy. You settle in for a good night's sleep, and the neighbor's dog starts yapping. The mutt finally stops, but at 3 a.m., the 20-year-old across the street comes home from his job with the radio blasting, the vibrations shaking the house. You finally nod off, only to discover another neighbor likes to mow the lawn at 7 a.m.
When shopping for a house, many people focus solely on the home and how it fits in with their needs. The neighbors? You get to know them and their quirks later.
But what else can you do? You can't exactly walk up to people on the block and say: "The people in that house over there? Do they have any annoying habits I'd need to know about?" (Well, you could, but you'd be the one starting off with a reputation.)
The good, the bad and the ugly
I've owned two homes in the Capital Region. I've had some great neighbors: a master gardener in Albany and the family next door to my current abode in Colonie. They often take in our mail and our newspaper when we go away. (The wife also works for my dentist, and you never mess with anyone connected to someone who might put a drill in your mouth.)
And I've had some bad ones. That would be the guy we had to take to court; we won our case after his dog damaged our new fence, but we had to seize the money out of his bank account when he …
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