Do you love your neighborhood?

[Noniitis]

Do you love you neighborhood?

My DH bought this house 8 years ago. He was a single guy. Always had 2 roomates until we got married and we actually kept one after we got married. So I know he was not thinking about the neighborhood when he bought.. but like he always seems to do... He totally lucked out. This is the most involved fun neighborhood I have ever lived in. IMHO its a very reasonably priced area <not an expensive area in town by anymeans> We have a book club, a monthly new neighbor welcome, a monthly neighbor walk, a quarterly news letter, a community garden, a summer picnic, in the fall and spring an out door movie night in the park, a skating party and a progressive diner club. There are a bunch of kids on our block and they are always out playing outside. We have 2 parks with in walking distance in the neighborhood that are fairly busy. In the afternoon the Moms sit on the lawn and chat while the kids play or do a lemonade stand. I am so glad that my DS will get to grow up here. If we every moved I think it would be to another house in this neighborhood.. crazy huh?

[kam]

Hate it. We currently live in an apartment. When we first moved in, we really liked the neighborhood. There were lots of professional 20/30-somethings who had the same interests, got together, etc. Even those who we had nothing in common with were nice, friendly and social. In the three years since we moved here, the community has gone from lots of people just like us to parent(s) who can't control their kids and don't understand why people might be upset at them. Seriously.

One guy got evicted because he worked nights while his teenage girls had their 30 or so friends over and had underage drinking/parties (when the office found used condoms in the gazebo across from their apartment, that was the last straw). Our new neighbor is a mom with three teenagers and she went away for the weekend. The boy, who apparently just got of juvenile hall, destroyed one of our underground sprinklers with his buddy, who apparently also just got of juvenile (son of another tenant). After the parents had to pay for fixing the sprinkler - guess what? They still hang out all the time and are out at all hours. I guess I could question why on earth someone would leave their kids alone in this manner but that would be fruitless.

This is why we're moving in two months! We're buying a house which is located right near IBM - again, lots of 20/30-something professionals. Geeks no less! ;)

[mmeblue]

I voted yes. I know that there are community goings-on, but we aren't really involved in them. It's a quiet neighborhood, though, which we love. When we go for walks, people generally smile, wave, and say hi. I don't know whether we're going to stay here forever or not, but I wouldn't mind if we did.

[juliemag]

It's just "ok" for me. We just moved. While I love the house and all the improvements we're making, there is definitely a diverse mix of people in the neighborhood - some good and some bad. You have people who are buying homes and fixing them up NICE, then there's the people who leave their christmas lights up all year. :rolleyes: I'll reserve final judgment until we've lived there for a longer period - but right now it's just good/ok!

[boilermaker]

I voted other because I live out in the country. I have one neighbor...and they're weird but nice enough.

[greenbunny]

I'm starting to change my mind. When we moved in it was so nice, all these perfectly kept homes and everything seemed almost like Stepford. The neighbor wore pearls when she gardened, for god's sake. Everyone introduced themselves, brought cupcakes, it was great.

Now we're seeing the seamy underside. Rumor is that the house three up has abuse going on. The guy at the bottom of the hill is creepy and based on some things he's done and his frequent moving history, we think he might be a pedophile.

It looks nice on the surface, and everyone is nice enough in passing. I never expected to be best friends with the neighbors, no matter where we went--being childfree tends to isolate us since everyone has kids. God I miss our old neighbors. :( If I were rich I'd buy the house next door so we could live next to them again.

[emmjay]

Ours is just OK. We are in an apartment too - the neighborhood is great in terms of the location, but we haven't made any friends there. Most of the other tenants in our building are about 10 yrs younger than we are and they are loud and keep smoking in the building (even though it is non-smoking). I would love to be able to buy a house in our neighborhood, but I think it is out of our price range.

[kam]

When we moved in it was so nice, all these perfectly kept homes and everything seemed almost like Stepford.

You have read the book or seen the movie(s), right? ;)

[Janey]

I voted "It's OK." There are some good points and some bad points about our neighborhood. We are in what is called a "Transitional Neighborhood." 2 blocks east of our house are multi-million dollar mansions. 2 blocks west of our house are drug dealers & crack houses. The goods:
Our neighborhood is full of cute, old craftsman bungalows.
The neighborhood is very involved, has a community center, a newsletter, and seems pretty organized.
We're within a 5 minute walk to a grocery store.
We're in a 10 minute walk to Lake Washington & the Hydroplane Pits.
We have restaurants, a library, hair/nail salons, and a farmer's market within a 15 minute walk.
There are sidewalks everywhere (You'd think that's a given, but you'd be surprised how many neighborhoods don't have sidewalks).
Our immediate neighbors are pretty good.


The bads:
Nobody wants to live 2 blocks away from drug dealers and crack houses. Well, except for people on crack. Then it's pretty convenient.
I can't believe the number of morons who drive by our house with the bass booming. I say, "I think it's so wonderful that that person loves their music so much that they feel a need to share it with everyone else! Isn't that sweet??" But really, I can't wait 'till they all go deaf.
There are rats in our neighborhood. We know this because now that the contractor has opened our house up, we see their prints everywhere in the construction dust, and rat droppings on the mantle (apparently they like scented candles, which are now in the dumpster).
You sort of almost expect to be asked for a dollar downtown. But when it happens in your own neighborhood on the way back from the grocery store, that's a little weird.
The grocery store is right next to the Darigold plant, which is really noisy with all of those refrigerated trucks.

[RobynScott]

I posted yes - I love it! Moving to our TH in the suburbs from our apt in the city has been the greatest thing for me. I've met more people in the 6 months I have lived in our TH than my 3 and a half years in the city. (I moved to Philadelphia after law school) - Finally I am making new friends with my DH instead of through him (he grew up in the area) - which is really nice.

We're also very fortunate - most of the people in the neighborhood are either couples with young kids (who are starting to move out into SFH) - or young couples like ourselves. The neighborhood is really starting to turn over as families move out and young couples move in - and I'm sure the same will be true a few years from now - but we live on a really social block as well so it's been great for me.

I also have one of the best commutes I could have (for living outside the city) - and it's great location wise for getting everywhere else we want to go (much easier than when we lived in the city) so I am loving it.

sorry for going on and on!

[apoppy]

We live in an apartment too, and overall, I really like it.

Although we live in a very congested suburban area, our town is quite nice and the residents work hard at keeping a small town vibe going. Our apartment is within walking distance of the library, train station, farmer's market and the downtown. The are numerous community gatherings throughout the year where the mainstreets are only open to foot traffic. We also have a spectacular view.

On the downside, we don't know any of our neighbors, and the street noise in the morning can be really loud. But, all things considered, I really like where we live. We got lucky.

DH did a lot of research to pick our neighborhood, as we moved here from across the country. If anyone is thinking of moving to or around the NYC area, I would recommend checking out If You're Thinking of Living In... (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0812929837/qid=1121183791/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-4553095-4520849?v=glance&s=books), a collection of neighborhood profiles from The New York Times

[Kimberland30]

You are very lucky to have that "community" feel. :)


I absolutely love our neighborhood. We are in the process of buying the house I grew up in (well, high school and on...which was YEARS ago). I've lived in this general area forever since moving to Virginia.

The neighbors on our block have been here as long as my parents were, I babysat their kids who are now college grads or married with kids themselves. We try to get together every summer for a cookout, and each Christmas for the last decade we have a block party and individually light up our houses (we walk from house to house and "ohhh" and "ahhhh" at each one).

We love our community. It seems like everytime we go out we run into someone we know, and we love that. We love going to mom & pop places to eat, and try to keep it local whenever possible. Even when planning our wedding we went with local vendors - most of who worked from home - instead of larger corporations or shops. Nothing was more than 5 miles from our house. On our wedding day our neighbors were outside taking pictures of me as I was leaving the house to go to the church. It was like their "little girl" was also getting married. We even took portraits of my family with all our neighbors at the reception. :)

My DD has gone to school in the same district since kindergarden (except last year when she was at an academy). That was very important to me since I moved around a lot when I was young. She's known most of her friends since she was 4, and I think that's awesome.

[ctjo]

I voted yes - it's a great place. And it is. But we've only been here a few months, so we don't know that many people yet. The neighborhood obviously has a strong sense of communitiy, I'm just not sure we're actually a part of the community yet.

Like greenbunny , I do feel a little isolated since we don't have children.

[sunshineab622]

we just moved into our house less than a yr ago & we LOVE our neighborhood. The neighbors are so friendly & tons of kids for our son to play with.

[hockeybrat]

I love my neighborhood had we have some really nice neighbors. There are a few (us included) that are first-time homeowners so we share a really common bond there. :)

[tenofcups]

I voted "It's OK." There are some good points and some bad points about our neighborhood. We are in what is called a "Transitional Neighborhood." 2 blocks east of our house are multi-million dollar mansions. 2 blocks west of our house are drug dealers & crack houses.


That's much like our neighborhood. Our immedidate area would best be described as in the process of "gentrifying"--we have an interesting mix of middle class families with kids, younger yuppie couples with or without kids, and a healthy sprinkling of singles, gays, and lesbians. There are constantly trucks on our street as we all renovate. I really like the people in my immediate neighborhood, but just a couple of blocks are some really scary people.

I love our neighbors, who we're good friends with and see a couple of times a day (they go outside to smoke so we run into them all the time) and socialize with often. I also love that many of Fh's friends live in easy walking distance. (I moved to his house in his city so I'm still getting to know people.) I hate that I'm often nervous about going outside by myself though.

I lived in NYC most of my adult life, and there's probably more crime there than here, but there's the illusion of safety there because there are always so many people out and about. Here it tends to be more quiet and I get nervous if/when I'm the only person on the street in this kind of neighborhood.

[BethElena]

We love our neighborhood! Especially since the cigarette chain smoking weirdo was evicted next door (his smoke entered our condo through the exhaust fan somehow). And besides the few neighbors that can't even say hi or wave when you say hi or wave at them, it's swell.

I met one of our nice older women neighbors about a month ago -- she is an artist and loves pastels. We spent 4 hours talking on a friday night!

The only thing that will make us move is if we ever have children - we only have 1 bedroom/1 bath condo, but it's great for now!

[Rancid13]

I love our neighborhood!

Although we're in a condo, our neighborhood block consists of tract housing, multiple family housing, and townhouses/condos, as well as some businesses along the major street bounding us to the north (restaurants, banks, shops). We're in a very safe community, and very good city altogether (Los Alamitos-Orange County). The city itself is on the small side, which is nice. The school system here is very sought-after, which means that when we're ready do move onto purchasing home #2 and put this one up for rent, there shouldn't be any shortage of people wanting to move in for the school district.

We have really good freeway access (close to the 605, 405, 22 and 91 fwys), are close to a LOT of restaurants, shops, supermarkets, and entertainment. There's not a lot of traffic around here except during rush hour, same as the rest of the county.

Our complex is very quiet too...my family was surprised at how few people were around on July 4 watching fireworks across the street at the Joint Forces Training Base. (It's because 95% of the people in our 46-condo complex are over the age of 65, or so my 80-year old neighbor downstairs from us says-she also said it's nice to have some 'young blood' in the building b/c everyone else is getting so 'crotchety', LOL!).

I'd be happy anywhere in Orange County, as long as I'm coastal (within 6-7, 10 miles max of the beach) and it's not in a questionable area (ie: some areas of Santa Ana, Anaheim, Westminster, Garden Grove, Buena Park, Stanton).

Crimes by city, Orange County (2003)
http://www.ocalmanac.com/Crime/cr03.htm

[~queen~]

I voted other. Its a love/hate relationship with our neighborhood. On the surface, everything is great. Love the neighbors on my section of the block. We have made some good lifelong friends here for sure. Down the street are multi-million dollar homes and almost everyone takes great pride in the home and yard.

However, the local grocery stores (as is almost every other store) are a joke. It amazes me that I can go to a Latino or not-as-nice white area and find better quality meat/bread/seafood than I can in a black area with million dollar homes. Does the grocery industry (Safeway and Giant) think that we don't like T-Bone or Porterhouse steaks? Or that we only want our bread re-filled every month? Or that the only vegetable we eat is Collard Greens and the only fruit Watermelon? It irks me to no end!

[greenbunny]

You have read the book or seen the movie(s), right? ;)

Yeah, that's the point. Seemed great at first glance, now it's creepy and dysfunctional. But no robots, that I'm aware of.

[houseblend]

I like our neighborhood, but I don't love it. We are the youngest ones around here. Most of our neighbors kids are teenagers or off to college. When we moved in, no one came over to greet us right away - it wasn't until we happened to be outside at the same time as our neighbors until we actually met them. So, no block parties or any socializing around here. On the other hand, it is a very clean neighborhood with little crime and close to great shopping.

[shortcake]

There are sidewalks everywhere (You'd think that's a given, but you'd be surprised how many neighborhoods don't have sidewalks).

LOL, I live just north of Seattle, and I was surprised by this too! It's not just sidewalks - so many neighborhoods around here don't even have a curb...just gravel out to the street. I don't like that!

BUT we got one with a curb, green grass even in summer (yes that's rare around here - most people just let their lawns die during the summer and then they come back when the rain starts) and some sidewalk areas. And we are walking distance from parks, the beach, and a cute little town area. I love the neighborhood - the people are nice and finally I have met some of the young families with kids. (That's the one downside - lots of older, retired people here, not so many families and most are older with teenagers. But I've found a few!)

[Heidi9771]

I adore my neighborhood. That is one of the biggest reasons why we chose our home- the home we most likely will spend the next 30 plus years in.

It is a family neighborhood with extreme pride in ownership in every home. The landscaping, architecture...everything. Every time I pull into our street I get this extreme sense of contentment and calm.

[PookiePrincess]

I voted it's okay only for the fact that we know we won't live here forever. We've lived in our apartment for a year and will be here for another year before we buy a house. I do like where we live though. The complex is nice and quiet and very safe. The area around us is great...close to stores and the community is great.

We don't spend time with our neighbors or anything, but it's a great place to live!

[smiles33]

I love our neighborhood, though like houseblend, we are also:

the youngest ones around here. Most of our neighbors kids are teenagers or off to college. When we moved in, no one came over to greet us right away - it wasn't until we happened to be outside at the same time as our neighbors until we actually met them. So, no block parties or any socializing around here.

However, with that said, we're not really social people to begin with, so we didn't feel the need to have a very active neighborhood. We wave and say hi to people we pass by, but that's the extent of our interaction.

One of the best features of this neighborhood would be the commute times: DH has a 7 minute drive (local streets only!) to work, while mine is about 9 minutes to my Park-and-Ride lot (where I then take a 45 minute Express bus to work that my employer pays for). There's a major shopping complex 10 minutes away (not a mall, but it has a movie megaplex, nice supermarket, Borders, Best Buy, Babies R Us, etc.), and our neighborhood backs up onto a nature preserve, so it's still super quiet and uncrowded. So I totally feel like we have the best of both worlds! This will be our "forever" house unless the local public schools go severely downhill.

[eli1126]

If you like listening to deafing headbanging music for hours on end on a Saturday, my neighborhood is for you! We live in a little city outside Albany NY. The houses are old an on top of one another. I can't sit out on my back porch and read without having to interact with my next door neighbors. They aren't bad people, but sometimes I just want to sit out and relax, not visit! We are moving coincidentally down the street to a one family with a private yard :) This is not the neighborhood I want to live in forever, but for now it's ok.

Beth

[flygirl]

We love our neighborhood! Unfortunately, we will probably be here for only a few years. Architectually, this neighborhood is different from any other in the DFW area. It was designed to look like a turn-of-the-century community with a mix of Craftsman, Queen Ann & Folk Victorian, and colonial, tudor & neoclassical revival. There are several parks scattered throughout, some with gazebos, and the hardware on the streets (mailboxes, streetlights, etc.) are all green wrought iron.

In addition, it sounds just like noniitis's neighborhood with all the social activity. It's a brand new community and we were one of the first to move into the last phase. Most of the organized activities were already established, and without kids it's harder to get involved. Our block, however, is great in an of itself. A lot of singles & couples w/out kids. We surround one of the larger parks in the neighborhood and then stretch down our street, so we feel very private. We've become very friendly with almost everyone and hang out socially with four couples. The community holds monthly parties in the different parks and when it's at "our" park we all come together.

The best part is that we're not in the middle of nowhere, where most new communities are :). Our city boarders Dallas and we're only about a 25min from downtown. Across one major street is a similar community but with million dollar homes & a champion golf course. The major cross-street corner has typical suburbian strip malls with everything we need on a day-to-day basis. We're also four miles from an upscale mall, beside which are the super-multi-million dollar homes of CEOs & athletes.

All that said, I would give up the neighborhood & our beautiful house to live in Dallas. I'm just not cut out for suburbia.

[miel]

Nobody wants to live 2 blocks away from drug dealers and crack houses. Well, except for people on crack. Then it's pretty convenient.

Heh. I lived in a neighborhood with crack houses when I lived in San Francisco. I'm sure they are all gone now.

I wanted more crack houses in our neighborhood...then maybe we could have afforded to buy here! When they were holding people up we were like: YEAH! Maybe the property values will go down. Damnit! Why did they make those projects look so nice. (It's true...the projects a couple blocks from us are totally swanky!)

No such luck. It's crazy here. 2 bedrooms for like $850,000. You can't get anything under $500,000...make that $600,000.

We rent and our apartment is very cheap. But we bought a house so now we have to move and I'm really sad about it. I love this neighborhood.

We also have rats in our neighborhood. BIG rats. Wherever there are dumpsters, and there are lots of construction dumpsters, you will find rats. I think the guys throw their fast food bags in the dumpsters or something. The other night I was driving and I slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting a rat. I kept thinking that I should be rewarded for saving that rat's life.

[squirrel]

I absolutely loooove my neighborhood! I live in a garden apartment co-op in Jackson Heights with a 10 minute subway ride into midtown Manhattan. It's been one of the best kept secrets in NYC, but sadly enough, that's no longer the case. This week, the NY Times featured it in their "Living In..." section in the real estate section. I suspect I will be seeing more Manhattanites moving in now...

Here are the many reasons why I love this place. The mom and pop stores that have been here for ages- I would die if one of them were to be replaced by a Starbucks. The diversity of the people, with Little India down one block and Hispanic, Italian, Japanese, Thai, and American restaurants dotting the other blocks. This place is definitely not for everyone. You have to like living in a melting pot of different cultures. The Greenmarket by Travers Park- I love their bakery goods! The architecture of the pre-war buildings that surround me. They are stunning! The huge apartments!!!! The commute!!! I could go on and on if given the chance...

The only thing I would say that is not so great about this place is the congested subway station- rush hour is a rolling sea of humanity that will engulf you if you're not careful! This is partially being resolved by the renovations they're making to the station, such as wider stairwells and more exits.

[shortcake]

Squirril - you make me want to go back to New York! My grandparents lived there my whole life (in Manhattan) so I've been there a bunch and I LOVE it...though I admit I am a suburb girl at heart, I think, but I just love to visit there!

[justHB]

Overall, I love my new city, but I have lately come to hate my neighborhood. What I do love about my neighborhood is its proximity to transportation and the fact that it's a 10-20 minute drive to other areas we frequently visit and my commute to work is 1.7 miles each way. I am also within walking distance to a decent farmer's market, a couple of restaurants (which we don't visit), a Barnes & Noble, and a major theater chain.

What I hate is that it is 3 blocks from a major train station and for some reason over the last three months, all of the conductors have gone train horn crazy. It's maddening! We are in a neighborhood that is going through a major revitalization, so there is construction EVERYWHERE. Within a 3 block radius, there will be at least 300 new condo units avaiable by the end of 2006. What this unfortunately means is that what was once very easy on-street parking has become a nightmare. Truthfully, I can't wait until these new units raise the value of our place enough that we can sell it and move into a new neighborhood in the same city.

[catch]

I voted that my neighborhood is just ok.

The Good
- We have a huge apt (for NYC standards) in the Bronx. Cheap and rent controlled.
- We know most of our neighbors, in our building and the building next door.
- Rob grew up in our current building and everyone knows him and treats him like family.
- Almost everyone is nice to our dogs. They even know their names (nobody knows my name of course :rolleyes: ).
- Our building is between 2 major subway lines. Lots of buses near by, lots of cabs in the area.
- Bestest pizza joint 2 blocks away. Two good Chinese take-out places nearby. Fried chicken place is 3 blocks away. Good deli is 2 blocks away. Good Dominican food is 5 blocks away. Can you tell I don't know how to cook? ;)
- Our dogs are allowed to play in the yard of the school in the next block.
- During the summer, everyone opens up the fire hydrants. Wasteful, but fun.
- A brand new supermarket 2 blocks away.
- There's a fruit stand a block away.
- There's a pretty park just a few blocks away.

The Bad
- MIL lives in the same building we live in. We get along, but...well you know...
- No other young, childless couples in our neighborhood. People think I'm barren, lol.
- The women in our neighborhood are a little racist towards me. Our neighborhood is mostly Dominican and I'm not Dominican. I get looks and people talk.
- You can always hear music coming from outside of your apartment. Sometimes I feel like I'm in that old Janet Jackson video, can't remember the name of it, lol. "Alright"?
- Nobody ever leaves this neighborhood. That scares me.
- I can step outside 10 times a day and run into one of FH's 20,000 relatives. Everyone lives within a 4 block radius. When I'm cranky, that's a very, very bad thing. :eek:

The location of my neighborhood is good and convenient. My neighbors can make it difficult but it's ok....for now. We have a 5 year plan that involves us living here and saving money.

[ManteoChik]

I voted it's okay only for the fact that we know we won't live here forever. We've lived in our apartment for a year and will be here for another year before we buy a house. I do like where we live though. The complex is nice and quiet and very safe. The area around us is great...close to stores and the community is great.

This is exactly how I feel....we are from NC but live in FL for one more year finishing up school. We are both in the last year of school and not your typical college students.

We lived in our aparment for one year and it looked more like a Pottery Barn Catalog rather than a "dorm room". We liked our apartment because it was a brand new construction. We were the first people in our apartment. The community was gated with a club house, pool, spa, and other ammenities. We really didn't get to know our neighbors that well. We knew our next door neighbor (who was a state investigator) and her two little kids...we also knew the man under us who was widdowed. Our criteria for an aparment was wherever there weren't any college kids, but we also didn't want a TON of kids running around screaming.

After we moved into our rental house we like it here better than the apartment but as I've found in most places in Florida...unless you are in a new community you could have a nice new house next to a really big piece of crap. We are the last house on the street so it's a little bit more quiet down here and we like that. We really haven't gotten to know any of our neighbors and they really haven't made the effort to get to know us. It's mostly a lot of familys in our neighborhood. We both look at it from the point of view that we will only be here for another year.

The neighborhood that we will most likely be moving into back home in NC is wonderful. we know just about everyone in it and it's very close. Definatly not trashy like I've found places to be here in FL. It's the neighborhood that a lot of our friends live in as well as my parents. It's been there for a while but just in the past 6 years has started to develope a lot more. There are only a couple of lots left and we are thinking about buying one of them.

[Freckles]

I like our neighborhood and neighbors, but sometimes I feel left out a bit because we are the only ones without children {we have been trying for more than a year}, and it's hard sometimes to see all these kids playing/ Parents walking babies, etc.
It is not our forever home.

[vjel]

I love our neighborhood (it's a planned community) When we came to check it out our first thought was "this is the kind of place we imagine our kids growing up in". The community itself is 10 years old but they are still building new homes here and are now building more amenities w/in the community (new grocery store, movie theatre, restaurants, offices, etc.). We know or have at least met most of the folks on our street and a lot of us hang out together. We're all about the same age ( give our take 5-10years), have young kids or are pg w/ the first (2nd or 3rd) child. Everyone watches out for one another and we tell each other when we see something out of the ordinary going on. Some neighbors have keys to each others houses "just in case" or we have each others garage codes in case we need to borrow something from the garage (of course we call first). Its kinda of weird even now for me to think that the neighbors are *that* cool b/c when we lived in our townhouse we couldn't get our next door neighbor too even say hi to us when we were both out on our decks...and we're literally just a couple feet away from each other!

so yeah, I'm happy we live here. :)