Who are the people in your neighborhood?

[YadaYadaYada]

This morning we had an early morning encounter with our neighbor, Stalker Joe. He literally will stand at the bottom of his driveway and stare at people, me, the kids...it is creepy to say the least. He has come over to talk to DH and I will literally get up and go in the house every single time. The kids know to stay away from him and anytime we see him staring (usually from behind a bush or tree) we will get in the house as quickly as possible. A tree fell over the winter and I told DH not to cut it because then he will have a direct line of sight to our swing set. He is a total weirdo creep.

Then we have the swinger neighbors across the street, they are harmless enough. Their next door neighbor (who has since passed away) used to garden in a super short skirt wearing a thong so the whole neighborhood would get a show. She would also play very loud music and dance on the front porch, she was a good time.

This is just the tip of the iceberg but you get the idea. Anyone have interesting/odd neighbors or a neighbor story to share?

 

[madelise]

It's quiet over here. One direct neighbor is the original owner of her 1960 house, and she is a widower. The other direct neighbor rents out every room in the house separately, so there are about 6 people living in there, all working in the tech industry; all but one won't say hi or even catch eye contact. A lot of retired folk here, and only two houses on our giant block has any kids that I've seen/heard.

Our NextDoor app is relatively harmless, and everyone is either posting about local city ordinances/politics, how to improve accident-prone areas (one is right next to my house, and there's a death there a few times a year), or offering things for free. The biggest hoots out here are 1) the wild turkeys and 2) missing small pets due to coyotes.

 

[madelise]

Maybe *I* am the eccentric neighbor? Haha. (I'm never outside my home unless I'm pulling weeds or walking the dog, so doubt it)

 

[Matata]

I think the majority of the people in my neighborhood are in the witness protection program. All the houses are occupied but we seldom see lights on inside at night. They run to the mailboxes and back into their homes. Gardeners do the lawns. The windows on their cars are dark and it's difficult to even get a look at their faces. Most of them are elderly as this subdivision was built to attract retirees 20 years ago and with the exception of a dozen or so who have died, the rest are original habitants. We have some younger families (40's & 50's). One who lives across the street has a teenage daughter who never has friends over. I've seen her twice in 3 years. Her mom and dad (or whoever they are) don't make eye contact with anyone they happen to cross paths with. The neighborhood watch president distributes updated neighborhood maps with the names of people living in the houses and any other bits of info I get are from her. It's a strange place.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

@madelise, your neighborhood sounds ideal, quiet with not a lot of excitement, any houses for sale?

@Matata, granted your neighborhood may be out of the ordinary but that neighborhood watch is great, wish we had one.

 

[KaeKae]

We moved here last August and have met just the people on either side of us. The one couple is in their 60s, and are nice, and I love their golden retrivers, even though my dogs are not interested in being friends. The other side is a family with young children, who are very cute. The husband is nice, the wife seems shy, at least the one time I spoke to her, all she did was tell me her name, she didn't even introduce the son who was standing next to her. But, I think there is a bit of a language barrier or maybe it's just cultural. Still, last week, one of our trees fell down and damaged their fence. It was right behind the shed and we hadn't seen it yet. The husband apologized to my husband! (we are getting it fixed for them, of course.

This is good, as we've had some doozies in the past. One of them being a family we dubbed "the drug dealers." The parents smoking their cigarettes in the back yard by our fence or their pot while sitting in the hot tub, so the stench could blow into our house. And lots of teens coming and going to "see" their daughters. Then, one day I saw one of their 16 year old daughters being led to a police car, in handcuffs. We moved right after that happened, actually, but I hope she's done better for herself since then

 

[TooPatient]

Retired lady who volunteers with search and rescue.
Three generations of family (moved in last summer) with the one guy working in tech.
School teacher with two sons and a daughter plus three dogs and a new SO (divorced last year).
Yoga instructor from New Zealand with her husband (metal worker) and son (20 years old, races dirt bikes) plus one dog.
Kickboxing instructor/stay-at-home dad married to a woman who works in an office several days a week plus three kids and one dog.

We all know each other and keep an eye out but not like nosy/pushy or overly chatty.

 

[Austina]

Nice neighbours either side, miserable old gits opposite. They’ve lived here since the year dot, and don’t like change. They wrote to the council to object to our planning application for a wall and gates. Shot themselves in the foot by pointing out a house a few doors up who’d done it years before without planning consent. The council couldn’t refuse our application on the grounds a precedent had been set

Once we’d done ours, our immediate neighbours did the same

 

[daneshpastry]

I live within a very densely populated block - including one men's shelter that sleeps almost 1000. That's just one of the dozens(?) of shelters.

BUT - I live across from a park that has an off-leash area, so there are lots of cute dogs. So good & bad.

 

[stracci2000]

We have great neighbors. The retired couple across the street always send over home-made baked goods!
They take care of our cat when we're out of town.

And next door is the concerned neighbor who is always keeping an eye out for us, and lets us know about happenings in the neighborhood. He talks alot, but he's a sincere and honest guy.

@StephanieLynn, I'm sorry you have creepy neighbors.
It's awful when you don't feel comfortable in your own yard.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

@KaeKae, sounds like a much better place for you getting away from those neighbors, it's like there is always that one house with shady business going on.

@TooPatient, how funny that you have a yoga instructor and kickboxing teacher nearby, it's great that everyone knows everyone, there is a certain level of safety in that.

@Austina, I got a good chuckle from your post, that probably made them all the more miserable which is a shame because improvements are always good, bring up property values and make the neighborhood look nice, why fight that?

@daneshpastry, I envy your off leash area, we have one we go to but it's an hour away! We also have a halfway house on the corner so like your block there are always comings and goings from there but we haven't had any trouble.

@stracci2000, you had me a baked goods lol! Seriously though it's awesome that they watch your cat, I know it can be hard to find caretakers when you need to be out of town.
Yeah our neighbor is annoying, I just don't get what is so interesting, I get in the car, I get out of the car. Fascinating apparently lol!

 

[madelise]

@madelise, your neighborhood sounds ideal, quiet with not a lot of excitement, any houses for sale?

@Matata, granted your neighborhood may be out of the ordinary but that neighborhood watch is great, wish we had one.

LOL actually, there will be soon I think 3 houses sold within the last month in our neighborhood, and I’ve been noticing a good handful of houses redoing their exterior paint and landscaping. Realtors keep sneaking in adverts in the mail trying to lure us to sell (we JUST bought it). So I’m guessing those houses are updating for sale purposes?

Hopefully the new owners won’t be too eccentric!

 

[tkyasx78]

Wow! I live in the most boring neighborhood! All the neighbors are quiet. All the lawns are well kept and I never get bothered by anyone!

There is a lady in the cul de sac across the way who is a real piece of work, but we never see her. I talked to her a few years ago and that was one time too many LOL! Everyone else in the neighborhood couldn't be nicer if they tried!

 

[Dancing Fire]

I don't talk to my neighbors. I don't even know their names I just wave at them if I see them outside on the driveway.

 

[lyra]

I take my cue from people like @Dancing Fire to be honest. We live in an urban area where the houses are maybe 6 feet apart. Our lot is very deep, but most are 1/3 the size of our backyard. Front steps are about 10ft from the road. I've found it's easier to not get close to direct neighbours on either side, just in case. We had a kerfuffle happen with some weird neighbours about 30 years ago that ended in us selling our house and moving, so I take zero chances. My DH is friendlier than I am. I couldn't name more than 2 people on our street, and if I saw them outside of the 'hood, I wouldn't recognize them at all. Bah humbug!

 

[YadaYadaYada]

@tkyasx78, quiet and well manicured lawns are a very good thing as Martha would say. Of course there always has to be that one but in your case she sounds harmless thankfully!

@Dancing Fire @lyra, I totally agree with you guys, what is that saying about fences and neighbors? Wish I had one! Seriously though no need to be too friendly and invite people up in your business, then you become the talk of the block and that is never good.

 

[Matata]

When I was a kid living in the ghetto, everyone sat on their front stoops on summer nights and visited and chatted all along the block and managed to have block parties without an ensuing riot. We knew each others' names. Some people had close friendships; others had chatted with neighbors for years yet had never been inside each other's homes and even the people who didn't like each other had the other's back when things went bad. When we moved to the suburb the stoops were replaced by front porches, block parties were replaced by progressive dinners and the "we have your back" was replaced by anonymity.

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

It's a quite street where I live. Next door neighbors are great- they come over and are friendly. Love their kids. The other house next door is sold to a flipper. Hope he sells it to someone nice. Across the street is a very friendly lady. I help her pull weeds sometimes. Her husband is not social at all- he tries but it seems painful to him. Most others we just say hi to or have a short chat.

 

[DAF]

My neighborhood is quiet - the majority of my immediate neighborhood works in law enforcement. We wave to one another, but aren't very friendly with anyone with the exception of the neighbor to my left.

I normally wouldn't post to this topic but I need to vent. My brother passed away unexpectedly last November, plus, DF and I gutted our kitchen and dining room and have been slowly working on the reno. So, my own house has been keeping me busy. This past Sunday, DF and I went to cut the grass and retrieve some paperwork. There were a couple of things askew, but we really didn't think anything of it. Tuesday morning at work a get a phone call from brother's local law enforcement. Someone broke into the house and had been sleeping there and stole the riding and push mowers in the garage. The detective asked that we stay away from the house because they had an ongoing narcotics investigation, so they knew who did it. I asked, "What about the Corvette?". Detective said that there wasn't room for a corvette in the garage and I said that there was and it was parked right behind the riding mower. So, car was stolen too. We secured the house that night and on my way to work Wednesday AM I get a call from the detective who now tells me the thieves went back at night and stole brother's motorcycle and a couple more lawnmowers in the shed. The good news was that they caught them red-handed with that stuff. Riding mower was sold on FB marketplace the day before, and the police would not contact that person for fear of jeopardizing their narcotics investigation. So, the two perps were arrested, one was 19 and lives five doors down from brother, the other was 16 and I don't know where he lives. No word on the Corvette, but detective thinks they've stashed it in one of the garage of one of the homes they've previously burglarized. Parents of the 16 year old hired an attorney. Detective and attorney worked on the 16 year old and at 2 AM this morning the Corvette was found on the side of a highway with the keys in it. I just got it back at 6 PM tonight, along with the riding mower, which was returned at the police department. Turns out detective's informant told the detective that the thieves knew there was a Corvette in the garage and had been planning on stealing it for some time. I just have a feeling that the police knew this stuff before and didn't want to jeopardize their investigation for drugs and they let my brother's house be burglarized and belongings taken.

My brother didn't live in a bad area, when his development was built in the early 1980s, it was all farmland surrounding him. It just seems that there is riff-raff everywhere and you really don't know your neighbors.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

@DAF, so sorry about the passing of your brother and how absolutely terrible these people are, thank God they were caught. I'm glad you got the Corvette back, it probably holds special meaning for you being your brother's, I'm glad they found it before it was sold or stripped for parts.

 

[House Cat]

@DAF I’m so sorry you are having to deal with this awful nightmare. I’m sorry for the loss of your brother. Big hugs.

 

[Bron357]

We have crazy old lady next door who waters the colourbond boundary fence every day (not quite sure why) and still dresses like an 18 year old even though she’s 70!
But across the road we have Charlie (and his family) Charlie is 80 odd and is a retired Police Dog squad handler. He has always had German Shepherds which are pets but he still trains them up like they are a Police dogs.
One afternoon the lady who lives on the corner came out front yelling because she had realized that thieves were in her garage stealing stuff.
Charlie sent his dog in, the dog stood growling in front of him (we were by now watching the show from the balcony, we had already called the police). Charlie told the thief not to move. The thief made the mistake of lunging for a piece of wood or something to either threaten the dog or Charlie and the dog just leapt up and grabbed his arm. Talk about screaming, the guy was being held not eaten (there’s a difference) but you would have thought he was being murdered. The police came and took the thief away and Porsche (Charlie’s dog) got rump steak for dinner courtesy of the lady on the corner.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

@Matata, my DH grew up in some of the poorest parts of one of the largest cities in our state. He was raised with the "make friends with the neighbors so they don't become your enemy" mentality. I had a hard time with that because we were raised to keep to ourselves and not let people get to know you too much. It would be nice to have a balance but you are right, anonymity is the new way.

@LisaRN, sounds like a nice place to live, heck I would certainly hang with someone with your taste and love for bling who would also help me pull weeds

@Bron357, you never disappoint with your stories, what a great story too where the dog is the hero and the bad guy gets his.

 

[AprilBaby]

I have an empty house out my back. The owners were elderly. She had mean dementia and he was sick in a hospital bed in the third bedroom that overlooks my deck. He would moan all night in the summer and she would come in and yell at him . Two adult children lived with them but were not home much. The mom and daughter would hang at the bedroom window overlooking my deck and watch us and listen to our conversation. 1 yr ago March he died in the room. Mom was taken away. The adult kids sold the house for a pittance as it was in great disrepair. Some guys bought the house to flip. It’s still ugly. It’s been for sale for 6 mo and no one looks at it. I really don’t care if it doesn’t sell this year. I could use a quiet summer on my deck.

 

[Bron357]

Growing up in Mosman, Sydney, Australia my parents had bought a really old Federation Mansion type house to renovate and live it. In a previous “life” it was a Boarding house (low cost accommodation rooms with shared facilities for singles etc). It was closed as a boarding house because new fire and safety standards meant too much cost and effort for the owners so that’s how come we bought it.
The remaining residents who lived there apparently went to aged care homes or other social housing.
It had 20 rooms (some big rooms had been partioned into 2 rooms) all bedrooms plus 2 kitchens and 3 bathrooms plus 2 extra toilets. It was “ew” big time at first.
Because mum was at home, the back door was generally never locked. As a consequence for many years after we used to find from time to time “elderly strangers” just sitting in the kitchen or the adjoining meals room. They had once lived there and anytime they “escaped” their current lodgings they would come back to their “old home”. Mum was often making these visitors cups of tea while waiting for the police to come and work out where they needed to returned to.
When we first moved into the house it had a gas cooker that you had to put pennies ie pre 1966 currency into to get it to work. We had to go to a coin shop to buy some coins so we could cook. It had three burners on top and an oven. There was just two settings “off” and “on” - no temp control.

 

[the_mother_thing]

Our immediate neighbors (on our street & in our ‘hood) all seem normal/nice, but we also use NextDoor, and that’s where the ‘fun’ is. There is some dude who lives in an apartment complex a mile or so away. We don’t know if he is just plain lazy, handicapped or maybe on house arrest, but every day, he posts on there asking people to take him here and there (e.g., Sprint store, Vape store, etc.), as well as to bring him fast food. Below is yesterday’s example.


The one from the day before - which he has since deleted - was epic. He didn’t include the “beautiful people” bit nor compliment to the ‘nice neighbors’ when asking for someone to bring him food from one of two different fast food joints. Then when someone posted offering to take him, he said changed his mind and instead requested someone bring him a loooong list of specific menu items from a different fast food joint, as well as (sitting down?) to stop at the gas station and bring him a pack of Pall Mall cigarettes.

Just out of curiousity, I google mapped the apartment complex he lives at, and it is literally right behind the shopping center where these fast food joints are that he’s wanting food from. So my guess is ... he’s a lazy stoner.

 

[yennyfire]

We live in a suburb of Atlanta in a neighborhood that was built in the mid 90s. The original owners are retiring and starting to sell and it’s mostly families with kids (like us), moving in. We are a very active neighborhood and everyone knows everyone else’s business (which as an introverted, private person, I’m not always a fan of). We do weekly “Thirsty Thursday’s” (basically byo drink and hang out), ladies book club and canasta, progressive dinner, etc. There are a couple of “queen bee” types I can’t stand and who think they run the place, but other than that, we are very lucky and have great neighbors. We help with each other’s kids, share ingredients when needed, hand clothes and sports equipment down as it’s outgrown, etc.

 

[MaisOuiMadame]

I'm so sorry @DAF! I'm sure this is an extremely draining situation and I hope you'll be able to take some time for yourself after this. I'm really glad that you weren't hurt - I imagine drugged out burglars might have been really dangerous, had you ran into them. I think law enforcement should have informed you for safety reasons at least.
Very upsetting to know that your property might have been considered "collateral damage", but when your safety is at stakes, it's really another dimension...



Our neighbors are mostly very nice and calm, with the exception of arrogant lawyer guy next door. He never greets us back , which is pretty rude , especially around here where you're supposed to formally greet everyone when entering a shop/ asking any kind of question etc....
They're also sun admirers and very TANNED (yes, all caps lol).
I'll quote my 10 y/o: Why are they always in speedos ? They don't even have a pool!

 

[House Cat]

Sooo yeah...I can see this from my front porch. It’s around the corner, but it towers so high above any other home in my neighborhood that it can be seen very easily from where I live. I hear that the inside looks like any other house. I hate that I didn’t get the window with the pink dress hanging in it.

There is an older woman who lives across the street from me that will trap you in conversations for a very, very long time. These are the types of conversations where she doesn’t allow you to get a single word in. She’s nice. She means no harm whatsoever. She’s just not very considerate.

Most of our neighbors are young families with young kids. They all hang out together because of this. We are friendly enough but don’t really share much in common.

The guy right next door is a pain. He’s one of those people who thinks he runs the neighborhood. I really don’t have the energy to describe all of the crap he’s pulled but it’s really tiresome.

Oh a happier note these guys come to visit sometimes. I took this last while driving home. We also get turkeys and sometimes, even a peacock or two. Once, I saw a gaggle of turkeys WITH a peacock as one of their buddies. My mind is still blown over that.

 

[lyra]

@House Cat , is that a decommissioned church? I would love to live there. I'm all about privacy, fences and gates, lol. I guess I should move to the country at least since I'm such a curmudgeon.