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who loves their neighborhood?

Asscherhalo_lover

Ideal_Rock
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Inspired by DFs thread about home sizes, ect, I realized that I live in the tiniest home/apt of those who answered on PS! It got me to thinking about why I am OK with how small our space is and I know that it's BC of the neighborhood.

We live on Long Island in a very quiet neighborhood yet we are within blocks of a huge grocery store, the post office, our bank, several restaurants, a drugstore, ect. Even though we live in the land of cars I often just walk to where I need to go. This is very rare where we live and it out weighs the small yet still expensive space we rent. i love this neighborhood enough that we are determined to continue to rent as cheaply as possible until we can buy here.

How many of you really love your neighborhood? Did you sacrifice the size of your home or finishes to live there?
 

MissStepcut

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I adore my neighborhood and we definitely give up a lot of sq ft. to live here (we don't even have a real bedroom)! We live in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago, between Michigan Avenue and Lake Michigan. We're 5 blocks away from an art museum, 4 blocks away from Cartier, two blocks from our law school and within walking distance of three grocery stores (we're foodies so this is important). I also adore our building: doorman, dry cleaners, gym with pool and hot tub, attached to a hotel.
 

TooPatient

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LOVE our neighborhood!

We got really lucky. This was one of the least expensive houses we looked at. It was (still is) a fixer-upper but it didn't have any major problems. There was only one other house we looked at that was even really a possibility. The neighborhood looked okay all of the times we were out to look at the house, but it didn't look like anything very special.

We're on a cul-de-sac that backs up with a bunch more cul-de-sacs so it is just wonderful and pretty quiet. No way to add any sort of through-street without tearing down houses. Nothing too fancy. We all take care of our own yards and mostly do our own projects around the house (inculding new roofs!). Everybody works (some are small business owners) and understands time and money constraints so there are no worries about less than new paint or whatever. Weeds grow faster than any of us can pull them, but everyone makes an effort.

About 20 minutes from work, mostly driving next to a lake that is just gorgeous. I love the mornings where the sun is just rising and you can see the mountains through the light fog and pink clouds...

All of our neighbors (all but one anyway...) are great people. Most of them have dogs. Lots of kids. All well behaved (dogs & kids!). The neighbor kids (whole group from about four houses) came over when we were moving in to say hi and welcome us. Neighbors see each other doing projects in the yard/garage and walk over to offer help or lend a tool they think will be useful. Lots of contracors so they don't mind (and actually seem to enjoy) that we use power tools and build things. One of the ladies puts together little gifts to bring everyone at Christmas. A few of the other women organize a neighborhood bbq in the summers. We all know the kids and dogs and if something looks off (like the one guy's dogs who got out today), we look out for each other. The great guy across from us found Millie (our little black dog) out one day while we were at work and stuck her back in the yard. He kept an eye out for her until we got home and let us know so we could track down where she'd wiggled out.

The house is less than perfect (by far!) but we're working on it. We'd both also love to have a bigger lot (an acre or so would be nice), but I'd really hate to leave our neighbors.
 

junebug17

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I really like our neighborhood. We've been here 17 years, and our neighbors have been here for a while too. Both families on either side of us are really nice. It's quiet, but everyone is friendly and on good terms with each other. And we're close to stores, so it's a very convenient location too.

ETA: We didn't give up anything to live here, things fell into place for us.
 

armywife13

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MissStepcut|1326604571|3103257 said:
I adore my neighborhood and we definitely give up a lot of sq ft. to live here (we don't even have a real bedroom)! We live in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago, between Michigan Avenue and Lake Michigan. We're 5 blocks away from an art museum, 4 blocks away from Cartier, two blocks from our law school and within walking distance of three grocery stores (we're foodies so this is important). I also adore our building: doorman, dry cleaners, gym with pool and hot tub, attached to a hotel.
I am sooooooo jealous! Chicago is my favorite city and is on the top of my list for places to live when my hubby gets out of the army! I grew up on the south east part of WI, and I would always go to Chicago every chance I got. Was actually visiting family in WI over Christmas and my hubby and I went down there for a few days. A few hour break from him to stroll Cartier with a fellow PSer would have been amazing :naughty:
 

sonnyjane

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I really love our neighborhood (restaurants, shops, proximity to major highways and public transportation and most importantly, work), and like the PP, we didn't have to sacrifice anything to find a nice place here. That said we don't have kids yet, and I don't know very much about the schools around here other than some preliminary research I've done that says they are average. When we have kids, and when they reach the age to go to school, we might have to relocate for those purposes, but for DH and I by ourselves, I love it here.
 

HollyS

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Jul 18, 2007
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We live in the nicest neighborhood in our town, but in the older (first built) section sans any mini-McMansions. It is quiet, neighborly, and friendly. No loud music, cars, etc. Our home is fairly modest compared to some of the homes here, but we have a wooded acre behind us, a pasture across from our front door, and no looming neighbors. It is very well situated.

While we immediately liked the interior of our house as soon as we walked in the first time, the selling point was "Location, location, location".
 

armywife13

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Unfortunately, our neighborhood is very generic and cookie cutter, due to us living on the military post. We are going to have the same issue everywhere we move until we retire, but it is ok. There aren't really restaurants or shops other then our grocery store and a BK because most stores aren't allowed on post. The one major bonus and thing I like is that there are so many children in the neighborhood. When my daughter is a few years older, she will have no problem finding children to play with. Also, because the yards with our homes are so small, there are a to of playgrounds and parks-which is great. I would say there are 3-4 within 2 blocks of our house.
 

MissStepcut

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armywife13|1326605581|3103268 said:
MissStepcut|1326604571|3103257 said:
I adore my neighborhood and we definitely give up a lot of sq ft. to live here (we don't even have a real bedroom)! We live in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago, between Michigan Avenue and Lake Michigan. We're 5 blocks away from an art museum, 4 blocks away from Cartier, two blocks from our law school and within walking distance of three grocery stores (we're foodies so this is important). I also adore our building: doorman, dry cleaners, gym with pool and hot tub, attached to a hotel.
I am sooooooo jealous! Chicago is my favorite city and is on the top of my list for places to live when my hubby gets out of the army! I grew up on the south east part of WI, and I would always go to Chicago every chance I got. Was actually visiting family in WI over Christmas and my hubby and I went down there for a few days. A few hour break from him to stroll Cartier with a fellow PSer would have been amazing :naughty:
Aww, that's a shame. I would definitely love to take a Cartier outing with a PSer... and maybe to Tiffany two blocks up... :Up_to_something:
 

armywife13

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MissStepcut|1326606217|3103277 said:
armywife13|1326605581|3103268 said:
MissStepcut|1326604571|3103257 said:
I adore my neighborhood and we definitely give up a lot of sq ft. to live here (we don't even have a real bedroom)! We live in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago, between Michigan Avenue and Lake Michigan. We're 5 blocks away from an art museum, 4 blocks away from Cartier, two blocks from our law school and within walking distance of three grocery stores (we're foodies so this is important). I also adore our building: doorman, dry cleaners, gym with pool and hot tub, attached to a hotel.
I am sooooooo jealous! Chicago is my favorite city and is on the top of my list for places to live when my hubby gets out of the army! I grew up on the south east part of WI, and I would always go to Chicago every chance I got. Was actually visiting family in WI over Christmas and my hubby and I went down there for a few days. A few hour break from him to stroll Cartier with a fellow PSer would have been amazing :naughty:
Aww, that's a shame. I would definitely love to take a Cartier outing with a PSer... and maybe to Tiffany two blocks up... :Up_to_something:
Don't tempt me. Haha. I am going to be up north for two months...may/June....I may have to swing by some stores... :halo:
 

jaysonsmom

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Mar 13, 2004
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I love my neighborhood....we live in a newer community/city that is totally designed with families in mind. Very close to supermarkets, parks, libraries, and tons of blue-ribbon schools and family recreation (lakes, golf courses, equestrian trails, hiking etc). We are also 30 minutes away from the nearest beach, and 1 hour away from local mountains (for skiing).

We moved into a really wonderful gated tract with lots of families (lots of neighborhood kids) all attending the same school, so my kids love it, they can walk to visit their best friends who coincidentally both live in the same tract. It's also the #2 safest city in California. People with families love this area, but singles would be bored outta their minds. Nothing stays open after 10PM. No bars or clubs nearby!
 

rosetta

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I don't love this neighbourhood we are renting in, but we are trying to save to buy a home somewhere much nicer, so I'm sucking it up for now!
 

Phoenix

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Me me! I LOVE living where we are right now. We have lived in this neighbourhood for the last 11 years on and off (except for the time we lived in Shanghai, when we rented out our home). It's in a nicer neighbourhood/ one of the prime districts in Singapore (but then again practically all of Singapore is very nice and safe and clean). It's about 10 mins drive to the largest shopping belt, 15-20 mins drive to the financial district. We can get to several beach areas in less than half an hour and the airport, on a good day, can be reached also in less than half an hour. We're within walking distance to an MRT/ subway and bus stops. There are quite a few greenery areas close to us that we can go jogging to/ in. Oh yeah, and less than 10 mins walk away, we have a large supermarket, wet market and eating areas as well as a nail place, hairdressers, doctors', dentists' etc. It also has excellent primary and secondary schools as well as the most well known university in SG and several others nearby. There are other amenities closeby too, but I won't bore you! :tongue:

We didn't have to make any sacrifices to be here. We bought just after the last recession in Asia/ Singapore about 6 years ago and got a really good price; though admittedly we had to put most of our then savings into its purchase (but have now got back up savings wise). We have 3,500 sq ft of living area, 5 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms and a nice and lush garden, albeit a bit unkempt! :rodent: We're vey very lucky and still pinch ourselves from time to time that we got so lucky!

What's not to love?! :bigsmile:
 

Skippy123

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Nov 24, 2006
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Anyway, our neighbors are fabulous; there are a couple I would completely feel comfortable leaving the keys with if we needed to. The only sad thing is the neighborhood has people mine and my hubby's age or much older couples and when they pass away it is so heartbreaking. On a happier note we have a cute 4th of July parade, we have block parties and pretty much know all the people in the neighborhood. People are very friendly on our street. I can walk down the street and often here, hi Skippy w/a big wave.

My favorite neighbor moved away to a 6,000 sq ft home in a gated community; I still am sad about them moving 2 mi from us and they miss the neighborhood but they wanted a house double the size, oh well. They do come visit which is nice! The people who moved into their house are super sweet and friendly!

My parents and sister live about 2 mi away too so that helps. Oh and on 2 different occassions 2 different neighbors watched the babies which I was grateful for and they love my babies which is so sweet!! People are always asking about them or when I am walking want me to stop so they can see them. :halo:

Sometimes I want to move to a slightly bigger house but then I often think we might not find a neighborhood like this. In fact a few people who have moved told us (at parties) that their new neighborhoods are nothing like this so it makes it hard to think of selling.
 

Lottie

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Jul 28, 2008
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701
Its great to see how important our sense of community is to all of us.

I also love my neighbourhood! We were due to view another property a little further away when the estate agent called to say that this was coming on the market in the next few days, but I could view it asap. I viewed it within hours of the call and without dh seeing it put in a full price offer - so did someone else and it went to sealed bids. The other viewers bid a little more but we had no chain and I included a note saying how much we loved the road, that we had a young family with another baby on the way and apparently thats what got us the house!

Its a bit of a fixer upper but its a lovely quiet road, we have great neighbours, its in cachement and walking distance to a very good school and at the bottom of the road is a nice park, cycle track and a 10 minute walk to the beach.

Even when I am looking at the green bathroom with 1970's lino stuck to the walls, or the bedroom with the ceiling that looks like christmas icing I still feel really lucky. :bigsmile:
 

purselover

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Sep 20, 2008
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ME ME ME!!! I love, love :love: our neighborhood! We've only lived here since September but I already can't imagine leaving. It is very safe, quiet, and there are a million restaurants, bars, coffee shops, health food stores, shops around us. Plus the best part is we're extremely close to the park so I have great running space around me!
 

Mayk

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Sadly :nono: not me... Love the community and love the house... but we are on a small narrow through street... that has a couple horse farms and some ranch houses but then there are a few eye sores :-o ... it's sad because it's a growing community... Long story how we ended up with it.. but bought at the "HIGHEST" point when houses were lasting on the market about two days.... and had to find a place to live... now... it's lost a lot of value just like everything else.. fortunately.. The good news is lots of privacy and only two close neighbors both with nice homes.. but two lots over... a scary one... again.. fortunately big lots... the yard is big and the house is wonderful..

We will probably sell when (if) the market improves.. it helps that it's a beach community in Florida on the East Coast....
 

missy

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I love our NYC neighborhood so much...so much life and excitement here. There are great restaurants, shops, great museum, huge library, lovely botanic gardens, farmers market, great transportation, movie theaters, friendly people- it really feels like a neighborhood. And we are a few blocks from a huge beautiful park that we love.
I have lived in this neighborhood since 1992 (albeit in different homes) and it has always been a lovely place to live though now it is crazy expensive. We have lived in our current apt since 2004.

Our Jersey Shore beach house is in a much smaller neighborhood and I am not sure about it as of yet since we have not been there too long. It isn't a walking neighborhood like where we live in NYC (and I really love walking neighborhoods) but it is on the beach and does have a small town within walking distance. However, it is really the suburbs, and very different than our neighborhood in NY. What attracted us to the beach house is that it is less than a mile from the high speed ferry into Manhattan so we can go into the city from the beach house whenever we want without driving which is a huge plus. Our original beach house only had the driving or train option which took almost 2 hours. Now we can get to NYC within 35 minutes without driving- huge benefit for us! One of the downsides of the beach house is that our taxes are pretty high but you get what you pay for usually and we really need the proximity to NYC.

So all in all, there are pros and cons to each of the neighborhoods for us and we chose the beach house with that in mind. While we give up the great lively neighborhood we gain the ocean, beach and a more relaxed lifestyle and we get to cycle whenever we want by the ocean with no traffic and so the mix works well for us for now. Eventually we are going to (most likely) sell the NYC apt as cost of living is sky high there. Our monthly maintenance expense (apt is a co-op) is more than most people's mortgages (for those who don't live in expensive cities that is) and I don't think we will be willing to keep up both homes forever- if we ever want to retire that is. So while we are working I love having both neighborhoods and all the differences it brings but with an eye toward the future most likely we will downsize to one home. Though if finances weren't a concern we would keep both homes forever I think.
 

iheartscience

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I absolutely love our neighborhood, and we definitely sacrificed size to live here! This house is around 750 square feet, which is less than half the square footage of the house we owned previously. However, we needed to de-hoard, so I actually love that the house is making us do it! :cheeky: We'll most likely buy in this area in a year or two, which is why we chose to rent here.

There are tons of restaurants, boutiques, coffee shops, pet food stores, grocery stores, etc. within a few blocks, AND it's close to all of the public transportation options we would ever need. It takes me about 20 minutes max to commute to work, including walking to and from the public transportation, and it takes my husband about 25-30 minutes, also including walking to and from.
 

KimberlyH

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I absolutely love where we live. It's an eclectic neighborhood five minutes from downtown with walkability to restaurants, grocery stores, and the largest park in our city. We have (mostly) amazing neighbors. We're moving to another neighborhood about 5 miles away because our house doesn't accomodate us and I'm so sad to be moving away from here. The new neighborhood has similar accesibility to restaurants, a park, etc. but it doesn't have the same feel.
 

Haven

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I LOVE our neighborhood, but I'm still adjusting to some of the people here.

The location and city itself are perfect. We're just outside of the city, we have an amazing little downtown area, we're a mile or two from the lakefront, we have the best outdoor music venue within walking distance, and we have amazing fairs and festivals all summer long.

I grew up in a suburb west of here that was very cookie cutter and generic, and lacked some of the culture we now have in our current place, so I am so so so so happy and blessed to be here.

The people here are different from what I'm used to. Some of them are a bit anti-social, and overall a bit strange. (The women seem desperate to hold on to their youth, and DH gets approached by at least one cougar every time we're at the local gym. So weird.) Not as friendly as I would have hoped. But, then again, we also have some amazing neighbors who are overly friendly and warm, so I suppose that's just people.

We bought our house for the location, and could not be happier.
 

february2003bride

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Yes! Extremely happy with our neighborhood, our home, our neighbors, the schools, the town center, the ammenities, etc. I don't see us moving for several years
 

Jennifer W

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Yes, I love where we live, and although it's a fairly modest little cottage, we won't be moving again. It's in a village, and although there are people around, it's still very secluded. I'm not terribly friendly. After a couple of years in our previous house where we had only one neighbour and no one else for miles around, then that neighbour bought a set of bagpipes, I am very much over having a neighbour. :bigsmile: Great big fence, all round the place. If I want company, I'm forced to go to the pub. ;))
 

luv2sparkle

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I love our house and neighborhood. However, I would never have chosen to move here. Circumstances brought us here. I am not sure
we will stay forever. Once all the kids decide what they want to do with their lives we may move. Not sure, at all. Maybe we will just
travel and come back here. Hard to tell at this point.
 

Asscherhalo_lover

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I'm so glad so many of us are happy where we are! I am really looking forward to owning where we are renting now. I know we can stay here happily when we have a family and after our children are grown since we plan on having an apartment to rent. We'll see what happens in a few years!
 

Pandora II

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Aug 3, 2006
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Love it.

We are close enough to the centre that my husband has a short commute to work (especially as he doesn't get home till after 10pm most nights). We live by the river, the area is low rise, has lots of parks, nature reserves and other green spaces, the shopping and eating scene is okay and is improving all the time.

The downside is that we have only got 850sq ft, 2 bedrooms and no outside space. If we had another 2 rooms then it would be our forever home. Another 2 rooms in this area would be way out of our budget and we would have to move much further from the centre to afford our 'dream' home in terms of the actual building and then it would be very difficult for my husband's job.
 

NOYFB

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Nov 16, 2008
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Not me. I hate my neighborhood. We bought our condo 9 years ago with the intention of buying our dream home in our dream neighborhood within 5 years. Then the market crashed and the company DH worked for went bankrupt, leaving him unemployed for a little while. He's got a great job now, but unfortunately we are stuck here for awhile as we are severely underwater with our mortgage. ;( I LOVE our condo. I just wish we could move it somewhere else. We bought this place because of the space, not because of the neighborhood. We live in Chicago and there's gang activity in our area. It's not as bad as some other areas, but it's bad enough that I wished we lived somewhere else. We have also been the victims of thefts - DH's car got broken into a few years ago and once, one of the people in our building left the garage door open (we own one spot in a 3 car garage) and all of DH's tools were stolen.
 

partgypsy

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I love where we live, which is why we are not planning on moving anytime soon. I am not much of a driver, and I can walk 20 minutes to our downtown where I can walk to work and my husband rides his bike to work. Even closer is a small commercial district where I can walk to the local Whole Foods and local restaurants. We can easily walk our kids to their school. We know a number of people both neighbors and people whose kids also go to the same school, and its really nice being able to walk to people's houses for get togethers or for kid playdates, etc. We are a block away from campus where we walk the dog, and there are tennis courts. Our house is on the small side with a really small backyard, but it suits our life.
I was born in Chicago and then lived there after college. My husband also lived there during and after college. So while some may find our house on the small side, we were more like wow for this price we have this much room and a front and back porch and a little yard this is great! So I guess it all depends on where you are coming from.
 

zoebartlett

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Dec 29, 2006
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12,461
I love our neighborhood. We're in a condo development in a very quiet area of our city. Our development has a beautiful clubhouse with a gym and a pool, so those are nice perks to have. It's a great neighborhood to walk around in, and we always see neighbors walking their dogs or out for a walk or run. Our neighbors are very nice. We don't know them very well, but we chat for a minute if we run into each other outside. Occasionally our condo association has get-togethers at the clubhouse, and those are nice.

Our city has seen a lot of revitalization over the last few years, and although I can't say I LOVE our city, there are certain pockets of it that I like. There's a lot of history here that I never thought too much about while growing up nearby, but it's interesting to learn about now. We're about an hour from lakes and the ocean, and a little less than two hours from the mountains. We're also within 1-2 hours from 3 great cities in different states. All of them have a different vibe, and there's always something to do.
 

DivaDiamond007

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Jun 7, 2007
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1,828
I love my neighborhood and tiny house! We have great neighbors, great schools and everything we need within a 5 minute drive. Except for commuting about 15 minutes to work I could stay in my town and never have to leave. When we were house-hunting I was so hoping that something in our neighborhood would come on the market and be in our price range. Coincidentially, our babysitter lives one block over so I had become familiar with the neighborhood long before we actually moved here!
 
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