Things you like/dislike about your current home/neighborhood?

[H54]

Not enough diversity.

 

[Kirby]

Like: Close to work
Dislike: Everything else

 

[Balt]

Well, the police recently ran a sting on my street and discovered that within 10 minutes of leaving a bicycle unlocked/unattended, someone will be along to steal it. That's not even an average, it happened in every case. It's really just a small % of losers/thieves who have traveled over from a few blocks away, though, and most people on my street are actually okay. This area is very block-to-block in terms of nice/dangerous areas.

Other than that, the neighborhood is okay. The buildings are older and not in the best shape, but that's true in many parts of the city. I'll probably move out to the 'burbs in a couple of years, though. Getting asked for money/change several times a day just gets old. Some are annoyingly aggressive about it, too, like they think I owe them a toll.

 

[vi edit]

The only thing I really dislike is not being on public water & sewer. I knew that before I built, but I didn't know my well would cost as much as it did. Over $20,000 for water. That I can't drink because it's salty. And can't run through R/O because there's too much air in the lines and will break an R/O machine. And it stops working if you lose power.

Sucks. But the lot, location, and neighbors are worth it. Lot values would be double the price if we had public utilities. At least I can get cable internet.

 

[Imp]

Too close to 50 bars on the main street a 2 minute walk away. Street/neighbourhood becomes a drunk-highway after 1am, and many neighbours have experienced such things as puke/constipated dumps in yards, drunks sleeping it off on lawns, etc.

Houses on the side streets are too close together, too small, no/crap parking.

Neighbours all like to drive SUVs (cause there's so much off-roading downtown), and use up the limited number of parking spaces.

 

[KentState]

Likes:

Unique enough homes and landscaping and lots for a sub-division.
Golf course.
Quiet and isolated from traffic.
Can leave doors unlocked and garage door open.
Minimal teenage kids.
MILFS.
People are considerate and rarely have huge parties or make much noise after 11pm.
No overnight parking on roads.
Most neighbors garage cars.

Dislikes:

Houses are too close together.
Lot of Indian neighbors don't want anything to do with us.
We don't have a basement.
Sidewalks only on one side of road.

 

[child of wonder]

It's in the middle of nowhere. 45 miles to work, 20 miles to Walmart, 30 miles to restaurants shopping. Loved it when we moved here. Now it is difficult with kids since we can't stop anywhere on the way home during the week. Vehicle costs are a bit much too.

Looking to move to the outskirts of the suburbs. We would be driving 15k miles a year instead of 30k. The downside hear is there would be a lot more people, and the houses are much closer together. At least the neighborhood we ware looking at has a good HOA and keeps the riff-raff out.

I face a similar problem. Our house is 30 miles from my office, 20 miles to a large grocery store or Wal-Mart/Target, and 20+ miles to any good shopping centers. As a consultant, I sometimes work with clients that are 60 miles away.

However, I often get to work from home, pay is excellent and I get mileage, and I love my job. Can't complain. The school district in our small town is phenomenal compared to most in the Twin Cities area. Plus we like being a comfortable distance outside the big city where housing prices are much lower. Our $190,000 house would be $300,000 if we lived just 25 miles northeast.

 

[shortylickens]

Illegals. Wanna-be gangsters.
The HOA.
Mostly that the HOA doesnt keep out illegals and wanna-be gangsters but does harass me as much as possible anyway.

 

[jteef]

pros:
close to the beach
no poor neighbors

cons:
wrong side of the main thoroughfare so can't walk / golf cart to the beach.
floorplan is meh
my irrigation well water is full of iron so my house, sidewalk and driveway are all rusty.

 

[JimmiG]

It is what it is.. an apartment complex / "new town" on the outskirts of the city. Didn't exactly choose it because it was the ultimate place to live - I just needed something quickly and cheaply.

+Very green and close to nature
+Big shopping mall with general stores, gym, bath, pubs, three big supermarkets etc. within walking distance
+Frequent buses to downtown (every 5-7 minutes during peak hours)
+Dedicated bicycle lanes all the way into town
+Nice view and lots of light in my 8th floor apartment

-Crime -it's not so bad compared to most of the world, but I wouldn't leave my bicycle out over night
-Poor reputation
-Need to spend 20 minutes on a crowded bus every time you want to go to the city
-Whiny neighbors that complain about everything when they themselves have kids that wake up and start waging war at 5:30AM on a Sunday morning
-Soulless with no historic downtown or buildings from before the 1960's

 

[HardcoreRobot]

pros:
close to work, shopping, airport, major metro area

cons:
unfriendly minorities (asian + indian, which is funny bc my wife is asian and our ex-roommate was indian). does not make it feel like a community.
parking - work-at-homes and retirees ninja both the resident and guest spaces, so never any for real visitors

 

[Slew Foot]

Pros:
Really nice houses with successful neighbors
Great schools
Weather is awesome
Traffic is manageable

Cons
Expensive (though it keeps the undesirables out)
Lot sizes are a touch small

 

[cyclistca]

Pros:
All conveniences within walking distance
Super quiet especially considering I live right beside downtown
Rioters stay downtown

Cons
Real-estate is expensive. I would love to have a small house with a garage but unfortunately I'm not a millionaire.
My neighbor smokes and is an ass about it

 

[shortylickens]

My neighbor smokes and is an ass about it

 

[Anubis]

1. Yes. The area we live in has about five colleges and two universities within 15 miles. And we live right near the largest one (13-15,000 students I think).

UoM Orono?

 

[Engineer]

For most part, like home and area. Would prefer dual zone heat/AC and more insulation on house (6 inch walls with more insulation). Would like larger laundry room.

Also like the fact that it's paid for (other than taxes and insurance).

One neighbor is a nutjob -he has been abducted by aliens at least 3 times and is president of the local alien society not to mention that he believes all jet trails are chemicals being sprayed on us by the government. No, I'm not making this stuff up.

 

[MartyMcFly3]

Likes:
It's MY house.

Decent sized yard which will be good when I get a dog or soon to be wifey and I have kids.

On one of the quietest streets in the subdivision, minus a few kids and barking dogs. (Hardly any traffic)

My office.

Laundry is upstairs with master bedroom.

Plenty of room for me and the fiancee. (4 bedroom, 2.5 bath)

Dislikes:
The fucking wind. It's very open where I live, and the wind we get makes putting up a lot of exterior decorations impossible because they won't last. Everything in the backyard constantly gets blown over if not weighed down.

Wish the garage was a bit larger. It's a 2 car garage, but with all my tools, our bikes, and all the other junk we have, it's really a 1 car garage.

Homeowner's Association and their nazi ideals.

 

[1sikbITCH]

Like:

-15 minutes from downtown (work)
-Plenty of street parking and my own pad in the back
-Plenty of street parking and my own pad in the back - deserved 2 mentions
-Our street is like a little crime free enclave. Everyone owns their house and we all care about the neighborhood. Lots of old people home all day watching everything.
-Small wildlife = squirrels, rabbits, hawks, lots of small birds for the wife to watch. We've had an opossum and a fox in our yard, and once the neighbors told me a deer jumped our fence and thrashed around until it jumped back out. It was a looong way from the woods though.
-No rats (this is HUGE considering we are in the city)
-3 bedrooms and a finished basement for just my wife and I = long marriage
-decent yard
-Almost all the neighbors

Dislikes:
-My 15 minute ride to work takes me through The Wire.
-nowhere near a good fishing hole
-I still want to live in some sort of mountainous territory with lots of wildlife - Alaska, Northwest Territories, Northwest US maybe
-House is old and we need a lot of money for repairs. This is not so much a dislike of the house, but a dislike of living paycheck to paycheck.

I could probably stay here forever if I could just work it so I could go camping and fishing for a week every year. It would keep the wife happy.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I bought my house in 2005. I had the sense it was at the height of the market (it was), and I was making a lot less money than I am now. I bought a small house that was on the low end of my price range even at the income I had at the time, in a blue collar/middle class neighborhood. I am OK with it but other things being equal I'd just as soon have spent another $50K to have a house I'd be more comfortable in for the long haul. Actually I would certainly have been better off renting for a year or two, but that logic would not hold true in today's market.

 

[duragezic]

Just moved into an apartment today actually. Pretty big complex but seems nice enough.

2 bedroom, 2 bath (1000 sq ft) is WAY too much for just myself. I have no furniture or anything either, heh. But I couldn't get into any good 1 bedroom in the complexes I checked until mid July which would have meant another expensive couple of weeks in a motel.

I'll let y'all know after I've lived there for a bit. 🙂

 

[Dirigible]

Like:
Can walk to most everything I want in a normal week.
Can take excellent public transit to all kinds of other stuff.
Lots of events and festivals.
Close to lots of mountain biking trails. Mountain biking is my main hobby.
Close to a major university. Eye candy always around. Lots of smart people live nearby. Contributes to the "events and festivals" item.
Weather is nearly perfect (coastal CA).
House is over 100 years old. It's cool and has all sorts of detail.
Lot is very small. Very little yard upkeep.

Don't like:
Lots are very small (mine is 3600sf). This is likely required to allow everything to be close enough for walking. But would make it hard to add anything on to my house, does not allow much storage space.
Parking. My car is currently far enough away that I'll ride a bike to it when I want to drive somewhere. Would be more annoying but I rarely drive anywhere, so rarely need to park.
Expensive as all get out.

 

[Krynj]

UoM Orono?

Yep.