... that in order to avoid the capital gains tax, the seller had the contract drawn up as if we were investing the purchase price in his new real estate venture, in a different state. How he thought he could get by with that, I have no idea, but as soon as I read the contract, we walked out on the closing and took the contract to our lawyer, who was just across the street (small town :). We were advised not to sign the forms, but the seller was so desperate to get the money, he agreed to having a new contract prepared.

After living in the house, we discovered that someone had spray painted the outside of one of the bathtubs the exact color of the interior, to cover rust stains. They had also put new sheetrock on the kitchen walls and the soffit, without first removing the old wallboard or cabinets.

Those were all minor irritations, though, easily worth it for the wonderful time we had raising our kids (and now our grandkids) in this house.

No one liked the previous owner. There was an ugly stockade fence on one side of our property. She put it up to spite the next door neighbor. We took it down and put up a nice white one.

As we started to fix the house, we kept getting compliments from various neighbors. As it turned out, this house was the eyesore of the block. Although it was mowed during showings, the lawn was usually a disaster.

that it really was the perfect house for us. It's so stressful buying what you hope is a forever family home in which to raise our sons who were 20 months old and 6-weeks old at the time of moving in. Well we did it and almost 27 years later and one "gutting-the-house" renovation later we still love it.

The neighbourhood and surrounding mountains with hiking/biking trails and skiing were a constant source of fun and amazement of nature.

That the concrete covering the back yard was up to 8" thick. We knew we were going to have to remove it DIY going in, but didn't think it was going to be such a thick slab!

I have the nosiest, bossiest, most obnoxious next door neighbor ever. He's told me how to not paint my house, dug holes on my lawn, told me how to spread grass seed and how I need to water it everyday "disregarding how much water costs" (Um, I never said anything of the sort, or even thought it!), advised against flowerbeds, told me not to dig up my own misplanted shrubs (the previous folks planted them in full blazing sun and they needed shade. I actually showed him I was basing it on the other shrubs and he agreed they'd be better off. Can't believe he agreed), told me to put in a french drain, a sump pump, and how he's decided I need those things? His house floods. This is all since last October, six months!

He is selling the house as of last week. Woohoo! I hope.

@gyr_falcon

Maybe the next owners of your home will someday post to this complaining about all of that concrete. ;) Seriously though, I'm impressed that you found so many uses for so much concrete.

When we first bought the house (it was a foreclosure, sold "as is") we loved our neighbours to the north. But the guy on the other side was a whole 'nother story. He was like rob333's neighbour. We had a dog for a while and he would spray poor Lucy in her kennel where she couldn't get away, because she barked. My kids came to me screaming one day because they heard her bark once, then she yelped. They looked outside and yelled at him to stop spraying her but he wouldn't. Until I yelled out the window. He thought I was at work. He stole stuff out of our yard. He leaned over our fence so much to see inside the yard, the fence began to lean over. (We finally got that fixed last year). He died alone inside his house and wasn't found for 9 days. His son sold the house and we've been in hell since. First guy had 3 dogs that barked 24/7 and the city wouldn't help us. We lost pay because we didn't get any sleep and had to take the day off work. The next group of kids that lived there were in a band and pracised in the garage, which is 30 feet from my bedroom. Or they would have firepit parties all hours of the night. Next group who lived there were drug dealers with weapons who got busted a week after they moved in. It was scary living next door to them. The next guy wasn't too bad. He had 2 large dogs that rarely made a peep. But he had enough of the new owners and did a midnight move. She sued him. He counter sued. They both won, yet both lost because they both won. ;) The landlady refuses to fix the inside of the house. The drug dealers destroyed the place, which is why the next guy moved. A family moved in a few months later and we warned them before they opened the moving van to empty it into the house. They lasted THREE WEEKS! The house has been empty since September. I saw the landlady talking to people the night before last and it scared the begeebies out of me who she will get in there next. It's been so peaceful for the first time in 23 years. She's only owned the house 5 years!

We had no visible neighbors when we bought this house, but after a few years we did. And then we DID--including the idiot who cut down all the trees between us. My sympathy to those who posted about neighbors from hell, because I can relate. Like Debby, we've had a succession of them. The place must have a revolving door.

How, the neighbors hated the last owner because he was nasty and would neglect and abuse his dogs. The basement and area's by the back door wreaked of dog urine. He was a landscaper by trade but had the ugliest yards and overall was just not a very good person. We've replaced everything we could afford to in order to get his bad karma? out (I can't think of the right word but it was like we could feel the bad things that happened here) Replacing everything he had touched seemed to help.

Our house was a foreclosure too, and while the mechanicals were in great shape, inside there were a couple of small surprises, like the dryer exhaust set up to blow out in the garage attic and dog urine soaked into the subfloors by the doors. A nosey neighbor that we put up with for years but I finally said enough to last year.

A good surprise was that we discovered that other homes in our tiny subdivision have painfully small and aweful kitchens. As it turns out, ours had been updated and expanded so it's larger and more functional than it originally was. And while Oak may not be the popular choice now, our Oak cabinets are gorgeous expecially when compared to what my neighbors have. We also discovered a spot where a family from the 90's had kept the heights of their kids in the garage. We've left it there undisturbed, I don't know them but for some reason I like it being there, I guess because it's part of our home's history.

On the morning after we slept our very first night in this house (on mattresses on the floor) we woke to the sounds of car doors slamming, tense voices. We peeped through the blinds to see several sheriff's vehicles pulled up in front of the house across the street and the boy (a young teenager back then) being taken away in handcuffs. Yikes!

That was not a great intro into the neighborhood!

That is the same guy who was nearly killed in a car accident a while back, still causing problems for his parents, who are wonderful people. Yes, he still lives at home, sigh.

Ha, rhizo, you remind me of several incidents in the first month or so after we bought the house. Before we'd even moved in, a paneled truck was abandoned not far from our driveway. I was working upstairs in the empty house when a sheriff pulled in to see if we knew anything about it. Come to find out, a couple were divorcing, and the husband had absconded with a truck full of their business inventory, which he sold, then ditched the truck on our road.

A week after we moved in, a 4-wheeler was stolen from one of the neighbors on the next road, and brought through the field in front of our house, so the sheriff was again in our driveway asking questions.

A month later, a young man lost control of his car and ran into the ditch across the road from our yard. That was at night, so all the neighbors within a half mile were aware of the flashing lights from two state troopers' cars in our driveway.

What the neighbors must have thought of us!

Fortunately, there were no more incidents and we've had great relationships with the neighbors--one still plows the garden and scrapes the driveway for me.

Thanks, tcufrog. We actually surprised ourselves in being able to repurpose all but 1/2 a construction dumpster worth of the concrete (too small and irregular pieces). It actually worked out for walls only because it was so thick, but it sure was heavy work!

Some of you have had some long bad-neighbor stretches! We have had some too, but not for that long, and consistent, a torture. My sympathies to you.

We discovered from neighbors that the original owner of our 1950's ranch had been mentally ill. She'd had an electrician inspect all of the wiring for transmitters. she had him rewire wall switches so they would not turn on adjacent fixtures, but those on the opposite side of a room. The family room was paneled; one section of paneling had a hidden latch, behind which was a one inch deep cavity with with more paneling behind it. Some of the ceramic tiles in the MBA had a fresher gloss; they were replacements from a final episode. She'd locked herself in the bathroom with a hammer, breaking tiles to find the 'hidden microphones'. When we replaced the furnace, we found several old fashioned (over-sized) twenty dollar bills tucked into the metalwork along the sides. Poor thing.

Current neighbors couldn't establish a good lawn in a large area their backyard. They discovered there was a filled in swimming pool, complete with a deck that had only a few inches of dirt on top of it.

Wow chisue! Wow.

You reminded me: I had forgotten, our last house: The city reran all the sewer pipes for the neighborhood, except ours. We couldn't figure out the drainage issue and a plumber found that out for us. They fixed it all immediately, but we were so embroiled in divorcing, I never submitted the $1600 bill from the plumber to get reimbursed, but I am sure they would've paid that too considering how quickly they remedied that mistake!

We live on a flag lot which backs miles of open acreage. There's a house on either side of our long 213' driveway which cuts between them.

One night the neighbors on the right side of the driveway were scheduled to arrive home. They used the house as a summer home, living & working abroad the rest of the year. The two teenage girls arrived first. Guy on the left side of the driveway yells, "turn the music down" then opened fire with an AK47. The kids were hit with schrapnel and one was hauled away on a stretcher. Yellow crime tape was pulled across my driveway & the house on either side. My brother, his wife and two kids were visiting. I had to lift the crime tape up in the morning so their car could pass under it. He/the shooter, got a good lawyer & 3 years probation for attempted murder.

The shooter has since moved. It's been peaceful for the last 20 years.........

We bought our first house over 35 years ago and we were babes in the woods. First thing we did wrong was have the real estate sales person who was representing the buyers also represent us. Very bad idea. We thought she was a nice middle aged woman who happened to lived 3 doors up the street and we thought she would be our friend. She turned out to be the Wicked Witch from the West. After all the shady things she did, mainly lied to us about everything, we never spoke to her again for the 5 years we lived there. The day we moved in we found the previous owners had removed everything that was removable, including the toilet seats and tp holders. Found out later they tried to remove the roof antenna, but another neighbor saw them and threatened to call the police. They had moved to another state and the Wicked Witch wouldn't give us their new address.

I have lot more stories like the time San Jose city while cleaning out the sewer lines blew raw sewage into our bathrooms and kitchen right after we remodeled. It filled the sinks, tubs and showers, overflowed to cover the whole floor and soaked into the sheetrock walls. We had to gut them and replace floors and walls.

Neighbors were less than ideal. There was a crazy cat lady with dozens of feral cats that lived in the Victorian next to us. She constantly complained that our dogs barked at her cats as they walked along the top board of the fence. The one behind us had 2 Dobermans who barked constantly and tried to jump over the fence every time we were in the backyard. They also threw themselves again the fence, and because it was really old I thought they would break it down and go for us. We stopped spending time in the backyard. The other side had a guy who like to repeatedly reve up his engine outside our bedroom window at 6AM. The lady across the street was the neighborhood gossip and had to know everything about your life. Like what are doing, where are going, when are you going to have kids, how much do you make, etc.

That is why our second house is in the mountains on 2.5 acres. I could tell lots of stories about neighbors we had here but that would be a book after 30 years of living here. At least we have lots of space between us.

Yikes nicole! And caflowerluver! I think I might take a walk this evening and hug all my neighbors.

Good neighbors are hard to find, and I'm counting my blessings after reading this thread. We've lived here 10 years and are cordial with the few that we've met, but most people just stay to themselves.. Even though they aren't the friendliest bunch, they are all quiet and law abiding and the nosey neighbor no longer buts in.

Another surprise for us is how dreadful it is to live on a curve of a busier road, especially in the winter.. Our mailbox is constantly the victim of hit and runs from cars going to fast or sliding on ice. My husband got tired of having to replace the box as well as dig new holes for the post. . Now he just bends the current one back into shape and sticks the pole its on into a bucket of bricks.. It is so sorry looking but can still hold mail. It's also sitting a half block down the road next to a county owned sign and it still manages to get hit every couple of months.

We were so very lucky. We moved to this house in the winter 20 years ago, and our kids were young. We didn't see much of the neighbors since the weather wasn't outdoor-playing weather, so were happily surprised to find 20 kids living on our one block. One neighbor down the street had a prescription drug problem but she pretty much kept to herself. Everyone else was marvelous and I miss those days. People who move in to our neighborhood now have to work long hours, which means we don't really get to know new neighbors.

Our first house was a brand new tract home. We moved in the night before the electric was tuned on. It was dark. All we had were flashlights and a battery camp lamp. We slept on the living room floor in a double sleeping bag. We later discovered the house was literally infested with black widow spiders.

It was a nightmare getting the final walk through punch list fixed. Promises were continually made to bring this/fix that and were broken. Finally in desperation of needing simple items like toilet paper holders DH and I became thieves in the night. I would pop the locks on the side door to the garage and the door leading from garage to house. We simply took what we needed and installed it ourselves. The vinyl floor tile had been laid in the kitchen during cold weather. They laid it before replacing the windows that had been removed because vandals had set the back wall on fire during construction. So all the tile started to pop up and crack once we moved in and walked on it. They tried to blame it on me moping the floor!!! Yes really. The carpets die lots were mixed. They said if was "normal'. So we were young but I am a quick learner. I started playing hardball. Told them our attorney was filing a suit over this. We got a new floor and a new upgraded carpet. When they pulled up the carpet and the padding all sorts of construction debris was under there. Nails, screws, wrappers, tape ends, things like that.

When the empty house we took our necessities from was sold the new neighbors told us they had to delay the move in because the entire garage was covered with webs and black widow spiders. Yeah the one I worked in the dark in during my short B&E "career".

Our present house was easy. Good neighbors, block parties etc. We bought it on a whim in one day when we just stopped to "look". I fell in love with the floor plan and we went straight to the office and claimed the lot.

Then the next door neighbors moved and another family moved in. Still great. Then when they moved here came the neighbors from hell. We are talking a real psychotic witch. She and another neighbor who was a bit nuts previously but not as bad ganged up on me. The other neighbors feared being their next victims so disassociated themselves from me. The neighborhood became a war zone. Horrid lies were spread. The next year was a year of police, fire, code enforcement, CPS, them trying to actually engage a motorcycle club to intimidate me etc. When they called CPS that was when they lost credibility. The principal of the school stood up for us when they tried to lie and use him as a witness to the lie. My DD was traumatized. DS was younger and not as affected. DD still talks about how she was to this day. Then the motorcycle thing was the last straw. Not going into detail but they really really messed up with that. They found out rather quickly I am not your normal, timid, chubby, cookie baking mom I appeared to be. LOL

So they ended up putting a for sale sign in their yard and the DH would leave the house in his car via garage door opener. Her buddy up the street moved shortly. It took them longer to sell. A whole year trapped in their house.

New neighbors were ( still here) great. Old neighbors came out again. This is a great neighborhood once again.

Gosh, how *lucky* I have been! I wonder if it might be to some extent because we have always lived in an established, incorporated town. We may have paid higher taxes, but also had reliable local public services -- Police, Fire, Public Health, Schools, Parks, Streets and Sanitation, Zoning, Building Codes, etc.

No AK47's, although our former alderman, an avid deer hunter, spent one summer rising before dawn to shoot coyotes around the neighborhood. Yes, he was going through people's backyards with his rifle, with his young sons. Hey! Nobody got hurt, right, and he was an elected *official*. Nothing like hearing that *CRACK* before daylight, then having Great White Hunter show you photos of the dead animals on his phone when you met him on the street.

We discovered that the guy we bought the house from was the bad neighbor of the neighborhood. He bragged to us that the in-ground speakers in the back yard were great for parties and they could be loud enough to make ripples in the pool. The neighbors told us that that occurred late into the night almost every weekend throughout the summer, and often week nights as well.

Its relatively easy to be viewed as good neighbor in a neighborhood when the person you are being compared to set such a low bar.

Re: Old deeds. The house my parents bought in 1940 had a deed that prohibited sale to -- shall I say -- people of a 'different' color or creed? Thank goodness that kind of thing is now illegal, even if it does go on.

We've been pretty lucky so far in this house. Maybe it's the bad experiences of the past that gave us some learning experiences in choosing this house. Hopefully, that doesn't change. We have some quirky neighbors, but they are usually more of a source of humor than a problem. We've had the good fortune to move here while the neighborhood was under construction so we're part of the group forming the personality of the neighborhood so it's been nice.

My son and his wife went to view a house. There were 2 rooms that were locked. They went back a second time and took a general contractor with them because they knew some work needed done. This house was listed for $500.000. When they went back the second time there was one room in the basement locked. My son said he needed to see inside that room. Sub pump and things in there. The contractor lulled a thing out of his pocket and opened the door and saw they were growing weed in the house. Pots and pots of it. They knew something was happening in there because of the smell. Now, if you want to sell your house don't you think you would move your dope out!! Yes, they bought the house. My son looked up the history of this house. The people had paid $750.000 for this house. My son will bring it back up to it glory and it will be worth that again. It has 14 acreas and a 40' X 100' barn on the property. Along side the barn is a full court basketball court with the expensive goals on each end. I see lots of fun for our 4 grandkids!!

When we were house hunting in 1974, my husband and I followed the real estate agent's car down a dirt road to an isolated old farm. An isolated old farm was just what we wanted, but I said to my husband, "This place gives me a bad vibe."

We saw several cars parked by the house, so the agent said he would check on the status of the place. We saw two men come to the door and speak with him, and then he came back to our car. "We can't go in there," he said. "They told me they're with the FBI, but I don't know if I believe them."

"I believe them," I said. "Their cars are exactly the same, and so are their suits."

We didn't know what the story was then, but it wasn't long before we learned that was the house where Patty Hearst had been held captive.

In case you've forgotten her story

(Forgive me for deviating a bit from the topic.)

Wow Susan!

I remember the Patty Hearst incident.

Chisue, the house I bought in Baltimore in 1985 had a deed exactly like that. I was shocked to see those words, even though they were stricken through. I asked about it and the realtor said it had to stay that way because it was the original deed. Discomforting to say the least!!!

In the covenant to my parents house, it said blacks were not allowed to live there. They could work in the development from 7AM -5PM, but then must leave. Their house was built in 1950!! Can you believe this...and in the north. This went on when I was a child.

The 2nd time we mowed the lawn at our previous home, the neighbor across the street came over and told me "thank you for mowing." Seems the people we bought the house from rarely mowed the front lawn, and the back even less!

We had 2 different sets of neighbors (both sides) say odd things like: 1) "We're just glad you're so normal!" and 2) "Well, you didn't buy the neighborhood meth house, but..." Made us wonder what went on here...evidently, the younger daughters (adults) were a mess.

Re: Covenants. Remember the film "Gentlemen's Agreement". That was *ages* ago, but all kinds of discrimination live on.

Re: Pot. DS bought a house in an unincorporated area from a couple with one grown child. They were introduced as a 'lovely couple' who fostered children for Catholic Charities.

One of the bedroom doors was not a solid door, but glass, like a French door. When DS stripped wallpaper, he found children's underwear stuffed into the drywall behind the wallpaper.

The house had an 'odor' that this dumb cluck couldn't place. I thought the wife was a bit 'simple' -- sort of giddy. There was an empty greenhouse off the garage. Our building inspector noted that the vent for the gas fired water heater in the garage was disconnected. This was a safety hazard for people, but it did encourage faster growth for *plants*.

Lukkirish: I call that weird bad karma "Bad juju" (from the web's Urban Dictionary)

Cleaning my new house thoroughly during the first week I was there I pulled out a drawer in the dining room built in and discovered a sheaf of hand writing exercise papers with the name of the child and date in the 1950s. it was like a treasure trove to me because it helped me work on house genealogy. But it made me realize that I was the first owner in 60 years to pull out that drawer, and I know now that there were at least 4 other families in the house during that time. And I don't even consider myself a hyper clean person.

After we bought our home, I discovered it was the perfect place for me and that I never want to live anywhere else.

Sue

Thanks Pammy!. Yes, juju, that's it! The feeling of neglected and abused animals haunted (and upset) me for quite a long time, but this house is now a much loved home with animals that are spoiled rotten! :c)

Rats. I don't know why the house had rats, and they never came back after we got rid of them. But it was a bit of a shock to discover them after we moved in. We made the mistake of putting rat poison in the basement--a mistake because you can't specify where the rats go to die. We found them in some unexpected (and unwelcome) places. Ugh.

But we're in the country, and they were country rats. They looked like large mice. They didn't have the look of urban rats, so that was one good thing.

PS: The neighbors told us one of the previous owners of our house was the first black family in the county. We later found out the "black family" was actually from India. :-)

We pulled into the driveway after the closing and saw a huge (6 ft.) pile of stuff that they didn't take with them: bedding, a lamp, old clothes, etc. in the driveway. We did insist that they be responsible for getting rid of it all. Into the house, found scatter rugs over a section of upstairs bathroom floor outside the shower. Loose and missing tiles and some floor rot. Apparently the inspector missed that! They left NO toilet paper in either bathroom. The frilly curtains were filthy and had to be thrown out. PO had a wood stove which they used a lot. The chimney pipe was disconnected; its a wonder they all lived!

Not all big deals, but sure were unexpected. Whenever I have moved, I've always left TP, hand soap, paper towels, paper plates and cups and plastic utensils. Just common courtesy I thought.

Our house had a big sliding bolt lock on the inside of the master bedroom door. We never met the sellers, but how creepy.

Okay, it's been about 5 years since my next door neighbour died and renters from hell have been moving in and out of the house.

UPDATE: a new family moved in next door on Thursday night! First people in the house since September. Both my husband and my son (at different times) warned them about their new slumlord. This family has 8 children. In a small 3 bedroom house. With one bathroom. I don't think all the kids are living there, I heard one of the kids mention his nephew to my son so I think some are old enough to have their own place. I do hope these people are better than everyone who has lived there. I did see they are painting the living room so they're trying to fix it up a bit inside. Both my husband and son warned them of all the mold in the basement. They said they didn't see any, but they told my husband the walls all have panelling on them downstairs. My husband told them that's new and wonders if they just covered it up. They are going to get city inspectors in to see if they can use their meters to detect mold.

Wish us luck. With this many kids and our bedroom window just 10 feet from their back yard, I'm worried I won't get any sleep this summer when school is out. I get up at 5:15 for work so I'm in bed usually by 9....

If they seem like decent people, give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe if they see you are decent and kind, they will try to be considerate as well.

How about bringing over a casserole or cookies? This can open the door up for future communication. You're "that nice lady next door that brought us cookies when we moved in."

x worked for a while at a deed search co...at the time I was still in los angeles...some went as far back to the days of Spanish king giving land grants...amazing...current home in mi deed only says it was part of a farm...

Found a dead bolt lock leading up to the attic !! Yikes, what were they trying to keep from coming down the long stairs?

Ugh, I have neighbor problems too, although not when I moved in. House very close to mine has become a rental and each renter brings their own set of difficulties, with no concern about others around them, maybe because they won't be there long. The current neighbor shines a floodlight in my bedroom window, despite being politely asked if they could turn it off at night. Across the street lives totally trashy people. Their house has never had a new roof or paint in the 42 years I have lived here. There's a wreck of a car in the driveway and the backyard is a trash dump. This is in the midst of a truly lovely neighborhood.

When we fist moved in I probably should have noticed the boulder sticking up through the basement crawl space!

I met another neighbor, and when I told him about our neighbor selling the house, he said I made his day. That's sad that people think that about him. He told me all kinds of horror stories. Worse than mine. I hope good people end up inhabiting the house.

It's true, neighbors are everything. We owned a weekend home for many years. Everyone was always respectful, until the a family bought that liked to party. With this family came the sister"s family, so always two families every weekend!

We wound up selling to them for a very high price. They tore it down so they could have more yard space.

My take away from that experience is that privacy is so important.

We are lucky so far here. Both sides of me are quiet and we have a large yard that faces a wooded area, so no neighbors there. But, one side is owned by a bank and is a rental for their relocated employees.