Did your neighbors welcome you? / Did you Introduce yourselves in any special way?

iteachkids81 · November 2013

Hey fellow home buyers.

I was just wondering if your neighbors welcomed you to the neighborhood when you moved? And if so how?

The house we are buying has been vacant for a year. When we had the inspection last week, the seller's realtor came, and she mentioned that whenever she had been over there the neighbors had been asking about who was moving in. I guess she was friends with a couple of the neighbors.

I know that everyone has different experiences, and our situation is kind of unique- We are due to close on Dec 13, but will still have our apt (15 minutes away) until the end of Feb. So we won't be taking up residence in the new place until probably mid-January, although we plan to be over there almost daily from the time we close, just moving things slowly and taking care of fixing the small things before we move furniture in.

Conversely to that, did you introduce yourselves to your neighbors in any special way? I know it's the holiday season. The street we are moving to is a dead end street with one street that branches off of it that is also a dead end street. I feel like we could introduce ourselves to the closest neighbors, but how?

I was thinking of maybe making cookies and delivering a small bag of cookies to them, but I'm not sure if that's a great idea or not.

Or should I just let things develop organically? - say hi to the lady walking her dog when I go to get the mail? that kind of thing?

suggestions?

jessica490 · November 2013

They should be bringing you cookies! Haha. We live in a condo complex, and a few of our bldg neighbors introduced themselves to us when we were moving in, getting the mail, cleaning up out front/back. I'm not very outgoing so I didn't actively go looking for an introduction, we just kindof bumped into people. I assume when we buy a house it will be the same thing. We will meet people walking the dog or doing yardwork. But if you feel you are the more outgoing type, then by all means walk around the neighborhood on the weekends when people are usually outside, but I wouldn't go delivering baked goods to them.

G2SoccerTaz · November 2013

We slowly met our neighbors as we were moving in and cleaning the yard up. Our house also sat empty for a while. None of the neighbors came to the front door to introduce themselves.

I am sure as they see people moving in and doing work on the house and yard, they might make there way over to say hi and introduce themselves.

Janessadawn · November 2013

We moved in 4 weeks ago, and so far we've met 2, but that was on moving day and none since. I was hoping to meet a bunch of them on Halloween (at least those who have kids), but none of them came to the door or if they did, they were in a hurry so only stayed long enough for their kid to get candy. I'm not sure we would have met the 2 we did had 1 of them not been mowing our lawn when we moved in. He hadn't been told that the house sold and he'd been taking care of the lawn while it was vacant and on the market. I hoped that more will introduce themselves but none have so far. Maybe they will eventually but I'm not going to go out of my way. Like another poster said, they really should be the ones making you cookies. Traditionally, I think this is how new neighbors were welcomed, but it isn't common in today's world. I think going about it organically is best.

SURFERxGIRL · November 2013

We moved into our place a few months ago and so far I've only met our neighbors directly to the left and right of us. The neighbor on the left moved in about a month after we did and we happened to be working in the front yard when his moving truck pulled in. Our neighbor to the right we met a few weeks ago when they came by asking if we could jump start their car. We wave whenever we see eachother but that's about it. People in our neighborhood don't really spend much time outside, you just see people pull into the garage after work and that's about it. There are always lots of kids playing outside though so I have gotten to know a few of them (we met a ton on Halloween, but no adults really).

DH and I decided it was best to just let things develop naturally although we were a bit bummed that no one even stopped by on their walks or just popped by to say hi while we were outside (we spent a lot of time working on the neglected front yard after we moved in). Every other place I've moved into I've had at least a couple of people introduce themselves, and I was hoping when we moved here that we'd get to experience a bit of that southern hospitality, haha. I guess that sort of stuff is just rare nowadays.

kasmith1 · November 2013

We threw a house warming and invited the entire street. Most of the neighbors came and it was a great way to meet them. We did just printed out a little invite and put it in their mailboxes.

Sillygirl45 · November 2013

I met most my neighbors in passing. No one really came to the door to say "hello" and some of the neighbors don't acknowledge us at all. That was a little disappointing but the ones I've met are really nice. I'm with @jessica490...aren't they supposed to bring me cookies?

iteachkids81 · November 2013

DH said he was thinking of also hosting a housewarming type party just to introduce ourselves to the neighbors.

We were actually over at the house on Sunday taking some measurements in preparation for buying curtains and barstools for the kitchen island, and there was an open house across the street. While I waited for our realtor to get there to let us in, DH went over to the open house and it turns out the realtor selling that house lives just down the street. Apparently there is only one house on the street with a child, and the rest of the 'hood is older people with kids off in college. She said most of the neighbors would be excited to have more young kids in the neighborhood. Guess we better get on that then

So I think maybe if we host a low-key appetizers and wine kind of party when we first get settled maybe people might drop by to chat a little.

Sillygirl45 · November 2013

iteachkids81 said:

DH said he was thinking of also hosting a housewarming type party just to introduce ourselves to the neighbors.
We were actually over at the house on Sunday taking some measurements in preparation for buying curtains and barstools for the kitchen island, and there was an open house across the street. While I waited for our realtor to get there to let us in, DH went over to the open house and it turns out the realtor selling that house lives just down the street. Apparently there is only one house on the street with a child, and the rest of the 'hood is older people with kids off in college. She said most of the neighbors would be excited to have more young kids in the neighborhood. Guess we better get on that then

So I think maybe if we host a low-key appetizers and wine kind of party when we first get settled maybe people might drop by to chat a little.

That's a great idea. I love checking out houses, I would come just to see the house!

xmobergx · December 2013

I was sad because I bought a house at the end of a small dead end as well and pictured it like stepford where they would all bring cookies and welcome me. Nope- not one. The guy across the street often sits in his front yard throwing a ball for his dog so I just walked over there to pet the dog and say hello. The other 3 next door and diagonally I still haven't really met. We have waved driving by but that's it, don't know their names (and it's been 3 years). So when a young couple my age bought the house directly next door I immediately went and knocked on their door and said hello and don't be shy if you ever need anything. They were really nice but still haven't seen them since lol.

Did your neighbors welcome you? / Did you Introduce yourselves in any special way?

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