House hunting can be exciting—and frustrating. It can take anywhere from four weeks to six months (or longer!) to find and buy a house, and there’s likely going to be some compromise along the way. Your wish list will meet your budget, your patience will meet its limits, and before you know it you’re happily putting in an offer on a house that doesn’t have something you originally thought was a must-have.
One aspect of a house that people sometimes overlook is what’s next door. While you can’t always know what kind of neighbors are living in homes next to yours, there are some other kinds of properties that might seem innocuous or even kind of cool at first—but aren’t. If you’re considering buying a house with one of these six things next door, think twice; they come with downsides you might not immediately see.
Park
Living next door to a park might seem kind of great at first—it’s like having an enormous backyard that someone else takes care of. But living next door to a large public space comes with a long list of potential downsides:
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Privacy. You might have large numbers of people around your property at all times, making noise or even encroaching on your space.
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Safety. There is some evidence that crime rates are higher in areas near public parks in urban areas.
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Wildlife. Parks, even those in dense urban areas, attract and support a wide range of critters. Which is great, until those critters start invading your property in search of snacks, shelter, or just out of curiosity.
If you have small children, easy access to a park might be enough of a benefit to shift your thinking—but keep the downsides in mind.
Gas station
When I was a kid, my family lived a few doors away from a gas station that leaked gasoline from its underground tanks for years, eventually forcing the whole block to move out while they excavated our backyards and pumped all the fuel out. Living next door to a gas station may not lead to that kind of disaster, but you’ll likely find yourself dealing with a lot of other problems:
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Fumes. Gasoline, oil, and other by-products of car fueling and repair services will definitely affect the air quality around your home—and those fumes, as you might imagine, aren’t good for you.
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Traffic. Hopefully you enjoy traffic, because gas stations often generate a lot of it.
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Noise. Gasoline doesn’t magically grow in those underground tanks—and deliveries typically occur late at night when they won’t disrupt peak business hours, which may interrupt your sleep or quiet time.
Empty lot
An empty lot might not seem like an immediate problem. No neighbors means no disputes and no noise, after all, and if you’re buying a house in a residential area your worst-case scenario is probably a new house and new neighbors. But there are several reasons you should think twice about moving in next to a vacant lot:
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Resale value. An empty lot is one thing—but if you don’t know what’s going to wind up being built there, you can’t predict how it might impact your home’s value. If something undesirable gets built there, you might pay the price when you try to sell.
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Construction. An empty lot represents the possibility that you’ll be living next door to a construction site for a long time—maybe a lot longer than you think. That means noise, dust, debris, potential damage to your home, and a laundry list of other irritations and inconveniences.
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Non-residential projects. If you’re considering taking a chance on a house with an empty lot next door, check the zoning. Don’t assume a house will be built there—it might be a business with a potentially negative impact on your quality of life.
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Maintenance (or lack of it). Empty lots can be sources of frustration if they become overgrown and invade your side of the property line, or if they’re left unattended and become a haven for animals or illicit activities.
Church
Living next to a church means having godly folks as neighbors, right? What could possibly go wrong?
Plenty, actually. Aside from traffic and noise problems stemming from regular large gatherings like services and special occasions like weddings (which won’t seem so special when you live through at least one each and every weekend), churches tend to be really noisy neighbors. There are bells; there is often live music during services; and churches often run community programs such as homeless shelters or kitchens that you might support but not enjoy living next to. If you like sleeping in on the weekends, avoid buying a house next to a church of any denomination, is what I’m saying.
Coffee shop
Living next door to a cute coffee shop might seem like an advantage: You can roll out of bed and have a piping hot cup of coffee and a muffin in your hands within moments! But be careful: If the coffee shop roasts its own beans, the smell of roasting coffee can be overwhelming.
Even if the shop doesn’t actually roast its beans on site, you will be smelling coffee all day, every day, for as long as you live in the house. It might not seem so bad at first, but ask yourself if you might someday get sick of it—and be unable to get away from it.
School
If you have kids, finding a house near the local schools is often a priority. But “near” doesn’t necessarily mean “next door to.” It’s easy to imagine the problems that can arise from having a few hundred children unleashed on your neighborhood several times a day every day, including:
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Traffic. Dropping off and picking up kids snarls traffic and inspires parents to do a lot of dodgy things with their cars, like parking in blatantly illegal ways or even in your driveway.
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Noise. Several hundred children. What else do you need to know?
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Trash and trespassing. Large groups of kids can be a menace to any neighborhood. Kids will sit on your front steps to hang out with friends, invade your front yard, and leave trash behind.