Congratulations! You’ve found your dream home. Whether you’re buying new, building new or buying a lived in home in a recent development, you have a lot to do and could probably use a few helpful tips where to begin.
#1 – Come Prepared With Your Resume And Previous Addresses.
I don’t want to say to fill out job and rental applications, but I will. It will save you time. Print a copy of these along with a full resume and introductory cover letter for every neighbor you meet when you move in. Sure, you may have grown up in a city environment or an established suburb where you sometimes went your whole life without ever talking to some of the people on your street and/or were able to be in your yard without drawing a crowd. You’re in a new housing development so those days are long gone.
You might enjoy your privacy like many people and think you’re entitled to it. Well, I don’t know who it is you think you are, but you’re horribly mistaken. These people have every right to know exactly what you do at your job, where your work place is located, where you were born and raised and how many houses you’ve owned along with addresses. Providing your work history will help them understand how you can afford the house you just bought and the cars you own along with any high end grills, lawn mowers, snow blowers, four wheelers or snowmobiles you own. You don’t want to get off on the wrong foot by making these poor people lose sleep trying to figure this out. In addition, you may work from home. This really makes people uncomfortable. They need to know what you do all day that allows you to be effective at work from your house and will probably need some additional detail about your set up. You’re going to have to give up this info anyway, so better to put it in writing and hand it out up front. I’d say you’ll be covered if you hit all the mailboxes on your street and any attached cul de sacs.
#2 – Run Your Projects By Your Neighbors FIRST.
You’ve moved into your house and now want to make it a home by tailoring it to fit your family’s lifestyle. You probably think your timeline for such projects, who you use and how much you pay is your business. You are wrong again my friend. Your neighbors must have a chance to know your project plan and schedule. First, they need to know if you’re getting something they don’t have yet. Your projects no longer just affect you. You’re in a development now. You can’t be showing up your neighbors by getting something done that they haven’t yet or even worse, getting something BETTER.
It’s not fair.
Give them at least two months’ notice so they can prepare by determining whether they want to catch up and arrange for the same project. If anything changes in your schedule after you’ve released it to them, make sure you provide them with an update as soon as possible. They shouldn’t have to be blindsided when they come home from work one day and find that you have new landscaping and that you didn’t even have the courtesy to give them enough lead time to request the day off so they could supervise. If this occurs, be prepared with an apology and an explanation as to why you said one thing and did another.
Second, they will want to find out who you’re using. Have this info on hand with phone numbers. This will enable them to have your contractor give them a quote for the same work on their house, whether they need it or not, so they will have an idea how much you’re spending. You can’t put your neighbors in the tough spot of NOT having this information when they encounter other neighbors who want to discuss your progress.
#3 – Have Your Child Bearing History and Plan Written Out.
This is another thing it might be helpful to write up and have multiple copies printed and ready to go. You will need to share the following:
· How many children you have
· Whether existing children were planned
· Names/Addresses of OBs who delivered your children (again, it’s not fair for you to have a better doctor than any neighbors who have children in the future)
· Children’s ages, birth dates, types of delivery
· A list of your children’s teachers to date
· Extracurricular activities your children are involved in (include names and phone numbers for all organizations)
· Your children’s pediatrician (you can’t have a better one than your neighbors’ kids)
· Plans to have any children in the future (if you don’t have any already but will, be prepared to provide all the info above as it occurs)
· If you do not plan to have children, be prepared to explain why.
o If you have one child and do not plan to have any more, be prepared to explain why you’re depriving your child of siblings and leaving them to bear the burden of your care in your old age and your death alone.
#4 – Explain Any Activity That May Impact Your Parking Habits
Your neighbors will quickly become familiar with your vehicles and how you typically park them. If someone in your household is going out of town and a car will be unmoved or gone for several days, please notify your neighbors ahead of time. It will save them the agony of having to watch and wonder what is going on and why and avoid this conversation:
Neighbor: “Was someone sick at your house last week?”
Resident: “No, why do you ask?”
Neighbor: “Well, I noticed your car was gone and then another car was parked in the driveway one night, so I thought someone might be sick”.
Resident: “Oh not at all. I went out of town for work and my sister came over Wednesday night to hang out with my wife.”
You can see where it had to be frustrating for the neighbor to have to speculate and be wrong about the reason for the unexpected car in the driveway and unusual parking situation. One thing to note here, it’s also important to provide exact dates, travel destinations and expected outcome of any business trips.
#5 – Be Prepared To Socialize At All Times
You probably have this fantasy about spending the day outside in your beautiful back yard with your family doing whatever it is that makes your family happy. Just you and your family. This is an unrealistic expectation that you should get out of your mind immediately. I’ll flat out tell you, you simply don’t have the right to have private time outdoors at any time. Be prepared to discuss items 1-4 of this list with any neighbors with property attached to yours at all times. In addition, if you have to walk outside to get your newspaper, the mail, your garbage cans, etc, make sure you’re going outside only when you have time to engage in at least a 10 minute discussion with anyone who may be walking by or who may give you a shout from their garage. If the later occurs, don’t be startled. You’ll need to learn to be approached and spoken to as soon as you step outside. If anyone else is home, please know you’re being watched and there is most likely someone at all times lying in wait for you to step outside so you can provide them with information about the topics we have covered here.
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