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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

.....to think people are too bloody precious about being 'overlooked' when looking for a new house?

69 replies

deepheat · 10/02/2011 08:31

OK, this might just be me, but when you see people on those Property shows suddenly realise that they would have neighbours within 20 metres and start spouting about being "overlooked" and a lack of privacy, does anyone else get a little wound up?

I like chatting to my neighbours over the garden fence. In fact, I'm of the opinion that most people are generally quite nice actually. Why would being as far away from other humans as possible be a big selling point of a house to anyone other than an antisocial git? Or a naturist? Or a couple who just like to shag in the garden a lot?

OP posts:

expatinscotland · 10/02/2011 10:05

Which is why they must be even more minted, Mackerel, because, having lived in such a place (it was not ours, we were house-sitting for a friend whilst he worked abroad), the upkeep on such places is enormous.

GetOrfMoiLand · 10/02/2011 10:05

I am an antisocial bastard - I am bordered on two sides by a graveyard, the best neighbours ever.

To one side is a neighbour who I have never spoken to, 10 foot high fences.

We have neighbours over the road who we nod and smile at, that is about as friendly as I am going to get.

Mind you, have found out why they nod and smile at me. DP came in all shocked faced once, whislt i was in the shower. The shower is at the front of the house with frosted glass in the windows and a white blind. Apparently you could see me very clearly in all my glory stark naked in the shower. I had been showering for 2 years in full view of the neighbourhood.

Oh well

LoopyLoopsPoopaScoop · 10/02/2011 10:06

Grumpala - whose garden do you shag in then? ("Why would you want to shag in your own garden?")

oxfordlass · 10/02/2011 10:17

Our neighbour recently had an extension, and their new bathroom was at the front of the house. At first, they didn't have curtains or blinds, and their neighbours whose house faced theirs complained!! They said that they would get up early to have a cup of tea and see our neighbour in all his glory, and that it put them off their breakfast!

littlebylittle · 10/02/2011 10:23

I guess the normal people are a bit shy to come forward for these shows now. Bit like you wouldn't put your home forward for homes and gardens. Don't think it's Kirsty and phil's faults. I sense they'd rather be helping people with lower expectations.

northerngirl41 · 10/02/2011 10:27

It doesn't annoy me as much as the people who make ridiculous comments about the decor or easily changed things like "Oh the house is perfect, in the right location, but I didn't like the colour of the downstairs loo"

Well change it, you stupid idiot! You could get it done in gold leaf and it still wouldn't cost you anywhere near as much as finding a house which ticked all of your ridiculously long "must have" list.

Laquitar · 10/02/2011 10:29

Expat, the 'crash pad' is 'shag pad'.

And what about those who want a house in Spain or Croatia aswell? 'we don't know the place but we like it'.

expatinscotland · 10/02/2011 13:28

Laquitar, yes, I always suspected it was where hubby went to shag his mistress and get away from his utter bitch of a wife.

LordofthePies · 10/02/2011 13:37

When we moved into our house, it was pretty private and thats how I liked it.

Unfortunately,we then got new neighbours who spent nearly 3 years ( and apparently the best part of a quarter of a million quid) putting in a loft conversion with huge windows back and side of roofline at least 10 foot high and then infilling all along the side of the house so that their windows are almost on the boundary fence.

Maybe this sounds petty but the roof windows completely overlook us and relations between us are not good now because of the complete lack of consideration we had throughout the building work.

To be honest, I would never have bought our house as it is now..........

StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 10/02/2011 14:27

I think you are being unreasonable, OP - it is a matter of personal choice. Just because you prefer/like something, doesn't mean the rest of us have to agree.

I like a certain amount of privacy - not having other people able to look right into my house, not feeling that people can watch everything I do in the garden - but that is just my personal choice - if you are happy to be close to your neighbours, that is great too.

girlywhirly · 10/02/2011 14:55

Not a problem of being overlooked at our house, but overhearing and being overheard as next door's patio and ours are next to each other only separated by a fence. And if we retreat to the other patio at the bottom of the garden to catch late afternoon/early evening sun in summer, we risk overhearing her clients in the cabin who come for counselling, again just on the other side of the fence!

We were amused when we first moved to this house, and we started doing quite a bit to the garden, we overheard the neighbour informing her husband that they would have to do up their garden too! By that, she meant he would do all the physical hard work and she would do the planting!

smashingtime · 10/02/2011 16:31

Ha Ha - my own personal bugbear at the moment!!

When we bought our house our garden was really private with massive leylandii at the back. Neighbours cut them down suddenly last year and now their windows look directly into the back of our house and garden. I cried for weeks after they did it and am now dreading the summer especially as my kids like to strip off in the garden and use the paddling pool!

I wouldn't buy our house the way it is now and wonder if we'll ever sell it again tbh. I have some fast growing trees but won't be quick enough for me.

I love my privacy...

zukiecat · 10/02/2011 16:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

expatinscotland · 10/02/2011 17:15

I look at property porn online all the time (I'm skint, we live in a rural area and my husband often works in the evenings, so it's cheap entertainment).

But whenever I see a lovely house, and a bunch of fields around it, my first thought is, 'What's that field going to be in 5 years? 10? 20?' Because if it's not in a national park or conservation area, I'd not buy such a place in a million years unless it came with all that land round it.

I lived in a rented flat next to a graveyard.

The reason I wouldn't again isn't because of ghosts, but drunk teens.

openerofjars · 10/02/2011 18:52

I would love to move to somewhere with its own garden. It's a bugger being an antisocial bastard when you share a yard with two other households. I've had to hide in the kitchen on occasion because I don't fancy a conversation while taking the bin out.

And I love the teenager across the way who hangs out of his velux window and shouts orders at the other neighbourhood kids. He's ace.

The house is still on the market, if anyone's interested? No?

I'm going to move to the top of a mountain when we finally sell up and overlook EVERYBODY.

BeatriceLaBranche · 10/02/2011 19:37

I love the ones where they give a list of demands (swimming pool, sun lounge, three bed en suite, massive kitchen etc), and then say. We want it for 50p.

FellatioNelson · 11/02/2011 18:01

I'm with Getorf on this. The fewer neighbours the better, for me. Neighbours are over-rated. I'm very much a civil 'Hello' and nod/smile kinda girl. I'll lend out the occasional pint of milk but I DO NOT want you in my house for endless cups of tea, getting under my feet and invading my privacy. Whenever I view a house my main criterion is always 'how far away am I from other houses?'

thegreatpudenda · 11/02/2011 18:29

YANBU. I don't give a shit if I'm overlooked. I don't have a problem with being looked at by other people.

onceamai · 11/02/2011 18:38

It's a matter of choice and budget. We live in a terrace but aren't overlooked at the back because of longish gardens so have about 200 feet between the houses. In my old terrace which was much smaller and the houses were closer together, there was only about 80 feet. And I kid you not but the people who bought the house next door to that one invited us for a drink after a week and said they thought the fence was too low - it was low - about 3.5 feet but they knew that when they bought the house. They were terribly upset when we said we expected to move in 6 months and weren't prepared to spend 500 on a new 6 foot fence - in fact she ignored us from that point.

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