To buy my first house two minutes down the street from traveller housing initiative?

[MelMar1]

Please give me advice.
I’m sale agreed on a new build house in Dublin . I found out that there is a new traveller housing initiative going in right across the road from me. Please don’t say I’m being snobby I’m really not. I’ve just heard stories of anti social behaviour etc. I know there’s always some lovely people but I’m nervous.

Do I give the house up because of this? It’s a substantial amount of houses for the traveller scheme all together - six very large detached four bedroom homes. It is two minutes walk from me. I drove up to the development to see and the traveller housing initiative is not in front of me directly as I thought. It is not in front of or behind me but about 2 minutes walk down the road. I can only see gable end of one of the houses from mine. Not directly facing.
I need to sign contacts in 2 days and I am so torn.
Otherwise it’s perfect house for me. With this information are you saying yes or no?

At least with threads like these, the racists reveal themselves.

Why pay hundreds of thousands to blight your life, suffer unknown amounts of stress, and lose tens of thousands when reselling, if you ever can?
I would not take the risk myself.

Dont do it op. Im sure the majority dont cause issues, but whenever they take up camp in the local park we get leaflets through our door from the police with reminders about security, and there's a suspicious rise in theft, mugging, dogs being snatched etc.

Make of that what you will.

I live a few minutes away from a halting site for 25 years, never ever had any trouble, lovely families who would do anything for anyone.

A few years ago we had a traveller family move into the estate and for 2 years there was nothing but trouble, kids bullied other kids, vans blocking the roads day and night, constant fighting, house wrecked, rubbish piled up attracting rats. They weren't from the same clan as the travellers from the halting site. Two years later the council evicted them.

If you're having doubts it would probably be best you pull out. Your new neighbours could be the nicest people on earth or possibly nightmare one.

We lived for years a few doors down from a semi-permanent gypsy site. I went to school with the kids. Zero trouble. The place was immaculate, the people were polite and largely kept themselves to themselves. It’s been there years now, a mix of static caravans and prefab houses. Horses in an adjacent field.

I live near a settled traveller site. We don't have any trouble at all. They're just neighbours. The kids go to our local school, one boy plays on the school football team with ds. We share lifts, ds has been to their house, the lad has been here. The place is as tidy as any other place in the street. There are no horses running around anywhere.

I guess we're lucky, reading some of the stories on here.

Think that’s why the previous sale fell through & why what you’ve been prob sold as a rare amazing one off cancellation is actually proof of how hard it will be to sell yourself one day. Awful to have got so close but think you’re going to have to pull out now while you still can.

No

I wouldn't do it.

PS I lived in a small town with a huge traveller illegal settlement. It was a ghetto that operated by its own rules, laws & customs. Delivery & postal service refused to go to it. Integration was actively fought against. Violence, crime & antisocial behaviour was part of its culture. Biased opinion I’m afraid. And when I say ghetto - there was no expense spared on the homes they illegally built for themselves. Might be very different if it’s a controlled amount of houses & small number of families. But….

So you lived near lots of lovely families, with no trouble.

Then a horrible family moved in, were trouble, and got evicted.

What the actual fuck has any of this got to do with them being travellers?

Thanks for sharing. No, this is normal.

I live about two minutes from settled travellers (just one family but a couple of generations, I think) in the U.K.. Their site is an absolute shit tip. And they keep building on it without permission. They treat their animals horrendously and have been prosecuted for it. Last year they started an illegal rubbish dump on their land with huge fires billowing acrid smoke across the community. They burned for about two weeks before the authorities finally got them put out. If one family can do that I would be reluctant to live near several.

Obviously many travellers are lovely people but if you live near a traveller community there are enough bad ones to make your life a misery. The animal abuse, abandoned horses, starved scarred lurchers.The police presence. The refusal within the community itself to accept any problem exists and anyone complaining is racist or intolerant.

I’ve had very recent, similar experience and suffered countless damage and loss previously. The traveller site is about a mile from where we live and work and it’s absolutely filthy outside of their area. OP, I’m sure you’ve made up your mind by now but as others have said. It’s difficult to know which way this will pan out - don’t take any chances.

I would not go head with the purchase. I’m sorry. My dad lived a street away from one family of settled Travellers, the trouble they brought to the area was on another level, and that was only one family. The mam was lovely, but the offspring, cousins, uncles and aunts, extended family, were something else, the fights, the screaming and roaring, the animals, the gardai being unable to do anything about it. I don’t think it is worth it nd even more so that it is multiple families, if there is a family death, a funeral, holy communion, wedding, they seem to be out to flipping kill each other.

Living near settled travellers is a totally different experience to having an illegal encampment spring up for a short period in your local park.

Obviously, no one should be camping illegally anywhere - but even if you attempted to do so respectfully (many don't), you'd still block the park from use, leave mess etc.

You'll find most people treat their homes much better than their temporary place of stay - as a former cleaner of both hotels and homes I can vouch for this.

The estate agent will have lied about the reason for the previous buyer pulling out.

@MelMar1
OP, the previous buyer's loan didn't fall through. DB is an estate agent and he says that is estate agent code for something that went wrong that they don't want to disclose to the next buyer. Ultimately the estate agent needs to sell the house. He/she isn't going to tell you the real reason. But the last buyer pulled out for the same reason you're worried about.
You won't be able to sell this house again, when it comes to moving. By then, the area will be known for problems with the travellers.
Don't buy it.
And count your blessings that you found out 2 days before it all went through.

Surely there's a halfway house here? Pull up in car parks or whatever and tidy up after yourselves? And don't turn a blind eye to crime? Then miraculously you may find prejudice lessens.

It isn't, 'live in a house and be universally accepted' or 'live in public spaces and totally trash them just because we can'.

@JollyGreenSleeves It’s not racist calling out the behaviour of people.
People should be free to live how they want, until / unless it impacts others around them.
I genuinely don’t care if someone lives in a caravan or social housing, but I do care when their behaviour impacts others

My opinion is based on fact and lived experience.

I’m sure some travellers aren’t all like this, but this is not my experience, and you only need to look at the percentage of replies that say no in response to the OP, not because of racism but because of actual experiences which may be not too dissimilar to mine.
I would confidently say that if you asked anyone where I used to live if they were a problem, the answer would be a resounding yes.

You don't know that though - you're just guessing that's the reason.

No. Simply because it’s your first house that you will likely want to sell in a few years. This newer development (which may increase in size over the years) will mean less potential buyers. Generally with a first house you can make a little money and ‘move up the ladder’. I think this will block that option.

The amount of prejudice on this thread is unbelievable.

Lovely
just lovely