House backing onto small park

[Greenfairydust]

I have seen two really nice houses in different streets that back onto a small green space at the bottom of the gardens.

There is a little playground that has just been refurbished further up and a patch of green used by people to walk their dogs. It is probably used as well for kids to play football.

Is it a risky to consider these houses?

This is a small town and there are no trees in the park so it pretty exposed and surrounded by residential dwelling everywhere but I am thinking that it could still be a location for some anti-social behaviour.

It is a shame because there is a really nice fixer-upper that the family really wants to sell as the owner had to go into a care home so will accept a low offer on.

It really depends on the area and what the park is generally used for. We live facing a park and, apart from some teens messing on the outdoor exercise equipment occasionally, we have no issues at all. It’s a big park with a play area that’s busy during the day, but it’s a ‘nice’ area and no problems with antisocial behaviour.

My friend used to back onto a smaller park in a less-nice part of the city and moved after a year as she couldn’t stand the big gangs of kids that hung out there at all hours.

Is there someone you know that lives nearby that could advise you?

We back onto a park (it's locked up after dark) . We actually picked our house over one on the opposite side that didn't.
Our park has a kids playground, outdoor exercise for the oldies, tennis courts and some green space. There are lots of trees though. Personally we thought it was perfect as hate the idea of being overlooked in all directions. We are london based and have never experienced antisocial behaviour.

I always go back to see the house I’m buying at different times if the day. I would probably go back to the park on a friday evening and Saturday evening

I back onto a largish park. At the other end it has football pitches, a play area and a skate park. I'm also right next to an alley that leads to the road. It was a plus for me, as my kids can go out the back gate if they need more space for a kick about and we'd like to get a dog in the future. Also it means we're unoverlooked.

We're not in the best area, but we've never had any trouble really. A bit of bad language from kids as they walk past, but that's all really. We also get lots of free footballs 😂

Houses that back onto the park go for a premium near us. But the most antisocial thing is kids throwing Waitrose eggs occasionally.

As a pp said, visit the area at different times of the day, especially weekend evenings. Bear in mind, that teenagers hang out more/later in warmer months though, so current levels of activity might not give you the full picture.

Our last house was a new-build, backing onto a conservation area. Despite not coming up during the planning/purchase process, they built a small play area right behind our house about six months after we moved in and it was an absolute nightmare. It attracted teens who were destructive and noisy every Friday and Saturday night into the small hours and we only had a small garden with plain 6ft fence panels, so they were very close by and being a new-build had very little planting to screen them/their noise.

Our current house has a really long back garden, which also backs onto a park, but the play area is right over the other side. Both our garden and the park have lots of mature trees/hedging around the borders. We’ve been here over 20 years and never had any problems with anti-social behaviour. It is a really desirable area though, whereas the first house was a decent area, bordering a pretty rough area.

(Would it be rather more anti social if the kids were throwing eggs from Aldi??)

You can’t always tell. I lived near a park (locked at night) and there was no noise or anti-social behaviour at all for several years then suddenly there was a period where we would hear screaming and messing about late at night. I assume it was teenagers who had climbed the gate.

Also I was followed home through the park once in broad daylight by a ‘flasher’ (are they still called that?) which also put me off.

Thank you everyone.

Some mixed feedback :)

I think I am not going to take the risk for now and just keep looking.

We lived in a rental house which was next to a park - our property ran alongside one side of the park. It was just a green space with goals each end, so intended for recreational football. People walked their dogs there & young children would play.
But the football players were the worst - despite having a wire fence of approximately 10ms we'd regularly get balls in the garden, smashing plant pots, damaging plants, bouncing off our conservatory roof, our cars in the drive - plus balls would end up kicked out on to the road.
It attracted a group of really unpleasant people who would drink, smoke, do drugs (needles were found) & shout, swear etc Police were called several times.
Personally I'd avoid it as it was a absolute nightmare.