i put an offer in on a house in an area im kind of familiar with but never lived there. Anyway, viewed the house, second viewing, all good. Quiet. A few small kids playing in the street. Nothing worried me. Could see there were no house sales on the estate, great people have stayed must be good. I went late at night on a couple of occasions both times really quiet. No one about. Just as i was driving out of the estate, i saw a house window boarded up and a warning sign on the door saying the house was alarmed. Already my gut was telling me something wasnt right. To add, this was a small newish (11years old) estate, where the houses were all so close together. I went home and trawled facebook and google searching for the area. Nothing. Street checker came back with risk of “medium” for the postcode but i also checked my own small quiet village and that was also medium for crime (never hear of any goings on). So i set up a fake profile on facebook and posted on the local fb pages asking what the area was like. The amount of comments was ridiculous. I got private messages about the person in the house boarded up being a victim of anti social behaviour, beaten up in the street, house egged and window kicked in. This had all come to a climax 2 weeks ago, but had been rumbling on for months, the poor person had felt she needed to leave even though she had lived there peacefully over 10 years. This was due to council tenants who moved in a few months ago and made her life hell according to those who contacted me. So in the time id viewed, offer accepted, id been back an earlier time for a drive around too, nothing to report, this was my last chance to check before signing contracts. Im so glad i asked the question!