For our girls, I have 2 crates - a puppy sized one and a larger one. They start off in the little crate and move up as they grow. They make them now with dividers you can use instead of getting 2.
I make sure the puppy's bed fills the crate, and I don't leave water or anything else in there (expect for a warm wheatie teddy bear at night when they're very little). I also drape a big fleece over the top of it to keep out cold air and make it feel as safe and cosy as possible. Puppies are not brilliant at maintaining their own body temperature, so I keep absolutely on the ball with warmth and so on for the first 4 weeks or so.
The puppy will choose to go into the crate to rest pretty quickly, but you'll have to teach it what it's all about in the beginning. I do it by cuddling the puppy to sleep and then popping it into the crate with a tiny training treat as it wakes up in the transfer bit. I am very soft though 
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You'll have to take the puppy outside every half hour or so and after every meal, every sleep and every game during the day - and house training should be cracked really quickly. You'll quickly spot the wee signals too which will help.
For the crate training to work when they're tiny, you will have to take the puppy outside for a wee every 3 hours during the night - and let it out every time it squeaks. We find that we also have to cuddle to tiny puppies back to sleep at night before they're popped back into the crate otherwise they get very stressed and cry for hours.
There is a school of thought that says you should ignore the crying otherwise they learn that crying equals attention - but I'm not with it. I really am soft and don't want my dogs stressed; and I want them to know that if they cry, I'll go to them.
Whatever you do, don't use paper or puppy pads - you'll have to do house training twice. As soon as the puppy has learned to wee on a pad/paper, it'll have to learn something new and have to wee outside instead. Take the dog outside, pick a word to use when it wees and repeat it everytime the puppy wees and pretty soon it'll wee on command. Same goes with poo.
With what you're planning - I'd make sure that I didn't leave the puppy alone during the first week. That would be far to much to ask of it. It'll be a tiny, vulnerable thing when it arrives and it will need a week to settle in a bit, learn to love it's crate and stop doing Mr Whippy poo.
Then gently teach it about being left. Don't make a fuss when you leave, just go out for a minute and then with no fuss, come back in. Repeat at random during the day. Build it up to 2 minutes, then 3, and so on. You'll be able to gauge how your puppy copes yourself and build up the time accordingly.
With your neighbour problem, you need to be absolutely sure your puppy learns about separation with no anxiety or stress which will help avoid noise while you're away.
hth. Daisy.