Ah slater, I know that one. I remember going to my car on a Monday morning and finding dried on (*ahem*) sick all over every panel on the driver side of my car. It took a few goes through the car wash to get it off - it was like concrete.

Fortunately, it's only happened once, and I have left my car accidentally unlocked for entire weekends and it's never been touched, so I guess for parking on the street, that's not so bad.

Things that mainly put us off when we were viewing were:

Bad layouts - some places had huge amounts of wasted space that would have cost a lot to rectify.
Lack of parking - either on or off street would keep me happy
Location - not a fan of living near the "local shops" .. we have 1 down the road from us, which I can cope with.. but it's when you have about 10 shops and people gather outside.
Tiny kitchen.

bclark
I'm with you on kids screaming - when I lived on a council estate summers were unbearable - our house had another next door and then was surrounded by a green hence they would play on all summer long. You could hardly hear the TV some evenings especially if you had the back door and the windows open.
Cul de sacs yes - my last place was on one. It fine until the yobs/drug dealers discovered it.
It's funny though - I got used to the noise at my last place - railway next door, dodgy cash and carry, surrounded by blocks with slamming doors, cars at all hours, neighbours going to and fro and never noticed until I moved to a quieter area.
Not enough electric sockets would be a turn-off - I know the minimum I need to run things off.

bclark - did you not go out to play when you were a child? We moan about kids not exercising and sitting in front of the tv all day. Would you rather they were cooped up inside? I'm struggling to answer you without getting really angry. They are children for goodness sake.

Location is the only thing that would prevent me from viewing a property. Would never live on a main road again, the noise from drunken adults and excessively loud car stereos was far worse than the noise of the kids playing where i live now. i also find the general tidiness of an area is a good indication ie. nicely kept gardens, lack of litter etc. cosmetic problems with the property wouldnt be a problem as long as the layout was ok.

quote:

bclark - did you not go out to play when you were a child? We moan about kids not exercising and sitting in front of the tv all day. Would you rather they were cooped up inside? I'm struggling to answer you without getting really angry. They are children for goodness sake.

I agree donjc - maybe I'm not well off enough to be fussy but I like seeing kids playing outside on the green on my estate. It's a safe place for them, and it makes me feel safer to have people around - cheaper and friendlier than living in one of those 'gated communities' much loved by Prescott...
Also, local kids 'hanging around' have often helped direct couriers up to our flat, which I'm very happy about as it has meant I got my birthday prezzie on time and they've also helped me carry my bike down when the lift broke! Don't just assume 'kids' are 'yobs' please even on inner city council estates...

I agree donjc - maybe I'm not well off enough to be fussy but I like seeing kids playing outside on the green on my estate. It's a safe place for them, and it makes me feel safer to have people around - cheaper and friendlier than living in one of those 'gated communities' much loved by Prescott...
Also, local kids 'hanging around' have often helped direct couriers up to our flat, which I'm very happy about as it has meant I got my birthday prezzie on time and they've also helped me carry my bike down when the lift broke! Don't just assume 'kids' are 'yobs' please even on inner city council estates...

oops sorry for double post computer playing up

donjc, yes I did go out to play when I was a kid. However I was always taught not to scream. My Mother always taught me that I should only scream if something was really wrong. The kids in my old street would just scream constantly and their parents would never come and check on them. For all they knew they could be getting abducted or have broken a leg.

I also had respect for other people. I would talk to my friends rather than shout and I wouldn't run across their property or kick a ball against their car for fun. I would also not give them cheek if they complained about the above. I would also play in my back garden, and before you say anything yes they have hot back gardens.

As for struggling not to get angry because they are children well right back at you. I am struggling not to get angry because it is this kind of attitude that raises the kind of kids that people always complain about. If you let them run wild and never try and teach them respect for other people or their property then they turn into adults withour respect.

Oh and by the way, they were not playing on a green outside my house. They were just playing on the street, among cars and on other people gardens. Only two of the group (there were about nine regulars) actually lived there. I wasn't the only one who felt like it either. The Police were called a couple of times by other neighbours, although they did very little.

This was quite a nice 'middle class' area with high house prices. I was only renting but if I had sold my house I would have felt guilty about lettign someone buy into that 'Hell'

I don't mind kids playing, but they seem to pick on my house for knocking on the door and running off. I know kids are kids and they do this (I did in my time), but it's always my door and it irritates me! But then I think it's cos I'm end terrace.

I don't mind kids playing on our road - I find it quite amusing. The best was when we got wheelie bins for the first time - endless hours of fun putting the little ones in the wheelie bins and wheeling them up and down!

I'm sure that as I child I managed to annoy some adults in some way, because of the 'children should be seen and not heard' attitude. Yes, we played in the streets and no doubt got in the way a bit, but there are much worse things in this world than living in the 'hell' of a 'nice middle-class' neighbourhood with kids. This does not mean I will bring up my children to be disrespectful. But hopefully I'm a tolerant adult too.

We live on a large park that is always full of kids making a noise. I like the sound of children playing and we are trying to buy a house in the area because of the feeling that it is a safe neighbourhood.

And I find it hard to believe that as a child you never shouted to your friends.

We had a fair bit of the knocking on the door and running away with our house when I was little. We were right on the street and had a dog that went mental each time it happened, so it just made the kids do it more!

Apologies in advance for Off Topic-ness but anyway...
We live in a little terrace in a small town and the kids play in the back alley but mostly they're quite quiet - the odd ball in the garden but they're always polite when they ask for it back. However, the parent of some of these kids, when he calls them in for dinner!!! OMG it could wake the whole town up!

Also we get church bells, I like them, boyf doesn't. It takes all sorts.

Best one ever though, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra were doing an open air concert last year in the park nearby. It was superb, I was sat outside on my decking in my tiny little garden with a glass of wine and the orchestra sounded as if they were right outside by back gate. It was brilliant!

Totally unexpected but brilliant.

I do not have anything against kids playing if they are doing it in the right places. You live on a large park which gives the kids room to play and it is a place disgnated for this. If I lived on a park then I would not have a problem. As I stated though I lived on a cul de sac. When the kids ran around playing among the cars they caused damage, they left ball marks. I also stated that they actually ran across my, and other peoples, front gardens.

I do not have a children should be seen and not heard attitude. I love kids and spend a lot of time looking after my Fiance's nephew and my own young cousin. The point is that allowing your children to run wild on other people's property and playing over areas that aren't designated for playing is not fair. I take my cousin to the park and I play with them in their back garden . I would never dream of ruining other people's way of life, after all why should the way your children behave effect other people? They are not my kid's why should I be happy with them runing my peace but worse of all Wrestling on my front garden, climbing on my parked car (on my drive) and kicking footballs against cars?

As I said I was not the only one in the neighbourhood who was bothered by it. When I said 'Hell' I was not saying it lightly. There is nothing worse than not being able to relax in your own home because you are constantly on edge due to noise and anti-social behaviour. I am not the only person I know who has had this problem.

Maybe some parents shoudld think about this. As I said I am 25 years old and no Victor Meldrew but there are limits. It would be nice if some parents would think about this when opening the door and letting their kids go out to play. I have no problem with kids playing out, I used to do it, just let them know that they should have respect for others.

The point I was trying to make all along is that I would be out off by loads of kids playing outside in the street. I would not buy a house if I turned up for a viewing and saw this.

The main things that would put me off- are:-
Smell- I am very squeamish and couldn't bear the thought of buying the place then having to rip out all the carpets, wall-paper etc. We had to do up my dad's house after he had had a dog and six cats living there - and I never ever want that sensation of being covered in animal hairs ever again.
Noisy neighbours- having put up, with this in rented property, I fully intend to cruise our prospective neighbourhood at all hours of the night and day.

I would also agree with some of the earlier posters that car parking is a major issue. As an ever greater number of households have at least two cars it can be a nightmare to get a space if you haven't got designated parking. When I was looking we wer put off by houses with no off street parking.

OK that's fair enough but unfortunately it's probably not something you can control, as the week after you buy somewhere with no visible kids a new family could move in next door to you.

Also, my parents house is on a cul-de-sac and the kids are always out in the street. There are no problems whatsoever, so you may find that this was just an unlucky set of circumstances.

Kids playing - With us it started with them playing on the green, then they would deliberately kick balls into our garden and then hang over or climb over fence shouting at us to get the ball so they could kick it in again. Then it became darts thrown into the garden at the pets, climbing onto the wall to shout things and treaten us if we weren;t quick enough retrieving the ball us before leading onto breaking windows over and over again as well as throwing eggs at the house, climbing onto the roof to throw things down the chimney, graffiti, pushing their friends in supermarket trollies at the walls of our house amongst other things. I know I've wandered off topic but my experience then was not just kids playing or having harmless fun - it was an experience I have never forgotten and hope never to repeat. My dad questioned one of the parents once after their son stole our rabbits and was merely handed them back with the man saying 'Oh we were thinking of eating them.' I know kids have to play somewhere and it may be safer for them to be near home rather than a public space but that place was something else. And even worse the younger kids were used by the older kids to cause damage as they were underage and could escape trouble. No more estates for me.

I 100% believe that it is down to the parents. As I said earlier I used to play out and I was told how to behave by my parents. They weren't really that strict but I knew that if anyone ever complained about me then I would be in big trouble.

The parents of the kids behaving badly on my old street just did not care. I complained a couple of times and I know other neighbours did. They always refused to believe anything despite the number of people doing it. Kids are just kids they would say. I once caught four of them in my back garden playing football because' the game had ended up there'! When I went to complain the mother simply said that she was sure he was sorry. She called him over and he refused to say sorry and was cheeky to her and me. She just let him run off and that was that. He had learned a valuable lesson that day, that whatever he did he would get away with it. Therefore badly behaved. I think that the parents were not interested just as long as they were out of their hair.

I can guarantee you that not all parents are like that, but this one experience will, I think, always put me off buying a house where there are lots of kids playing around.

Ok here's an example but i'm going back quite a few years now

My sis in law asked 3 agents to view her property, the first two came before she had a chance to tidy the kids' bedrooms and told her to put it up for £39K, the next one came after she had cleaned up and told her to put it on the market for £42.5K.

She did this and her house was sold to the first buyer for the asking price.

I used to live in a ground floor flat in a cul de sac. The boys playing outside were only about ten years old but they were aggressive and intimidating.

On day we heard an almighty smashing sound, yup, they'd put their football through my flatmates bedroom window. If she'd been in there, she could have been seriously hurt. Glass everywhere, us all shaking with fright.

Boys in question thought it was hilarious - refused to apologise, continued to play football outside our house despite the fact there was a park only one street away.

They knocked in another window over the road too. I think they began to see it as a badge of respect.

Even now, thinking back on it makes me

Does anyone live in a nice cul-de-sac?!
Am disappointed to hear that they can cause problems - I thought it would be a good idea as it would mean less traffic and less passers-by.
Hubbie and I are looking at a couple of houses at the weekend which are in cul-de-sacs. We won't mind kids as we'll hopefully have our own (although they'll be nice of course
I suppose we'll just keep our eyes on the viewings to see if there are any problems.