I’ve had this house since 2009. My next door neighbor on the south is nuts. Varying degrees of nuts depending on meds and alcohol consumption. We speak periodically. The neighbor on the north is a young couple with two young kids. One of our kids is fascinated by those little boys. We see them around a fair amount, when we are leaving for vacation we tell them and they have our number should anything come up. There are several other “waving” nieghbors in my immediate area with a nearby park where I know a lot of the other folks with dogs. My BFF and her family live about a block away and it is just divine. Kids back and forth. Her husband raced over when I cut myself badly once. I love seeing my friends out and about even when we aren’t planning on being together. We are there so often that my dog knows where to go when I say we are going to the Finnegan’s house (not their real name).
This is an interesting thread. I think we’ve had the opposite experience of many. We didn’t know our neighbors well at all when our kids were small. Although we were outside a lot when we were home, we both worked and our kids went to a daycare, and the same with most of their peers. None of the kids’ friends lived in our neighborhood, and many of them lived out of the town itself. We moved into a brand new development three years ago and know all our new neighbors well. A lot of the families are younger with young children, but there are a few our age or older, and it’s eased our empty nesting to have little ones around. (And my neighbors’ kids are always way more excited to see me than my own kids were at that age!) We have driveway gatherings most weekend nights and many weekend evenings in the warm weather; indoor potlucks in the winter. The ladies gather once a month to play Bunco (and drink and talk); the guys get together every now and then for card games or whatever. The adults are more likely to slingshot water balloons across two yards at each other than the kids. I think there are 22 playing on the adult coed rec softball teams this summer, and 25 couples are planning a vacation together in December. Everyone is welcome and welcome to participate in their own way. So far, very little drama and a lot of fun.
^^Wow, 25 couples on the same trip - that’s crazy! Is it a cruise or something??
So, would anyone compare their neighborhood/street to Wisteria Lane??? 
( if you’re lost, that was the name of the street on Desperate Housewives - one of my all time favorite series!) Do you have or ARE YOU a Brie, Susan, Gabby, Lynette or Edie, etc.??? Or have you aged into a Mrs. McClutsky?? Haha.
We have a nice neighborhood and have lived here about 25 years. We know the neighbors that live across the street from us, the neighbor who lived next door who died in her 90s (now it’s own by a flipper whom we’ve met who is waiting for approvals to demolish and rebuild), the neighbor on the other side of our home (a professor and retired businesswoman who is active in League of Woman Voters). I’ve gotten closer to the neighbors living nearest to us since our kids have moved away.
We also know two of the neighbors who live over the fence on the next street. We wave and smile at the other neighbors on our street but don’t know them well and don’t chat much. We know some of the families in our neighborhood.
When D was young, there was a nice neighbor about 4 houses down the street and she and the other young girl would run back and forth between the houses and play together. She was their extra daughter and she was ours. They moved away once she was a teen and the girls had drifted apart (different schools & friends). We never socialized with the parents but were OK with the kids being close, and drifting as they chose.
I got along pretty well with another neighbor (the wife and I would chat and go for walks in the evening), but they built a fancy new house in a very upscale neighborhood and we’ve mostly lost touch since then. We have seen their nice new house once or twice, but otherwise don’t see them much.
Sadly, S never had any close friends in the neighborhood. He did know one boy that lived down the street from us, but they were never particularly close, tho they were in BScouts together. H and I liked his parents and we did socialize a bit until they moved away to be nearer the wife’s parents who are aging thousands of miles away and need help.
Oh yea, 4 or so houses away, my niece’s BF lives. He comes to visit with and without her to chat with us. We love them and their visits!
" 25 couples are planning a vacation together in December."
Sounds like a good time to rob the neighborhood. 
When we moved to this house my youngest (age 4) went from a neighborhood filled with children to a neighborhood without. Since it was summer no school friends either. My housekeeper took her on a walk around the block. My baby was scouting for friends. She saw a Little Tykes house in a front yard. She walked up to the door, rang the bell and when the mom opened the door my D said, “Hello. My name is…We moved here and I don’t know anyone. I’m so lonely. I saw the doll house…do you have a little girl?”
Yes there was a little girl and they were friends for a few years. And no, we never became friends…just friendly.
^^^ Love it!!
I know all the neighbors and have in every town I ever lived in.
Growing up my mom and dad knew almost every person who lived in our town since they had 5 kids with 5 different sets of friends, my mom worked in the busiest store on the main street and my dad ran the baseball, softball, basketball and football leagues.
On our block of maybe ten homes, 5 of them been have sold in recent years to families our age, 50-60s, and they were sold by people in their 80-90s who’d owned for decades. There is a spry 8+ woman, a couple in their 70s who’ve been here 20+ years, and there was one foreclosure, sold to people in their 60s. Those of us on the south end of the street do socialize a bit, lots of street chats and several neighborhood BBQ/open house get togethers. Everyone has dogs, everyone helps each other by watering plants, checking mail, etc. when people are traveling. I will admit that it is much more fun having the neighbors be our age. I have noticed that the three homes closest to us have residents who put us to shame with their commitment to their yards! Social pressure.
I grew up on a busy street but knew all the neighbors and played with the kids. We all went to elementary, junior high and high school together. I’ve re-connected with some of them via FB. My parents still live in the same house.
My neighborhood is ten years old. The market tanked a year after we bought so the land (which would’ve been phases 3,4 and 5) next to our house sat undeveloped for 7-8 years. A lot of neighbors lost their homes and their homes became short sales. A few homes stayed vacant for several months, even years. Eventually, new neighbors have moved into our block and all the new homes surrounding us have been sold. We don’t know any of our new neighbors and now that our kids are almost grown (16 & 19 yrs), we don’t really care to reach out (I know that sounds bad). That said, I know the neighbor next door. We talk and wave hi as we pull out of our driveways and sometimes we talk over our backyard fence. The only time they’ve come over was to look at our pool to see what kind they wanted to build. I also know my neighbor across the street. I used to take her son to high school when I used to drop off my son, so our conversations revolved around that. Both of our oldest boys have graduated high school so our paths don’t cross that much. The neighbors next to her I only say hello to on Halloween every year when their kids trick or treat at my house. They have a big family with young kids and keep to themselves.
Most of us who are the original owners in phases 1 and 2 built very nice backyards with pools so we tend to enjoy our own backyards and don’t visit one another, lol.
My hubby and I aren’t social with neighbors and we pretty much limit our hosting and entertaining to family members, team parents and our kids’ friends. Now next year, when our son plays varsity basketball, it’s a requirement for the parents to host weekly team dinners including the coaches and parents so we will have to entertain a lot more than we are comfortable doing.
To answer another question - most of my home friends come from the parents of my D’s friends and S17’s friends. O only have a couple of mom friends from the other 3 boys. My closest S17 mom friend lives on a block that is very close and I have met and come to know and like several of HER neighbors. H and I socialize primarily with a couple whose D and ours used to be good friends and another couple we met through them and a third couple that we met through the second couple. Ironically, the first couple has moved but H and I still hang out with the second and third couples. We have another couple that we often meet to hang out with for breakfast that we met when their 3 kids were all in the same class as our corresponding child.
I had an interesting experience with some neighbors last week. A woman who lives down the street fell down and couldn’t get up and another neighbor was the first to respond. I was walking the dog and stopped to see if I could do anything. The husband, who was in the house and couldn’t hear his wife calling to him after she fell, came outside and we convinced him to call 911. The next day, the husband came to my house to tell me what was going on. (His wife had broken her hip and was in surgery.) I think the reason he came to tell me, instead of the more helpful across-the-street neighbor, is that despite his memory problems, he associates me with my house; he played golf with the previous owner, who moved out 28 years ago.
Anyone else notice seasonal neighbor encounter frequency? Up north no one was out in the winter. Her in Florida the converse happens- people stay inside during the hot summers. Like going to the grocery store- stop to chat when running into each other in the parking lot when not frozen or sweating… Up north that meant single digits, not just teens/twenties (the latter is downright balmy).
Definitely, @wis75. I’m in Wisconsin, and I see many more people outside in the summer, mostly doing yard work. As a dog owner, I’m out at least twice per day (and often many times more) in all seasons.
I knew most of my neighbors in my neighborhood that we recently moved from, IF that had a dog Those of us that walked our dogs, would always stand around outside and chat, or walk the dogs together. There were actually a few people that I would wave to and maybe exchange a few pleasantries, but I did not know or remember their names; of course I could remember the dog’s names!
A home was build next door to us three years ago and a younger couple moved in with their 3 year old. We ended up spending a good bit of time outside with them, and their daughter loved to come to our house, or play with our dogs outside. For some reason, our bathroom and water cooler were more appealing than her own. When I would pull into the driveway, she would be at my car door when I got out. It made my husband and I feel very young having her around, and was just the reason we did not want to move into a 55+ community when we downsized. I love watching the kids outside playing; we didn’t want to be the youngsters in a retirement community.
This is a sore spot for me at this time in my life. I do not know most of my neighbors as all the old neighbors moved away. Barely talk to any of the new ones and I live in a neighborhood where houses are very close together. Houses were built 100 or more years ago. People now just build fences.
I live in a very small city. Under 15,000 people. We moved here for a job for H. We have lived here for 28 years but I feel no connection to this place. No family, Kids have moved away except for S who lives with us. But that isn’t good and a whole other story ( told on CC several times) No close friends, little to do, bad weather. And now, not even a friendly neighborhood. It was not always this way.
I’m sorry to hear this, @morrismm. I don’t hang out with my neighbors but we’re generally friendly and I know that makes a difference to my overall sense of comfort.
Well, this morning, H and I and our two kids who are home visiting got to “know” at least one neighbor living a few streets away when we woke early and were waiting for others to appear to play a game 3 streets away from us. We introduced ourselves by our aliases used in the game. We never got to know everyone’s names. 
Our neighborhood has just under 90 homes. I know the names AND faces of at least 55 (just counted in my head, hopefully didn’t skip anyone) and the names OR faces of at least 10 others. The ones I don’t know are mostly ones who have lived here less than 5 of the 16 years I have.
It also helps that we have a neighborhood Facebook page that at least 75 of the families are part of.
I spent some time tonight dealing with what could have turned into an awkward encounter. My closest neighbor is an 80-something widower, and one of his adult sons either is living with him or just spends a lot of time there. The son has a girlfriend, who also is either living with my neighbor or just spending a lot of time there. Both the son and his friend have dogs. The dogs get along with each other but the smaller one is not friendly. I love dogs but I’m afraid to get close to this one. At some point this evening, I realized that I was hearing a lot of barking. I went out and noticed the dogs were outside on their lines, which were tangled together and also around a tree. The dogs couldn’t reach their water dish, the smaller one seemed unhappy, and there are supposed to be thunderstorms tonight. I was concerned I’d have to ask my neighbor to take them inside and that he’d be reluctant to do so; I’m sensing he doesn’t feel comfortable with the smaller dog, either. Fortunately, when I checked an hour ago, the dogs were no longer outside and the girlfriend’s car was gone.