Dishing on the Rotten Neighbors

In this Web 2.0 era, home buyers can find a good number of mashups to help them search for their dream home. Useful sites like Zillow and Trulia have been mentioned by our Tech Advisors before, both of which provide valuable information to the public at no cost. These type of sites can pull up information like pricing trends, homes for sale in the area, the neighborhood's popularity, and other bits; but what they won't tell you is what to expect from the neighbors.

One mashup that's not afraid to set the stage for dishing neighbors is Rotten Neighbor. We've all had bad neighbors at some point, but never a public forum like this one to vent our frustrations. Entering your zip code displays a Google Map pointing to various locations where you're likely to find undesirable neighbors. You can add your own complaint or compliment to the database by clicking the "Contribute to This Map" link found in the results page.

The site's open to everyone, but the most active cities seem to be Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Houston, and Miami. Since anyone can make anonymous comments that are not always moderated, it's hard to know if the accusations are legitimate or pure fabrications. I'd take some of the comments with a grain of salt, although I did come across alarming details about convicted felons, and men accused of "stalking young girls." And that was in an upscale neighborhood!

The site is a little slow at times, and you'll have to zoom in to see the name of the city when there's a lot of overcrowding. As of this post, I was only able to see an aerial view of the neighborhood when zoomed in all the way, but the site plans to implement a Google's Street View at some point so you can get a better look at the neighbor's house. It's an interesting tool for those scouting out the neighborhood, or planning their upcoming Halloween route. You certainly want to avoid a run-in with a rotten neighbor.