Developing good relationships with neighbors without appearing awkward may be challenging, and because of this, it seems a lot easier to avoid contact and isolate ourselves.
Your neighbors are a part of your life, whether you like it or not. You share the same wall, live in the same building, or sometimes use the same swimming pool. It makes a lot of sense if you are friendly and kind to them because you never can tell when you will need their help. Here are ten tips for developing relationships with neighbors.
1. New Neighbors and First Impression
When people come into a neighborhood, they naturally want to make friends. However, they know that not everyone is cool, so they are cautious about who they meet.
For this reason, you need to make an excellent first impression on people just coming into the neighborhood. They’ll see you as someone they can trust and build a relationship with you for mutual benefit.Â
Visit them with a pancake looking clean, tidy, and courteous. Smile, and come with as many members of your family as possible. People will trust you more if you’re open and organized.Â
Read: 10 Tips For Communicating Easily
2. Invite Them to Your Party
Physical interaction and communication are the bedrock of all relationships. Is one of your kids having their graduation party? Organizing a graduation party and sending out invitations is one of the best ways of developing a relationship with neighbors.Â
While the children are busy burning glucose on bouncing castles, the parents can gather together and discuss politics over bottles of beer. A party is also a great way to learn about people’s behavior, so you will know how to better connect with them.
3. Respect Their Privacy
There is nothing that destroys neighborly love and relationship than the subject of respect. Everyone has a right to their privacy, and it’s your responsibility to respect them for it.
That means no asking personal questions, interfering in family arguments, and spying on them to know why they spend so much time in the backyard.
If you keep showing up in the wrong places at the wrong time, you’re never going to have a good relationship with your neighbors. They won’t complain, but you won’t hear from them either.Â
Read: How to Win Friends When People Don’t Like You
4. Keep Your Yard Neat
No one has the right to tell you how and when to clean your yard. But if you want your neighbors to invite you over for dinner frequently, you need to keep your yard clean.
Dirty yards attract pests and rodents that lead to an infestation that will affect your neighbors because of the proximity. No matter how clean they are, your laziness will make their efforts not count, and they will blame it on you.
5. Apologize When You’re Wrong
Like every relationship, neighbors are going to fight and quarrel over certain things. You need to learn how to apologize whenever you know that you’re wrong.Â
Pride is the main reason why most people don’t want to apologize, and that will ruin your relationship with neighbors faster than anything else.
Research shows that the key process to avoiding revenge and overcoming the negative feelings of resentment lies in the offender giving an apology.
Also, make sure that your apology is sincere. Any plea that has a “But” attached to it will make things worse. Just one small issue is all it takes to make neighbors eternal enemies.
6. Allow Some Things to Go
Besides quarrels, neighbors are going to get on each other’s necks with one annoying thing or the other. Yes, you need to complain if their music is too loud and if their dog barks too much and you can’t sleep.
You also can’t allow digging near the fence; it’s not proper and can even be against the law. But smoke coming from their barbeque once every month is not something worth raising the door over.
When you complain about everything your neighbors do wrong, they will do the same when you do something they don’t like, and the cycle of confusion, arguments, and disagreements continues. That’s not healthy for your neighborly relationship at all.
7. Take Part in Community Groups
A great opportunity to develop relationships with neighbors is participating in community groups and planning. Most of the time, the purpose of this group is to find a solution to a problem affecting the community, so there is going to be a lot to talk about, plan, share ideas, and communicate.
It’s a huge opportunity to show your skills and talents and even share ideas that can help improve the community environs, which will make your neighbors like you even more.Â
Read: 10 Ways to Help Your Friend in a Toxic Relationship
8. Make Yourself Available
After a while, your neighbors are going to feel comfortable with you and call you up for conversations, bar time, or beer time. Try to make yourself as available as possible to win their trust and love.
Of course, you’re not going to be available every time they call on you. But if they call you and need your attention or support five times and you can’t meet up even once, they’re not going to take you seriously.
Developing a relationship with your neighbor will require some sacrifices, and you must make time for them to win them.
9. Don’t Force a Friendship
While some neighbors won’t mind you staying in their living rooms, others want some privacy with everyone around them.
Before you try to start a relationship with your neighbor, first understand who they are. If they don’t want too much closeness, you can be friendly with them, not friends.
Avoid forcing yourself into becoming friends with your neighbors; they will see you as weird. Respect their opinions and stay in your lane while maintaining a peaceful and friendly co-existence with them.
Sometimes, people who are “just friendly” and not friends with you are more reliable when you need support.
10. Provide Help When They Need You
A time will come when your neighbor will knock at your door and may need your help. It may be for a roofing job, party preparation, or needing your car or tools for a DIY project. Try your best to make sure you provide that help for them.
You will need their help someday, so if you want them to be there for you when you need them, you have to reciprocate. The most important benefit of developing a relationship with neighbors is that you can be there for each other.
