# Maybe Buying This Place Wasn't The Best Idea **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 29, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-buying-this-place-wasnt-the-best-idea/382229 "2006-11-29T18:57:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-buying-this-place-wasnt-the-best-idea/382229/1 "2006-11-29T18:57:47Z")
Remember [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=370492) from over the Summer? Woohoo, we bought a house. Remember [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=389227) from a few months ago, about my drug dealer neighbor dying? Simply _having_ a drug dealer for a neighbor should have been a clue. Then, last month, a house a block away burns to the ground. “Gee”, one of my neighbors says to me sarcastically, “what a shame that someone burned down a crack house”. Hmmmmm… Cue Monday night. The wife and I put the Littlest Briston to bed, and settle in to watch some football. _**POW! POW! POW! POW! POW!**_ You know how they say that in real life, gunshots sound nothing like they do on TV or in the movies? They’re full of shit. [Those were fricking _gunshots_](http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/112-11292006-748649.html), and they happened right outside my fricking house. There aren’t enough of these guys –\> :dubious: for this line, though: > [@](#): > > Investigators had no suspects yesterday, according to Martin, who said the victim has not provided much information. > > “He told us he went outside to smoke a cigarette and somehow got shot,” Sorry…I have a problem with the claim that an ex-con “somehow got shot”. Of course, I have a much, much bigger problem that it happened right outside my back door. Oh yes, a quick aside to the writer of that news article: If you’re going to refer to “Martin” throughout your story, your first mention of him should identify who he is, or at least give a first name (unless you’re talking about that wacky Martin Lawrence). ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-buying-this-place-wasnt-the-best-idea/382229/2 "2006-11-29T19:10:47Z")
Oh, shit, I’m so sorry to hear that! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-buying-this-place-wasnt-the-best-idea/382229/3 "2006-11-29T19:46:45Z")
Sorry about that. Do you live in a very urban area? I live in what I consider a decent working-class neighborhood in Chicago, but we got our share of drug dealers living on the block. A few weeks ago, one of the dealers offed himself in the middle of the night. Last year, a guy sitting in his van was shot dead at 7 p.m., less than 1/4 block away from my house. I’m not saying it doesn’t suck, but if you live in an urban area (which I’m assuming you are), it’s pretty difficult to get away from it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-buying-this-place-wasnt-the-best-idea/382229/4 "2006-11-29T19:49:30Z")
[QUOTE=Hal Briston] You know how they say that in real life, gunshots sound nothing like they do on TV or in the movies? They’re full of shit. [/QUOTE] To me, they do sound different. More like firecracker pops than the TV sound. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-buying-this-place-wasnt-the-best-idea/382229/5 "2006-11-29T21:12:36Z")
Well, i’m sorry to hear that it happened so close, but that article seems to suggest that, in general, you’re not in an especially bad area: > [@](#): > > “He told us he went outside to smoke a cigarette and somehow got shot,” Martin said, \*\*adding that the neighborhood where the shooting occurred has had little crime. > > “It’s a neighborhood where we really don’t have a lot of problems,” he said.\*\* A guy was murdered right around the corner from a friend’s house a couple of weeks ago here in Baltimore. He was found in the street one morning, and had been shot in the head and body. Some people told police they had heard the shots at about 11pm the night before, but no-one called the cops. My friends were a bit amazed at the closeness of it all, but it didn’t change their opinion of their neighborhood; they still consider it a perfectly good place to live. As **pulykamell** suggests, these thing just happen in cities sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-buying-this-place-wasnt-the-best-idea/382229/6 "2006-11-29T22:09:25Z")
If I had a nickel for every time I went out for a smoke and somehow got shot… I hope everything works out **Hal** and that you and your family stay save. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-buying-this-place-wasnt-the-best-idea/382229/7 "2006-11-29T22:23:54Z")
Do you maybe have really vigilant anti-smokers in da hood? 😃 (just kidding - mostly) Oh yeah, we were having a few weeks this summer where we were hearing a couple of gunshots every Friday night. We live in a working-class to middle-class neighbourhood, with lots of old people and young couples with kids. We are definitely not in da hood. The best I can come up with is, “These things happen.” ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-buying-this-place-wasnt-the-best-idea/382229/8 "2006-11-29T22:30:06Z")
grr. “stay _safe_.” ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-buying-this-place-wasnt-the-best-idea/382229/9 "2006-11-30T03:48:53Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] To me, they do sound different. More like firecracker pops than the TV sound. [/QUOTE] You mean people don’t set off fireworks on a cold night in November?!? All kidding aside, these things happen when you live in the City. I don’t call the cops every time I heard what could be gunfire. \* To be fair, it is usually a good distance away. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-buying-this-place-wasnt-the-best-idea/382229/10 "2006-11-30T04:32:09Z")
Agreed with everyone else. You should be fine. At least, we hope you’ll be fine. See, this is what happens when riff raff comes into the neighborhood…way to mess everything up, **Hal**. ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-buying-this-place-wasnt-the-best-idea/382229/11 "2006-11-30T04:43:54Z")
You know, it may not provide much in the way of comfort, but at least they were targeting someone in particular and it wasn’t just someone trying to kill someone for a pair of shoes. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-buying-this-place-wasnt-the-best-idea/382229/12 "2006-11-30T05:52:26Z")
Hang in there and stay involved in your neighborhood. In the less than two years since we’ve moved into our house in DC, we have seen remarkable progress. It will get better. And as some who owns a house in DC and currently lives in Baghdad, I have to say that gunfire sounds different to me IRL than it does on TV. Carbombs, though sound remarkably like explosions on TV. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-buying-this-place-wasnt-the-best-idea/382229/13 "2006-11-30T15:57:31Z")
Gunfire sounds different in real life than on TV, however, there is no mistaking it for anything other than gunfire. I live in a very small, bucolic town. About 8 years ago a married couple were brutally murdered by their son two houses down. The cops got into a shootout in front of our house with the son, who escaped in a cop car. One incident does not a bad neighborhood make. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-buying-this-place-wasnt-the-best-idea/382229/14 "2006-11-30T16:04:25Z")
[QUOTE=dahfisheroo] Gunfire sounds different in real life than on TV, however, there is no mistaking it for anything other than gunfire. I live in a very small, bucolic town. About 8 years ago a married couple were brutally murdered by their son two houses down. The cops got into a shootout in front of our house with the son, who escaped in a cop car. One incident does not a bad neighborhood make. [/QUOTE] I agree. My neighbor was shot execution-style by his oldest son and an accomplice. They did it because dad didn’t cough up some dough for the kid to buy drugs. Nobody in the neighborhood thought of it as typical. A real isolated case. Of course, this was way the hell out in the sprawling suburbs around DC, not a real urban setting. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-buying-this-place-wasnt-the-best-idea/382229/15 "2006-11-30T16:14:49Z")
Hal, How is the rest of the neighborhood? Are there many houses in poor repair, or only a handful? Did the man that got shot, own or rent? He is an ex-con and he seems to be coy about how he was shot. It sounds like it is probably all about him and not the neighborhood. I live in a pretty nice area and the just retired Police Chief lives behind me. Six months after we moved in, our house was broken into. Crime happens everywhere. I hope that this is just Murphy F’ing with your head and not a real trend or problem. Jim