How do you vet the neighbors around a potential VHR?

[Ian Palmer]

My wife and I are starting our search for our first investment property/vacation rental. We are currently looking in South Lake Tahoe for a few reasons; we live in San Francisco so its close by and we are in SLT often and every familiar with the area so we will be able to use it for ourselves. I am aware of the VHR restrictions in SLT so our search is limited to the county and the Nevada side. One of my main requirements during our search is that the home must not have any close proximity neighbors. I've stayed in Airbnbs that had full time residents directly nextdoor and it was awkward, also dont want renters to potentially piss off neighbors and have the cops called. The most recent home we just looked at however I ignored this requirement.

We looked at a house that checked ALL the boxes, it was exactly what we wanted EXCEPT it had neighbors directly on either side. Started looking into the home and found it was used as a rental. Got the Airbnb and VRBO listings and its only listed for 30 night minimum stays. The most recent review on their Airbnb listing is from a renter saying the cops came to shut them down on their first night as the STR permit had expired. There were multiple reviews before that from renters who said the neighbors were rude, harassed them and would leave multiple notes on cars. All this points to neighbors who dont like STRs and would probably be a nightmare to deal with. Needless to say we quickly turned this property down.

This of course is all speculation. Maybe the neighbors just didnt like the current owner. Maybe they had legitimate complaints about the renters. Maybe the current owner just didnt vet his renters and rented to partiers, who knows. That brings me to my question; if you're buying a house to use as a STR that has close proximity neighbors, how do you know you arent buying a home next to some lunatic that will make it his mission to get your permit revoked?