> You can buy better neighbors with a house, and less crime.

I wish!

I built a fancy house in a fancy neighborhood, and then a real a-hole bought the house next to me as his retirement home.

I feel this.

Unfortunately the only surefire way to avoid this situation is to be the bigger asshole.

Not the only way. You can do what Bill Gates did, and buy all the surrounding properties. In his case, some of his staff live there.

Billionaires do this - Zuckerberg did the same.

I don't have that kind of money!

Yup: After my a-hole neighbor yelled at me because he thought I was mowing his lawn, I got the property line surveyed and had him remove all the shrubs he planted on my land.

Might be some selection bias happening. It's usually not the fancy neighborhoods that get a reputation for being humble and down to earth.

A-hole neighbors have nothing to do with income level. I've also had a-hole neighbors who were dirt poor.

In my case, the advantage is that I don't have to share a wall with my bad neighbor.

Edit: I should add that the rest of my neighbors are awesome, Just like every other place I've lived.