Every neighborhood has one: A rotten neighbor.

Maybe it's the person who blabs to the neighborhood association about a mailbox that doesn't match the house or the person who throws loud parties with no regard for those poor souls who have to get up and go to work the next morning.

When you are looking for a new place to hang your hat, it helps to know what kind of people you might encounter in your new neighborhood.

Rottenneighbor.com is a real estate search engine that can help alert you to less-than-desirable neighbors before you take up residence.

Users can post information (good and bad) about their neighbors or search the site's database to gain insight on a prospective neighborhood.

For example, one posting from Hawaii complains about a Neighborhood Watch group that patrols every night by "zipping around in their carts with lights flashing." The poster asks, "Do they really think there isn't any crime during the rest of the day? Only at 8 p.m. every night?"

Another posting, from Missouri, warns against the "town tramp."

But not everything is acceptable for posting. The site is regulated to keep out vulgar or offensive material. Visitors can flag such material, and mediators decide whether it should be removed.

The Web site allows users to access maps of states, counties, cities and neighborhoods, all searchable by zip code.

When a yellow house symbol appears on a posting, that means there has been more than one post for a particular neighbor.

Since real estate agents don't have to disclose problem neighbors, home buyers are own their own.

Rottenneighbor.com can help you make a more informed decision about what you want to put up with in a new neighborhood.