I'm actually very fortunate to have friendly neighbours. Close friends of mine are not so lucky though and have to deal with a lot of cr*p from nuisance neighbours. Its one of those annoying things that you can't really find out until you've moved in and then its a bit too late...unless you want to go through the hassle of quickly finding somewhere else to live.
I think the best way to deal with nuisance neighbours is communication. The only way most conflict is resolved....