I'll give it a try too...: no one is saying that you bear any guilt or anything like that so far. but everyone here tells you that it would be helpful to simply go over to the neighbors, say who you are, what you intend to do, that you hope for a good neighborhood, etc. so basically approach the people and in this way 1. you can find out if/who might have something against your construction project and 2. you might be able to dispel these concerns right away because the person in question realizes that you or your planned house aren't as terrible as feared after all