It’s probably turned out to be one of the most over-used phrases in real estate, but truth be told, “location, location, location” is right on the money.
This is a term which has been around for decades, and will stay around for even longer. You might purchase the best house in the country, but placed in the wrong neighborhood and everything can go wrong. We won’t go into too much detail here, but crime, schools and all sorts of other social factors can be impacted if you get the neighborhood choice incorrect.
Particularly if you are moving to a new area, it can be difficult to gauge whether or not a neighborhood is regarded as good or not. The internet has helped matters and you can browse local forums and the like to get some sort of idea. However, to pull together the information yourself, we’ve comprised a brief checklist to help you along your way.
How many homes are for sale in the area?
Obviously, this is going to occur for built-up areas – and it stands to reason that new developments like the Grand Homes neighborhoods can immediately be given a pass.
While it might only provide something of a rough indication, taking a look at the number of homes for sale in an area can help your investigation. If there are a lot, it might suggest that something is amiss. If large numbers of people seem to want to get away, it’s time to take your investigation further.
Start a conversation with the locals
One such way to progress things is to simply spark up a conversation with existing residents.
Firstly, it gives you a good idea on who your neighbors are actually going to be – and whether or not you will get on. As well as this, they don’t have a vested interest in you moving there or not, so are far more likely to reveal the truth than someone who is looking for a sale like an agent.
What’s the general condition of the neighborhood?
This next point is something that most people will have considered anyway. Generally, the bad neighborhoods are easy to identify – they tend to be in a state of disrepair and there might be obvious marks of crime.
Safer neighborhoods on the other hand just have that aura of cleanliness and tidiness about them. Residents will tend to take care of not just their own yards, but the streets as well.
Take advantage of all the official tools
Finally, we’re now in an age where the amount of data available to us is fascinating. It means that as a house-hunter, you have to take advantage.
In relation to neighborhoods, anything from crime data to the National Sex Offender records should be scoured. In simple terms, turn to any official data you can find. Note the word “official” here; make sure you only tap into these statistics as it can become easy for your judgement to be clouded if you start to take in information from everywhere.
