What should you consider when choosing a neighborhood?

Finding your perfect home is important, but your “wish list” shouldn’t just consist of a number of bathrooms and square footage. As crucial as it is to choose the right home, choosing the right neighborhood is just as significant. To get an idea of your prospective living space and potential neighbors, there are certain things you should look for in order to choose the perfect neighborhood:

Location

What’s the proximity of the neighborhood to locations you will frequent? Look into the walkability of places like emergency services, grocery stores and pharmacies. The commute time to your job could also be a factor, but as jobs are subject to change, don’t base your location assessment solely on this one factor. It can even prove to be beneficial to check out the schools nearby. You may not have kids, but you could some day — or a family member could. Neighborhoods with good schools usually correlate with home stability, meaning buyers stay in their houses longer and resell at higher prices. Remember, convenience doesn’t always mean complete and total comfort, for example, nearness to a highway might mean shorter car rides, but you may also be opening yourself up to 24 hours of traffic noise right outside your home. So, weigh the pros and cons of the area’s accessibility and determine which convenient locations are worth it and which ones aren’t.

Safety

While we can never guarantee total safety, checking into the security of a neighborhood is a great way to get peace of mind. You can ask your real estate agent, talk with other residents in the area or even use available online tools that utilize crime reports and other data to analyze an area’s safety. Also, it’s important to keep in mind that no area can be completely safe. Just because the neighborhood you’re looking into doesn’t rank No. 1 in the city’s most secure places to buy a home, doesn’t mean you are putting yourself in any danger.

Neighboring property

Neighbors and their homes are just as important as the neighborhood! Take a close look at the houses next door, across the street and around the block from the home you’re considering. Check out the level of property upkeep done by potential neighbors, as well as whether or not they are owners or renters. Study the area for houses in foreclosure or left vacant and whether or not there are any new homes being built, or spaces for them to be. Looking at the other homes that occupy a particular area is crucial in terms of resale value. It’s hard to try and peek into the future, but there may come a time in which you find yourself needing to sell your home and it is important to make sure you’re able to.