Tuesday, October 28, 2014

6 Tips for Finding the Perfect Neighborhood

Your neighborhood has a big impact on your lifestyle. Do you want to be in an urban district where you can live, work, and play? Do you want to live in a rural area with lots of land and very few neighbors? Or, do you want to live somewhere in between? When it comes to real estate, location is the most important factor to consider when buying your new home.




Follow these six steps to find the perfect community to call home.

#1.
Make a list of the activities — movies, health club, church, etc. — you engage in regularly and stores you visit frequently. See how far you would have to travel from each neighborhood you’re considering to engage in your most common activities. If travel and commute time are important to you, find areas that are closest to  your most commonly visited places.

#2.
Do you have kids in the public school system? Check out the school district. Even if you do not, good school districts have a positive impact on resale values of homes. For more information on the public school systems in the Tampa Bay area, click here.

#3.
Find out if the neighborhood is safe. Consider not only the number of crimes but also the type — such as burglaries or armed robberies — and the trend of increasing or decreasing crime. Also, is crime centered in only one part of the neighborhood, such as near a retail area? Check out the makeup of a neighborhood by using the mobile app Sitegiest.

#4.
Determine if the neighborhood is economically stable. In the Tampa Bay area, check out the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation to see what will be happening to the Bay area economically in the near and distance future. The Urban Land Institute also has excellent information on the real estate climate at large, especially within the commercial and development spheres. High remarks in these categories means overall growth for neighborhoods.

#5.
See if you’ll make money. Unless you never plan on putting your home on the market to resell, making a profit on your home purchase is always an important factor when selecting your home. A real estate professional will be able to approximately calculate your rate of return on your home based on past and expected future real estate data.

#6.
Make personal observations. Once you’ve narrowed your focus to two or three neighborhoods, go there and walk around. Are homes tidy and well maintained? Are streets quiet? How does it feel? Visit the neighborhood at different times of the day and on different days of the week. Is the neighborhood quiet and safe on a Saturday night? Looking at a neighborhood at different times gives you a better overall impression of a neighborhood.

When buying your new home, the location is the most important factor. Follow these 6 tips to make the right choice for you.



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