Imagine this: You’re finally a homeowner. You found the perfect abode that fits you and/or your family’s needs–spacious bedrooms, a big kitchen with new stainless steel appliances, hard wood floors, a white picket fence, and all that. But as soon as night falls, the neighborhood starts to look a little different. You notice crowds of people gathering on the corner, people yelling out of their windows, your car alarm keeps going off, and on top of that, every weekend your street becomes host to the eight-hour block party.
You may have the right house but it’s in the wrong neighborhood.
The reality is, it’s not the real estate agent’s job to give you the scoop on the neighborhood. Most won’t alert you to the negatives because their goal is to sell you a home and get a commission.
“Go when they least expect you,†advises attorney Enealia Nau of NauCorp. Properties, Inc. “November through March are popular months that brokers like to show homes because most people are inside during the colder months.â€
To get a real assessment of the neighborhood, survey it on a warm evening or the weekend. Choosing the wrong neighborhood can depreciate the value of your home, but more importantly, you want to protect you and/or your family from being the victim of a crime.
Nau provided some useful house hunting tips at this week’s homebuyer’s class sponsored by the Bedford Central Community Development Corp.
Find out if the neighborhood is safe. Ask the police department for neighborhood crime statistics. Consider not only the number of crimes but also the type–burglaries, armed robberies–and whether the trend is increasing or decreasing crime. Also, is most of the criminal activity centered in only one part of the neighborhood, such as near a retail area?
Determine if the neighborhood is economically stable. Check
with your local city economic development office to see if income and property values in the neighborhood are stable or rising. What is the percentage of homes to apartments? Apartments don’t necessarily diminish value, but they do mean a more transient population. Do you see vacant businesses or homes that have been for sale for months? That may not be a good sign.Make a list of the activities–movies, health club, church–you engage in regularly and the stores you visit frequently. See how far you would have to travel to participate in your regular pastimes and activities for each neighborhood you’re considering moving to.
Check out the school district. The Department of Education in your town can probably provide information on test scores, class size, percentage of students who attend college, and special enrichment programs. If you have school-age children, also consider paying a visit to schools in the neighborhoods you’re considering. Even if you don’t have children, a house in a good school district will be easier to sell in the future.
See if you’ll make money. Ask a local Realtor or call the local Realtor association to get information about price appreciation trends in the neighborhood. Although past performance is no guarantee of future results, this information may give you a sense of how good an investment your home will be. A Realtor or the government planning agency also may be able to tell you about planned developments or other changes in the neighborhood–like a new school or highway–that might affect property values.
See for yourself. Once you’ve narrowed your focus down to two or three neighborhoods, go there and walk around. Are the homes tidy and well-maintained? Are the streets quiet? Pick a warm day if you can and chat with people working or playing outside. Are they friendly? Are there children to play with your family? After you’ve checked out a property
you like during the day, be sure to return for at least one more look late in the evening, preferably on a Friday or Saturday night–prime time for criminal activity. Neighborhoods that look like Mayberry R.F.D. during the day can become Gunfight at the O.K Corral at night.A great one-stop online resource for on everything from population demographics to weather patterns to crime statistics (including registered sex offenders) for cities and towns all across the country is City-Data.com. All you have to do is choose a state and type in the name of the municipality you’re interested in to get statistics, photos, maps and a literal treasure trove of other data.
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LaToya M. Smith is a staff writer at Black Enterprise.