How to Choose a Neighborhood for Your Home Search
Buying a home is about so much more than simply the physical structure, its number of bedrooms and bathrooms, floors, square footage, etc. There’s another vital factor that must be kept in mind—to borrow the old realtor’s saying: location, location, location.
A city is one thing, but within the same city you may have an astounding variety of neighborhoods. Keeping in mind a home’s neighborhood is often overlooked, but shouldn’t be—choosing the right neighborhood for you can make a huge impact on not only the well-being of you and your family, but also your future property value.
To help you choose the right neighborhood for your home search, we’re going to look at some important factors that you should consider.
If you need assistance selling your house or are looking for a new home in Isle of Palms, SC, contact Jimmy Carrol Realty today.
Choosing a Neighborhood—Do Your Research
There are a ton of factors to keep in mind when choosing a neighborhood that’s right for you. In your search, the internet will be your best friend, as you can find many sites reviewing neighborhoods to gain the opinion of real people who have lived there.
Keep this in mind as you consider each of the following factors, as doing some internet and in-person research will help ensure that you know what you’re getting into.
Safety
This can be a tricky one. While you should look into crime statistics, you’ll want to take them with a grain of salt, as crime enforcement and crime statistics are often carried out and kept differently in different areas.
Rather than rely too heavily on crime statistics, be sure to seek out input from people who currently live (or recently lived) in the area. Sites such as Reddit and Niche will be a godsend for this.
Price Range
For neighborhoods that you’re currently exploring, check out the current and recent pricing in apartments and homes in those neighborhoods. Luckily, real estate sites such as Trulia and Zillow will quickly enable you to see price histories for given properties in these neighborhoods.
It is useful to see recent price appreciation as well as whether properties have been tending to sell above or below asking price (and if so, by how much). This will help you not only decide which neighborhoods are more economically feasible for you but also help you bargain for a better deal!
Schools
Don’t have kids? Before you skip ahead, wait just a second. Why should you care about the quality of schools in the area if you don’t have kids? It’s simple. Good schools attract buyers, ensuring you a better future resale value!
And if you do have kids, well, we don’t need to sell you on the importance of a good education. Sites such as GreatSchools.org will help give you a good idea of the quality of schools in a given area.
Proximity
When choosing a neighborhood, you can’t get away from that key factor of location. For proximity, it comes down to a lot of questions. For example:
- What kind of transportation do you have? Will you need or prefer certain things within walking distance, such as places to eat and grocery stores?
- If you have children or plan on having kids in the future, are there parks nearby? If so, do they feature a playground?
- How about the neighborhood’s distance to your place of work? What’s the commute going to be like? Traffic?
These are the sorts of questions you’ll need to consider when thinking about how to choose a neighborhood for your home search.
Greenery
You may prefer a neighborhood with a lot of greenery. Older neighborhoods are more likely to offer shade from older trees.
Depending on how much of a yard you’ll have (if any), you may want to have a local park or other nice outdoor space nearby to get a breath of fresh air.
Lifestyle and Community Feel
Your lifestyle plays an important part in how you choose your neighborhood. Do you prefer peace and quiet or do you like to have fun get-togethers every now and then? Do you care about nightlife or are you fine getting into bed early every night?
Along with these questions, you should try to get a gauge on the feel of the community. Searching online will help, but arguably the best way is to visit the neighborhood and chat with people. If the people you meet are generally friendly and talk positively about the community, then it’s likely that you’ll be happy there.
Summing Up
There are many possible factors to keep in mind when it comes to choosing a neighborhood, so we’ve just scratched the surface here.
For other important aspects to neighborhood selection, you may also want to consider the following:
- Historic vs. newer developments
- Neighborhood associations
- Tourist attractions
- Property taxes
- Future development
- Public transport
Choose Jimmy Carroll Realty
We hope you’ve found this blog helpful when considering how to choose a neighborhood for your home search! If you’re ready to sell your current property or start looking for your dream home, reach out to Jimmy Carrol Realty today. We’ll be more than happy to introduce you to the best available properties in the Isle of Palms, SC area, which you’re certain to love. We look forward to helping you!
