Valley Neighborhoods

Do Your Home Work

Picking and choosing a home is always about more than just the house.  Each city and neighborhood has its own “flavor” and you may be asking yourself “where does my family fit in”? With ValleyNeighborhoods.com, we can help you find out.

There are many things that can influence your choice in home location, first of which being the school district. You may have your heart set on sending your children to certain schools but be unable to do so, due to district boundaries, unless you do your research.  Visit the schools, and observe the campus. Does it make you feel safe if your little one was here for 8 hours a day? Is it gated, and have security on campus? ValleyNeighborhoods.com’s agents have the inside scoop to many local schools.

The next thing you will want to look in to is the local economy of the neighborhoods you are interested in.  You’ll want to see if there are jobs available nearby or if a lot of store locations have been closing down and moving out. Are there big named, nationally recognized brands or are they all mom and pop shops?

You will also want to research the unemployment rate as well, because that will help you determine the number of foreclosures in the neighborhood. If there is a surplus of foreclosures in the area, this could mean decreased value on your home, which is your biggest investment.  For a more accurate report on the neighborhoods value trends, don’t hesitate to ask one of our agents for the stats.

You will also want to research more of the neighborhood, not just the street your potential home is on. Drive down as many of the other nearby streets as you can and really study the other homes in the area. Does it look like the other neighbors care and maintain their lawn/landscaping?  Are there bars on the windows? Are the parks in the area well maintained? You should also visit nearby parks at different times of day to see if there is any kind of behavior that is not up to your standards or does not make you feel safe.

Something else that most people do not consider is nearby entertainment options. This could range from restaurants to movie theaters, churches, malls and parks.  If there is a store or chain that you cannot live without, make sure that there is one at least 5 miles away, or you will find yourself unhappy with your new homes location because it is too far from your favorite store.

If you are planning on moving soon, don’t forget to do your homework and research every aspect of your potentially new neighborhood.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 20th, 2011 at 8:39 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.