Things You'll Need:
- Computer
- Car
- Looking for house/appt
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Step 1
Search for heat mapsTypically, home prices will indicate the quality of life in any given neighborhood. Get familiar with average home prices in the different neighborhoods of your city. An easy way to do this is by doing a Google search for “home price heat map” or by going to www.trulia.com and entering your city name. It will generate a map of the city with color-coded neighborhoods that indicate price ranges. Make a list of neighborhoods that fall within your price range.
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Step 2
Compare to ZillowGo to www.zillow.com and type an address or street. This comprehensive website will give you not only the list price of a given home, but also the estimated price of all homes in that neighborhood – even if they’re not for sale. The estimates are based on recent sales and other economic factors. Compare this with your findings on Trulia – sometimes street boundaries can overlap on heat maps, and sometimes they’re not entirely accurate.
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Step 3
Go to Google and search your city name plus “crime mapping” or “crime map”. This should bring you to the city or county police website that contains reports showing a map of crimes in the area. Most cities should have this feature available. You can adjust your parameters for timeframe, area, and types of crime.
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Step 4
Look for the signsDrive around in the neighborhoods you’re considering. Pay attention to the little details, such as types of vehicles, types of fences (chain-link especially), bars on windows, condition of lawns, cars parked on lawns, amount of pedestrian traffic, front porch loiterers. Typically the signs are there – yellow lawns, beat up cars, lots of people wandering around, barred windows, people staring from their porches – be sure to pay attention to how you feel as you drive around. Go at different times of the day and week to further your investigation.
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Step 5
Walk around in the neighborhood. If the last step didn’t convince you about the safety, take long walks in the neighborhood. If you feel safe then you may have found your future stomping ground. Don’t do this at night.
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Step 6
Ask neighbors about the area. Ask specific questions, not general questions like “do you like it here?” Be specific and ask if there have been any domestic disputes and/or violent crimes nearby and where. Be cautious who you ask too (you don’t want to ask the perpetrators themselves).
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Step 7
Have a picnic in the local park. This might also give you a chance to find some people who live in that neighborhood without having to knock on their doors. This way you can see them first, then decide if you want to talk to them. Once you’ve exhausted all these steps you will have a pretty good idea whether or not you want to live in that neighborhood. Good luck!
