Buying a Neighborhood
Many people make a mistake when buying a home to put all the focus on the home itself and not pay enough attention to the surrounding neighborhood. Besides considering the quality of the nearby school for those that have children and the cost of living in the area, there are many other factors to think about that will improve one’s lifestyle.
Commute
Unless you work from home, your daily commute is going to take up a significant portion of your life. If a person drives one hour to work and one hour to come home, after a twenty year career they have lost over a year (433 days) of their life to driving time. Not to mention all the added stress and frustration of having to deal with commuter traffic each day.
The trouble is, there is often a trade-off between where the nicer, affordable houses are located and commute time. Regardless of this choice, commute time is an important consideration. One way to check the impact on your life before you buy a home is to test the commute. Go to a potential candidate for your new home and drive to work at the time you would leave for work and at the time you would normally return. Then, you will know exactly what you are dealing with.
Crime Rate
There are differences in crime rates for various parts of a big metropolitan area like Houston. A nicer looking area does not always guarantee a lower crime rate. Ways to evaluate this factor include talking to members of the local area neighborhood associations and seeing what public information is available, such as the crime level ratings on Areavibes.com.
Emergency Medical Care and Doctor Visits
If you happen to have a chronic illness, are elderly, or have a medical condition that may create the need for emergency medical care, you will want to know how far the home is from the nearest emergency hospital. If you are elderly, you may need to ask someone to drive you to your doctor’s appointments. It is far easier to get transportation to a nearby doctor’s office than if you live all the way across town from the doctor’s office.
Proximity to Amenities
If you can walk or bicycle to nearby shops and restaurants, you will find this modest exercise is an excellent way to improve or maintain your health. Sometimes we drive a car just as a matter of habit. If you have a sedate work and lifestyle most of the time (sitting in a chair all day), it is a good idea to go for a walk once and awhile. Take your dog with you if you have one.
Bad Neighbors
This is one almost always missed by those buying a house. They only find out about a bad neighbor after they move in. A single bad neighborhood can make life a living hell. Maybe they are drug dealers with constant traffic to their house day and night. This can happen not only in rough downtown neighborhoods but also in otherwise peaceful suburban neighborhoods. Maybe they like to blast loud music all night and throw lots of parties. Maybe they are just mean-spirited and hate animals or children. This means your kids and pets, if you have any, are at risk from such a bad neighbor.
The ways to avoid this problem are to visit the property at different times of day and night and on different days, especially the weekends to see what is going on. Moreover, it does not hurt to knock on the doors, or leave a note under the doors in order to meet your closest neighbors before making an offer to buy a house. Their responses or lack thereof will give you a hint of what you may have to deal with if you move into the neighborhood.
Summary
It is good to consider all the factors about a neighborhood as part of the decision-making process to buy a home.