When beginning your home search, start by taking impromptu visits to neighborhoods. These visits should be taken during the day, evening and weekends. Recommend taking a casual walk through the neighborhood to see the sites and visit with people who live in the neighborhood. During your casual walk, be sure to observe how residences maintain their property. Be sure to asked people in the neighborhood about the positives and negatives of the neighborhood. Remember these are the people who live in the area and know it best and could be your potential neighbors. Also, take a take drive from the neighborhood to your place of work, schools, and churches, etc. This will give you a better understanding of the traffic patterns. After doing this type of research and getting positive results, you will feel more comfortable about buying and moving into the neighborhood.
John, this is so true.
Recently I had buyers who lost interest in one home because people didn't "wave back" when they waved, walking or driving through the neighborhood. They also lost interest in a home that was before the event a top candidate--the owner, who was leaving when they arrived for a second showing, gave them a very cold, perfunctory greeting. One friend of a friend bought a home way up in the country, a looooong drive from where she works, in the hopes of "getting away from it all.'
Unfortunately, the only neighbor nearby has a side entry garage where the teenage son's band practices apparently endlessly with huge speakers blasting right at her.
Your advice to hang out in the neighborhood as much as possible and as many times of the week as possible and talk to any neighbors who are out and about, is pure gold.
This is a great tip! I encourage it as well....but you put it in better words!!!
Thanks for sharing!
I agree -- you need to know what kind of traffic you can expect with the morning & evening commutes, and what it's like when school's letting out.
Comments(3)