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Won't You Be My Neighbor?

By
Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Greater Seattle

Whether you're dying to ditch the city for the burbs, longing for grown-up digs where you can start a family, or feeling the pull of hot job opportunities elsewhere, moving to a new place is an adventure. But it's also one big question mark. How do you not screw it up? How do you find a hip area with cool neighbors, great restaurants and shops, and a decent commute to work?

The first place to kick off your search is in your living room or office. Searching on the web breaks down a lot of walls- and miles- between you and your potential home. Here's how to start:

MAP IT OUT- First, you'll need to pinpoint your target market and at the adjacent neighborhoods. Cyberhomes.com, lets you put in a zip code and will give you info about the town and surrounding neighborhoods.

MAMIMIZE MOVE.COM- Move.com, an affiliate of Realtor.com, offers mortgage rates, home values, and market conditions specific to the community you search under. They also include potential homes and their prices for the area you search.

TEST YOUR TOWN WEBSITE- Check out what the town has to say for themselves. Look into the calendar of events, dining and shopping guides, etc..

HIT ONLINE FORUMS- Also be sure to look into what residents of the area are saying about their neighborhood. It'll tell you what people really think as opposed to city-approved content.

READ THE REPORT CARD- Quality schools equal higher real estate value, so check out greatschools.net to get a report card on the local schools.

Be sure to test drive potential neighborhoods. After using the internet to seek out new areas, check them out, live and in person. Check to see if people have home pride. Who's hanging out? What's the downtown vibe? What does it look like at night? Who will be your future neighbors? Is the police report positive? What's rush hour like? etc... While your Realtor can help you find out about a neighborhood, be sure that most neighbors will be happy to divulge everything (just think about all the Wisteria Lane gossip a la Desperate Housewives!) These are all important things to consider before making a big move across town or even cross country.

Call the Egerer & Weidauer Team to discuss relocating to our Seattle and greater Seattle neighborhoods!

206.661.7256     www.jeremyandnicolesellhomes.com     360.990.4083

Comments (4)

Leslie Stewart
Oregon Licensed Broker with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Real Estate Professionals - Stayton, OR
Realtor, ABR, CRS, Oregon Licensed Broker

Nicole, great advice for potential homebuyers!  I haven't been on cyberhomes yet but I am doing a webinar sponsored by them tomorrow. 

Oct 21, 2008 03:53 PM
Anonymous
Reggie from Cyberhomes

Hi Nicole,

Great ideas! Starting off the home buying process by researching personal needs is certainly the right thing to do! Also I can save your clients a step. :) Once they have researched a home or neighborhood on Cyberhomes, have them scroll down the page and look on the right-hand side. You'll see "Schools Nearby." From here anyone can see the school makeup, scores and ratios. (Note: You can also search schools from the main search bar under "Find Schools")

Also I found a useful tool to help with your online forums idea. Have you heard of BoardTracker.com? It's currently tracking over 37,000 forums.

Oct 22, 2008 02:36 AM
#2
Anonymous
Sara from Edmonds

Thanks for the great information. We need this type of stuff to balance out all of the garbage we hear on the news.

And thanks Reggie for your info!

Oct 22, 2008 10:48 AM
#3
Rosalinda Morgan
Brookville, NY
"The Rose Lady"

This is a great list to have.  You really have to check the area first to find out if it suits your needs.  Thanks for sharing.

Oct 22, 2008 11:02 AM