This is the third in a series of articles written for home buyers who are parents of young children. Be sure to check out the first tip, “Consider the Street Traffic,” and the second, “Walk Through the Home with Your Baby-proofing Hat On.”
Tip #3: CHECK OUT THE NEIGHBORS
While this advice certainly applies to every home buyer, parents will want to be especially careful about selecting their new neighbors. Bad neighbors are a nuisance at every age and stage of life, but when you have tiny humans to protect bad neighbors can make your life miserable. Before kids, you can get away with ignoring your neighbors altogether. But children will force you to interact with them...whether it’s due to a frisbee thrown over the fence or a bicycle careening into their car (both are real life examples from the past month at our household!). Kids can mean basketball hoops in the driveway and bicycles in the street. For these reasons and more, it’s good to know that your future neighbors are friendly and understanding.
The best way to get an idea of who you’ll be living next to is to take a walk around the area with your kids. Even as an introvert, I find it easy to strike up conversations with people when walking around with my four year old. (Ok, maybe that’s because HE generally does most of the talking!) Chances are, you’ll come across at least one person who can give you the scoop on everything and everyone.
Unfortunately, I’ve got to wrap this up with a paragraph about safety. Most of us realize that strangers are a far less pressing threat to children than the people who they know and see often. For peace of mind, check your state or local sex offender registry to make sure you’re not going to be moving in next door to someone listed on the registry. In Texas, you can find the information for free by going HERE.
Contributed by Cassie Villela.
Cassie Villela is a real estate investor and mother of two in San Antonio, Texas.
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