When on the hunt for your
brand new digs, you don’t necessarily want to stick to familiar territory.
Buying a new home is a big commitment, but it’s also an opportunity to make a
change and venture out into a bold, new neighborhood adventure.
How will you know if this
new area is really “the one” for you or if it’ll have you putting up a “for
sale” sign soon after closing the deal?
1. What do you need to have nearby?
Big
Bear Yoga studio owner Annalisa Berns moved from Los Angeles to Big
Bear, Calif., four years ago because she had an epiphany during her housing
search — not only did she want to live in the mountains, but she also wanted a
community that came equipped with a health food store and other yogis. “Those
two things were critical to me,” she says.“Brainstorm some of the things that are important to you,” says Reston, Va.-based Keller Williams Reston realtor Naomi Hattaway. “Do you want to live near a store that carries international foods? Drive around the neighborhoods closest to those stores.”
2. Is walking important to you?
For a lot of people, not
having stores or eateries within convenient walking distance is a definite
deal-breaker, so you should consider if it’s one for you, too. Several realtors
suggest checking out Walk Score with any potential new addresses
you collect during your search.
“Walkability index is a
biggie for me and my husband,” says avid sailor Dana Greyson. She and her
husband factor in commutes when they search for housing back on dry land. “We
want to have a place where, when we get home, we don’t have to get back into our
car to live our life.”
3. Are you going for a quiet or lively
environment?
You may love to hang out
and party on with your friends in a certain trendy and happening neighborhood
every weekend, but would you necessarily want to buy a home there?
Maybe not. Jenelle
Isaacson, owner of Portland, Ore.-based Living Room Realty, sees
a lot of folks in the young, hipster city drawn to the “coolest” areas, only to
find out the areas don’t exactly match their priorities — or noise-level
preference.
“I’ve worked with many
clients who are lured to a neighborhood by hip restaurants and coffee shops,”
she says. “They want to live where they hang out on weekends, but when it comes
to living in these areas, they suddenly find they don’t like the nuisance of so
many other people coming to their neighborhood parking, making noise at night.
Being in the middle of the party isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”
4. Do you want to have friends nearby?
Whether your BFFs are already
in the neighborhood or you want to be buddies with your new neighbors, you
should take into account the kind of social life you hope to have in your brand
new home base. Atlanta-based veteran Carol Gee knew her new community was the
one when a neighbor waved to her from across the street as Gee and her husband
moved boxes — and they became longtime friends.
“Some people really like
to be in an area where their friends are nearby or at least close enough so
they’ll come visit,” says New York City real estate specialist Kathleen
Perkins.
5. After you’ve done your research, does
it seem like a place where you’d want to live?
ParrisIsland.com
owner Vera Basilone visited what seemed to be a quiet South Carolina
neighborhood during the morning, but upon returning in the afternoon, she
realized the area was right in the flight path for the Marine Corps air
station. Married to a former Marine, she knew this wouldn’t be the quiet
neighborhood she was looking for.
The lesson there? Visit
your potential neighborhood during different hours of the day to get a real
sense of it, and you might observe things you missed the first time around. You
should also check out the crime stats and schools in the area — even if
kids aren’t in the picture for you just yet. Those things can tell you a lot
about the community under the surface.
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