Tips on Finding the Right Neighborhood

Finding the right neighborhood when you’re buying a home brings out the Sherlock Holmes in all of us, requiring a little bit of detective work and a lot of instinct.

One of the first things you’ll want to do is decide whether you’re looking for a single-family or multifamily home, says Chika Obodozie, a real estate agent in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Lanham, MD. Narrowing down whether you’re looking for a condominium, townhouse or single-family home gets you that much closer to finding the right neighborhood.

Miranda Wood, who manages the e-business division of Prudential Carruthers REALTORS® of Severna Park, MD., says that when shopping for her own homes she drives by in the evening to get a feel for the neighborhood. No one is around in the daytime, she says, but any unsavory characters that might be lurking around come out at night. If it doesn’t feel right, it isn’t.

If safety is a prime concern in finding the right neighborhood, there’s no better source than the local police department or precinct. Wood says she calls the police department to ask about things like the number of home break-ins and muggings. If you see an officer patrolling the neighborhood, stop and ask a few questions.

Schools are another huge factor in finding the right neighborhood. School quality is important even if you don’t have children because it can affect resale value. Call the local school board to get quick facts about things like test scores, graduation rates and percentage of college-bound students. You also can find out which schools your children would attend and whether they would have to take a bus.

The school district likely provides information packets to real estate agents to share with potential homebuyers. But don’t put your agent on the spot by asking how good the schools are – he or she can get in ethical hot water for recommending certain school districts. Some companies also compile and sell school district statistics.

Obodozie notes that for some people, the right neighborhood also has easy access to public transportation. If you plan to drive to work, it’s worth trying the commute at rush hour to see how long it would take.

If you’re looking for general information, the local Chamber of Commerce is a wealth of information about neighborhood businesses, taxes and cost of living, as well as recreation and entertainment that’s close by. Most chambers have packets ready to ship out, or provide quick access to information on the Web.

And since no one wants to buy a house in the flood plain or near where industrial water is dumped, check with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Environmental Resources site or Envirofacts, which is run by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. You can enter the ZIP code of the area into the Environmental Defense Fund’s Scorecard to see its rating in terms of waste, air quality, land quality, water contamination, etc. Many county governments also maintain flood plain maps.