House Hunters Guide to Picking a Safe Neighborhood
When you are looking for a new house, it is important to make sure you find a house that will be able to keep you and your family safe. Make sure you find a neighborhood that will keep you safe and protected instead of putting you and your family at risk. There are several ways to find out if the neighborhood you are looking at is safe or if you should stay far away.
Use a Crime Mapping Service
There are several services available to help show you how safe the area you are looking at truly is. CrimeReports and SpotCrime are a few examples that collect police and crime reports. All you need to do is enter the address of the area you want to take a look at and it will show you all the crimes committed in the area, the dates, and the type of crime. Another resource is AreaVibes. It will assess several factors and give you a livability score of up to 100. One of the factors it considers is crime rates in the area and it can give you some great information about the safety of the area in question.
Check the National Sex Offender Public Website
Another great way to evaluate the safety of a neighborhood is to look it up on the national sex offender public website. The website allows you to enter the address and see how many convicted sex offenders live nearby. It also provides a picture of the offender and is free to use.
Check the Number of Homes for Sale in the Area
Although this is not a direct indication of the safety of the area, checking the number of houses for sale in the area you are looking at may give you a clue as to how great the area really is. If there are several houses being sold at a time (and it is not a new, developing neighborhood) there might be an issue with the houses or the area. It may or may not be a safety issue, but it may be worth investigating.
Look at Neighborhood Conditions
Take a look at the conditions the homes and the neighborhood in general. Even if the neighborhood is highly populated, the condition of the homes in the area can be an indication of the overall safety. A safe neighborhood is typically well-kept with residents who care about caring for their homes and their surroundings. If there are several homes with broken windows, overgrown yards, trash, run-down fences, or other issues, it may be an indication that the area is an unsafe environment. It’s also important to check the condition of the home security system in your potential new home.
Talk to People Who Live in the Area
A great way to be able to truly understand what it is like to live in a neighborhood is to talk to someone who does already live there. You will get to see a first-hand perspective from someone who sees everything that happens in the area and truly understands what it is like to live there. There are a lot of things you can get from a conversation with someone that you cannot get from data and information on a screen.
