Get to Know Your Future Neighborhood
Having spent years in the mortgage banking industry, I’ve developed some advice for first-time homebuyers: Spend plenty of time in the neighborhood you’re interested in.
The biggest mistake first-time home buyers make is that they fall in love with the house and they don’t really do their homework to understand the community, to understand the neighborhood, to understand the street that they’re buying on.
Visit the neighborhood you are considering in the morning, the middle of the day and at night. Before buying anything, it’s important to see the sun rise and the sun set. You want to spend time there in the morning and you want to spend time there in the evening.
After all, the neighborhood could have a completely different feel at night. Are there big street lights that create light pollution which can create a weird feel for the house in the neighborhood? Is there suspicious activity in the evening that you might run across that you don’t see during the day?
Other things to consider when spending time in the area include how close the property is to good schools, shopping centers and main transportation sites. And you want to be sure the neighborhood infrastructure is sound. For example, you want to know that streets drain well when it rains hard and that the city picks up the trash.
Ultimately, buying a home is probably one of the biggest purchases that most people make. You want to make sure that you understand what you’re getting ready to invest in. If you’re going to live there for 10, 15, 20 years, it doesn’t hurt to spend 48 to 72 hours there before you commit to buying it.
