When about to move to an unfamiliar town, how do you determine what areas are good?

[HappyGrace]

Dh has an out of the blue good job offer and we want to start looking at housing options. How on earth do you find out what parts of town are desirable? I've never done this before and I don't know where to start. Is there anything online to help with this? Thanks for any help! (We're looking for suburbs in and around the Buffalo area.)

[Cathy in IL]

If I were moving to a new area, I would prefer to talk to someone who lives in or near the area to really get indsider information. If that were not possible I would drive around different areas at various times of the day. See who is "hanging out" and what they are up to. Do you see graffiti? Are the lawns and houses kept up? Are there bars on the windows? I like to drive down alleys too and get a feel for the area. I feel like I learn a bit about the area by visiting the local grocery stores too.

When we moved recently, I drove around to local parks and let the children play. That gave me opportunities to talk to other parents and learn more about the area. It was interesting to see that in some areas the children were unsupervised. In other areas there were attentive parents. At a few of the parks the nannies outnumbered the parents. I learned a lot about the area, and my children had lots of fun doing it.

[Krista in LA]

We have always gotten good advice by dh asking his future coworkers/boss about what areas are better. We've also have found realtors that would share that information. Call the police dept and ask which areas have fewer incidences. If you go for a visit, driving around different areas can give you a good feel - if there are lots of kids outside playing, it probably is a safe area. I guess we've been very lucky in finding great neighborhoods.

[Hen Jen]

my sister-in-law's father used to be a police officer, and now grown up and married to a med student, now Dr.- she has moved around alot...her dad always calls the police dept. in the town and asks them which are the nicer areas and which the bad. I would give that a try.

[Kris]

Once we narrowed down an area, we would talk to the neighbors when we were looking at houses. Unfortunately, with one that we did choose, that strategy didn't work.

We had a wonderful chat with the lady next door, and I will never forget the fact that, when I asked her, "How are the schools?" she responded that the local school, about a block from the house, was wonderful.

*After* we moved in, we learned she didn't send her own kids to that school. :-)

[genie]

A resource I found immensely helpful when we moved cross country is the City Data Forum (http://www.city-data.com/forum/)

Find the state and then the closest city that is listed and you will find forums (just like this format) that discuss all of the ins and outs of the area. I think you have to register to use the search feature, but I had no problems when I registered. Lots of good info to be found, as long as your town is somewhat near a main city.

Good luck!

[momofkhm]

If the public schools in the area are good, I would think the area was good. After we moved into this house, we found out that no one on this street sends their kids to the zoned school.

DH also called the police to find out how many incidents were in the area. I've also seen (but don't know where to find now) a website that will point out where the registered sex offenders live in the area. I think you type in an address and then it gives a 5 mile radius.

[JFS in IL]

Local real estate folk are forbidden to tell you. But the folks who serve and protect the area will know ...and be free (off the record) to tell you!

When we moved to our small city, friends told us where NOT to buy. They had not asked and were actually in a bad area. Irony - he was a (then) firefighter...who had not thought to ask his future co-workers where in town to avoid. He took a map of our city and highlighted in yellow all the bad parts of town.

[Tarheel Heather]

Was very open and upfront. if we like a house in an area that was not so good he would make a comment about it, not directly come out and say one way or the other. He would suggest another area or neighborhood that listings. He knew we had three kids and homeschooled. We told him we wanted a kid friendly area.

We also would drive by on our own to get an idea. If you are able to drive by on Sat. mornings, you can get a idea of who is out and kids and the like. I think Zilllow.com has a wealth of info also. You can type in the address of the home and it will pull up dempgraphics and recent home sales/ value of where you are going. I think yahoo realestate does the same.

I found the homeschool loop for the area and introduced myself there and ask for suggestions on areas as well.

HTH,
Heather

[MolleenCarie]

http://www.familywatchdog.us/

Colleen

[OnTheBrink]

http://www.familywatchdog.us/

Colleen

That's good information to know, but it's not really an indicator of a good neighborhood. We lived in a higher-end, desirable neighborhood, and there were 3 registered sex offenders in the area. One lived behind us, two houses down and we lived there for years without ever seeing the man.

Sex offender ≠ pedophile (I realize you didn't say that, but my point is that a sexual offender in the area isn't necessarily an indicator of a bad area, since they're allowed to live anywhere and sexual offenders come in all shapes, sizes and socioeconomic status.)

[HomeOnTheRanch]

When we were ready to move several years ago we were put in touch with a homeschooling family. It turns out the dad worked for the local public works dept. His main job was inspecting the sewer system, etc. He had been in houses/neighborhoods all over the city. He gave us a city map with certain neighborhoods circled in red...those were the areas we were NOT to look for housing.

When we sat down with our real estate agent and asked her if such-and-such house was in a good neighborhood she hesitated and told us she really couldn't answer. DH pulled out our map and asked her if the house in question was outside the "red zone." She laughed and said we had a great map! From then on she referred to property as whether or not it was within our zones.

Find someone that knows the city and have them mark up a map for you.

Now, when we moved to where we are now, the real estate agents told us upfront if a property was a place where they would raise their family. It is a small town, rural community and very family oriented.

[Ottakee]

If you can, rent for 3-6 months first. This is esp. true in a larger area. After that time you will know what church, homeschool group, doctor, etc. you like and what neighborhoods really fit the way YOU want to live.

[MolleenCarie]

Everyone told us to live on the east side of town, but there are plenty of nice neighborhoods on the very west side of this town that I prefer over our neighborhood. It is just hard to tell w/o living in a place for awhile.

Michelle - I was just responding to Cheryl's post. You're right, registered sex offenders don't automatically make an area undesirable. :)

Colleen