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Find Your Colorado Home | Location, Location, Location…

We have all the heard the real estate adage: “location, location, location” used when talking about finding the right real estate to purchase. It couldn’t be truer than when you’re choosing a property to make your home.

You may come into an area like Denver where all the lawns are neatly trimmed, the houses are immaculate, and there aren’t a lot of junk cars or trash evident. It looks like an upscale, clean, tidy neighborhood, but there could be some underlying crime that you are unaware of so take the time and check out where your family will be living. It is always prudent to visit these neighborhoods on different days and times like in the evening when you can see what type of community exists after dark. Some homeowners have made the mistake of making several visits to a neighborhood at the same time of day rather than coming back in the evening, on weekends, and during school time hours to see how the area changes. Observing the neighborhood and the people who live and work in the area will give you a better understanding of whether it’s a fit for you and your family.

However, not all neighborhoods that appear to be well-kept are really safe. When you’re considering buying a home in a neighborhood that you may not know much about it’s important to learn about the area first rather than just basing your decision of the area on the way the neighborhood looks. Talk to local residents, visit the neighborhood parks, schools and churches for instance to get a better feel for the culture and the people who could be your future neighbors. Of course, your real estate agent can help you learn a lot of details about the neighborhood, future planned developments, and schools, but you’ll find taking a few extra precautionary steps of your own will help to ensure a sound investment decision.

A good suggestion is to visit the local town hall or police station and ask a lot of informational questions like, we are thinking of moving into the area; can you tell me anything about crime, if it does exist here, and what kind of incidences have occurred recently?

The type of crime is going to dictate what type of criminal activity is going on and what type of questionable characters might be coming into the neighborhood and posing a threat or danger to the safety of your family.

Safety isn’t necessarily crime. Safety could be traffic issues; how your kids are going to get to school. Most parents before they buy a home will consider things such as how far away the school is and what kind of transportation exists? What is the geography around the school like? Do they have school crosswalks and crossing guards? Is there bus service? How many streets do your kids have to cross in order to get to school or to the neighborhood bus stop?

Whether or not you have children, investigating the school system and traffic issues are important as a thriving school district can be an indication of an area that will continue to rise in property values. Of course, being too close to the school and boxed in by traffic jams can hurt the resale value of your home but this is rarely a negative issue.

There are a few more sources that can provide assistance in learning about the neighborhood.

Go have dinner at one of the restaurants in the area. You can strike up conversations with some of the patrons in that restaurant, talk to neighbors and storekeepers.

Here are some more helpful suggestions to use when house hunting:

• Talk to local business owners. Even if they don’t live in the area, they will have some insight about the neighborhood and people living there.
• Check with the area’s city council and planning department.
• Find out about owner-occupancy. Your agent is a good source for this kind of information. Ask about rental values — even if you plan to live in the home. Often tenants don’t have the same pride of homeownership that owners do; thus properties are not always kept up.
• Check landscaping at major commercial developments; is it kept up?
• Visit the local facilities such as malls, movie theaters, etc. Frequently these will be hang-outs for school-aged children and a good place to get an idea about the neighborhood kids.
• Drive the neighborhood and see if there are a lot of home remodeling projects going on. If so, it likely means homeowners are planning to stick around and are willing to invest more in their homes because they like the neighborhood.

The more time you spend studying the location the less likely you are to discover something you really dislike about the neighborhood after you have bought the home. Use a local Denver real estate agent and spend some time researching your future home location and you will find it will be time well spent once you have found the home of your dreams.

Tom Reed and Bill Brown are local authors and real estate experts of Legacy Real Estate Brokers Inc. in Denver Colorado. You can visit their website at www.discovercoloradorealestate.com.

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