Six Factors to Consider in Your New Baltimore-area neighborhood

There are a lot of factors to consider when you’re buying a new home in the Baltimore area. While the house must meet your specifications and needs, picking the ideal house means thinking outside the yard. You need to look at the neighborhood, and make sure it’s the right one for you. There are six factors any new home buyer should consider.

School districts: Young married couples looking for their first new home usually put this at the top of their list. They’re planning a family, or already started one, and they want to stay in their home for a while, so they want to make sure they pick a good school district. They’re concerned with the quality of education, the student-to-teacher ratio, and whether the school is safe. Your Realtor should be knowledgeable about the school districts, but you can also find this kind of information with a basic Google search.

Access to hospitals: The odds of needing a hospital may be fairly remote, but it’s still important to know that there is a good hospital nearby. Ask friends in the area whether it has a good reputation, or is always busy. If the closest hospital is not a decent choice, is there another good one that’s close enough to get to in an emergency?

Access to good grocery stores, restaurants: It takes houses to make a neighborhood, but it takes restaurants to make a community. What kind of restaurants and stores are in your neighborhood? Are they close by and easily accessible? Do you have a wide variety of choices, or are there only the usual chains featuring mediocre food? Find a place that has a number of good choices so you don’t spend 30 minutes in your car just to get to a better one. See where your possible neighbors spend their time, and what they think of local restaurants. Check Yelp.com or Google Local for local restaurants and customer comments.

Traffic: What’s the traffic like in your neighborhood? Is it on a side street or a major thoroughfare? Do cars race by faster than normal, or do they follow the speed limit? You want to make sure you feel safe letting your kids play outside, or let your pet out for its business. Even leaving your driveway should be a consideration. If people drive like they’re at the Indy 500 and you have pets or children, or the street is so busy you can’t even back out, you may want to reconsider.

Distance from work: We would all love to either live as close to work as possible, or have a commute that doesn’t mean you’re spending 30 – 60 minutes just sitting in traffic. Your house should either be close enough that you can easily get to work, or so wildly great that you’re willing to put up with a long commute. To test a commute, one day after work, drive from your workplace to the new house, and see how long it takes. Do it more than once, in case you run into unusual traffic the first time. Then ask yourself, am I willing to go through this every day for this house?

Crime rates: While we don’t like to think about crime, it’s still important to know whether you’re moving to a safe neighborhood or not. There are several websites, and even a Google Map, that can check crime reports in your neighborhood. While it’s impossible to find a neighborhood that doesn’t have any crime, you want to make sure you find one that is relatively safe.

You may find an excellent house, but if you’re not happy with your neighborhood, your dissatisfaction will soon transfer to your home. Save yourself the headache and make sure you find a neighborhood you will enjoy spending many years in.