Are You Looking for a House in a Secure Location? Here's How to Make the Right Decision

• Author: Teresa Boehm
• Posted: 2024-09-25

Location is critical when buying a house because it determines the security of your family members and property. Besides, it determines how long it will take to access essential services, and the time it will take you to get to work in the morning.

Most importantly, the area the house you buy is located will determine how much the home will fetch if you decide to sell it in the future. Therefore, as you look for a house, you should spend more of your time comparing where different houses are located. That will ensure that you choose the one located in the best area. Here's how to identify a house in a suitable location.
 

Find Out the Crime Rate in Different Neighborhood

When considering the neighborhood to move to, the security of your family members should take top priority. Therefore, as you compare different areas, please find out their crime rate. Use the Internet to get all the information you need. However, narrow down your research to the specific area you want to move to because some neighborhoods might have higher crime rates than others in the same city.

In most cases, houses in a neighborhood with a high crime rate cost lower than those in secure areas. Therefore, the first warning sign that the neighborhood you want to move to is not safe is the availability of cheaper homes. However, some property owners use different strategies to improve safety. For example, they build houses in a gated community. Thus, if the house you are interested in is located in a gated community, you might decide to buy it because your family will be at a lesser security risk.
 

Find out How Easy it is To Move around the Neighborhood

A good neighborhood should have a good transportation system. That will make it easy to access shopping malls, grocery stores, restaurants, hospitals, schools, and different essential service facilities. A good transportation system will also reduce the time it takes to travel around the city and out of town if you work in a different area. Besides, if the neighborhood has different transportation options, you have the freedom of choosing how you want to travel around the city.

Apart from that, you might not have to use your car every time you want to move around the city with great transportation options. That will save you some cash you could have used on fuel, and it might even take you less time to get to your destination, depending on the transport option you choose. However, if the neighborhood you choose has few transport options or heavy traffic throughout the day, commutes and running errands might take longer. Therefore, when choosing the neighborhood to move to, consider areas where you can move around without challenges 24/7.
 

Find Out the Future Appreciation Potential of Property in Different Neighborhoods

Even if you plan to live in one neighborhood for a long time, you might still need to sell your house at some point. When that time comes, you want to be sure that you will get back all the money you spent and a profit as well. Therefore, before buying a house, find out the appreciation rates of properties in different neighborhoods. If a house costs less in an undesirable neighborhood now, it can fetch a good price in the future. Therefore, as you move around comparing different homes, look out for factors that indicate that a particular neighborhood has future appreciation potential.

When you visit each area, find out whether any development plans are in place in the next few months or years. For example, if the government or private investors plan to construct more hospitals, schools or improve the transport system, your property can fetch a good price in the future. In addition, the presence of ongoing commercial property projects indicates that the property you buy today might be more valuable in a few years.
 

Consider the Location of Different Houses

Another factor you need to consider before deciding the neighborhood to move to is the location of your preferred house. If it is located next to a busy road, a commercial property, or a busy street, your family might not be comfortable living in the area. That is because there might be a lot of noise pollution throughout the day.
However, if your preferred house is located in a serene environment, your family will have more comfort even when relaxing outdoors.
 

Bottom Line

Buying a house in the wrong location can cost you a lot of time and resources. That is because you will keep moving until you settle on a suitable location. Therefore, if you want to make the right decision when looking for a home in a favorable location, use the information above to guide you in your search.