FINDING THE PERFECT NEIGHBORHOOD AND LEARN A SYSTEMATIC WAY TO FIND THAT NEXT DREAM HOME!

• Is it close to your shopping, dining, place of worship, parks, etc...? Make a list of the activities — movies, health club, church, etc. — you engage in regularly and stores you visit frequently. See how far you would have to travel from each neighborhood you’re considering to engage in your most common activities.
• Check out the school district. This is especially important if you have children, but it also can affect resale value. The Department of Education in your town can probably provide information on test scores, class size, percentage of students who attend college, and special enrichment programs. If you have school-age children, visit schools in the neighborhoods you’re considering. Also, check out www.greatschools.org/georgia.
• Find out if the neighborhood is safe. Ask the police department for neighborhood crime statistics. Consider not only the number of crimes but also the type — such as burglaries or armed robberies — and the trend of increasing or decreasing crime. Also, is crime centered in only one part of the neighborhood, such as near a retail area?
• Determine if the neighborhood is economically stable. Check with your local city economic development office to see if income and property values in the neighborhood are stable or rising. What is the percentage of homes to apartments? Apartments don’t necessarily diminish value, but do mean a more transient population. Do you see vacant businesses or homes that have been for sale for months?
• See if you’ll make money. Ask a local REALTOR® or call the local REALTOR® association to get information about price appreciation in the neighborhood. Although past performance is no guarantee of future results, this information may give you a sense of how good of an investment your home will be. A REALTOR® or the government planning agency also may be able to tell you about planned developments or other changes in the neighborhood — like a new school or highway — that might affect value.
• Make personal observations. Once you’ve narrowed your focus to two or three neighborhoods, go there and walk around. Are homes tidy and well maintained? Are streets quiet? How does it feel? Pick a warm day if you can and chat with people working or playing outside.

Buying a home is a process of elimination, not selection. If you are actively in the process of looking for a house I would encourage you to decide on 3 possible areas you want to buy in and rank these (A, B, C) in order of your preference.

Just so you know, many people will tell an agent, ‘Here’s what we think we’re looking for,’ and they end up buying something totally different
because as they look at homes, they discover new areas they might not have considered before. They get new information on what is available to them and a better idea of what they really want.

What I’m going to do is educate you in a systematic way on the local market in direct proportion to how much time you have to look at homes. What I find is helpful is for you to drive around and start getting familiar with these areas or neighborhoods in particular that may be of interest. After you’ve driven around and know the ones you liked and didn’t like, then let me know the ones you want to see. We’ll make a list and go see them together. Some neighborhoods you may not feel comfortable stopping the car! Some you will find a good fit and a feeling like home! This will allow us to eliminate a lot of houses on the market for sale as some neighborhoods won’t pass the test! When we know 2-3 neighborhoods or communities you want to live in then we have narrowed or eliminated the number of possible listings down dramatically to a manageble group of homes that will no doubt include your next dream home!

Home Searches by school district Oconee;

North Oconee

Malcom Bridge

Oconee

Rocky Branch