Health & Fitness
Find Your Dream Neighborhood
Paul Valentino, President of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in the Greater Washington, D.C. Metro and 30-year real estate veteran, shares some tips on how to find your dream neighborhood.
Find Your Dream Neighborhood
Today, Paul Valentino, President of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in the Greater Washington, D.C. Metro and 30-year real estate veteran, shares some tips on how to find your dream neighborhood.
Before buying a home, deciding what features you want in your future neighborhood is important. For more than two-thirds of all home buyers, neighborhood quality is the single biggest factor in determining where to buy, according to the National Association of Realtors® 2011 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.
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Most home buyers also want a good school system, affordable taxes and friendly neighbors, but there are other important issues to consider.
First, consider the home’s proximity to work and social locations. Traveling an hour or more to get to work, buy groceries or go shopping can wear on you – plus gasoline costs add up quickly!
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Make it a point to talk to locals who already live in the neighborhood you’re considering. Ask potential neighbors about their own experiences — most are glad to share their honest opinions about the community’s safety, noise levels, schools performance and many other topics.
Visit the neighborhood at different times of the day. It may seem quiet at 10am, but after school and during rush hour the roads might turn into a parking lot! Look to see if the homeowners are out and about socializing with other neighbors, or if they keep to themselves. Drive through at night to make sure that the street lights are on and the neighborhood is well lit.
Finally, visualize yourself in the neighborhood and see if it has the majority of things that are important to you, whether that means having a community pool or its close proximity to Starbucks. You'll probably have to make compromises, so put the "must-haves" at the top and the "would- like-to-haves" at the bottom.
Paul Valentino is the President of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in the Greater Washington, D.C. Metro, and is a 30-year real estate veteran. A certified residential broker, Valentino holds the National Association of Realtors® e-PRO professional real estate designation, and is a member of the National Association of Realtors®, the Virginia Association of Realtors®, and the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors®.
