You’re ready to make a move. As you search for the right home, you narrow down your choices to the areas that fit your lifestyle. Then you ask around about neighborhoods. Is it safe? Are there a lot of families? Is it close enough to what you need but still quiet and private enough? Riverside Homebuilders has experience in this dilemma, since we work with homebuyers everyday who are facing this exact choice. So, here are 5 signs you’re choosing the right neighborhood to restart your life.

#1. NeighborhoodScout matches you with it.

NeighborhoodScout is like a matchmaker for homebuyers and communities. It’s a hyper-local search engine that uses a massive database of real estate information to provide users with a neighborhood profile. The site gathers more than 600 characteristics, including school quality, crime rate, household income levels, home price appreciation, languages spoken there, family profile, and the age, style, and size of the homes. As an example, if you search the site for “Fort Worth, TX”, you’ll find a full page of information that profiles this city of nearly 900,000 people, including this:

“Fort Worth is one of the most attractive larger cities for people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile career starters…. Fort Worth is somewhat better educated than the 21.84% who have a 4-year degree or higher in the typical US community.”

You can also compare neighborhoods on the site and see homes for sale within your geographic areas of interest. 

#2. You like the way it looks, all the time.

Depending on when you visit a neighborhood, you could get a different view. Drive through on a weekday morning, and you might be impressed by the serenity or perhaps disappointed with the lack of families out and about there. What you missed was all the people who were at work or school at that time. Before you commit to buying a home in any neighborhood, visit it at least once during the day, evening, and weekend. 

#3. Your daily routine works just fine.

Think about your lifestyle. Where do you go on a regular basis? What do you need to have quick access to? Is it good schools, shopping, healthcare, recreation, friends—or any combination of these and other features?

Tour the areas around the neighborhood. Explore the amenities. How far is it to the grocery store? Will your kids be on a bus route or will you drive them to school? What’s the commute going to be like? To get an accurate perspective, take these trips at times when you would likely be going (e.g., morning drive, rush hour).

#4. The neighbors are happy.

Buying a home is a big commitment. Make sure you’re going to live in a friendly neighborhood. You don’t want to end up with a grumpy complainer next door. And it would be good to know if the HOA is tough on residents. 

Ring a doorbell and introduce yourself as someone who is considering a move here. Chat up people in their yards. Ask them what they like most about the neighborhood, including their favorite local amenities. What do they think of the schools? Tell your prospective neighbors what you’re looking for in a neighborhood so they can give you the specific information you need to make the right choice.

#5. Home values are heading in the right direction.

A good neighborhood holds its value. Actually, the resale value increases. Look at recent sales to see what homes were sold for. If they were resale homes, you can easily see what the previous owner paid for the home. Use this information to determine the appreciation and resale value in this area. 

Also, look to see the growth of the neighborhood. When new homes are sprouting up, it’s a good sign that the neighborhood is in demand. Builders don’t invest in building new homes where they aren’t going to readily sell. New homes coming to a neighborhood will boost your own home’s value since the cost of building continues to increase.

Riverside Homebuilders takes pride in the neighborhoods we build—and not just the quality of the new construction homes themselves but the lasting value of the community as a whole. We look for convenient and appealing locations with valued amenities close by. Come and see for yourself. Talk to Rachel about where we build, the variety of homes, our current new homes for sale in the DFW metro area, and the bonuses that come with choosing Riverside as your homebuilder.