| There are
two aspects to the "where"' of buying a home. One is the statistics, local
gossip and known facts of what a place is like: the other how it feels to
you.
Most people have some notion of an area they would like to live. To
test this notion, you should go back to your list of desirable locality
features. Try and list features of areas you are considering living in,
both good and bad, and compare them to your desirable features list. These
two lists could become the basis of a good family discussion.
Visit these
potential neighborhoods and use them as you would if you lived there. Walk
the local parks, shop the corner stores. What is the neighborhood atmosphere?
How does it fit you? Drive from your workplace to each potential neighborhood,
timing how long this takes. If it is a consideration, visit schools and
ask around about their reputation. Considerable reading is
needed to get to the hard facts of neighborhoods.
|
 The
area you would like to live in is closely related to the type of house that
you would like to live in. This charming open verandah is suited to a quiet
leafy suburb, not a noisy inner city address surrounded by apartments and
with perhaps a higher crime risk.
A good place to start
is with real estate publications. Look for periodicals which deal in local
residential investment advice, and consider subscribing to them. Thoroughly
read the residential property sections of newspapers. Look at reams of advertisements,
noting particularly house prices and how they relate to different areas.
The big picture is to look at what area is going to be hot in the future,
and avoid those areas where house prices have peaked. This is the single
most pragmatic consideration in which house you should buy.
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