Your Future Home: Up Close & Personal…at a Distance
If you find yourself taking the online home search to a whole new level during this Stay at Home order, you’re not alone. The housing market is booming and–just like you–consumers are still buying homes. While new guidelines are being implemented and the way we buy homes is changing, the need to be fully informed is not. For your benefit, we have compiled a list of tips for diving into your next potential neighborhood from a distance.
First and foremost, connect with your real estate agent. Your real estate agent should have the inside scoop of any potential neighborhood you’re looking into. They likely have the technology and resources to provide inside intel on the area. Consider them your main resource for this endeavor.
If you’re looking to do more digging, the next time you’re scrolling through social media, look into local online groups that connect the area’s residents. These groups give you insight on what’s happening nearby as far as events and activities and also allows you to interact with people who really live there. Just type in your city and state in the Facebook or Instagram search bar; you’re bound to come across groups and pages dedicated to the area you’re looking into.
When searching for homes, a good indicator of how that home will hold its value as well as provide your family a place to thrive is how low the crime rates are and how highly the nearby school are rated. We recommend using GreatSchools.org to gain knowledge of the area’s schools. For monitoring crime, we recommend you tap into CrimeReports.com. Don’t skip over these factors, they’re essential.
Finally, you can both take a walk and get a feel for the commute virtually with Google. The tech giant offers features that allow you to take a “walk” along neighborhood streets as well as predict how long it will take you to commute at any given time… all through Google Maps! To take a “walk,” simply type in the address you’re curious about on Google Maps, click on the photo that pops up on the left-hand side and scroll along the road. To predict how long it will take to commute to the address from any given starting point, type it in on Google Maps and then select the three little dots in the upper right corner. Select “set a reminder to leave” and enter your depart or arrive time. Boom, commute time estimated!
We hope these simple ideas help guide you in narrowing down which homes deserve an in-person look, and which do not meet your standards. Don’t let a pandemic put your homebuying dreams on hold. Like always, Cambria® Mortgage™ is here to guide you along your journey through homeownership. Call us today at 952-942-0110 to get started.