Location, location, location… The oldest and most prominent real estate adage. Even if you’ve never owned real estate you’ve probably both heard and understand the concept.
The value of a property is largely based on it’s convenience to local markets, shopping and amenities. So how do you go about picking the perfect location?
Since I’m very analytical, let’s look at a couple of ways to quantify what makes one location better than another.
1) Keeping up with the Joneses… In other words, do those in the community have wealth? Are they educated? Are they high wage earners? Zipskinny.com is a quick and easy way to determine that.
~www.zipskinny.com
2) Ok. Now that we’ve looked at what type of neighbors we’re going to have. Let’s take a look at how convenient the home is in relation to area amenities. Walkscore.com allows you to plug in an address and gives a score that reflects how “walkable” the property is to local hot spots.
~www.walkscore.com
3) Is the area safe for you and your family? JSO (Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office) has got you covered! With their Crime Stats mapping option, you can plug in an address and it will return the different type of crimes (if any) that have occurred within a .5 mile radius, in the previous six months.
~http://maps.coj.net/crimestatsdiscl.asp?sJAxGIS=Y
4) Ask a Realtor! We look at 100′s of houses in all different neighborhoods every year. The opinion of a good Realtor is certainly worth finding out.
Cheers!
Filed under: buyers, jacksonville real estate
