I must be focusing on the home sellers quite a bit lately… and honestly, there aren’t a lot of them out there. Most homes on the market – the ones that catch a first time home buyer’s eye anyway – are bank-owned. (By the way, some of them are such a steal lately. I was in Roseville yesterday showing homes and came across some fantastic finds for under $200,000.)

Anyway, for the purpose of this post, I’m going to focus on how you as a home buyer (first time or not) can pick the right neighborhood and be happy with your purchase. The fact that home prices have fallen so much makes it hard to choose the area you really want to live in. Couple that with the fact that REOs have generally deferred maintenance and unkempt front lawns and picking the right home seems like quite a gamble. But not if you follow these simple tips:

Friends and Family

Sure, you might not be the person to want your mother-in-law over at your home for dinner every night, but having family and friends in the same area might be a good idea. For one, chances are you have already been to their homes a few times, so you know the neighborhood. And instead of checking the newspaper for crime statistics and other details your relatives probably have first-hand knowledge of most of what you care about.

A built-in social life means a lot to many people as well. You might think you don’t care about that now, but sometimes having the yellow book or google as your only friend when you want to head out to just pick up something from the nearest store or find that perfect burrito place in town is not such a great idea.

Distance from Work / Commute Time

Some home buyers like to focus on the time it would take them to get to work. I remember my daughter’s pediatrician saying that he was all but two minutes away from his place of work and he loved it. He almost fainted when I told him I lived in Pollock Pines. Well, to each his own. I like to clear my head before I head home, unlike some others that would rather just get home and then relax.

Whichever camp you belong to, make sure that your home choice matches it. A good way to do this is to drive around during your lunch hour. If you prefer to live close to work, get a drive-by look at the homes listed in the area. You can also just search the area on our MLS search right here, but driving around gives you a visual of the homes, so you are better prepared to judge them. If you are one who likes a commute, time yours and then drive around on the weekends. Don’t judge your commute by the weekend drive time though. Pollock Pines for example is just 45 minutes from Sacramento on the weekends, but during week days it can take almost an hours and a half!

Do your research. Get a look at homes, compare prices and styles. Take your time getting to know the area. Some places are notoriously only business areas. Be sure you can live there or far enough away that you can separate home from work and relax when you’re home. Well, I suppose I should qualify that with an “if that’s important to you.”

Other Ways to Pick

The best things – my husband and I have decided – about moving to Pollock Pines are the neighbors. I have never met nicer people anywhere. Because it is a smaller town than Sacramento, the sense of community is greater but it isn’t so small that everyone knows your name and where you are and what you’re doing. If neighbors are important to you, some footwork might be necessary. It isn’t so odd to knock on a few doors and ask what the area is like. People are quite friendly when you ask about anything that is important to them. And if they aren’t nice, well, move on. Why would you want to live next to a grouch?

Google can be your best friend when looking for a certain interest and then buying a home close to it. For example, if you have a dog and want a dog park close, just search for “dog park” and the place you’re looking at. Same for horses. Or maybe you want to live close to a vineyard or a small home brew club. Google can give you all the answers and then you can do your research from there.

Hopefully, I’ve helped point you in the right direction. It’s usually a good idea to take some time to figure out what is important to you before making the leap to buy a home. Then you come from a place of motivation and reason to buy. Just because home prices have fallen drastically in a certain area doesn’t make it the ideal place. Take some time to do your research and once you know the right place, feel free to pounce on the right home!

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