Neighborhoods

What neighborhood is right for me? Start with what you like, and don't like, about where you live now. For instance, my first experience with home ownership was a two bedroom, two bath, two-car garage, and sunny front balcony and covered back balcony townhouse. I liked the porches and balconies, the pool and the no yard maintenance and being close to public transporation. I disliked the young neighbor who liked to hang around my back porch, the monthly association fees, the upgrade assessment lump-sum payments, the young men who drove too fast and talked too loudly to the young girl who lived across the driveway from me. I also disliked the heavy traffic that blocked the main streets at rush hour. Clearly the negatives here outweighed the benefits for me.

My next home was a four bedroom 2.5 bath home in a new sub-division far from anywhere, where we were in a crime-free, excellent school family neighborhood. We had front and back yards that I spent lots of time maintaining. There was a park up the street and lots of paved walking trails. We got lots for our money. For us, this was heaven.

My next home was a modern, three-story, two bedroom with balcony to the living room, wood-everywhere kitchen with a small balcony and almost no yard, a one-car garage, in a very "location, location, location" part of a big city neighborhood, close to everything. The neighborhood kids called our house "the castle" because it towered over the sloped street. We loved living here, except we were burgled and our son never wanted his room on the first floor again (the crooks went through his window when we were at the mall). All our future homes had two stories with all bedrooms upstairs after this.

So, which of the above sounds like you? If none, then think of what you dislike about the above. That will tell you a lot about what neighborhood you feel right living in.

Unfortunately, price often requires compromise. So if you know where you'd like to live but can't afford everything you'd like, then you have to prioritize. For some, buying more home (which usually means living in the burbs), wins due to affordability. For others, living in town is not negotiable, no matter the closet they have to live in at first, or the less than stellar public school often associated with big city neighborhoods.