buying your first home - what you should know

How To Identify An Up-And-Coming Urban Area When Real Estate Shopping

If you want to purchase a home located in an urban area but are struggling to find one you can afford, then you should consider looking in an up-and-coming neighborhood. While you may prefer to live in an area that has low crime and excellent schools for your children, buying in an up-and-coming neighborhood can give you more bang for your budget and provide you with an excellent investment that will grow in value as the other homes around yours are improved.

As the years pass, neighborhoods naturally increase and decrease in quality. The problem is, how do you know you are looking in an area that is improving versus declining? You can easily do so by looking for these common signs:

Individual Properties Show Signs of Recent Improvement

Neighborhoods in decline often look run down and show obvious signs of a lack of basic maintenance and improvements. While one home may have a new roof or a new paint job, the majority of the houses will look tired and worn. However, neighborhoods that are improving typically have the following signs:

  • construction dumpsters in driveways
  • construction trucks frequently in the neighborhood
  • multiple homes have new roofs
  • landscaping is being maintained or improved
  • homes have new exterior paint

When you see a combination of these things, then a neighborhood is likely on the upswing.

New Trendy Businesses are Opening in the Area

If you are looking for a home in the downtown area and see a lot of new trendy small businesses opening, then this is a sure sign that the neighborhood is improving. Small businesses follow trends and open in areas where money is flowing.

Online Crime Maps Show the Area has a Low Crime Rate

In this technological age, you can easily search online and view maps of local crime rates. By looking at the areas you are interested in purchasing a home, you can see if the crime rate is lowering as the years pass. This is a sure sign of an up-and-coming neighborhood.

Local Real Estate Literature Uses Specific Keywords to Describe the Area

Finally, you can discover improving neighborhoods by speaking with your real estate agent and reading other agents' ad copy. Realtors use special words to signal that a home is in an improving area, including:

  • lots of potential
  • promising
  • budding
  • rising
  • trendy

In addition to these keywords, contact real estate agents downtown for more information and assistance. 


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