Relocating Tips - How to Find the Right Neighborhood for Your Family by:Carla Alvarez

Moving to a new area can be exciting and stressful at the same time

, particularly if you are moving to an area where you know no one. Beyond all of the details involved in a move, one of the most stressful aspects of it is choosing a new neighborhood to call home.

However, planning and prior research will allow you to choose a neighborhood that is the perfect fit for your family.

Create a Checklist of Criteria

Before you start looking, you have to know what you are looking for. If you could custom order a neighborhood to suit all of your needs, what characteristics would it have?

Would it be in a rural, suburban, or urban area?

What would the houses be like? Would they be new versus established or single family versus a townhome or apartment?

What types of shops, restaurants, and commercial areas are nearby.

What is the commute time like and is public transportation available.

If you have children, how do the schools rank and what private and pre-k schools are available in the area. If your children are older, are there colleges or secondary schools near by.

Choose Several Neighborhoods That Meet Your Critieria

Once you have listed the qualities you would like the new neighborhood to have, start narrowing down the neighborhoods that fit your criteria. The key point for most people is determining the outer radius from their job that they are willing to commute. Drive the route you will take to work during your actual commute times as an area that looks closer on a map may actually have a longer commute time due to traffic patterns

Find the web site of the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), for the area you are moving to. While national home search sites will list homes in the area you are looking, the local MLS will have more up-to-date information and more detailed neighborhood data that the national sites that aggregate the data. You can quickly search for homes meeting your criteria by price and location.

After you have narrowed in on a few neighborhoods, look online to compare statistics for schools rankings as well as crime data. Compare these statistics for the neighborhoods you are considering.

Do the neighborhoods you are considering have homeowners associations? If so, make sure that you review the conditions and restrictions as well as the homeowners dues. Get the Inside Scoop

A neighborhood can look good on paper and still not be the best fit for you. Facts and statistics don't tell the whole story. Pound the pavement and get a preview of what living in a particular neighborhood will be like.

A school is more than their ranking on standardized tests and attendance numbers. Visit each school to get a feel for the friendliness of the staff and the culture of the school

Drive through each of the prospective neighborhoods, make sure that you go on a weekday and also on a weekend, as well as on a week day and weekend. What is the activity like?

What do current homeowners have to say? As you are driving through the neighborhoods, get their feedback.

Are there a lot of "For Sale" or "For Rent" signs? If so, this may be a clue to a problem in the neighborhood.

In our online age, many communities have online forums or message boards. Some of the most revealing details about the culture of a community and potential issues can be found in the comments and rants of local residents.

By being an educated consumer and doing research ahead of time, you will find the perfect neighborhood to call home.

About the author

Carla Alvarez lives in Kingwood, Texas, and publishes the Kingwood Connection (http://kingwoodconnection.com,) an online community portal with news, events, and resources.

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