How to Know if You’ll Love Your New Neighborhood
How to Know if You’ll Love Your New Neighborhood
When on the hunt for your brand new digs, you don’t necessarily want to stick to familiar territory. Buying a new home is a big commitment, but it’s also an opportunity to make a change and venture out into a bold, new neighborhood adventure.
How will you know if Oldham County is really “the right area” for you?
1. What do you need to have nearby?
If you have children, you will be considering schools. Oldham County schools are a major factor for those looking to relocate to Oldham County.
You may also be thinking about grocery stores and local shopping. Oldham County has unique local shops and is just a 15 minute drive to 2 big malls and an outdoor shopping center.
Brainstorm some of the things that are important to you. Do you want to live near a particular school? Or near a horse farm? Drive around neighborhoods in those areas.
2. Are you going for a quiet or lively environment?
Are you looking for a neighborhood with a cul-de-sac block party every weekend, where you are on a first name basis with all of your neighbors? Or are you looking for lush farmland with a private country setting?
Some people are lured to a neighborhood by a community feel with the neighbors. They want to live where they hang out on weekends, but some people would rather enjoy the privacy and the quite serenity that comes with a country setting.
3. Do you want to have friends nearby?
Whether your BFFs are already in the neighborhood or you want to be buddies with your new neighbors, you should take into account the kind of social life you hope to have in your brand new home base. If your neighbor waved to you from across the street, would this be a selling point?
4. After you’ve done your research, does it seem like a place where you’d want to live?
One family visited what seemed to be a quiet Louisville neighborhood during the morning, but upon returning in the afternoon, they realized the area was right in the flight path for the Louisville airport. That was the deal breaker; they knew this wouldn’t be the quiet neighborhood they were looking for.
The lesson there? Visit your potential neighborhood during different hours of the day to get a real sense of it, and you might observe things you missed the first time around. You should also check out the crime stats and schools in the area — even if kids aren’t in the picture for you just yet. Those things can tell you a lot about the community under the surface.