11 Jun How to Find the Right Neighborhood for Your Family’s Custom Home
The first step in building your custom dream home is finding the right place to build it. Choosing the perfect neighborhood your family’s new home can be just as important as the home itself.
There are a variety of neighborhood types from which to choose. The key is finding the one that matches your family’s lifestyle and needs.
So, how do you find the right neighborhood?
Find the Right Neighborhood Using These Tips
Do some online research
Put aside some time to check into the communities that are in the area where you hope to find the right neighborhood to build your new home. Many cities and towns have their own websites that will provide a map which breaks down the various neighborhoods inside its geographical limits. You may also wish to review our neighborhoods where we build section of our website or search our blog for the many neighborhood guides we have posted.
Look for the amenities of the area – does it offer the items that your family consider important? How are the schools? What about shopping and dining? This is a great way to get a feel for the best neighborhoods in Tampa Bay. Make a list of the neighborhoods that look like they might be a good fit for you and your family.
Visit all the possibilities on your list
Use some of your free time to go and get the lay of the land for each of the neighborhoods on your list. Drive through the streets and even walk through the downtown and commercial districts. How does each one make you feel? Can you see yourself coming home to this area? Try and take your whole family with you, if possible. Make a day out of it – visit a local restaurant and talk to those that your run into to see how they feel about their neighborhood.
Drive through the neighborhoods at different times
Once you’ve shortened your list to just a few ideal neighborhood candidates, be sure to visit them again. This time you want to make every attempt to drive through your possible new neighborhoods at different times of day. You want to get as real of a feel as you can for what it will be like to live there. It may seem peaceful and perfect on a Saturday afternoon, but what about during rush hour on weekdays, or after dark on the weekends?
Talk it out with your family
After you have a solid few possibilities, sit down with your family and discuss the pros and cons of each neighborhood from their standpoints. What did they like about each one? What did they not like about them? Really listen to what they have to say and take their thoughts into account.
If you follow these steps, your chance of being able to find the right neighborhood for your new custom home will go way up, and you and your family will be able to enjoy your new home (and neighborhood) for many years to come.
