Whether you’re looking to buy your first home or are searching for your dram 2nd, 3rd, 4th or even 5th property you’ll want to know that you are buying in a good neighborhood.
Australia is fortunate enough to be a relatively low crime rate country. However, there was a 1% increase in offenders prosecuted during 2016 – 2017. It is not something that you can afford to be complacent about.
To find the best neighborhood in your city you should follow these steps:
Speak To Security Providers
In Sydney you find the security firm electricalsecurityservices.com.au; they are one of the best. Wherever you look you should seek out a similar security firm.
The easiest way to find the best ones is to look on social media sites, talk to friends and check out which firms seem to be used the most around the city.
You can then contact the fir and ask for their opinion on the different neighborhoods in your city. They will have a wealth of information which has been collected from their own experiences.
Check Them Out
Take a drive around your city and look at the different neighborhoods. You can keep your car locked for safety as you visit all the neighborhoods at different times of the day and evening. You can even visit at night if you like.
The point of this is to see if there are any areas that you feel unsafe in. IF there are then these should be crossed off your list.
While this may seem extreme, once you’ve bought a place you’ll be stuck in that neighborhood until you can sell again. It’s better to do the research first.
An important consideration at this stage is that you don’t need to visit every neighborhood in your city. You need to locate the ones that you are likely to live in.
These can be defined by the price of the property or rental charge, its closeness to your work and the proximity of shops and schools if necessary.
Look Online
There are several sites online which provide guidance to the safest cities and neighborhoods in Australia. You might be interested to learn that Sydney is actually the 6th safest city in the world!
The online guides will look at all the facts and figures concerning reported crime in an area. Your personal visits will give you a picture of what it is really like to love somewhere. As an alternative, you can now also use an address lookup website to check out the safety of different neighbourhoods.
Involve Your Family
You’ve already asked family and friends about the best neighborhoods but don’t forget to involve your partner and children in the decision to move. It will affect everyone and a safe neighborhood for you may not be right for your children.
Getting the balance right is critical.
If you are struggling to choose between a couple of neighborhoods then it is a good idea to stay in a hotel in each neighborhood. This will give you a feel for what it is like living there. But, you should not pick the best hotel; this will give you a false image of the area!
Stopping in a hotel will give you the opportunity to talk to the locals; their opinions may vary from the statistics you’ve read but they actually live there.
