By: Wendy Twine 

What do you think about or feel when you hear the word home? For many of us, the place we call home has to do with more than just the house we live in, but the community we dwell in too.  Many times the community has more weight in the decision process for a home buyer than the home itself.

So how does one know when a community is a right fit for them and their family? It all starts with how do you see yourself fitting into the community in the three top following areas: socially, economically and environmentally.  These areas are not an exclusive list but cover the main points that most homeowners consider when choosing to look for a place they can call home. Let’s do a deeper dive into each of these areas.

Socially

When choosing a community or neighborhood, how social is the neighborhood? Do the neighbors seem to be welcoming, friendly and helpful? Or are they reserved, secluded and self-absorbed?

Does the neighborhood have a community watch to look out for one another? Do they have community events and a gathering place like a clubhouse to get together? When there is a neighbor in need, do others step up and help or sit back and turn a blind eye?

Economically

The next area that many people look at when seeking the place to call home is how does the community look economically. This is not referring to how much income a neighbor makes but are they a good steward with their resources? Do they take care of their home and their yard or do they let their property go into ruins and become shabby?

When a person is looking for a home, they are  looking at the community and how well its kept. It has a lot to say in how their own property may increase in value or decrease. For example, if you have a neighbor or many neighbors in the neighborhood that have needed repairs to be done to the home, junk cars that have been parked, torn apart and rusted in their yards for years, and debris or other types of junk, this can be a big indicator that property values will not increase greatly. And on top of that, give the community a bad name because of the association of being in shambles or “economically depressed.”

Environmentally

The final area that people take into consideration is the environment. Now we did touch on some of the physical conditions of properties in the economic area but there are other factors to consider as well. Many people  want to know if the environment they want to live in is safe.

Safety can be your physical state of you and/or your family. Some examples could be gang and drug activity, sexual predators, or occult activities going on in the neighborhood (i.e. occult markings on pavement, animal sacrifices in empty properties, etc.)

The safety of your health could be the drinking water or methane gases coming up from the ground into your home. It could be electric towers giving off high power voltage emissions. This is not an exclusive list but to give you ideas of what one sees when looking at a community or neighborhood.

Conclusion

If and when you are considering a community to live and buy into, consider contacting your local sheriff department to check into the level and type of criminal activity, You can also check on registered sex offenders at your local and state levels. Here is an example or way to check for NC’s sex offenders at https://www.nc.gov/sex-offender-registry.

And finally, if you are concerned about the environment, you can always call the local environmental health department to inquire about safety questions you may have. Plus, you can call the local code enforcement department on what laws are in place and the protocol when dressing violations in your community.

So, now that you are more informed, how do you S.E.E. your community?