Try before you buy
Just like we test drive a car before we buy it, it’s a good idea to live in the neighborhood you plan to buy in the future. After all, for most of us purchasing a home will be the biggest expense we make in our lifetime.
Individuals stress over whether or not to purchase a property. Their anxiety may be due to the unknown. What if it’s dangerous at night? What if none of my friends want to visit me here? What if I find out something about the neighborhood that I’ll dislike when it’s too late to do anything about it?
The good news is, moving to a new place doesn't need to be a completely blind leap of faith. Take the neighborhood for a little test drive first. Here are some ideas to 'live' in a neighborhood before buying.
Live like a local
The first step is to spend some time in the area. Now you probably only heard “time” but remember, time you spend in the area is an investment on the greatest investment you will later make. Book a short term or vacation rental as close as possible to neighborhood you would buy a house in. This isn't free, but the peace of mind this can give you about an area is worth the investment. Try to book for at least three days, preferably Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. In doing so, you’ll be able to see what the neighborhood is like on both weekdays and weekends. From there, spend time exploring the neighborhood during the morning, afternoon, and evening to check noise levels and safety in the area.
Run through your daily routine
In addition to noise and crime levels in the area, you’ll want to get a sense of your daily commute to and from work, shopping routine for groceries, and other errands. Make sure to use the mode of transportation you'll be using, whether that's a car, bike, bus, or otherwise.
Sample the social life
Happy hours and weekend festivities are a common part of building a social life. As such, you should spend at least one night going out where you coordinate with friends to grab dinner or even go out bar hopping. Your goal should be to see as many venues as you possibly can, to get a sense of the ambiance and demographics of the local nightlife and social scene. If there’s nothing like this in that neighborhood, still make the plan to go out and see how far you need to go to find it. This way you will get a pretty good idea of time and traffic you’ll be dealing with if you were to move to that area.
One advantage of living in Austin is that there are plenty of neighborhood and suburbs to choose from. There are also plenty of new communities being built.
