You think you have found it, THE house!  Yay!  But wait, what do you really know about where you are moving?  It is really important you ride through a neighborhood and check it out.  What else is there, are the neighbors keeping up with their yards and trash?  No?  Hmmm that could be a bad indicator.

I also recommend my clients ride around the neighborhood at different times: day time, night time, and weekend, to get a sense of what the neighborhood they may be living in will be like.  At 3:00 the neighborhood may be nice and quiet, but maybe at 4:30 when the high school has let out the streets are full of kids smoking and listening to loud music…OR maybe the neighborhood is still nice and quiet.  You won’t know unless you check it out.

The picture here was taken in what most would consider a really nice neighborhood in Northwest Guilford County.  Most of the homes are upwards of 300k.  My buyers were shocked when they drove around and found this house with gargoyles and such.  Now, my buyers still moved into the neighborhood, and they love it.  These neighbors are just fine, BUT I wonder if my buyers had found this house AFTER they bought theirs if it might have been a little off putting.

Ride before you buy.