海角大神

When Sarah and I were shopping around for our home, we looked at the options available in several different communities.

During our first rounds of looking at housing, we looked in more affluent neighborhoods. The homes were beautiful and the neighborhood seemed very friendly and well-kept, but the prices were often astronomical.

We kept looking. We moved to the other end of the pricing spectrum and looked in areas with great prices on the homes, but there were a lot of signs of poor upkeep and higher crime levels, as well as a poorer school district.

We were diligent, though. We kept looking in different neighborhoods until we hit paydirt 鈥� a neighborhood with a home price we could reasonably afford, but well-kept and with a lot of families with children in the neighborhood. It was perfect.

We wanted the more expensive homes.聽We probably could have managed a mortgage in a nicer neighborhood than we wound up in. However, the place we wound up in was wonderful. It met every need we had and still meets our needs today.

Best of all,聽because we chose a less-expensive neighborhood that still met our needs, we鈥檝e managed to pay off our home very quickly.聽The neighborhood made all the difference.

Whether you鈥檙e in a home that you鈥檙e struggling to afford or you鈥檙e just shopping for a home, a less expensive neighborhood that still meets your needs can be the perfect solution to your financial situation.

Your first step should be to聽define what exactly you need most from your community.聽If you don鈥檛 have children, for example, the school district probably doesn鈥檛 matter that much. You may want a low crime rate, but what crimes are you really concerned about? Is this mostly just a bedroom community for you?

You may find that your actual聽needs聽from your neighborhood are smaller than you think. In the end, we decided that our only聽needs聽were a decent school district and a tolerable crime rate, and that actually ended up including almost every community we looked at save one or two.

This seems like such a simple step, but you鈥檇 be surprised how many people simply say 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to livethere鈥� when doing a home search. Without even looking at what the neighborhood can provide, they exclude what might be a wonderful bargain for them.

When you鈥檙e thinking about聽where聽to live, focus on the facts and focus on what you actually need. You might find the perfect home value for you in a place you might not expect.