Sources to Help Research Your Local Area

When you’re looking for a home in a specific area, researching school data, community data, and crime data are all helpful in getting a snapshot. Giving you opinions of the local area is not legal for me to do (Fair Housing Laws), but here is a list of resources to help get you started in the search!

1. Niche.com
   Niche.com is a great site for getting an overall feel for the community. Niche collects, filters, and analyzes large sets of data — then combines that information with real-life feedback from community residents — to offer rare insights into locations and project a much more realistic picture of what a place has to offer you.
   Niche claims to have the most comprehensive data on schools, neighborhoods, cities, and zip codes, which it combines with over 100M reviews and survey responses from actual residents. It then connects data points to compare and score schools and neighborhoods using algorithms and statistics.
   No one quite knows a location as well as the locals that live there. Niche.com also has a review option where natives share what it’s like living in whatever town you are looking at.
   
2. GreatSchools.org
   If you have kids or they’re in your future, GreatSchools.org is the place to spend some time. There are comparative ratings of both local and private schools.
   Even without kids, a better-rated school system usually denotes higher median home values. It’s important to know this information if you’re looking long-distance and can’t make the trip.
   
3. Homefacts.com
   Homefacts can give you an excellent overview of any neighborhood in one quick view. It provides an area overview and then further breaks down into statistics about a given area — such as school rates, crime rates, unemployment rates, unemployment rates, environmental hazards, property facts, and property values.
   
4. CityProtect.com
   CityProtect (formerly CrimeReports.com) is an immense interactive crime map that collaborates with over 1k US police departments countrywide to provide real-time data on the latest crime reports. 
   Its user-friendly interactive Google-based map and analytics allow you to view police data in all locations across the country. You can set parameters for geography, police agencies, time periods, and crime types.
   Data displayed on the maps are continually uploaded from the Police Department’s Record Management and Computer-Aided Dispatch systems (RMS/CAD) — which are information exchange standards between law enforcement records management systems (RMS) and computer-aided dispatching (CAD) systems.
   You can even sign up to receive free email alerts by defining your own parameters such as location, crime type, and frequency. 
   Crime incident reporting is essential to home buyers for safety reasons. But crime histories can also give home buyers insight into potential future home values. If a location is steadily experiencing an increase in crime rates, chances are that property values in that location are bound to decline with an increase in crime.
   
5. National Sex Offender Public Registry
   Did you know you can see if sex offenders are living close by? Put in your address for a quick search of who your neighbors really are.
   
6. Community Newspapers
   The Newtown Bee is the local paper in my community and holds a lot of information about the community – both the good and bad news. Check out the local papers for a peek!