I'm a potential 1st time home buyer: how do I look up the crime rate of a nieghborhood?

Question

I'm a potential 1st time home buyer: how do I look up the crime rate of a nieghborhood?

I know, call the local police station - but is there any place that I can get this information online?


thx everyone!

Answer 1

You could look up the on-line edition of a local newspaper. If you see articles that say "Teenager shot by gang member while sitting on front steps on xxx street" that is a good clue. One day with the crime stats and the pattern will be really obvious. The streets named in the paper repeatedly may not be the only ones with crimes in an area but they are good indicators.

If you want to be precise the census bureau has details on education, rents, poverty rates, percent of people paying a lot of their income for the mortgage, etc. With the crime rate linked to poverty those are good clues too.

Answer 2

Totally. I would shoot off an email to the breeder saying how "John" has inquired about getting a puppy from them. Mention that you are friends with "John" and that you have 1st hand knowledge of "John" abusing dogs. Mention that you're just looking out for the well-being of her pups and that you don't mean to step on their toes or insinuate that they don't know how to screen potential buyers. Edit: Good point about not putting it in writing. If the potential buyer got their hands on the email, they might sue for slander.

Answer 3

You can check your county's police blotter to see if any crimes have been reported in the neighborhood you're considering, but the best thing I've found is to simply find a home near the one you like, knock on the door, introduce yourself and ask some questions! Not only will you make a friend BEFORE you move in, you'll receive honest info from someone who knows!

Answer 4

Answered a question last week where the purchased house was a mess and they didn't get a home inspector . Only real advice I got for 1st timers. Get a home inspection, best piece of mind I spent for $240, and gives you leverage on the asking price

Answer 5

Does you real-estate agent have an e-mail that you could contact them at? Or maybe a website where you could ask questions? Surely, they would be able to help you with any problems you might have. As for looking it up on the internet, my best guess would be to search for in in a web engine such as google, dogpile, msn, or yahoo! Hope I could help. :)

Answer 6

ask 4 people on each block, east, west, north and south or look for bars on the windows, that is 2 block area from u, look for kids in there teens, that's the one i would be afraid of.

Answer 7

City-data is good.

I don't know if they have crime stats, but I have found lots of good info at: http://www.census.gov

Answer 8

Use www.city-data.com - full of useful info & searchable by zip code!