Carlsbad Relocation A to Z

Encinitas, California

An informational source for people who are relocating, with a particular focus on moving to the Carlsbad area of North County San Diego (and nearby coastal communities), with advice, guidance and true stories to help you on your way and make it a great journey, from a REALTOR� with plenty of personal (4 major moves, most recently from Boston to Carlsbad, California) and professional relocation experience. Are you running into problems selling your home? Need to find a new one quickly? Never moved before and haven't a clue? You'll find some great tips on how to solve your relocation issues here. Or ask me a question any time and I'll share some solutions or tell you where to get more information. CA DRE License #01490977

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Carlsbad Relocation A to Z

The BEST Way to Learn About Neighborhhoods When Relocating

Jan. 17, 2008

Categorized in: House Hunting

Tagged with: neighborhoods, relocation, research

I am often asked "what is the best way to learn about neighborhoods?"

To some extent, the answer depends on YOU and what information you need in order to determine what neighborhood you like.

Home buyers often have different ideas of what is important to them in a neighborhood.

Here's why...

some things are rather tangible (the way it looks, the size, the type of housing, traffic, proximity to shopping)
other attributes are less obvious (is it friendly, what are the demographics of the residents, noise) and have different meaning to different folks.

So, it is really UP TO YOU to determine what things ARE important so you can decide where to live.

Sometimes price will determine what neighborhoods will be suitable (this may be true in expensive areas, like Southern California, or if your budget is limited), or access to certain schools or other amenities.

When relocating, you should do extensive research on-line to learn more about the neighborhoods that interest you, or even to find out what they are in places that are totally unfamiliar. If schools are important, for example, you might start researching these and then target, geographically, the areas that are near those schools. You will be amazed at how much information you can find on the Internet about neighborhoods.

I absolutely recommend visiting the neighborhood you are planning to move to and spending significant time in the area, driving or walking around and getting a feel for the community and the people who live there. You can also stop in at some houses if you wish and chat with some of the neighbors, although some people aren't comfortable doing this. You might visit the area at different times of the day or on weekends if traffic and noise is a concern.

You will also probably drive around with me or your agent to look at houses, and that will help too. Plus I can tell you lots about different areas that I service, as can the agent you decide to work with.

Please keep in mind that as agents there are some things we cannot discuss because of potential discrimination issues, e.g., what school is the best, which areas to buy in due to the presence of different religious institutions, or the demographics of the community, or the crime statistics, and so on. We are prohibited by law from directing folks to or away from areas based on these kinds of factors, so please be understanding if we say we can't provide the precise information YOU would like to have. Those are things that you can investigate if they are important to you.

There is lots of information available to you about neighborhoods, and spending the time doing your due diligence will reward you with finding a home in the community that meets YOUR needs.

Read also:

From the Outside In – Searching out Neighborhoods

Noise, Noise, Noise

Checking out the Neighborhood

How Does it Feel?

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Start your CARLSBAD HOMES SEARCH here (and other San Diego communities)

Download FREE BUYER AND SELLER REPORTS here

Visit CARLSBAD COMMUNITY REPORTS for profiles on communities, subdivisions and neighborhoods (including other areas)

Are you a first time home buyer. Check out FIRST TIME BUYER CENTRAL.

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Researching for your Relocation

Feb. 26, 2007

Categorized in: Research

Tagged with: buyers, demographics, relocation, research, school districts, schools, sellers

As you surf the Internet you are likely with focusing on specific sites you are aware of for your real estate information, but probably also stumbling around as well. The more research you do, the more you will learn – about the buying and selling process, about the inventory, and about the person you feel comfortable enough with to ask them to help you in that process. The majority of buyers and sellers-to-be are spending significant time doing some sort of research – this makes them better at buying and selling.

Here are a few suggestions. Certainly, plugging in keywords, for topics of interest, into Google or other search engines will do the trick. And you will find numerous sites where you can obtain all kinds of information. But here are some specific sites I think are useful.

American Towns has a wealth of information about communities all over the country. This may be especially helpful if you are pondering relocation and want some general information about a particular town.

Property Shark is a good site for finding all sorts of details about individual properties – my guess is it does not have everything you might want to know, but it's a good start (they do not have data on ALL the states yet). You can also check out the property records for individual towns using the search engines (e.g., do a search for the assessor’s database in town X ).

Looking for demographics in a particular town? One place to gather information on national, regional and local demographics is the IRS – keep in mind these may be a few years old depending on when the census data were obtained.

Are schools important to you? You can research individual school districts on-line with ease. School Matters is one national directory with all sorts of details on schools. OnBoard Navigator is another site that provide national school information. You can conduct a search for each state's Department of Education on Google or other search engines. You might also simply do a search in the town(s) you are interested in for the local school district.

I’ll add to this list from time to time as I run across other useful sites.

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What Are You Afraid Of?

Feb. 19, 2007

Categorized in: Psychology Stuff

Tagged with: fears, how do i find information on, how do i relocate, moving, relocation, research

So you have decided to move. What are you afraid of? Nothing? Anything?

My bet is that although you have made a decision to move (or your company did), you have some fears about your pending move. That's perfectly normal. But it's important to consider them and determine what is real and what is not? Here are some things you may be fearful of:

Not selling your home quickly enough or for top dollar (pricing, condition, marketing and exposure are key)
Not finding a home you love in your new city (there is lots of inventory in most areas, so plenty to choose from)
Not knowing where to shop, dine, where to go for medical/dental care (the Internet is probably the best soure of information you can find, and it's cheap and available 24/7)
Not knowing anyone in my new city (you will get to know your agent right away, and pretty well, and new neighbors will welcome you...and they love sharing shopping and dining recommendations; friends, family and neighbors may already know folks there you can connect with)
Leaving friends, neighbors and possibly family behind (yep, that's tough, but they will visit, you will visit, there is the phone, and email is cheap - trust me, this all helps)

There are probably other things that concern you, but these seem to be the biggies for most people who are moving. Your best ammunition is information, and the Internet is one of the best sources. So start right away - the more you know the better you will feel. Look toward the move with the thrill and excitement of new discovery. And consider when you first moved to your current location - that was probably a new experience for you, too.

And if you have kids and they are old enough, get them involved in gathering information on the Web...or work on this as a family project. Tonight you can look into schools, then tomorrow shopping, then restaurants, then things to do. The more you know ahead of time, the better. I've been through it 4 times now, and believe it all helps. You can also take some time if you go on a houe hunting trip to do your exploring.

Good luck! And have fun. It's a new adventure.

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