House Shopping? How Safe Is The Neighborhood?

While I was browsing through the Redfin Web pages, one forum thread caught my eye – “Gangs/Crime in the West Valley“. The amount of crime in an area is something I think that a number of those shopping for a new home might be concerned about.

I personally like checking the LAPD Crime Map to assess information about how safe a neighborhood is. It gives a snapshot of everything from burglaries to homicides that may (or hopefully may not) have occurred in the area where you’re looking for a new home.

But I found another useful site that readers might be interested in checking out. The Daily News has a San Fernando Valley Crime Map. On their site, you can search for specific crimes, such as gang activity, hate crimes, or attempted carjackings. You can even narrow down the search to weapons – B B guns, crowbars, and handguns. (Gosh, this topic is really uplifting, no?)

Just for the heck of it, let’s try to find out what the crime is like around this recently sold house in Reseda. The address is 18342 Elkwood St.  It’s a four-bedroom, three-bath single-family residence with 2,272 square feet of space. It sold for $605,000 in June of this year.

1. I start by inputting the city of “Reseda” and “Yes” for gang related.

2. I find out there were two gang-related shootings; one occurred on 06/27 and the other on 09/12. (See map below.)

3. I zoom in on the map and see that one of the shootings is close enough to the area I’m considering to think twice about my search in the area.

4. I try Tarzana. I see no gang-related crime in the area and I continue my search.

Click to enlarge.