Family-Friendly Homes: Neighborhoods (Part 4 of 4)
Continuing on with the last of my quick primer series on ”Finding a Family-Friendly Home,“ we’ve already looked at two important factors so far, appropriate house size & features and school districts. Now it’s time to examine the third and final factor in finding family-friendly housing–the neighborhood!
Now you can always choose not to live within the confines of a neighborhood at all, but particularly if you have young children, a neighborhood can offer you a number of benefits. It’s awfully nice to have other parents around to commiserate–oops, I mean share advice with, and to have playmates close by who are ready and willing to rough house on a moment’s notice–no driving or scheduling needed! Other benefits include carpools, kid-watch-swaps, and potential pet sitters for trips away from home.
If this sounds good to you, here are some tips on evaluating the FFF (see part 1) of a neighborhood:
- Drive around. In fact, drive around the neighborhood repeatedly, only at different times during the week. If possible, drive around on a “nice” (which is a relative term in our area) weekend day, when people are likely to be out to get a feel for the people. Drive around after school hours and later on a Friday night also, just to see if this is the sort of place for you.
- Look for signs of kid paraphernalia. Playsets, fenced yards, tree houses, or bikes are signs of children, and if you see any of these things, playmates are likely close by.
- During holiday time, look for decorations or lights. Festivities usually, though not always, mean children–or at least happy neighbors. However, note of caution: Too much of anything could be a bad sign also–you may want to stay out of any National Lampoon-style Christmas light wars are being fought.
