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How to find a safe neighborhood?

It’s not a fun place to be once you’ve signed a lease or put in your deposit to discover that your apartment location has a few unforeseen flaws.  Be sure to look at the following concerns when considering a new location especially if you have young children a woman and or are worried about your quality of life.

Crime
You can gain some valuable knowledge by going online to garner some statistics on the crime rate in the prospective locales for your next apartment.

You can pull up information from the FBI data base and compare the crime level between specific states like Florida vs. Texas or different types of crime as you may only be interested in violent crime or property crime statistics.  The data is simply presented in an easy to understand table format that you can down-load onto an Excel spreadsheet and peruse at your leisure. The data also shows you by what percentage crime has increased or decreased in the state over time.  Use this information to gauge the relative safety of potential suburbs you wish to reside in. 

Are you concerned about sex offenders living in close proximity to your area?  The Family watch dog site is a great resource that has information available on a national scale.
 
Here are a few sites to help you with this:
www.familywatchdog.us
www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/cac/registry.htm
www.nsopr.gov

Results can be displayed in a map format so that you are able to view their location relative to you or in a list format where a photograph of each offender is shown.

Emergency services:
Make a note of where the nearest police station, fire department and emergency rooms are located.
Remember that a visible police presence doesn’t necessarily equate to a safer area.

Ask the locals:
The residents in your area can be very helpful in helping you decide whether you want to live in that area.  Ask them about crime and what kind of activities are frequent in the area.

Also go to the area you wish to reside at different times during the day to get a feel for the neighborhood.  An area can look completely different at night whereas during the day it can look quite harmless. It is a good idea to visit the location at around 5pm when people are arriving home from work to see the type of residents who inhabit the area, for instance an area with older people may be quieter whereas an area with a lot of single people may be busy with high traffic.

Electricity pylons and mobile phone masts:
There are a lot of conflicting studies available on the health concerns connected to living within a 1.6mile radius of electricity pylons and mobile phone towers.  If you have a specific concern be sure to take note of their locations in regard to any future apartments you might be looking at.  Be sure to look carefully as many towers are disguised as trees.

Here is a site to locate cell towers in your area.  Merely type in your city and your state, the site will show you a map of your local area and where the masts are located.  You can also use this site to see if your prospective area receives good cell phone reception.

Remember that safety is a quality that can make your stay in an area more enjoyable and give you peace of mind. It is always a good idea to take a location’s safety into consideration when looking for a new home.

By Leanne Naidoo (Staff writer)