How to shop for a new home neighborhood in Charleston SC

Nexton

When you are shopping for a new home, the new neighborhood is an important consideration too.  What should you look for when you’re comparing new home neighborhoods and how can you determine which neighborhood will be the best fit?  According to The Balance, “American homeowners sell and move, on average, every five to seven years.” That is a considerable chunk of time so it’s critical to make sure that the home (and neighborhood) you purchase will make you happy.  Half a decade is too long to be in a home and neighborhood you don’t love.

When comparing new neighborhoods, there are two main categories to consider. First, your lifestyle.  Does the neighborhood line up with how you want your daily life to look and feel? Second, the place.  What qualities, features and benefits do you want your new community to offer?

 

Imagine living in the community

Vision boards are a tool often utilized by life coaches and decorators to help people sort
both concepts and more concrete things. Consider making a board of your own so you can begin to actualize intangible feelings, as well as tangible items. This way when you start your new home neighborhood search, you’ll have an established vision of what you’re looking for, making your search simpler. A vision board will help you create a picture of your desired life in this new community. A quick internet search for home vision boards will give you an idea of how others have tackled creating vision boards for this purpose.

 

Choose a location

Most real estate searches are dictated primarily by location.  As you’re curating your vision for life in your new neighborhood, envision where you would love to live. Try and balance dreams of your “perfect” home with a pragmatic approach to what will realistically make you and your family happy. Would you prefer city or county or country? Do you need a large homesite to be happy or does that fall at the bottom of the list?

Consider whether you prefer to live in a traditional neighborhood with manicured lawns or would you prefer a more rustic feeling or even a new style community that eschews lawns for vegetable gardens? How close are the neighbors? Getting the location right is critical because it affects so many aspects of your life.

Size isn’t the only important consideration when choosing a homesite.  Is a view high on your priority list? Will you be happy looking at your neighbors’ fences, or do you need a view of woodlands, a pond or the horizon? Is privacy an important factor? While there are many ways to landscape to create privacy, you can’t move the pond closer or situate your home next to protected land.
 
 

Consider ease of access

Do you anticipate having to commute to work on a daily basis? Distance to your work is a factor but so are traffic patterns at the time of day you’ll be commuting.  Take a look at the roads available to get you from points “a” to “b” and how congested they will typically be during your daily commute.   If you work from home, how close will you be to your children’s schools or the local fitness center?  Likewise, how close will you be to the nearest grocery store?   If you are someone who wants shops, restaurants, grocery stores, pharmacies, and dry cleaners nearby, will you walk, bike, or drive to access them?  Time is everyone’s most valuable commodity. Plan to spend yours where it means the most to you rather than in the car.
 
Suburban and master-planned new home neighborhoods like Nexton often include commercial areas within the community. Infill new home developments may be near existing city shops and restaurants. Understand what will be easiest for you, knowing that once selected, you can’t relocate your house, only yourself.
 
Another important consideration is your proximity to health care.  Is it important for you to be near hospitals and regular medical care? This factor alone could help you determine your home’s location.

 

Your future new neighbors

After you’ve targeted your ideal location, take a look at what aspects of a neighborhood and the lifestyle there will make you happy.
 
What is the culture of the neighborhood? Are regular social gatherings on the agenda? Is there a sense of welcome or are there cliques of people who shut out newcomers? To find out these things, ask people you meet in the vicinity of the community what they know about the neighborhoods you are interested in. If the community is not welcoming, it might not be a good fit for you and your family.
 
 

Community aesthetic and buildout timeframe

As you drive through neighborhoods, do the homes seem well maintained? Or do you notice that more than a few lawns appear unkempt? Are there for-sale signs? It is worth doing a quick investigation (or asking your Realtor to look into it) to see if resale homes in the neighborhood sell for about the same price as the builder’s to-be-built homes.  This will help you determine if the homes in the community keep their value which will be important in the future when you go to resell.   
 
Are all the homes in the community the same or does there seem to be a mix of home types? Many master-planned developments include an array of single-family, detached homes, townhomes, and 55+ homes, for example. This variety in housing creates a diversity of residents with a pleasing mix of people of various ages. If you have, or are going to have children soon, their grandparents might decide to relocate to be near you. Selecting a community where they can easily do so will enhance the entire family’s quality of life.
 
Amenities are a big factor in choosing a new home neighborhood.  Walking, biking, tennis, swimming pools, fitness centers, playgrounds, and community meeting places are all common in many new home communities. If amenities are important, plan to tour them, as well as just houses, when you’re out shopping neighborhoods. 
 
The timeline of development is another factor that can potentially affect your quality of life.  If this is a brand-new master-planned community or even a small, single builder community, how long will it be until the community will be “built out.” Realize that if a neighborhood has 10 years to build-out, you’ll be living with construction probably as long as you own your home there.

 

Neighborhood regulations and restrictions

Most new home communities are governed by Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs). Many times, these may be available for review on a builder’s neighborhood website. What activities are not permitted? Are there fines? Who decides how to apply fines? How frequently are people fined? Read, review and understand how the CC&Rs are applied. CC&Rs can certainly affect your enjoyment of life.  It’s also important to ascertain what the annual homeowner’s association fees will be.
 
 

School availability & ranking

Schools are an important consideration when purchasing a new home whether you have children or not. It is critical to consider the quality and proximity of schools near the developments you’re shortlisting. Highly rated schools are a major draw, not just for you, but for other families who might consider your home in six years when you move. Take time to question people about the schools and look up the ratings for each one on the web at websites like GreatSchools.org.

 

Public services

While maybe not something that first springs to mind, government services can also impact quality of life.  Questions to ask yourself about governance include:  Which government entity provides law enforcement and fire protection in the neighborhood? What are the response times for service? What are the local taxes? Who provides refuse disposal and landscape debris pickup? Check out the ratings for each of these entities before you make any decisions.

 

Set yourself up for success in your new neighborhood search

Think beyond just finding a home with features and amenities you like. It would be awful to discover after you move in that the neighborhood is not easy to commute from, or the schools are bad, or the neighbors are too close. As with all of life, plan for success by planning ahead.

 

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Thank you for reading and sharing our articles from The Greater Charleston New Homes Guide. Our business is to know Charleston, SC's new home construction, home builders, neighborhoods, and homes so we may assist you as you take your new construction home journey. Please take the time to explore our site. The Greater Charleston New Homes Guide is considered the best and most reliable ‘local’ resource to new home construction, builders, neighborhoods, and homes throughout the Lowcountry since 2004.

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