New technology and mapping tools are increasing real estate education among the public and making buying a home safer than ever.
The increase in disasters and crime over the last few years has also increased awareness of respective factors when buying a home. Thanks to new tools and apps, home buyers can now easily determine and differentiate between higher and lower risk areas to make better decisions. Innovation has made buying a home safer than ever.
According to recent reports, these factors are not discouraging buyers at all. However, they do want access to the information to know the risks and to be aware of the increased costs they may bring. For example; storm prone or high crime areas may bring higher insurance costs.
This information can be useful for making sure you are not overpaying. It is smart to understand why statistics change. For example; crime rates may go up or down depending on the level of motivation exhibited by local law enforcement to crack down and bring in revenues. Similar stats do not always reflect changes on the streets. Similarly, there are many different types of crime. Some are targeted towards different individuals which may or may not represent a threat to property owners.
One of the newer developments in the field of data access are Trulia maps, which instantly provide home buyers, renters and real estate investors with an array of new data.
Trulia’s rent maps offer a color coded overlay that shows which areas have high or low rents.
The flood and earthquake maps show color coded zones representing the highest and lowest risk areas. Savvy buyers and investors can use these to find protected pockets in the hottest areas and grab great deals on properties they really want.
