Is it better to rent in a new area before buying a house?

[LadiesFavoriteToy]

I know wtf... I kid my age buying a house lol what a joke. Yeah well... I work hard. Anyways I'm looking to buy another house and paid off my mortgage but before I buy another house I would like to rent in the area to have an idea. What would you do? Buy a house first then figure it was a bad idea or test the waters out?

[Anonymous]

You could. Or you could ask people who live in that area. I think generally too you can pass through the neighborhood a few times to get an idea of what it’s like. If there’s a lot of homeless people around, what do the stores look like? Do they look well kept? Do they look worn down? Conditions of the roads. Talk to a police officer. There’s also online sources to tell you the rates of crime in particular areas based on a number of factors. Maybe even asking a car insurance company. Car insurance companies tend to charge more for areas that have more crime, or more vehicle accidents.

[CubanRaftRider]

You could always try getting ahold of the police department and ask what it's like in that part of town if you're worried about it being a possibly high crime area?

It's always a good idea to get an ideal of the area you're going to buy a house in. It's a huge investment and you don't want to sign a (just to throw a number out there), $200k home loan to not like the city.

[Anonymous]

I think that makes sense.