Author: Mayur Arora

Imagine a scenario where you feel comfortable that you have chosen a beautiful home in a safe neighborhood for you and your family to grow. You plan to spend the next 20 years in your new house and already have big plans decorating it, extending the deck, maybe doing a bit of landscaping, and a fresh coat of paint. You move into your new home, unpack, and relax.

The above scenario is something we all dream about when buying a new home, but sometimes it does not work out that way. Three weeks into your relaxation you start meeting your new neighbours and they may tell you about thefts, assaults, parties, and other issues that happen in your new neighborhood. Your dream has now become a nightmare and your new neighborhood is now starting to seem more like a jail and your jailer is a big mortgage.

In recent years there have been some developments in tracking crime in cities narrowing it down to what type of crime it was, and the exact location of where the incident took place. One Flat Fee has found some great tools found at most of the city police websites. The Vancouver city police have crime maps, reports organized by neighbourhood, reports by district and city totals, and annual statistics reports in PDF format. These are great tools to discover activity before you take the leap and purchase a new house in an undesirable area.

If you thought you did due diligence by spending countless hours driving around checking out possible neighborhoods, you could possibly save hours and tons of heartache by simply using these free tools provided by the police in that area.

When researching a neighbourhood online, search for crime maps in your city.

Two additional lower mainland cities offering an interactive crime map provided by crimereports.com are:

New Westminster Police Department

Abbotsford Police Department

Because One Flat Fee specializes in communities throughout the lower mainland and British Columbia, your flat fee Realtor® is the expert in desirable areas. Our Realtors® know exactly where people are selling and for what reason, and we know where to buy for specific purposes, whether you’re a commuter, a family, a downtown singleton, or looking for a home for your retirement. These tools will be an additional aid when scouting locations for your future!