Location is a primary consideration when looking for a house to buy. Let's say that you want to buy Punta Gorda real estate. If you look through Punta Gorda homes for sale without considering the kind of neighborhood you're buying a house in, you might end up living in a bad neighborhood, affecting your house's value in the long run. Buying a house in an iffy neighborhood, even if it's a gorgeous house, is not going to do you much good in the future. Besides, you wouldn't want to get stuck living in an iffy neighborhood for a long time. Unlike when you're renting, you can just move to a different house quite easily. When you own the house, it's not as easy to deal with a bad neighborhood.

Researching what people think about neighborhoods has evolved over the years. These days, you can just go online and look at websites that offer neighborhood reviews. Of course, these are quite limited in their features, but they can point you to the right direction when it comes to general opinion about the location. Even if the internet has already developed many useful tools to help home buyers search for a good neighborhood, it's always best to supplement this with a solid effort to drive around the neighborhood and find out everything you can about it.

There are a few things you should look out for; negative signs that may indicate that the neighborhood may be on the downturn and that it's not a going to be a good investment to buy a house in it. Here are a few things to consider:

1. There are a lot of unoccupied or abandoned buildings and houses - Empty houses drag the value of homes for sale in the area down. Not to mention that statistically speaking, neighborhoods that have a lot of empty buildings and houses often attract criminal activities. They can be quite unsafe and unsightly. Empty buildings and houses can indicate that the local economy is not healthy, which is not just important in terms of keeping the value of the house up but also because you may need to look for a job in the area once you live there. It's a possibility that has to be considered. It's better to find neighborhoods that don't have that many empty houses and abandoned buildings in the area.

2. Unkempt homes in the neighborhood - Usually when you drive through a neighborhood where lawns are unkempt and the general appearance of homes in the area are not as attractive as you hope they would be, it indicates that the people don't care much about the neighborhood. This may indicate that the neighborhood is in the downturn and you wouldn't want to be caught in the downward spiral.

3. General appearance of the neighborhood - When driving around, look at the streets if they're littered or has a lot of vandalised areas. Are there a lot of broken street lights, dark nook and crannies, and the likes? This could mean that the neighborhood is not as safe as you would want it to be. A more definitive way of determining this is by asking the local police station about the crime rate in the area.