“Is This a Good Neighborhood”: What Your Real Estate Agent Can & Can’t Answer
Is this neighborhood good? Safe? Diverse? These might seem like reasonable questions to ask your real estate agent, but we agents have to answer cautiously in order to avoid “steering” and to comply with Fair Housing Rules.
Steering in real estate is a practice by which agents illegally direct clients toward or away from different areas of town based on the following protected characteristics:
Race
Color
Religion
Gender
Disability
Familial status
National origin
Some steering is malicious, meant to keep certain people out of certain areas. There is a long history of housing segregation in Austin perpetuated by now illegal tactics such as deed restrictions that prohibited groups of people from living in particular neighborhoods, mostly in West Austin.
However, even non-malicious forms of steering are illegal. For example, I was helping a family that had recently immigrated from another country find a home in Austin. They were not familiar with the city, but they wanted to be in a community where they would be around others from their culture. I legally could not tell them which areas of town they should look in. I sent them resources where they could look up demographic information, and then we honed in on areas that they chose for themselves based on that research.
I can also pull up house-specific reports that show objective neighborhood and area statistics to help buyers make informed purchasing decisions.
To avoid steering, I will always ask for objective rather than subjective search criteria when helping you look for your new home. I ask that you reference public information when making decisions on where to live. That way we can do our parts to make our city more equitable, and we can make sure any unconscious biases I have won’t affect where you live!
“Is this a good [Austin] neighborhood?”
As a long-time Austinite, I can give you tons of objective information about different areas, but I can’t make a judgement about whether a neighborhood is “good” or “bad”. I’m also a huge optimist and so don’t really identify any parts of Austin as being “bad.” That doesn’t mean that every area is desirable for every client. As a buyer, you must decide what’s important for you, and then I can help you seek out areas that meet your needs.
Here are several neighborhood guides I find helpful:
Another good insight into neighborhoods, are walkability and transportation scores
And community resources:
“Are the schools here good”
School ratings often directly mirror neighborhood demographics, and there are debates about the usefulness of school rating systems. If school ratings are important to you, I recommend the following resources. It’s also helpful to tour schools in person and to talk to current students, administrators, and teachers. In addition to traditional public schools, there are several application-based charter schools and district-run magnet programs in the Austin area, and of course there are private schools.
One thing to note about schools: Some areas — especially in the Austin suburbs — have grown so rapidly that the school districts and ratings are still catching up. These districts have experienced massive population growth, massive demographic changes, and increased funding due to increased attendance. Expect school ratings in these areas to change overtime, and also expect new schools to be built and current boundary lines to be redrawn.
Check school ratings:
“Is this neighborhood safe”
It’s interesting that some of the highest-priced areas of town don’t necessarily have the lowest crime rates. There are also many areas of town that I consider safe that have high rates of what I refer to as “crimes of poverty.” For example, there is a strong correlation between income and the prevalence of domestic violence. Domestic violence is horrible, but it doesn’t necessarily make a neighborhood less safe for the other people living in it. You must decide for yourself where you feel safe!
Here are some places to research crime in Austin: