When investigating to purchase a home, many smart perspective hunters look at the crime rate of an area they are thinking of moving to.
The amount of crime in the area will have a significant effect on the market value of property and your ability to resell your home if the area or building is considered dangerous. Above-average crime in a building or neighborhood may result in a below market value.
How bad is the crime in the area? You may be able to obtain crime statistics issued by the local police department precinct. You can search Google with the address of the unit or building you plan on living in. If there were crimes that have been committed, they will be publicized on local news sites and blogs. Ask people that you know that live in the area or the building that you plan on buying in. Don’t believe everything you hear but if all indicators point to a high crime area, there is a good chance that you might not want to live there . . . but then again maybe you do.
Many areas in NYC, whose homes sport multi-million dollar price tags, once had astronomical crime rates. Home purchasers in the 1970’s and 80’s in Fort Greene, Brooklyn (where my office is located), could not get mortgages from institutional lenders. The only way to get financing was when a seller of a home would take back purchase money mortgages. Areas that were notorious for having tremendously high crime rate (like Harlem and Bed Stuy) carry huge price tags. According to Zillow, the 2018 median price of homes currently listed in Harlem is $895,000 and the median home value in Bedford Stuyvesant is $799,900.
Before deciding for or against the purchase of a home, potential buyers may want to look at historical data to determine trends in crime. If the crime rate (although currently higher) is trending down in a particular area, Purchasers may wish to take a chance buying in such an area in order to take advantage of a below market value and a swing up in a property’s equity, once crime rate levels out or drops. In order to conduct your research you may wish to visit the following websites:
· The NYPD maintains statistical data provides up-to-date crime-related statistics in the seven major crime categories which can be accessed through the department's CompStat 2.0 portal.
· The New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (http://www.criminaljustice.ny.gov/crimnet/ojsa/stats.htm) provides statistical data on crime rates, explains how they are calculated, and tables of Index and violent crime counts and rates by county. Rates take into account differences in population, allowing comparisons between counties.
· Trulia (https://www.trulia.com/real_estate/New_York-New_York/crime/) uses crime reports to provide valuable information on the relative safety of homes in the U.S. Use the map below to learn more about crime activity in and around New York