3 Signs You're Looking to Buy in the Wrong Neighborhood

It may be time to branch out and expand your home search.

Years ago, when my husband and I were ready to upsize from a starter home to a larger one, we found a specific neighborhood we wanted to move to. We liked the location, the good schools, and the abundance of restaurants and stores in town.

But after many weeks of fruitless searching in that neighborhood, we decided to switch gears and focus on other neighborhoods instead. We wound up drawing the conclusion that our best bet was to stay in the same neighborhood of our starter home -- go figure.

If you're in the midst of a home search, you may be focusing on one neighborhood in particular. But if these three signs apply to you, it could mean you're looking in the wrong area.

1. Home prices are just too high

These days, home values are high on a national level due to low inventory and strong buyer demand. You may find that home prices are higher than usual in any neighborhood you look at.

But if every listing to hit in your neighborhood of choice is well beyond your price range, then it may be time to start looking elsewhere. Even if the neighborhood in question would normally be within reach financially, if today's higher home values are pricing you out, it pays to explore other opportunities -- especially if you're eager to purchase a home in the near term, before mortgage rates potentially rise even more.

2. The property taxes are too high

Property taxes aren't set at the state level, and often, they're not even set at the county level. Rather, individual towns often set their own tax rates, and so it's not unusual to have a situation where one town's tax rate is consistently higher than that of the next town over.

If the neighborhood you're looking at has high property taxes -- much higher than the ones you'll find in surrounding neighborhoods -- then you may want to consider looking elsewhere. Property taxes have the potential to rise over time, so if you start out with a large bill, your home could end up becoming even less affordable through the years.

3. Most homes are missing a specific feature you want

The reason my husband and I initially sought to leave our neighborhood was that the majority of homes in town don't have basements. In fact, the only reason we managed to get a basement was that we bought new construction. But to this day, I'd say less than 1% of the homes in our neighborhood have basements, and that feature was high on our list of priorities.

If you're finding that most of the homes in your target neighborhood lack a key feature that's important to you, whether it's a basement, a two-car garage, or a large yard, then that's reason enough to move elsewhere. You can always update a kitchen with aging features or renovate a bathroom to make it look nicer. But you can't turn a tiny backyard into a half-acre lot, so if you're not finding what you want or need in the neighborhood you've landed on, it's probably best to branch out.

In the course of searching for a home, you may find that certain criteria of yours change -- and that could extend to the neighborhood you decide to call home. There's nothing wrong with trying to buy in a specific neighborhood. But if that plan doesn't seem to be working out, you may want to start looking elsewhere -- like I did back in the day -- rather than continue to spin your wheels.