When starting your new home search, especially if moving to a new city, you will want to make as informed decision as possible. As a Realtor®, my job is help you make the most informed decision possible. Here are some tools and tricks that I use to help in your transition:
Traffic Tools
Austin like most cities has a really bad traffic problem. Often, how long you are willing to commute will dictate what part of town you will focus your search.
Google Maps (Free, Publicly Available)
Google maps has a feature that will help you understand what your commute will look like at a certain time. Let’s say you are moving to Austin for a job at the Texas Capitol and have heard good things about Circle C Ranch. You can learn what commute to expect by clicking on the arrow next “Leave Now” and change it to “Depart At”.
Inrix – Drive Time™ (Paid, Only Available to Realtors)
If a decent commute is a high priority for you, I can setup a search for you that will only show you results that are within your likely commute. For example, if you want to see what homes are available within a 30 minutes of the Texas Capital at 5pm, the Drive Time™ tool will only show you houses in that area.
Schools
Many of my clients have school aged children and focus their search by school instead of commute. Here are some useful tools to make an informed decision in your search.
Great Schools (Free -Public)
There are many school ratings websites to dig through, one in particular that I find useful is Greatschools.org/. Here you can search schools by ratings, test scores, or college readiness, and read reviews and school information.
Realtor Property Resource (Paid, Only Available to Realtors)
The National Association of Realtors has a really great tool called Realtor Property Resource or RPR. As a Realtor, I have access to this powerful tool and can do searches and put together a wealth of knowledge for you. If you would like an in-depth breakdown of schools that meet your criteria, let me know.
