As a real estate agent I deal with the good neighborhood bad neighborhood all the time. I have lived in a couple of St. Paul neighborhoods myself. I remember being kind of upset when I was working with a client and she did not want to leave her car parked in my neighborhood because she didn’t think it would be safe. She didn’t know that I lived a couple of blocks away and I just didn’t mention it.
Home buyers are afraid to buy a home in this neighborhood or that one and there are Federal laws which prevent me from even commenting on a neighborhood which is a great disappointment to those who want to work with a good real estate agent who will help them find a nice home in a decent neighborhood. The word “decent” is often used to describe neighborhoods and so is “good”.
As a resident of St. Paul this sometimes grates on me. There are neighborhoods with higher and with lower crime rates but crime can happen anywhere like the time my son had his car stolen when it was parked in the neighborhood that has the most expensive houses.
What I personally have a hard time understanding is the idea that neighborhoods are what they are and that crime happens around us and it is because of the neighborhood and nothing to do with us.
Where there are people there will be crime. There isn’t any way to live in a place where there is no crime. There are ways to get involved. Knowing your neighbors as is getting involved in your district council to help insure that each Saint Paul neighborhood good and decent.
For those who want to buy a home that is a good investment it won’t necessarily be the perfect home in the “best” neighborhood. It will be a home that needs some work in an up and coming neighborhood that might look a little scary to those who are afraid and are looking for a safe corner of the city to hide in.
Please don’t ask me to help you find a house in a decent neighborhood. All neighborhoods have positive and negative attributes and my idea or what it decent or good and your idea might not be the same.
