Home Search: There’s got to be a better way

Would you say you’re happy where you live? Happy with your neighbors, your elected officials, your pizza place, your coffee shop? Last week, The New York Times published an article on how to find a place you’ll love to live in and it gave me pause.

I moved to my neighborhood just over a year ago. And I love it — at least I think so. I can get an iced Americano right around the corner, but are the baristas friendly? eh. Yeah, I feel energized by the vibe around me, but am I really thriving here? I hope I’m on my way, at least.

Where you live and how it makes you feel are undoubtedly linked. But with over 236,000 neighborhoods in the U.S. finding that perfect place doesn’t come easy. In fact, on average, people use over 5 online sources* in a home search before stepping foot in the area.

The Times article suggests using real estate agents, Reddit, Facebook, Google Maps and Trulia as just a few places to piece together a whole picture. But agents can’t give personal opinions on neighborhoods — they’re legally bound to be impartial. And message boards can get ugly and irrelevant.

It’s 2020 and we rely on personalized data to make daily decisions. From the ads we see in our social streams to the dinner recommendations served up by delivery marketplaces, our everyday experiences are becoming more and more customized.

And yet there’s no single source to holistically discover where we belong — where we’ll feel at home, and where we’ll thrive.

On average, there are 360 million monthly “aspirational browsers” looking for a home in the U.S. right now*. The need to simplify this fragmented process is real. So where’s the tech that really gets us, and helps us avoid hours online discerning truth from fluff to find our place in the world?

It’s time for a better solution.

Share your thoughts with us. How did you find your neighborhood? Do you love your place or regret it? We want to hear your #neighborhoodstory.

Sources: 2018 National Association of REALTORS® Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends / 2018 Zillow Group Growing Up Digital: Millennial and Gen Z Renters / 2018 Observer Media — “Tinder Made Us Pickier
About Dating…Is Trulia Doing the Same for Home Buying”