What buyers want to know about communities (Newark, Old Bridge: sales, crime)

[Jillian Mason]

Hey everyone. Am at work and in charge of creating community profiles for each town. What kind of info other than transportation and school reports would you as buyers want to know about the community? Demographics may not be included in the profile. Thanks for all input!

[njkate]

Originally Posted by Jillian Mason

Hey everyone. Am at work and in charge of creating community profiles for each town. What kind of info other than transportation and school reports would you as buyers want to know about the community? Demographics may not be included in the profile. Thanks for all input!

Crime statistics broken down

[monack]

How about nearby shopping?

[Jillian Mason]

Originally Posted by njkate

Crime statistics broken down

Can't do that either...I am very limited here. But thanks for the idea. I will see if I can include a website for crime statistics.

[Jillian Mason]

Originally Posted by monack

How about nearby shopping?

Good one, thanks. That also just made me think about Parks too since we have Monmouth Battlefield here.

[monack]

Yeah - a general "things to do in the area" would be good - and maybe something that tells you how far you are from larger area attractions - like for Old Bridge, it would be nice to know that you're x miles from Newark Airport, and y miles from NYC; z miles from Phiily, etc.

[Lusitan]

Originally Posted by Jillian Mason

What kind of info other than transportation and school reports would you as buyers want to know about the community? Demographics may not be included in the profile.

That's like some sort of bad joke ...

dem·o·graph·ics
–noun
the statistical data of a population, esp. those showing average age, income, education, etc.

Why wouldn't demographics be included in the profile? Isn't that, by definition, what it means to know about the community?

Why would crime data not be included?

Any buyer who doesn't know this information is ill-informed.

Other than those (most important) pieces of information, you could include stuff on:
- libraries
- daycare centers
- restaurants
- comparative property tax rates

[JamesBoyer]

Originally Posted by Lusitan

That's like some sort of bad joke ...

dem·o·graph·ics
–noun
the statistical data of a population, esp. those showing average age, income, education, etc.

Why wouldn't demographics be included in the profile? Isn't that, by definition, what it means to know about the community?

Why would crime data not be included?

Any buyer who doesn't know this information is ill-informed.

Other than those (most important) pieces of information, you could include stuff on:
- libraries
- daycare centers
- restaurants
- comparative property tax rates

REALTORS cannot talk about race, religion, crime, .... even putting up information about age groups could be very questionable and so it is best to leave it out.

Jill, what I find people want, is historical sales data. I update it on my site at least every quarter. At least then they can see what is really going on in a specific town. I am adding to what I do but I have gotten good feedback on it.

[Jillian Mason]

Originally Posted by Lusitan

That's like some sort of bad joke ...

dem·o·graph·ics
–noun
the statistical data of a population, esp. those showing average age, income, education, etc.

Why wouldn't demographics be included in the profile? Isn't that, by definition, what it means to know about the community?

Why would crime data not be included?

Lol, I hear you, but it is not a joke. This booklet is to be handed out at Open Houses and realtors are not allowed to disclose the racial background, age, or crime stats for communities. I am getting some other great ideas here that my mind went blank on though so I appreciate all the feedback.
And I agree that buyers are ill-informed without that crucial information, but we are here to guide them and make the process easier by providing what info we are legally able.

[Jillian Mason]

Originally Posted by JamesBoyer

Jill, what I find people want, is historical sales data. I update it on my site at least every quarter. At least then they can see what is really going on in a specific town. I am adding to what I do but I have gotten good feedback on it.

James-very good idea also. I will prob do that on my personal web site, but will not include it in this booklet as it is not something I want to have to update more than once a year. It's also a general booklet for all agents in the office to use so I have to keep some good ideas for myself here. Just kidding, I'm a sharer...