Mommy Talk Show Candid Conversation with a TV Mom
Our move to a new Atlanta-area neighborhood this Spring was one of the most stressful times of my life. Everything had to coordinate perfectly between move-in and move-out dates, as well as making sure our new address would keep A.J. eligible for the elementary school where many of his friends will attend. I also did tons of research about where we’d live by driving around neighborhoods (my poor fuel tank) and researching online. Here are some helpful sites I visited to narrow down where we’d live and connect with our new neighbors.
BTW, is it me or do people rarely come outside their homes anymore? I miss the days when kids played outside!
Anyway, back to the list!
Helpful Websites When You Move to a New Neighborhood
1. SpotCrime
Knowing where crimes have happened in our new neighborhood is very important to me. I work from home and my husband has a weird work schedule where he’s required to work long, late hours. So I called our closest police precinct in our county to chat with a shift commander. I was surprised that counties don’t keep many of their crime stats online in one place, but refer you to national crime statistic sites like SpotCrime.com.
“SpotCrime collects crime data from validated sources, maps them, and provides crime alerts to the public at no cost to police agencies nor the public.”
[Tweet “. @SpotCrime provides mapped & verified crime data”]
2. Nextdoor
Nextdoor has been an interesting lifeline for me to connect with my neighbors. Like I mentioned earlier, people don’t really spend much time outside anymore. I hardly see kids playing outside and I’m working on ways to get A.J. more active outside without the huge “stranger danger” fears.
Download the Nextdoor app to your smart phone.
Register your address. You’ll be placed into a neighborhood group based on your address.
Join or create a neighborhood group. If you create a neighborhood group through my referral link, we’ll each earn a $25 Amazon Gift Card.
Members can post announcements, classified ads and safety information.
3. Facebook Groups
Although I struggle to spend less time on Facebook, Facebook Groups based on your interest or location are goldmines for information.
Search your county and neighborhood name in the Facebook search feature.
[Tweet “Search your county and neighborhood name in the Facebook search window to get connected in a new neighborhood.”]4. Yahoo Groups
Remember when Yahoo groups were all the rage and one of the primary ways folks connected online?
Well they still are for neighborhood info, just like Facebook.
People post events, safety concerns, real estate info and the like there.
Unfortunately, a Yahoo Email address is required and I’m allergic to new email addresses!
5. Neighborhood Scout
Neighborhood Scout offers free and paid access to various information about home prices, crime statistics and school rankings.
It “uses the largest database of neighborhood statistics ever created to build informative neighborhood profiles that tell you about locations.”
[Tweet “. @SpotCrime @Nextdoor @NHoodScout are helpful sites to visit when you move to a new neighborhood”]
Comment below: How did you get to know your neighbors when you moved to a new neighborhood? Are there other websites or apps you use to stay connected?
Our experience packing and moving our belongings was not as smooth as I’d hoped, so I shared 10 Common Moving Mistakes to Avoid.
I always check out Facebook groups for my area. It’s a great way to meet new people and learn important things about the area. I’ve heard about some good restaurants through Facebook Groups too.
Oh wow! I’ve never heard of any of these before. I’m so glad you shared them with us. What great ways to make sure you know exactly what’s going on in your area.
You are right, people, kids included, seldom come outside anymore to visit, relax, or play. You’ve provided some great information for getting to know a potential new neighborhood. I hope things work out good with A.J. and school.
These are great tips, when I moved here in July of last year, I never even thought to look at certain websites! Appreciate you sharing this!
What a great topic to share, it is important to know a bit about your neighborhood when you move for sure! Love this list of sites to check.
Thanks so much for sharing these sites! We have lived in our neighborhood for almost a decade, but I am still anxious to see what a little research reveals.
I like these ideas. It’s definitely good to do some research about your local area! Finding some friends via Facebook groups is a great idea!
I’m definitely bookmarking this. I learned about some of these types of websites or email groups in my neighborhood well after moving so would love to have these resources more quickly in a new area.
These are great tips, we just moved out last month and our neighborhood sounds safe.
Thanks for the good reference list.
We moved in the middle of last year, but definitely can see the use for your good material here.
I would want to research any new neighborhood i was moving to. These sound like great ways to do that.
The internet is so handy to help with checking things like this before making such a big commitment. No one wants to find out they moved in to a bad neighborhood AFTER they move in. Thanks for sharing.
Facebook groups tend to work well if you’re someone from a different country. My own local group back at my native land always has updates for the weather, traffic, accidents and warnings. Great stuff with the apps up there by the way.
Great tips and I do think parents have to think about a child safely and school district before they move. I never thought about checking FB GRoups but I actually was apart of TWO when I lived in Vinings and they are helpful!!
These are some really great places to check out. We just recently moved and neighborhood factors definitely had a lot to do with our decision.
I have never heard of a couple of these, but I am always looking for new ways to check and make sure that we are making the right decision.
I never would have thought to scout out Yahoo groups for good information when moving. Awesome advice!