“I want to live in a safe neighborhood.”
That’s what every Charlotte home buyer wants. And Charlotte boasts many desirable neighborhoods.
But how do you determine where the safe neighborhoods are located? That’a a valid question. Using an innovative and proprietary social crime mapping technology, Trulia has published a tool that allows consumers to view, explore, compare, interact and comment on crime data across the US. Trulia’s PR states that their newest consumer tool, Crime Maps , “gives consumers hyper-local visibility into the good, bad and ugly dynamics of neighborhoods, enabling them to make better decisions about where to buy or rent a home.”
But wait – let’s parse that last sentence. Neighborhoods are only as safe as the criminal backgrounds of the people who are committing crimes there. Notice that I didn’t say “the people who live there.” That’s because with few exceptions, crimes are most often committed by people who live outside the parameters of the “hotspots” where criminal activity is most often reported.
Crime Maps leverages geodata from multiple partners, including CrimeReports.com, EveryBlock.com, and SpotCrime.com, who work with hundreds of police agencies, crime feeds, and news outlets to create a color-coded map of the criminal activity in many metropolitan areas. Trulia also enables users to add insights, comments, and advice via Facebook’s Social Comments for additional context and information on top of the geodata.
For example, one of the crime hotspots is located in and around 310 East Trade Street, the location of the Charlotte Transportation Center. Any saavy Charlotte area Realtor® will tell you “Don’t buy or rent a home located in the Charlotte Transportation Center.” Good advice – but just be sure you also leverage the information with a soupcon of common sense!
