Having a place to call your own is a dream for many people. Studies have indicated that 52% of Americans plan on purchasing a home in the next 5 years, so the real estate market is going to continue to grow. It's a good idea to start searching for your dream home. Among all of the features you might want, one of the most important things for most potential homeowners is that their new home is going to be secure, safe and in a good neighborhood. Here are 3 tips you can implement when searching for real estate properties online to make sure you make the best decision possible.

Determine the Distance Between the Home and Law Enforcement Agencies

One of the easiest ways to determine whether the listings you're looking at are going to be in a secure neighborhood or not is to determine how close your home is to the nearest law enforcement agency. All you have to do is simply take a look at the map. In general, the closer a listing is to a law enforcement agency, the safer and more secure it will be. The response time for law enforcement and ambulances to get to the house will be relatively short.

Look at Photographs for Fences and Alarm Systems

Determine how much effort previous owners have made to secure the house. Some photographs of the listings should give you a good idea of what to expect. You want to look for well-kept and maintained fences, alarm systems, motion-controlled lights outside, and other security features. Installing these security systems can be expensive, so it's to your benefit to purchase a home that already has these features installed.

Check the Crime Rates

If you think you've found the perfect listing that you'd like to visit and potentially make a bid on, don't forget to check the crime rates of the area quickly. You can usually get a good idea of the amount and type of crime that has been reported in the past several years. In addition, you can also use online databases to check whether there are any registered sexual offenders living nearby.

Conclusion

Most of the time, potential home buyers don't have time to visit all of the listings that they are interested in. To make sure that you don't waste your time, research each of the real estate properties that intrigue you. This will help you narrow down your options.