Maps #33: Relocating With Online Maps

Activity 1 (Houses): I used the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) site to identify a nice down-sized eventual retirement house: in my price range, in the northwest part of Houston, one story, easy maintenance, new construction not yet lived in, fenced yard for the dog. It sounded perfect. Then I decided to see it in larger view on the map. A birds-eye view revealed to me that the surroundings for this house were not quite what I had in mind!! This method of house-hunting can save a lot of gasoline!

Activity 2 (What's Nearby?):

For this exercise, I decided to check out my son's newly purchased house, about 5 miles from my house. The "Walk Score" for this property was 37 out of 100 -- still car-dependent, but probably pretty good for most northwest Houston subdivisions. The elementary school is only about two blocks away. There is a grocery store, a restaurant, a park, and a drug store all within half a mile. Granted, it is about a mile and a half to the nearest Starbucks and the nearest bar, but that is probably good news! Worst news -- it is almost 3.5 miles to the nearest branch library, and it is not even mine!

"Discover Our Town" was not very helpful, since you could not narrow a search enough to be close to a specific locality. The HAR site lets you see the average property values in your neighborhood, as well as "Nearby Places", although it didn't seem to find much. The worst drawback is that you can search only for properties currently for sale.