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Updated almost 5 years ago, 01/16/2020
To Trust or Not to Trust Trulia Crime Mapping...
BP I just want to know...Do you think that Trulia Crime Mapping gives an accurate feel when it comes to the quality of a neighborhood?! I ask because, looking here in Chicago, of course we have a ton of streets that appear hot but it's so block by block here. I don't profess to know a lot about Chicago neighborhoods since I'm a transplant but am interested in how others feel, esp. my Chi town peeps!
@Ashley Proctor, I use Trulia for the crime but what I found is that you have to read the notes and not just the numbers and be aware of the properties in the area. In our neighborhood, one area has 22 incidents. That's scary if it's a house but it is a large multi-family near a university and most of the infractions are disturbing the peace - damn students gotta party. :O)
Certainly use it as a first look but if you are looking at buying, I would also call the police as a second look. I am not sure about Chicago, but here in Orlando, they can usually give you a report on the street or the neighborhood.
Gerald Demers
@Gerald Demers Good to know! I'll keep that tidbit about the contacting the police in my back pocket. Never thought of doing that.
I look at trulia and zillow, plus I'd drive around just to get a feel (day and night) and if I feel the neighborhood doesn't look hostile. that's a good thing. Google earth/map is also great if you live far. I also call few local agents and have conversations.
Hey @Ashley Proctor
I have a couple of friends who work for the local police departament here in Orlando,florida..I also ask Real estate agents if they know the area very well and have shown some properties around there..
I think Trulia crime rate is pretty accurate
Best of Luck.
In Chicago, I rely on the Trib's crime tool on their website. I can't vouch for the data but want to believe it's legit given how well the tool works. It's pretty robust as you can compare and contrast with other neighborhoods. Here's a link:
http://crime.chicagotribune.com/
Of course you'll want to check things out for yourself but be safe. If you live here, you're probably well aware that the city had 355 shootings with 429 shooting victims in June alone. Yet somehow everywhere I look and go, it's safe. That's another conversation in of itself that I'll stay far away from.
It's pretty accurate. I agree with reading the reasons. Ex: Speeding vs Stabbing. Etc.
@Eric La Pratt I have been wondering the same thing.... I'm about to be a Chicago transplant and all I've heard from everyone here in Youngstown is how bad Chicago is with all the shootings and blah blah blah. However I've been there several times in the past few months and have driven and walked around to start to get my bearings and from my naive view of the city so far it seems that it's quite obvious where there is heavy crime and where the fringe areas meld with the "up & coming".... though I realize it's not as simple as that of course when you're talking which investment property to buy from another. Still many many years of learning the Chicago dynamic ahead for me but it's been an interesting experience beginning my neighborhood evaluations. Calling the police department seems to be a great plan though as opposed to getting the varying opinions of some realtors and those who don't actually invest in those areas and just watch the evening news in fear.
@Eric La Pratt The usefulness of Trulia can vary greatly from area to area, as it dependent greatly on the reporting agencies (law enforcement) and their systems. I agree with the posters above who highlighted the importance of looking at the details - ie the kinds of crimes reported in the area; as well as finding other sources for this information. I have found Trulia to be quite useful in Chicago.
@Ashley Proctor...Hello there...here's what I use... http://gis.chicagopolice.org/clearmap/startpage.ht...
It takes some getting used to getting around in it and mapping what you need...
Originally posted by @Ashley Proctor:
BP I just want to know...Do you think that Trulia Crime Mapping gives an accurate feel when it comes to the quality of a neighborhood?! I ask because, looking here in Chicago, of course we have a ton of streets that appear hot but it's so block by block here. I don't profess to know a lot about Chicago neighborhoods since I'm a transplant but am interested in how others feel, esp. my Chi town peeps!
I will only speak for Chicago. Answer to your question depends on how you define a "neighborhood" If you consider the 77 Chicago communities as neighborhoods then the answer is no, Trulia is not a good representation of the quality/safety of the neighborhoods. If you consider the neighborhood as the block you intend to invest on & the surrounding blocks, then yes, Trulia is a good representation. Example- There are some parts of Humboldt Park that show up as "Red" high crime in Trulia, with other sections that are all moderate or low crime.
The other caution on Trulia- The crime statistics change over time. Some locations will show up as low crime in the winter, then spick up to moderate & high in the summer. This is where some local knowledge is advantageous. Another caution- There are some areas that show up as low crime & surrounded by low crime but it's because everything around it is abandoned or it may be a park.
I find the Trulia crime map misleading. Even reading the notes won't give you the full picture if you're not already familiar with the area.
Busy and heavily populated areas often show up as bright orange, even if they're generally very safe. More people and more businesses = more chances for incidents. In Chicago, most of the Loop, River North and Old Town look like a criminal's playground on Trulia, even though they're some of the most expensive and safe areas in the city. The same goes for parts of Wicker Park and Lakeview.
One thing you can generally count on, though: if you see a lot of crime in a solidly residential area away from a major intersection, it's probably not great.
Heat maps are an awesome way to quickly visualize data, but only if that visualization is done meaningfully. It's not very meaningful when credit card fraud and shootings are treated the same. I would love it if there was a way to filter Tulia's map by different types of crime. Spotcrime.com does a better job of this this with their icons, but they don't heat map their data.
Trulia, if you're reading this...add some filters and you'll have a lot of grateful RE investors!
Another useful site is crimemapping.com. This website pulls crime data for areas from police departments that provide their information. You can adjust the date range as well as the crime type. You can get a better depiction of crimes that can really effect your decision (property crimes, violent crimes, etc.)
@Ashley Proctor for what it's worth I use www.spotcrime.com
There are many useful suggestions in this post and a few I might utilize myself, so if you employ a couple of the suggestions above you should get a pretry accurate assessment of crime.
So weird there isn't better crime mapping. Even just something like per-capita-adjusted violent crime map version of trulia's map would probably be so much more useful.