What do we mean by a neighborhood?
Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ® uses the official government designation for neighborhoods - the census tract.
Census tracts are small, relatively permanent subdivisions of a county that are defined by the U.S. Census Bureau in conjunction with local authorities all across the country to define real neighborhoods that are bounded to contain areas with homogeneous population characteristics (including economic status, lifestyle, and living conditions). Census tracts usually have 4,000 persons, but can range between 1,500 and 8,000 persons. This is the most fine-grained area for which detailed information is made available from the government, to protect the individual privacy of each of us. Because census tracts are based on population, they vary in size depending on the density of settlement. In urban areas, they are small, and in rural areas they can cover an entire small town or even a few small towns in very rural areas.
Since census tracts are subdivisions of a county, we did a spatial overlay of the census tracts onto city and town boundaries using a geographic information system to properly assign each census tract to its appropriate city or town. Then we named each census tract to the local colloquially recognized neighborhood name for that spot (e.g., Boston, MA (Dorchester). If there was not a name available, we named the census tract by the largest street intersection in the census tract (e.g., Worcester, MA (Lincoln St/Plantation St)
Why we don't use Zip Codes as neighborhoods
Zip codes were developed by the Postal Service for the purpose of delivering mail, but were never intended to define coherent neighborhoods. In addition, Zip Codes can have as many as 10 distinctly different census tracts contained within them. When distinct census tracts are blended together in a single Zip Code, the data reflects their average conditions and often gives a false sense of the area. The result is that potentially great matching neighborhoods can be missed, and erroneous matches can also be produced and delivered to you.
Using census tracts makes great matches possible, and helps people find the areas that are best for them and their families. Because we are committed to providing the highest possible quality and finding the neighborhoods that best meet your criteria, we use census tracts. And, as always, we show you the actual street map of the neighborhood so you know exactly where your best matching neighborhood is located.
What is a Condition Alert?
A condition alert is a condition in the neighborhood that triggers an alert. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ contains condition alerts to highlight conditions that are extreme, whether good or bad. This helps answer crucial questions about the state of the neighborhood being evaluated, such as:
What are the risks of violent crime here?
Is the risk of home break-ins or other property crimes increasing?
Does real estate here hold its value?
Are the trends in local vacancies or unemployment concerning?
...and dozens more.
Information at a glance that you need to know to invest, appraise or finance a property.
Harlow Villas median real estate price is $634,044, which is more expensive than 77.7% of the neighborhoods in Florida and 75.8% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Harlow Villas is currently $2,652, based on Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 44.3% of Florida neighborhoods.
Harlow Villas is a suburban neighborhood (based on population density) located in The Villages, Florida.
Harlow Villas real estate is primarily made up of medium sized (three or four bedroom) to small (studio to two bedroom) single-family homes. Most of the residential real estate is occupied by a mixture of owners and renters. Many of the residences in the Harlow Villas neighborhood are newer, built in 2000 or more recently. A number of residences were also built between 1970 and 1999.
Harlow Villas has a 13.0% vacancy rate, which is well above average compared to other U.S. neighborhoods (higher than 73.8% of American neighborhoods). A relatively large percentage of housing here is seasonally occupied (12.6%), which can occur in some markets dominated by colleges or vacation homes. If you live here year round, you will find many of the homes or apartments are empty for all or a portion of the year.
Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics
Many things matter about a neighborhood, but the first thing most people notice is the way a neighborhood looks and its particular character. For example, one might notice whether the buildings all date from a certain time period or whether shop signs are in multiple languages. This particular neighborhood in The Villages, the Harlow Villas neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
People
Of note is Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's research finding that the Harlow Villas neighborhood has some of the lowest rates of children living in poverty of any neighborhood in the United States. In a nation where approximately 1 in 4 children are living in poverty, the Harlow Villas community truly stands out from the rest in this regard.
In addition, astoundingly, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's research reveals that this single neighborhood has a higher concentration of married couples living here than 99.0% of all U.S. neighborhoods. Whether they have school-aged children or not, married couples are the rule in the Harlow Villas neighborhood. If you are a married couple, you may find many people here with a similar lifestyle, and perhaps common interests. But if you are single, you might not find many other singles here.
Also, if you're nearing retirement age, or in retirement, the Harlow Villas is an excellent choice for you to consider for top-quality retirement living. This neighborhood is rated by Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ as among the top 5.5% of retiree-friendly neighborhoods in Florida, combining peace and quiet, safety from crime, and offering diverse housing options from which retirees can choose. Maybe it's because of these amenities that a large proportion of the residents here are college educated seniors, mixed with other age groups. For these and other reasons, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ identifies this neighborhood as a top-notch place to consider if you are thinking of or planning to retire in Florida.
Real Estate
Homes built from 2000 through today make up a higher proportion of the Harlow Villas neighborhood's real estate landscape than 99.8% of the neighborhoods in America. When you are driving around this neighborhood, you'll notice right away that it is one of the newest built of any, with the smell of fresh paint, and the look of young landscaping nearly everywhere you look. In fact, 97.6% of the residential real estate here is classified as newer. In fact, the concentration of newer homes here is so great that they completely dominate the landscape. In most neighborhoods, there is a mixture of ages of residential real estate, but here it is almost completely built during one time frame: 2000 through today.
In addition, the Harlow Villas neighborhood has earned the amazing distinction of having one of the highest rates of detached, single-family homes of any neighborhood in the U.S. With 100.0% of the residential real estate here made up of free-standing single-family homes, there is a greater proportion of single-family homes here than in 98.8% of all neighborhoods in America.
Furthermore, owner-occupied real estate dominates the Harlow Villas neighborhood. In fact, according to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ research, the percentage of residential real estate occupied by its owner is higher here than in 97.6% of neighborhoods in America.
Modes of Transportation
In the Harlow Villas neighborhood, many people's commute means walking from the bedroom to the home office. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's analysis found that 39.7% of residents worked from home. This may not seem like a large number, but Scout's research shows that this is a higher percentage of people working from home than 98.9% of the neighborhoods in America. Often people who work from home are engaged in the creative or technological economy, such as is found in areas around Boston, and in Silicon Valley. Other times, people may be engaged in other businesses like trading stocks from home, or running a small beauty salon.
Diversity
Did you know that the Harlow Villas neighborhood has more British and Lithuanian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 3.3% of this neighborhood's residents have British ancestry and 1.1% have Lithuanian ancestry.
The Neighbors
How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.
The neighbors in the Harlow Villas neighborhood in The Villages are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 70.3% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 0.0% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 100.0% of America's neighborhoods.
What we choose to do for a living reflects who we are. Each neighborhood has a different mix of occupations represented, and together these tell you about the neighborhood and help you understand if this neighborhood may fit your lifestyle.
In the Harlow Villas neighborhood, 49.2% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 33.3% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (11.4%), and 6.1% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the Harlow Villas neighborhood is English, spoken by 98.8% of households. Some people also speak Polish (5.9%).
Ethnicity / Ancestry
Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.
In the Harlow Villas neighborhood in The Villages, FL, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (22.3%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (18.3%), and residents who report English roots (12.9%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (9.5%), along with some Polish ancestry residents (6.4%), among others.
Getting to Work
Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. The greatest number of commuters in Harlow Villas neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (55.2% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (46.0%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (14.3%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.
SCOUT’s patented match algorithm identifies the most similar neighborhoods to a subject location, and quantifies the similarity to the subject location. This allows analysts to identify the most similar neighborhoods in a local market area for appraisals, investments, and research.
The algorithm uses 273 neighborhood conditions, identifies the dominant dimensions underlying the conditions and calculates the similarity. This captures the true culture and character of locations, economic conditions, and trends.
The closer to 100% means the locations are nearly identical. 80% is a very good, but not excellent match, and so forth.
