Buy the neighbourhood first and the property second

I have a lovely client, I'll call her Joan. She's from the United States and is understandably seduced by a stone front, a high ceiling and a sash window. I love all these features too but not at the expense of being in a neighbourhood where I feel a little unsafe nor at the expense of being a 2 or 3km walk from a coffee shop / like minded grocery shop / decent transport link.

So yesterday myself and Joan went out for a drive around five different neighbourhoods to get a feel for streets, the shops, the people and the housing stock.

I wanted her to really feel what I mean when I talk about "Neighbourhood first, property second". My view is that we should pay attention to who is on the streets, how the neighbours houses are looking, where and what the shops are, what the general atmosphere is and to know for sure that we'd be happy to live in and walk home to this particular house before we ever pick up the phone to book a viewing. Essentially I think that we buy a neighbourhood rather than a house.