Many buyers, especially those moving to Portland from out of town are looking for tools to research Portland’s neighborhoods themselves. One of the best online resources for the home buyer is portlandmaps.com. Most addresses will open you to a plethora of information; just a few examples include:

• Flood zones
• Urban Growth Boundaries
• Crime Statistics
• Businesses Nearby
• Outstanding Permits
• Parks in the Area

The amount of information available is dependent on the home address you enter but PortlandMaps.com is by far one of the best resources available to date, especially if you have already identified a home or area you are interested in.

Crime for Instance-

It’s worth noting that agents are bound by law not to point out or specify areas prone to crime (which can be referred to as “steering”) so the buyer needs to take some initiative to further investigate statistics that interest them on their own. PortlandMaps shows specific crimes within a radius of an address and layers them based on type of crime, frequency, and proximity. Even more specifically the date and time of such crimes are also noted.

For those of you law abiding citizens, the crime maps conveniently define the various types of crimes so incase you’re wondering for example: “Prostitution” is defined as “Sex offenses of a commercialized nature, including assisting or promoting prostitution. Attempts are included”.