We've added a new section to My Neighborhood Insider called Neighborhoods .  This new section contains articles that will give you things to think about when choosing your new neighborhood.  The first two articles for this new section are Neighborly Modernism and The Not-So McMansion . 

We hope you enjoy them!

I write for and read a large number of home and garden magazines (referred to as “shelter” magazines).  These magazines always feature many beautiful homes, meticulously laid out with the oh so perfect throw tossed “casually” over the sofa arm, beckoning the reader to imagine sitting there.  Page after page of fabulous homes with usually a single shot of the exterior (unless it’s a garden piece).  What you usually don’t see is a neighborhood picture—a picture of the streetscape.  Why is this?  There’s an easy answer: Many neighborhoods suck.

Did you know there are neighborhoods in Denver with a greater than 75% foreclosure rate and more than 20% price decreases in from 2006 to 2007?  There are also neighborhoods that had greater than 15% price gains in the same time period with a less than 10% foreclosure rate.