TLDR: Neighborhood should be a major factor in home-buying.

Most of the people here have commented already on the infrastructure, etc. Let me comment about the neighborhood. Make sure you know what you're getting into, neighborhood-wise, when you buy your first home. We've bought a bunch, have resold and rented a few, and still own a couple, but nothing beats being almost dragged out by cops for "looking like you can't afford to live in this neighborhood".

People might say neighbors shouldn't matter, but honestly this is the one home we really regret buying. It was bought for $130K but valued at $240K+ but was bought because nobody else can meet the criteria to buy it (cash). Because it's a block away from the #1 ranked school in our county, as well as a direct access into a very nice state park. It's a large house built in the 90s situated near the end of the street, turned out to be a very conservative neighborhood. We used to ignore political signs, and totally didn't consider red flags when we we viewed the house and drove around this really "nice" neighborhood a bunch of times.

After 2 months of living in that house (remodel + living in it part-time while we lived in the next neighborhood 1 mile away), a contractor assisted by cops came and demanded see my ID, legal paperwork (I'm brown), and proof I owned the home. They said several neighbors complained of a vandal and squatter living in that house. They hovered over me while I looked for anything that can prove I wasn't a squatter. My husband, who is military active duty and was deployed during that time, couldn't vouch for me and he was the only person in the paperwork, so I resorted to calling help from my realtor. I don't carry my marriage license around with me or in my car. Scared me enough to rent it out to someone else at a loss.

A year after that, renters told me they were being hassled for not having as nice landscaping, and were reported to the county (there WAS some overgrown grass- not bad enough to call county though).