Free house price valuations

The Nationwide House Price Calculator is designed for people to put in their gaff's price and when they bought it, to work out what it's worth now.

If you don't know the last sale price, find the most recent price for a similar property on the street and enter this. The tool is crude: it doesn't take into account home improvements or even pinpoint exact areas, but it can give you an idea of how price fluctuations affect value.

Get free monthly email alerts from Mouseprice on your chosen area, including house sale price info and homes where sellers have dropped prices.

You can even monitor individual properties. Sign up and click the 'track a property' tab to get an email when it's bought, sold or the seller cuts the price.

Steel yourself and take a look at the Police.uk crime mapping website for England and Wales. It breaks down recorded crimes by street, including burglary, robbery and anti-social behaviour (gulp!), all of which mean dearer insurance premiums.

As many parents have found to their frustration, just moving to a town with a great state school doesn’t mean your child will bag a spot. To help, use Rightmove's School Checker option to discover the which schools are nearby, plus their Ofsted rating.

Just search Rightmove for a town or postcode and click a home’s listing. Scroll down to the 'School Checker' tab for your nearest schools.

To discover your chances of getting in (nothing's ever guaranteed), you're going to need to do your homework. Pore over your local authority's admissions criteria, usually found in its primary and secondary school brochures. For example, some schools prioritise children in defined catchment areas, others on distance, religion or ability. Many ask you to prove residency over a certain period too.

Scour the Department for Education's School League Tables for England and Wales and check reports on Ofsted. Search Education Scotland for Scottish reports and, for Northern Ireland, the Department of Education.

Rankings and tables are only part of the picture of course – to find the right school for your child, nothing beats visiting in person. Listen to your gut and don't be afraid to ask questions about discipline, ethos, staff turnover and extra-curricular activities.

Finally, remember schools' fortunes change. If little Finn's just learning to crawl, that highly-regarded secondary school mightn't be so great in 2030.

For the health-conscious, NHS Choices can tell you how far away the nearest GP, dentist or hospital is. It also provides information about what facilities are available, as well as patient ratings for health-care and service.

Fitness fans can search for gyms near their postcode using GymsNearMe. Once you've found an area with gyms that you're keen to try, don't forget to check our Cheap Gym Membership guide.

For serious number-crunching on everything from marital status to religion of residents, look at the Government's local area reports.

Outside England and Wales, visit the Scottish Neighbourhood Stats and, for Northern Ireland, Neighbourhood Information.

For certain English areas only, noisemapping is part of a Government project to track road traffic noise.

Plug in your postcode and it'll come up with a colour-coded 'noise viewer map', showing how many decibels of noise there are at that spot.

Another useful tool, MilerMeter automatically works out how far you're walking and the calories you'll burn. It's a little tricky to work out how to use at first, but once done it's great for measuring the walking distance between places.

Find out how close you'll be to work or shops using Google Maps. Type in a postcode or even a complex search such as "dry cleaners in Leeds" and a map pops up with all the relevant info highlighted.