It’s All About Location

When you are thinking of buying a home, it soon becomes apparent that deciding “where” to live is one of the most important decisions you will have to make, as this will determine other relevant factors such as the price. Here are 7 factors to consider when choosing the location of your new home.

#1. Lifestyle

Weather you want to live in the City the Suburbs or the Rural Areas the decisions you make will have a significant impact on your lifestyle. In making this decision one would have to consider the home prices, perhaps job opportunities and whether certain lifestyle activities are important to you. For example, someone who would love to live in a farm will find it hard to find a location that also offers a city experience.

#2. Neighborhood, potential neighbors and keeping up with the Jones’s

You may want to make sure you know a bit about who your neighbors will be and If you are comfortable with that. Again, your lifestyle may be a factor, a writer who needs peace and quiet may not want to be neighbors with noisy college students or a non religious person may not want to live in a particularly religious neighborhood. You should also consider the distance to the nearest grocery store or pub and other amenities that are important to you and your lifestyle.

Some neighborhoods encourage “neighborliness” and there will be some pressure to attend functions such as neighborhood meetings and be members of certain groups. These also often create pressure to keep up with material possessions with your neighbors and this may not be particularly appealing to some people while some people will like the fact that they are neighbors with a certain individual.

#5. Safety

Safety is of paramount importance. It is advisable to visit any potential area during both the day and night and fact check crimes reports and known convicts living in the area. Also, the safety of the area will affect the resale value for any investment you wish to make. On the other hand, you will get relatively cheaper homes in areas with some crime, although no amount of money will be worth it when things get really bad, it is a matter of getting a sense of the overall safety of the neighborhood to determine how much risk you can make.

#4. Schools

Whether you have children or plan to have some within the near future, deciding on a location will have a lot to do with weather you will be satisfied with the educational institutions around. Even if you do not plan have kids this is still something to consider as it will affect the value of your investment for potential buyers that may have children of their own. Living in a good school district means you can save costs on expensive private education for your kids on the other hand, you may get a cheaper home were the public school district does not have the rosy reputation you want and send your kids to a private school with some for the savings you will be making.

#5. Proximity to friends and family

For some people, finding a new home should not mean having to find new friends and cause significant changes to their social circles as they are. One must consider how far away they are willing to move away from friends and family such as grandparents, cousins etc.

#6. Proximity to leisure activities and facilities

Finally, you may wish to consider proximity to certain leisure activities that are an important part of your lifestyle. For example, gyms, libraries, shooting range etc.

This list is far from exhaustive, but it contains they key factors to look out for when choosing the location of your new home. If you have any contributions or questions, please share below.