What is a Good Location For a Home?
What is a Good Location For a Home?
Location is a key factor in determining the value of a home.
There's a reason why an apartment in New York City or San Francisco can be more expensive than a large house in a remote location. Sure, what is the "best location" depends on the buyer but not only them. What's important to one person is not the same thing as for another but the important factor at the end of the day is what the majority of people value in a piece of real estate.
This important factor determines that when you talk to a real estate agent, they can understand what most people think of when talking about a good location but if your priorities are different, this can lead to some miscommunication.
Property values are determined over the years by a vast number of factors that have to do with the community of people that live in an area in the long term. Home values may plummet because of stark changes in the market but a good location tends to be resilient to changes.
Whether or not you care about buying a home near a high school, the fact that the greater public cares about good schools will affect the property value.
Now, let's look at what many people consider to be the pillars of a good location.
What do most people consider a good location?
Schools.
This is the one many home buyers will hunt for. Burgeoning families look for houses with the best schools because they want their kids to have a good educational foundation.
People who don't have children may consider the quality of local schools less important but that would be short-sighted. Having good schools in relative proximity is an indicator that the area is probably safe.
Buyers without children can also look forward to selling the home down the line and benefiting from a high sale price for the house too.
There is also apparently a link between income and education, at least in Toronto where this test was conducted. Now unpacking the intergenerational socio-economic implications and underpinnings of that result would take far too much time but what it means for you as a home buyer and future seller is that a school with good test scores attracts affluent buyers and these buyers will drive the prices of nearby homes upward.
So even if you don't plan to have children, investing in real estate by buying a house close to a great school can let you move on to another, even better, property down the line with more ease.
Parks.
Though sunlight is very important for your physical and mental health, you might not want to go to a park just for that. Or for any other reason. however, when buying a new home, the home's value will go up significantly if the property is near a park.
To most people, parks provide a space for recreation and relaxation. When people look for homes, they want to be entertained and enjoy themselves. Having a great park nearby is a way for them to do that while enjoying the benefits of living in their new house.
Parks also offer a place for families to go, as well as those who want to socialize with other people without having to utilize their homes or other destinations. Parks help improve quality of life because they offer an environment that encourages personal growth and environmental literacy, which is important for changing perspectives and raising awareness about conservation efforts.
People also like to walk in nature because it's calming. The old saying "a change is as good as a rest" turns out to be true in terms of mental health, because it is well known that taking walks outdoors has measurable positive effects on mood and stress levels.
It has been shown that exercising in nature reduces rumination (i.e., thinking obsessively about the same thing over and over) more than exercising in other settings.
Another study also found that people who exercised in nature experienced increased vigour, decreased tension, fewer negative thoughts, better concentration, less confusion, and less self-consciousness compared with their counterparts who exercised in non-natural settings.
For all those reasons, and surely more many people work toward settling down in a home near a park.
Commute times.
Having public transportation nearby or a great route to work can make a huge difference in how happy you are with your new home.
Commuting is not only frustrating but also eats up valuable time that can be used for relaxing or more productive endeavours. No one wants to spend a chunk of their lives sitting in traffic or on interminable bus rides.
Things like remote work are one of the many ways that people are spending less time locked into work and more time enjoying the company of their loved ones in their homes but until that becomes standard everywhere, a home with a shorter commute will always be attractive for buyers.
Other amenities.
People might want to live near a library because it's a great place to learn and meet new people. Libraries often offer community events, from book clubs to movie nights, that are a fun way to get involved in the community. They also offer a variety of classes, both in-person and online, on topics like arts and crafts, cooking, languages and more. And of course, one of the best reasons to live near a library is that it's free - unless you count your mortgage.
People want to live near grocery stores because it makes daily trips for items that require refrigeration, like milk and cheese, easier. Additionally, they provide an opportunity to buy food when they aren't at work or in a rush, such as in the morning before they commute. The proximity of one's house to a grocery store can also allow less traffic on the road and improve safety; we all know how frustrating it is when we're rushing through traffic and someone cuts us off- especially if we have children in the backseat. If you like walking, living near a grocery store could make even your daily strolls more enjoyable.
Negative factors.
Just as some things can make a house appreciate, some factors can make the value of a piece of real estate plummet.
For many people in both the United States and Canada, crime rates are one of the deciding factors when it comes to how much they are willing to pay for a home.
Property values in high-crime rate areas are typically low, as crime has a significant impact on individual home sale prices.
Even if these things don't affect you directly, they play into a home's price.
Even if you don't plan to have children or go to walks in the park and work remotely, these things will affect the value of your home. Future developments can also affect your area and lead to changes in property value. Even just the announcement of a mall opening less than a mile away can change so much - even if the opening is not for another five years.
So, when you talk to a real estate agent, make sure to mention what is important for you. The above is what matters for most people but if a good location for you is based more around the nightlife of a city or a severe allergy to the trees they plant in a park, then let them know right away.
Real estate is about fit, and maybe you'll be lucky enough that what fits for you lets you buy your dream home for a lot less than people looking to buy a large home sitting exactly five blocks in the middle of a school, a park, and a grocery store.
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