Finding a new place to live is about making sure that you get a good feeling from this environment, but it’s also about making sure that there are some of those practical things in place that can support you and your family. What does it really take to find a new area to live in that is perfect for you and those that matter?
The Potential
One of the biggest mistakes we can all make is judging a place purely on what it looks like now. Instead, we need to look at the long-term potential of a place and see if this location is “up and coming” and one of the best ways to check this is to check if any new home builders are planning on setting up a few new properties in that area. One of the benefits of looking for a place that has potential is that you can very likely get a cheaper property. Because we can spend a lot of time thinking about what a place looks like now, it means that we are neglecting those areas that could be amazing places to live in a few years’ time. This is why a place that may be bereft of life or even a local store could be a place full of potential a few years from now.
Assessing Your Commuting Times
A place may seem perfect for you and your loved ones in so many ways, but you could end up wasting a lot of time commuting to a city centre location. One of the biggest oversights many people make when it comes to finding a perfect place to live is the potential for rush hour. When you start thinking about the ideal place to live, you should book viewings around rush hour because this will give you a far better understanding of what this place would be like at its most intense. If you can handle it during rush hour and you can handle it every single day, this could mean you are onto a winner. Of course, if you are working at home and only need to commute to the office once or twice a week or more, can you cope with the transport infrastructure? If there are problems with buses, trains, or the roads on a regular basis because of accidents or delays, is this going to add to your frustration by the time you turn around to make your journey home?
The Air Quality
Another thing that many people overlook, but if you pick an area that has a higher dose of air pollution in comparison to a more rural area, how is this going to affect your health in the long run? You might be a spring chicken with healthy lungs now, but as you get older, that prolonged exposure to air pollution because of spending a lot of time in rush-hour traffic could have a negative effect on your health in the short and long term. It’s always worth consulting sites like IQAir To get a proper understanding of the air quality in a specific location and use this as a benchmark for your specific long-term goals as well as your long-term health.
Crime Rates
You can look at statistics for crime rates in a specific area to get a good idea of the place, but if you are already living near enough to that area and you want to scope it out, it’s a good idea to venture around this place during different times of the day. This means that you don’t just get a feel for the place when you’re visiting a prospective home, but you are also getting a good instinct for whether a certain location might add to your stress levels. It is so important to look after yourself but one of the biggest mistakes people make when they are looking for their ideal home is that they don’t factor in how it feels to live in a place. You can use your home as a sanctuary of sorts, but if you are constantly peering through the curtains, wondering if there is something untoward going on in the streets, are you truly going to relax? Finding the perfect place to live should be about making sure that you are finally able to sit back and relax after years of stressing out or living in a very precarious way. This is why, if you are choosing a place to live, you’ve got to get that balance right between trusting your instincts while also ensuring some of these practical components loom large in your mind.
Find me on social media, because it’ll be great to have you there and follow me 🙂 :