Whether you’re renting, buying, or stopping by short-term, understanding your preferences when it comes to choosing a property can help to streamline your decision-making. Today, Golden Hour Properties explores the various factors and helps you to organize your thoughts.
Locality
The geographical positioning of a property is often amongst the most important factors when it comes to deciding whether it’s right for you. To help you work out whether the property is desirably located, you can ask yourself:
- Which shops or facilities are most important for my lifestyle?
- How could I benefit from the local community?
- Do I see myself integrating well with the local culture?
- Can I keep up with the cost of living?
- Who do I personally know that is local, and is this a good thing?
Carrying out research into these and other factors will help you to ascertain the potential costs, benefits, and lifestyle enjoyment of time spent in that locality.
Ambiance
Although it might seem like an abstract concept, the immediate feeling you get when you walk into a house or apartment can often give you an indication if it really is a good place for you to live. Sometimes, these emotions are linked to brightness (depending on how much sunlight is allowed into the room), as well as noise pollution (whether the neighbors are noisy or if there are nearby bars/clubs), or you might even smell something a bit funny that could allude to mold issues or bad draining. The important thing is that you don’t ignore any initial feelings about a place and try to work out why you might have felt the way you did.
Spatial Requirements
Space is expensive when it comes to housing, and for good reason – after being shut indoors for much of the pandemic, many of us want a living area that we can share with others and come home to after a day’s activities without feeling claustrophobic. When looking at photos of a property, make sure they are provided from every angle, so you have a clear sense of spaciousness. When looking at a house in person, don’t be afraid to bring along a tape measure and see how the place might scale up with some of your furniture included.
Safety
Although it is not always high on everyone’s priority list, safety should be a key consideration for any renter and especially for those looking to purchase. Take the time to look up local crime statistics and see how the neighborhood in question fares. You should also consider:
- Door and window safety: are these within reaching distance for those outside and how well protected are they?
- Do you share the property or parts of it with other tenants? What protective contingencies are in place?
- Physically, is the property designed to accommodate your safety concerns? Do you require any special assistance requirements?
Bearing all of these factors in mind will help you to ascertain whether you feel comfortable and safe within the premises.
Availability
Before you can actually move ahead with buying or renting in a specific location, you need to be certain the regionality or zip code has available properties. This doesn’t just mean that there are one or two on the market – the level of availability affects everything from prices to the time taken to secure a deal. It’s worth carrying out some key research in your target area, and if it’s bustling with demand, begin your search early.
The moving process is rarely straightforward, but knowing exactly what you want and value is half the battle. Take the time to organize your thoughts and preferences so that, when the time comes, you have a clear criteria in place.
Whether you’re a buyer or a seller, Golden Hour Properties is here to help! Call 503-893-9107.