Every night when you drive home from work and turn into your neighborhood, down your street, past your neighbors’ lawns and driveways, you will think to yourself, “oh, I love this area” or “ugh, why don’t those idiots in the blue house ever mow their lawn?”
You can change the look of just about everything in your new home, but you can’t change the look or sound of your neighborhood or the test scores of the local school. So, when comparing advantages and disadvantages to buying different homes, consider what you have control over and what you don’t.
Before my husband and I bought our home this past fall, we fell in love with a rehabbed Cape Cod in downtown Barrington near the library. Architecturally, the home was a dream. The downsides of the home were that it was also close to the fire station and Northwest Highway, and it was on a street that seemed to have more tear-downs waiting to happen than revitalized properties.
Now, if a client had chosen this home as a prospective purchase, I would have been quick to point out noise from the fire station and Northwest Highway as well as concerns about the home across the street with peeling paint. I can see all of this clearly now, but at the time I just thought “what an adorable Cape Cod; oh honey, let’s buy this home!” I was my own Realtor, so my husband and I didn’t have an objective third party pointing out the flaws in our vision. We wrote an offer for the home.
The offer didn’t come together because of price. Thank Heaven!!
Today, I am sooooo grateful. When I sit in my backyard, it is quiet and peaceful. When I drive home from work, people are working on their lawns and kids are playing. When I think of the sirens and the trucks and the noise of living down the street from the fire station, it seems absurd that we even considered a home close to Northwest Highway.
Location is king. Consider neighbors, landscaping, pride of ownership, proximity to roads, train tracks, development and zoning restrictions. All of it has to be taken into account. And, of course, read up on the local schools. Many of my clients like greatschools.net. Take a look at the other links under “moving tools” in the right sidebar of this blog for more helpful information.
