It is well known that buying a house is perhaps, the biggest investment of your life. Therefore, every step you make should be carefully considered. One of these steps is choosing the location. Your dream home in a wrong location maybe it is not quite the right home for you. After all the location of a house is a vital factor.
It is critical to find if the neighbourhood of your future home is a “sustainable” one that meets all your needs and it is environmentally friendly.
A SUSTAINABLE NEIGHBOURHOOD
You need to take in consideration several factors about location.
a) Do you like to live in a big city, a town or you prefer living in the countryside?
b) How easy is to make commuting and how much it will cost?
c) Is it a good school for your children in this neighbourhood? Is it easy for them to get there?
d) Is this location a safe and secure area? Can you have access to a park?
e) How far is this location from your friends and family and if you are OK with that?
f) Is sustainability an important factor for you?
In fact, this last factor, sustainability, is an extremely important factor. It has to fulfill all your needs and also to protect the environment.
What this means in practice?
Your home should be situated into a convenient area, close from work, schools, shops, recreation areas, hospitals, etc. Of course, this will reduce considerably commuting cost while you will be able to have better care of your physical condition – you can enjoy the health benefits of cycling or walking.
Photo by True Homes USA – Look for exterior home pictures
SOME CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT A SUSTAINABLE NEIGHBOURHOOD
1| Easy Transportation
a) Can you easily get to work, schools, your favourite stores, recreations facilities and health services? Are they within cycling or walking distance?
b) How will your children go to school? It requires them to take a bus?
c) There are somehow, bus stops nearby?
d) There are cycling lanes on the adjacent streets?
e) How long it takes to travel by bus to work or school?
2| Size of Home and Its Features
a) Is this home, a type of house with shared walls, able to reduce your heating bills?
b) How big is this house and surrounding land? What kind of maintenance requires this property?
c) What kinds of dwelling types are in this neighbourhood, condominiums, single homes, duplexes or townhouses?
d) How wide are the streets? There are sidewalks along the streets? There are traffic lights at intersections? Are parking lots in the neighbourhood?
e) There are somehow, natural drains of rainwater such as storm water ponds or streams?
3| How It Looks & Feels this House?
a) Does this house have a nice façade? How is its look integrated in the overall neighbourhood look?
b) Are shops, restaurants and the community centres clean and welcoming?
c) How are the streets and roads adjacent to your house? There are trees along them?
d) How are you feeling in this neighbourhood? It is this feeling, a feeling of belonging to this community?
4| How Safe is this Neighbourhood?
a) How are your neighbors? Are they willing to watch your property when you are not at home?
b) Are you satisfied with the street lighting?
c) There are accessible and safe playgrounds for your children?
d) There are speed limits for your street? It is somehow, a low motion traffic?
e) Are the adjacent streets safe for pedestrians and cyclists?
Harmony and Bravery in Choosing Colors for the House Facade (howtobuildahouseblog.com)
