Where Should Your New Home Be Located?
Most of the time, new home buyers pick a location for their new home based on where family and friends already live.
This makes the choice easier, since the buyer is already familiar with all of the amenities of the area.
If you don’t have a clue about where you want to buy a home, you have to do some legwork to find the right area or town.
For most people, the distance to their job or a viable job market is one of the first criteria. This is probably the case for retirees, of course. Homes close to busy city areas are often more expensive than a house further out in the in the suburbs.
The next thing most people want to examine is the quality of the educational system. If you have children, you are bound to want the best school system for them, but this is often a good criteria to use even if you do not have school age children since the quality of the school system always has a major impact on property values.
Cost is the next major criteria, and this is where an important balancing act comes into play. The choice may be a tradeoff between a home that is closer to the job, but is more expensive. Or perhaps over time you will do better if you pay more for a home within an easy commutation period.
There are many other costs that a specific area or town can add to the cost of a house. There is an argument for purchasing in an older area with fewer or poor schools, with the cost of private schools offset by the savings in initial price and taxes.
Don’t forget how taxes can influence the overall cost of a house. Don’t just go by present rates, either, you can do a little digging to find out if rates are poised for an increase. If, for example, the municipality has not seen any assessments recently, you may be the one to get hit after you purchase. This is really important if the house has not been assessed since the prior owner made any big improvements such as new rooms, remodeled kitchen or bathrooms, pool or fireplace or deck.
You also need to find out whether the area is experiencing a lot of growth. If a new school is in the town’s future, you can really count on higher taxes. Also question how frequently the town increases its taxes.
After this kind of information is garnered, you can make a more intelligent decision when you go shopping for your new home.
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June 9, 2010 | Posted by Carey L. Grow
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