Renovate If You Love Where You Live - A Home's Location

Whether you are purchasing your home as a home remodeling investment project, a lifestyle upgrade or both, one of the first decisions home buyers must make is where to live. A home's location will impact the future value of the home investment and much about the occupants everyday life. One of the first things you should ask yourself is if you really like the location of your current home. If you love where you live, then it may make good sense to renovate your home and pass on a move.

Home Buyer Wish List - Asking Homeowners Why They Chose Their Home's Location

An annual survey conducted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) helped researchers determine just how and why homeowner's chose where they live. A closer look at the 23 percent of survey respondents who indicate they are not drawn to the idea of living in a city center, many of them could be swayed if they found the right home to buy that offered the right home amenities. A home is more than its architectural components; additionally, a home's surroundings determine a quality life style for to its occupants. Ready access to walking and jogging trails, nearby parks , access to a nearby beach or an outdoor swimming pool, are all certainly influencing reasons to select a particular home's location. Destiny Homes, a Twin Cities new construction contractor, services prime real estate locations: Eden Prairie remodels, Wayzata home renovations, Minnetonka full house makeovers, to name a few.

The Costs Of Moving If You Don't Love Where You Live

If you think it is expensive to rnovate a home, before determining to move, consider the costs. "In moving, there is no payback. It is a pure expense," says Dan Fritschen, the author of Remodel or Move. "You end up writing an average of $40,000 in checks, and no matter where you move, that money is gone. It doesn't increase your net worth -- it is just gone. Almost without exception, if you have a viable neighborhood and if you are bringing your home up to or slightly above neighborhood standards, from the financial side, you almost can't go wrong by renovating."

"Proximity to work was the most frequently cited reason for choosing a specific neighborhood. No matter what their preference for location or style, financially qualified buyers are likely to find a new home with the features they most want. The housing market is strengthening in most areas of the country, and home builders are eager to help buyers achieve or further their homeownership goals." ~ David Crowe, NAHB's chief economist.

Determining The Location Of Where To Live

Here are some key points home buyers should consider carefully when selecting a location. Remodeler of the Year and home designer, Liz Sprenger, helps homeowners make the most of their home choices once they have determined where to live. Once "where to live" is narrowed down the deciphering points that are most important to each individual's location choice, Destiny Home's can help determine that the location will offer the anticipated results and to make the best home choices within that specified location.

QUESTIONS TO ASK TO HELP DETERMINE WHERE YOU LIVE

How long should a daily commute be to fit current life styles and demands?

If current work whether it entails owning a business or employment, how close to work should home be for a reasonable commute?

Do work goals mean staying at a current work location long-term? If already anticipating a job location change, what will mean for home's location?

If the future looks like it will encompass switching jobs, how strong is your home's location in relation to job prospects in or near the area where you'd like to live?

Where Home Buyers Want To Live - Proving Location Counts

It has long been said that location is the lead factor in a home's price point and anticipated value increase. The survey shows what home buyers consider to be a high value location.

Just 8 percent of those surveyed want to live in a city center

36% would opt to live in the outer suburbs

30% would like to buy a home in the close-in suburbs

27% still want rural American homes in the countryside

Home's Proximity to Work

More than ever, home buyers are giving heed to what absorbs time and funds. Many are determining that hours that add up in commutes to work, activities, medical appointments, school, and the ability to spend quality time with family and friends is eating too big of a chuck. The time homeowners spend on a daily commute can have a significant impact on disposable income, quality of life and how much time is left to spend at home with your family, on hobbies, or recreational activities.

Home's Proximity to Friends and Family

The perfect home design may not feel very ideal if that means a lonely life, living too great a distance from your friends and family to see them often enough to enjoy priority relationships. Investing in the key people in your life on a regular basis may well mean more than having a beautiful home. On the other hand, your friends and family might end up moving at some point; so it is good to arrive at balanced reasons for choosing a home's location. Ideally, a building a home is all about family.

Home's Proximity to Schools And Educational Development

A solid education is very key to life's success. Home buyers are thinking of raising children find the school district is certainly an important consideration. Living in a good public school district tens of thousands of dollars that might otherwise need to be spent on private schooling. Whether or not a homeowner has children, the next homeowner may. It is always a good idea to consider the quality of a neighborhood's school ratings when choosing a home's location in order to maximize investment. Many homeowners consider it worth paying a premium to live in a neighborhood with top notch schools. Being invested in both adult on-going education, such a a masters or fellowship, and a teens high school education directly influence the ability to enjoy the work one loves to do and potential earning incomes needed to qualify for to live in the home of one's dreams.

Home's Proximity to Leisure And Recreational Activities

A neighborhood offering ready access to walking and jogging trails, nearby parks, access to a beach or an outdoor swimming pool; can all be influencing reasons to select a particular home's location. More people are engaged in recreation, leisure and sports than ever before as awareness of the healthful benefits of recreational choices become more widely accepted and documented. Living in a location where pursuits of resident's recreational preferences are at hand, makes it easier to enjoy the life activities they want.

A Neighborhood's Personality Matters

Survey findings show that 28 percent cited the looks and design of the community as the reason for choosing a specific neighborhood location to live. What a neighborhood looks like on paper or on-line and whether or not you are going to love living there two different things. Sometimes little details can make a big difference. For example, some neighborhoods have narrow roads resulting in limited guest parking, or distinctive architectural features that simple don't fit your personal tastes. A neighborhood might feel comfortable during the day, but may seem disconcerting or unsafe at night. Thriving where you live, means families must feel secure and comfortable. After all, you are at home, where you let down and relax. It's important to visit several on different days, at different times and talk to different residents to gain a full picture of the neighborhood's character and the personalities of the people who will live next to. It can be hard to judge a neighborhood's personality in the dead of winter or on a rainy day when everyone packs up and goes indoors.

Working Closely With Clients To Help Them Locate Where They Want To Live

Destiny Homes is already familiar with local communities and what buying a home in each location is likely to entail. We understand how home values and daily lifestyles are directly impacted by a home's location. Naturally, first-time homebuyers with young families often place a higher priority on the public schools in the neighborhood. And it is likely that seniors looking for a one-level, single-story home near the quiet of walking paths and the pleasures of lakefront property to enjoy during retirement. Destiny Homes consulting services help home buyers make better informed decisions about where to live. Housing statistics online are readily available. However useful, statistics are not complete without knowing what a locations current residents are saying about living there. As a long-term Minneapolis area home builder, we are in homes all day and have gained a great read on each metro location. Choose the neighborhood you will live in may begin with its proximity to good schools, great neighbors and family, or work and play. Let us know your priorities and we can help.

Where Home Buyers Want To Live

NAHB’s recently released What Home Buyers Really Want, a study reporting on home buyers’ preferences for home type and size, room layout and design, kitchen and baths, windows and doors, accessibility and architecture features, electronics and technology in the home, energy efficiency and choosing a community where they will live. The study was conducted by NAHB’s Economics and Housing Policy Group in 2012, based on a survey of home buyers nationwide. Results from the study are available by age, income, race and Census division, among other demographic characteristics. Findings included that how home buyer's determined the location of their home.

Why Home Buyers Choose A Particular Location

The AHS also asked buyers to list all reasons for choosing a particular neighborhood. The most popular reasons among new home buyers (listed in order) are:

the looks and home styles in the neighborhood

the neighborhood’s proximity to work — 30 and 27 percent, respectively

Nineteen percent of new home buyers chose the neighborhood because of the house itself

16 percent because it was close to friends and family

14 percent because of nearby leisure activities

13 percent of new home buyers choose the neighborhood for the public schools reputation.

Home Buyers find even more reasons to buy a Minnesota home. On a state wide picture, as a state, locating in Minnesota offers homeowners the opportunity to reside in one of the most livable states with a bright outlook and solid income earning potential.

Minnesota Is One of Case Schiller's Most Livable States

Future livability score: 10.5

Full-time employment: 8th best

Job creation index: 10th best

Outlook on life in five years: 3rd worst

Minnesota ranks first in economic confidence and the ease of finding a safe place to exercise. The Land of 10,000 Lakes also comes in second for the ease in finding clean, safe drinking water. With the seventh-lowest rate of smoking, the fifth-highest rate of regular visits to the dentist and the proportion of the population insured, Minnesotans comprise a healthy group of homeowners in one of the most livable states compared to their fellow Americans. "Regular home maintenance and repair will help keep it greener on your side of the fence. After we complete a home renovation, we help clients keep up with the little things that mean you will enjoy where you live for as long as you want to live there," says Sprenger.

Contact Destiny Homes for advice when choosing where to live in the Minneapolis, Wayzata, Medina, Minnetonka, Eden Prairie, Edina or surrounding real estate communities. Once the choice of where you want to live is made, we help clients create that serenely elegant look of a distinctive luxury home. If you are considering a move in the Minneapolis / St Paul area, first gain professional advice to weigh personal options by calling 952-923-5706.

Download NAHB's press release on What Home Buyers Really Want

Download NAHB's list of Home Buyer Characteristics

Butch and Liz Sprenger, owners of Destiny Homes Remodeling Butch and Liz Sprenger, owners of Destiny Homes Remodeling And Renovation Services Home page: www.destiny-homes.com. Service the entire Twin Cites Metro, from our main office in Deephaven, MN working as home Remodeler and owner of Destiny Homes.