Your home is a direct extension of who you are. What you do to it significantly affects our productivity, mood, as well as our outlook in life.
With that in mind, here are six helpful things that make a house a good home:
1. Find the Right Location
In so many levels, owning a home with an excellent location can be an advantage on your part. Another element that you should take into consideration is the walkability of your home. Your home will be considered as high value if everything’s just a stone throw away ‒ schools, stores, work, and even public transportation. The real estate market may fluctuate, but no one can take an excellent location away from you. Remember to think about the right place that best suits your needs.
Also, developing a sense of ‘home’ is far more than the proximity of the school, work, transportation, and other commercial establishments. It’s also having that sense of community that perfectly suits your personality, interests, and well-being ‒ essential factors that contribute to your well-being.
2. Make Safety as a Top Priority
Safety and security is another important aspect. Therefore, planning things like fire exits, a security system, and exterior lightings can go a long way in securing your home.
3. Check the Neighborhood’s Character
You might seem that you have the perfect property ‒ a fantastic lot with the best block in the neighborhood, and a convenient location. However, some things are out of your control such as the character of the neighborhood in your area.
Observe the neighborhood during critical times of the day ‒ during wee hours of the morning, late at night and midday. Is it experiencing any odd weather and traffic patterns? Try talking with the neighbors as well. It’s crucial that you walk around and observe, making sure that there’s nothing off. Deal with the situation with both eyes and ears open.
It’s also ideal to check the latest crime figures in your neighborhood. Have a good idea of the severity and number of crimes that happened in a given timescale. Look it up by doing a background check by doing your research online on police blotters, and crime statistics can help you get the much-needed information.
4. Make Sure It Isn’t a Fixer-Upper
Are you considering buying a home that’s a fixer-upper, meaning, it does take a lot of work? You might be buying it because it’s located in the block of your dreams or the most desirable part in town. But remember, you have to do your research beforehand. Have the property adequately inspected, so you’ll know what you’re going into. Renovating a living space might look like a simple project upfront, but it takes a lot of time, money, and effort.
Renovating a home is always a challenging prospect. Therefore, ask yourself if you can handle the challenges of a home renovation.
5. The Materials It’s Made Of
Ideally, your home should be made up of quality materials that are built to last. To build a long lasting house, you must use sustainable building materials. That way, there are less upkeep and lower maintenance costs.
A home with an extended lifespan with reduced costs is enough to convince you to build a more sustainable house. But what sort of materials will you use in a house that’s made to last?
A few examples are low-flow plumbing fixtures, solar panels, concrete walls, and flooring as well as a residential paving range that creates a high-end feel made from the highest quality materials in dry cast paving found in this website:
http://www.firth.co.nz/residential/designer-series-paving/
6. The People and Memories In It
Your home is all about your experiences as well as the memory of those experiences that make you far happier. It’s more than just the material things that surround it. As much as you can, make your home a gallery of positive memories. If you have lived in the same house for years, there are undoubtedly many important memories and moments that took place, from moving in, raising kids, to watching them leave the nest years later. Let’s also not forget all the birthdays, anniversaries, Christmases and the conversations in between.
It smells much the marvelous aromas of home-cooked food can also evoke many powerful memories since mealtimes are a crucial aspect in family life. Therefore, the homely smell of home-cooked meals plays a pivotal role in giving you a sense of home.
Final Words
As the saying goes, “there’s no place like home.” Your home is your gathering place, shelter, sanctuary, and escape from the chaos of the world. As much as safety and security are vital functions of a home, it’s also crucial that it’s built from the highest quality materials.