I know it was a tough decision for my wife and I when we started looking for our first home together. She wasn’t from Port Elizabeth, so she didn’t know the ins and outs of how the city worked. I had been living in Port Elizabeth for 11 years at this stage, yet I also wasn’t one hundred percent sure where I wanted to live. We drove around the streets of Port Elizabeth for 6 months looking for the “ideal” home that we had envisaged in our minds. Our perfect home needed to be a very old farmhouse style house with lots of character. We weren’t too hung up on what area we wanted to live in, as long as we had our ideal home.
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Make sure you do your homework and make an informed decision”
Luckily for us we found the house we had been searching for. Finally! And we have lived in it for the past 7 years. It was the best decision we ever made. Our story could have been very different if it hadn’t have worked out as well as it did because we didn’t do much research into the different residential areas. So my advice for you is… make sure you do your homework and make an informed decision because you don’t want to spend a lot of money and be stuck in a house that you hate and can’t sell.
Here are 7 important factors to consider:
Safety – With the current situation in South Africa this has to be at the top of the list. We all want to make sure that our families are safe so you need to ensure that you ask around from friends, family and estate agents what their thoughts are on the different areas. No one wants to live in a high-crime area, but that doesn’t mean that everyone can live in a society where crime never happens. Keep in mind that just because an area is safe today does not guarantee that it will be safe in the future. The long-term stability for a neighbourhood can be a determining factor in how safe your surroundings are.
Affordability – This factor doesn’t need much elaboration. Sometimes you may need to look only in the areas that you can afford. There is an old saying that goes “buy the worst house in the best area”. Even if you need to live in an unrenovated house for a year or two, rather buy a less lavish house in a better area than buy a lavish house in a not so good area. However, living within your means should still be your first priority.
Proximity to Schools – This is a very important factor for families with children or who want children in the future. With both parents usually having to work, you need to be close to the school so that your children can preferably walk home from school or your nanny can walk to go and collect them.
Proximity to Hospitals – We all care for our families’ health and welfare, so knowing that a hospital is very nearby puts our minds at ease.
Commuting time – Try and make sure that you can keep your commute short. The explosive growth of the suburbs has made commuting times in many areas unbearable. A survey that was done actually indicates that long-distance commuters actually have an increased risk of divorce. The length of time it takes to get to work can be a determining factor in the decision to move to a new area.
Proximity to Family and Friends – With the way life is getting busier by the day, ensuring that you live relatively close to your friends or family can be a very critical factor. We spend enough time in our cars without having to spend another hour or so in them by having to trek across town to visit our family. If you have children and your parents live in the same city, then it is ideal to be fairly close (but not too close 😉) to your parents so that they can babysit your little ones
Real Estate Value – Since buying a home is the single largest investment you will probably ever make, you need to seriously consider this factor. With real estate in a constant state of movement, it’s important to research current home prices. Look at the length of time homes are for sale, the resale values of homes, and probable long-term value predictions. Be careful not to buy a house in an area where prices are at an all time high, and is in a bubble, because when the bubble bursts, your property will no longer be as valuable as the day you bought it.
So in order to decide on where to live, you need to seriously consider the above 7 factors. At the end of the day you need to be happy, and if this means sacrificing a few things in order to get your dream home, go ahead and sacrifice. A happy family is a healthy family.