I bought a house recently. I like many things about my new property, from the view to the new kitchen I’ll be putting in (since the house is a gut remodel). But while there’s a lot to love about my new place, there’s one feature that has already changed my life.
Before you get a mortgage to buy your own place, learn about one major factor that has a huge impact on your quality of life. My experience might influence you in deciding what to focus on when choosing a home of your own.
There’s nothing more important than this feature when purchasing a property
Moving to my new house has been completely life-changing for one simple reason: My property is now in the perfect location.
My old house was in an area where I had to sit in endless traffic to get anywhere I wanted to go, whether it was a restaurant or a grocery store or a theme park (since I’m in the Orlando, Florida area). In fact, the area where I lived was named as the 10th-worst traffic corridor in the nation. Data showed that the typical Orando commuter who lived in my area would spend almost three full days doing extra driving each year due to 70 wasted hours on this road.
My new house, however, is in a central area. It takes me just 15 to 20 minutes to get to the Disney Springs shopping center and almost every major theme park, and less than five minutes to get to grocery stores and restaurants. Now, because of where I live, I don’t hesitate to go places, nor do I feel stress every time I travel anywhere. Hopping in the car is a pleasant experience, and I’m already going out a lot more than I did before.
Focus on your commute whenever you purchase a property
In my case, I work from home, so the “commute” that matters to me was to entertainment locations. For those who have to drive to work every day, a house in a better location with a shorter commute could be even more life-changing than it was for me.
If you can cut just 10 minutes off your commute to work each day by choosing one house over another, you could save yourself somewhere around 83 hours in drive time every year. That would mean recovering three days a year of your precious limited time on this earth. And you’ll likely also be less stressed if you don’t have to spend that additional time sitting in traffic.
There’s very little else about a house that’s going to make as much difference in your day-to-day life as reclaiming a lot of time by selecting the ideal location. So when you apply with a mortgage lender and go house hunting, maybe don’t focus as much on that luxury bathroom or the fancy kitchen (you can always change those things later if you want and can save up the funds to do so). Instead, first and foremost, be sure that your commute to work and entertainment activities is a good one. You can do this by:
- Visiting locations you may want to live and driving from there to work and other important places at different times of the day to see how your commute is.
- Using Google maps to estimate the drive time from your planned new home to different locations you visit often (you can select a specific time to depart in Google maps and it will estimate the typical traffic and drive time at that time period).
- Checking for schools in the area — if there are schools nearby, it could mean there are a lot of school buses and a lot of drop-off and pick-up traffic that could impact your commute.
If you take the time to do this and find a house where you have an easy commute at the times you need to drive, it really will change your life.
