Location, Location, Location - Why does it Matter so much?

In the Real Estate world, location can mean a lot. As a consumer, it should mean a lot to you too. Location determines where your home will be, what amenities you have near you, and how much your home may be worth.

One of the first things that we ask people when they are purchasing a home is where they want to be. This can alter the way that we look at homes and it will give us an idea of what matters to the client. Once we know the top places that someone wants to be, we try to make sure that we stay within that search.

The same goes for selling your home, depending on the location, we may have to market a listing differently and to a different type of buyer.

Here are some of the ways that Location really matters in Real Estate world:

Home Prices

It shouldn't be a surprise that depending on where a home is can drastically affect home prices. If you have already spent a little time in the housing market, you may have noticed that homes in areas like South Minneapolis, or Saint Louis Park can be higher than homes of similar styles in say Crystal, or Brooklyn Park. Below, you can see how the prices in Saint Louis Park and Brooklyn Park vary according the the data collected by our local Multiple Listing Service, NorthStarMLS.

Many people gravitate towards certain areas because of their central location to the Twin Cities, making property prices rise in response to a buyers demand.

Similarly, this can been seen in more suburban areas or rural areas. Areas like Apple Valley and Lakeville tend to be hot spots for people moving to the suburbs. In some of these areas, we have seen a rise in new construction as well because people want to live in these locations. You can see the median price from NorthStarMLS for Lakeville in comparison to the Twin Cities as a whole below.

Property Taxes

Many seasoned homeowners already know that where you live can make a big impact on your property taxes. Generally, it can be best categorized by county to county on how high property taxes may be and what they are used for. For example, Hennepin county is known to have higher property taxes, however it still is a high demand county due to the location near Minneapolis and popular living areas like Minnetonka and Eden Prairie.

If lower property taxes are important to you, you will want to do some research on what cities and locations may be more in the range you want to be. It can and has been a big deciding factor for some of our clients!

To see what the median property taxes are per county in Minnesota, you can visit Tax-rates.org.

Every Day Conveniences

Part of what makes the the two above items so high in demand or affect them are what conveniences you get from the location you're in. The closer you are to Minneapolis or St. Paul the more activities are available to you from restaurants, to shops, and nightlife. The closer you get to the city, the higher the walkability increases as well. This seems to be trending among the younger home owners as they look to find a place to settle down rather than being fully dependent on a car to get them to necessities.

However, many of the local suburbs have developed to provide all the daily conveniences needed. In several new construction areas in the south suburbs you see close proximity to major grocery stores, restaurants, malls, etc. These kind of items tend to draw people to the communities and they may be willing to pick a location of a home based on what is within a short radius of the home.

Proximity to Work & Loved Ones

This is one of the reasons that we focus on making sure we know the locations that are important to our buyers. Many times, people base the importance of a location based on the proximity to their workplace or near family or friends. It is our job as your Real Estate team to help you make sure that we stay within a location that mets these requirements. It may be worth more to you to spend the money on the location than the house itself.

This is also a reason why some people will sell the current home their in. Empty nesters may find that they no longer are located near children and will decide to sell their home so they can find something closer to kids and/or grandkids. To them, the location means they can spend more time with their loved ones or are more readily available if they are needed.

What Really Matters to you?

It really comes down on what's most important to you when it comes to your home. The importance of a location can mean so much more than we listed above as well. Whether it's a school you want to be near, care about parks nearby, or are worried about the safety of a neighborhood, it matters where you live.

As Real Estate professionals we will help provide you with as much information we can about a location you are interested in. If we cannot give you all the information, we will help provide you the tools to determine if it is the right location for you.