With so many Homes For Sale it can create tough choices for buyers.    Here are some important aspects to consider when reviewing all of the homes for sale in today’s market.

1) Location - The location of the home is important, but more importantly can be the location of everything else in your life.     When looking at potential homes to buy consider your daily or weekly routine and the places you visit.  How close is your favorite grocery store, school for the kids, dry cleaners, interstates etc.   With the construction of the Polk County Parkway a few years ago in Lakeland, everything in South Lakeland became a little more convenient but this is still an important factor to consider.  If you find the perfect home for sale, but it creates an inconvenience in your life due to location, is it worth it?    Will you switch dry-cleaners, drive to the old one, or is there even one close?  These are the kinds of questions you should be asking yourself.  I would recommend making a list of all the places you visit during the course of an average month and take all of these into consideration while house hunting.  Also consider any toll road costs that may be added to your monthly budget when considering the total cost of the new home.

2) The Neighborhood – Most people check out the neighborhood when considering a home for sale, but what are you really looking for?  Its easy to drive around and take a look for run down homes or blatant problems, however there is a lot more to consider.   If you are seriously considering buying  a home in a particular neighborhood, you need to visit the neighborhood during different times of day.  For home buyers with children, visit the neighborhood in the morning before school, around the time the bus picks ups and again after school when the school bus lets off.  Observe the kids and how they interact with each other.   Check for things like train tracks nearby (train whistles in the middle of the night are no fun!), small airports nearby or other noise nuisances.  Visit the neighborhood at night and just roll down your car windows and listen, what do you hear?   This could be the street you live on for the rest of your life, do your homework and check it our during different times of day and consider it from different perspectives.

I’ll cove more gerat tips to help when considering the many homes for sale in this market in part 2 of this series.