This weekend was my daughter’s 5th birthday party. On Saturday, we had 10 screaming 5 and 6 year old girls over. On Sunday, we had a family party including a couple close friends (20 adults and 23 kids (aged 3 to 16)). After it was all cleaned up and the kids were asleep, my wife and I sat on the deck and thought about our girls, our family and the house we’ve chosen to make our home.
As a sales and marketing company, we have seen people get excited about granite, stainless appliances or some other key feature, and overlook their lifestyle. We try hard however, to find a home that will actually work for you, listen to how you want to live your life and find something to enhance that. At the end of the day, granite and appliances can be changed but location and floorplan style are more difficult to do so – it’s the simple things in life like “can I actually have 8 people over” or “can I store my snowboard somewhere out of site” that can really affect how you feel about your home longterm.
As my wife and I sat and talked through the weekend we kept coming back to how great the house felt during this weekend compared to our old one (we just moved this past July). We are entertainers. We love to have people over, whether it’s for a dinner of 6 or a party of 20 adults and 23 kids. We knew this as we were looking for a new home, which is why our search took us almost 3 frustrating years.
How does this relate to you and your search for a new home? You need to really think about what you want out of your home and what activities will take place at your home. Size is not the only important factor, you must look at the features. Some would say that Downtown you can get away with not having a full size refrigerator because the downtown lifestyle tends to be more about being out (eating out, theatre, concerts, movies…), rather than in South Surrey where you would be more likely to entertain at home. However, if you are an entertainer you may not be satisfied with a smaller fridge as this will affect the way you feel about your home, which in turn will affect the regularity of your entertaining. Are you a bookworm or a workaholic? You will want an effective work space or den. For most the “work stations” being added to many homes will be a fantastic feature but for those working from home, you will want more. Perhaps you may need a den or a second bedroom so you can close the door and enjoy the rest of your home without having to see all your work.
Having access to transit right out your front door or living near an arterial road for easy access to driving routes is great but still need to be paired with the necessary utility in your home to match your lifestyle. Your home is a large and long term investment. Treat it like that rather than a place to park for a few years. You are going to be living there, making it your place of refuge or celebration. Make sure it has what you want or at least has the potential. Take advice from friends but always come back to how you fundamentally want to live because we all do things differently. Find the location and the home that fits you.
Dan Thomson
