A PROMINENT real estate broker was once asked to name three principles that should guide a purchaser in the selection of a home.
He answered: (1) location, (2) location and (3) location.
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At first impression, it may appear his answer was lightly and perhaps facetiously formulated, but when one considers some peculiar characteristics of real estate, the answer becomes meaningful.
Buyers should carefully consider whether the home will be close to their place of work, the quality of available schools, the neighborhood’s reputation and characteristics, the city’s tax structure, and the absence of noise, traffic, smoke and dust.
Each family has problems of its own, and the suggestions are relative and should vary according to the specific needs each purchaser confronts. In any event, the suggestion is meant to deter any hasty purchase and forestall the sweat and tears
that otherwise may blot the joys that should be inherent in a home of one’s own.
The mushrooming of residential subdivisions in the suburbs with “easy” purchase plans has tempted many families into undertaking home ownership. Unfortunately, some learned to their sorrow about the time lost in travel due to traffic snarls, as well as the expensive travel costs. To many living in the suburbs, renting near the place of work is more financially sustainable and they go home on weekends only.
Other considerations are the distance to a school, the degree of the owner’s pride in the area, the quality and proximity of shopping areas, transportation facilities and cost, zoning stability, availability of necessary utilities, recreation opportunities, extent of neighborhood development, nature of terrain (such as drainage and topography) and an effective fire and police protection service.
Real estate is immobile. The improvements, too, are stationary.
It is possible to move a home physically, but such action, as a rule, is economically inadvisable. The point a prospective home buyer mus remember, is that while the land and the improvements are stationary, the city and the neighborhood are in a constant state of flux and literally move about it.
Changes in the environment must ever be considered; ingress or egress of industry or commerce; increase or decrease in population; dangers to welfare, health or morality; influx or encroachment by undesirable groups—all are bound to be
reflected in the desirability and value of a property.
It is location, thus, which makes or breaks the conditions which are conducive to the enjoyment of pleasures and amenities of living that arise out of home ownership.
The affordability and mobility of the automobile has tremendously increased; thus, the miserable failure of Metro Cebu’s local governments to invest in the widening and opening of new municipal road networks has worsened traffic congestion.
The condominium home ownership concept has recently become popular, due to these projects’ locations. The Cebu City
Government was in the right direction when it constructed a socialized residential condo, but unfortunately the defect was in its design structure.
The N. Bacalso condo dwelling fell into the category of a building rather than a home.
A home is a place that not only provides safety from the elements but offers, in addition, opportunities for a well-rounded
and coordinated family life, for character-building, and the upbringing of healthy and happy children.
The high business density of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Cebu City has created thousands of job opportunities. Living within the cities, either as a renter or as an owner of an affordable socialized condo home, may be the most practical decision a family can make.
Within the city’s central area, many structures were built after the Second World War which have reached obsolescence, and demolition is in order, to replace these with high-rise eco-condo homes. The government, through the Home Guaranty Corp., should fully support the development of urban condos for the thousands of urban workers, for whom proximity to their place of work is, no doubt, of prime importance.
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