Imagine you're about to buy a new home. Maybe a new job is forcing you to move. Maybe your family is growing and you need more room. Maybe the opposite -- your kids are out of the house and it's time to downsize.
What matters most to you about the location where you live?
In a recent survey from Clever Real Estate as reported by the National Assn. of Realtors, the top factors are pretty consistent across different age groups. Safe neighborhoods is the main factor that influences where people buy homes. But after that, the answer depends on your age.
Here's how that questions gets answered by three different groups.
Millennials
The top three factors in choosing where to live are:
1) Safe neighborhood - 36.94%
2) Good schools - 33.46%
3) Short commute - 11.41%
Generation X
This group, which is people between 34 and 54 years old, puts a higher value on neighborhood safety and less emphasis on schools than millennials. The top three factors in choosing where to live are:
1) Safe neighborhood - 44.5%
2) Good schools - 25.75%
3) Short commute - 10.5%
Baby Boomers+
In the survey, this group is defined as anyone 55 years or older. They put even more emphasis on safe neighborhoods than the other groups, but after that, values change. This group puts more emphasis on being near family and friends and on walkability.
1) Safe neighborhood - 48.19%
2) Close to family & friends - 15.66%
3) Walkability - 14.46%
The shift in values makes sense here -- boomers typically won't have kids at home, so the quality of their local school district isn't as important.
What matters most to you about the location where you live? Do your most important factors match how your age group responded to this survey?
