What Do Nearby Parks Have to Do With Your House Hunt?

House hunting can be exciting, intimidating, stressful and joyous, along with a hundred other emotions. But we want to make house hunting a walk in the park for you (see what we did there?).

When you’re searching for your next home, parks can often have a lot to do with picking the ideal location.

Parks can impact a community’s environmental quality, social atmosphere, overall health and even raise a neighborhood’s financial status.

Let’s take a look at all the benefits that parks can offer to your house hunt and to the value of your home.

Property values

Proximity to parks increases property value. It’s as simple as that. And, in general, the more parks and the better maintained those parks are, the higher it will raise the value. Purchasing a home near a park or with many parks nearby is a great investment as a homebuyer. The statistics vary state by state, but you can expect proximity to parks to increase your home value from 8 to 33%.

Virtual house hunting

Since so much of house hunting is done virtually these days, keeping parks in mind as a key determiner in your location can really help you narrow down your search. Any map app or real estate search should make it incredibly easy to search out the neighborhoods with parks. All you have to do is look for the green spaces. Basically, the more green there is, the better off you are.

Not all parks are created equal

When we talk about parks there is actually a wide range of spaces we could be referring to. So, get to know your park types as you house hunt. There are community parks, greenbelts, golf courses and open spaces, state and national parks, town squares, large city parks, pleasure grounds, cultural parks, dog parks, neighborhood parks and pocket parks.

We talked earlier about using a map to help you search out areas with a high density of parks. To take this a step further you can zoom in on those parks to see their size and other specific information that maps might provide. Google Earth can allow you to view the parks more in depth. You could (and probably should) also drive by or visit the parks to see how well-maintained they are, what kind of activities they’re used for and how crowded they are. Don’t forget that park activity will look different at different times of day and days of the week so scope out the neighborhood on multiple days and times of day to get the best feel.

As you continue your house hunt, we hope this information about parks helps you out. And if you are ready to start your house hunt, give us a call today.