Choice of Residence

[plumtreeblossom]

[Poll #690264]

I realized that almost everyone considers both factors to some degree. But I'm interested in seeing to which side more people lean, which is why I didn't put a "Both Equal" option. Choose whichever is of more importance to you, and feel free to discuss.

Comments

[wellstar.livejournal.com]

As of now I'm the only person to have chosen the first option. However, I choose it with the caveat that "largest" does not necessarily mean "best." Small is okay if there is character compatible with me. When I walk through the door of my home, I want to feel completely, well, at home. Decoration can take me a good ways there, but if the building itself doesn't welcome me, I don't want to be there. I don't mind traveling to be with my preferred community, but I do mind inviting people to a home that isn't representative of who I am.

I actually feel like my interpretation of the first answer isn't all that different than your description in the second answer. I'm more concerned with the property (inside and out) being compatible with my lifestyle/taste, than the area surrounding it.

[wellstar.livejournal.com]

(Sorry for the multiple comments here.) I should add that I've been thinking about "location" in terms of neighborhood, rather than geographic area. If you offered me my dream house in, I don't know, Siberia, I'd probably be hard-pressed to actually accept it. But I wouldn't be looking to buy in Siberia in the first place, so I don't know how far I can extend this issue...

Ultimately, I think a major purchase like this comes down to gut instinct, and it may not be as easy to separate out those two factors in that scenario. Plus, it probably depends on where you are in your life, whether you have kids, job security, and many many more factors. Head versus heart, passion versus reason, and all that.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my thinking on that question was centered more regionally, as opposed to globally. So no worries about dream houses in Siberia! But what if it were in, say, rural central Maine?

[wellstar.livejournal.com]

Same thing, I think. I wouldn't be looking at houses in rural central Maine unless I had a good reason to be there in the first place. (Job, family, significant other with a stronger need to be there than I had need to NOT be there.)

But if you're asking would I move there just for a piece of property? No way. (Okay, maybe as a summer home... ;) she says, laughing at her bank account.) Same with any undesireable location [ultra-conservative small town, neighborhood where I didn't feel safe, etc.]. I agree with istemi about the false dichotomy, and also with your comparison between home-buying and dating above. I was going to say in my first comment that making any large investment (financial, emotional, physical, temporal, whatever) has got to be a good balance between getting more out of it than you put in, and actually caring about/enjoying what you're doing/where you are. This applies to dating, jobs, family, living situations, post-secondary school, and so much more.