Is an Apartment Location Important?

Home | Blog | Is an Apartment Location Important?

Reading Time: ( Word Count: )

The decision about where to reside when you’re shopping for an apartment, or rather where one calls home, is one of the most important decisions a family can make. Location significantly impacts happiness, comfort, and to some extent, even health.

The selection of a home or apartment should go well beyond financial considerations. It should include questions of convenience to schools, shopping, work, and transportation. It should include apartment size, comfort, reputation, and amenities.

Quick Summary Video (if you prefer), and then keep reading:

Why Location Is Important

After financial considerations, the location of an apartment community should be given the highest priority with regard to choosing a place to live. People usually travel to work, school, shopping, medical destinations, and family and friends’ homes from their place of residence. They go to houses of worship, recreational facilities, entertainment venues, and cultural centers. It is important to consider distance, travel time, and transportation costs to all these destinations when apartment shopping.

How Important is Location | Aerial View of Neighborhood | phillyaptrentals.com

In addition to the above, one should also consider the walkability of an area.

Walkability

Walkability is a term often used by housing professionals like builders and architects. It refers to the renewed emphasis and focus on more interactive neighborhoods. How easy is it to walk around the area so you can acquire the things you need in your day-to-day life (think groceries and pharmaceuticals, for example). Walkability factors include things like sidewalks, the right of way of pedestrians, and proximity.

There is so much to consider, a company has developed a proprietary algorithm to determine an area’s walkability or “walk score”. You can compare walk scores of various apartment buildings by simply entering in the address or name of the apartment building onto the WalkScore Website.

Easy Access to Downtown

Septa Train Line

Living in the suburbs has its benefits, but living in the city generally allows for a greater selection of shopping and educational opportunities. Cities are also where an overwhelming majority of the national and regional cultural (museums of art, history, and science) and entertainment centers (such as ballparks, and theaters) are to be found.

Parks and Recreation

The advantages of living downtown can often be reversed when you consider access to recreation facilities and parks.

Most suburban municipalities have considerably more parks and sport-specific recreational ball fields than center city.

Travel Time and Cost

With the advent of tools like Bing and Google Maps, it is relatively easy to figure out a route and travel time to your desired destination. Google (and other sites) allow you to not only consider driving time, but travel time via any combination of driving, train, and walking routes. Even if you are somewhat familiar with an area, the use of such a tool will quickly provide answers that allow you to compare one location to another. If you commute to work or school on a regular basis, the time (and cost!) of travel are of primary consideration.

Many more people are choosing to live near transit hubs because of these very reasons. In fact, an industry acronym for such a property has been coined TOD or Transit-Oriented Development.

Young woman reading on train | www.phillyaptrentals.com

In addition to saving time and money, transportation modes such as the train reduce stress and afford the traveler the ability to rest or to take advantage of travel time for productive purposes such as work or study.

If one makes exclusive use of an automobile as their primary mode of transportation, one should consider the best route to and from the start location and the destination point during peak and off-peak traffic hours. Wintertime travel should also be considered. How far and over what type of roads will one need to travel and how will this affect travel time? Primary roads such as US-1, I-95, and the turnpike are the first roads to be cleared in the wintertime. Depending on the snow event, secondary roads may not be attended to for as much as one, two, or more days after a major event.

The location of an apartment being considered as your primary residence is important because it affects the convenience and quality of your life. There are many things to consider before you can arrive at the “right” decision for you and your family.

Subscribe

* indicates required

Don't Forget to Share this post! If you like it!

Fidelity Management – Our content has been featured or mentioned nationally by some of the industry’s best websites including:
ApartmentGuide | Rent.com | MyFirstAmartment | RENTCafe | The Balance …and many more

Tags

Categories

Editor’s Picks

Ben Franklin Bridge leading into Philadelphia at sunset

Subscribe

Stay a Smart Renter. Join the Group!

* indicates required

Related Articles

Can I See the Exact Apartment I’m Interested In?

Can I See the Exact Apartment I’m Interested In?

If you are in the market to rent an apartment, you may want to see the exact apartment you intend to rent. However, the management company may not be able to show you the exact apartment as better apartment complexes have enjoyed very high occupancy rates in recent...

read more
Is Two Months Enough Time to Find an Apartment?

Is Two Months Enough Time to Find an Apartment?

While 2 months isn't the ideal amount of time (usually you want about 2.5 months) to search for an apartment, it can work if the complex you want to move into has a vacancy available. How Long Does It Take to Find an Apartment? The ideal length of time to find an...

read more
How to Find an Apartment Rental Not in a Complex

How to Find an Apartment Rental Not in a Complex

If you're looking to rent an apartment that's not in an apartment complex, odds are you're looking for a 'for rent-by-owner' apartment or a single individual apartment to rent. This means a single landlord, instead of a property management company that operates and...

read more
1 Share
Skip to main content
Share via
Copy link
Powered by Social Snap