Finance

The Meaning of Home

The COVID-19 pandemic has done a lot to change the way Americans live their lives. For example, Americans no longer place a great deal of emphasis on living close to their work. After all, for all intents and purposes, they live at their work. This, in and of itself, has changed much of the way people buy homes. And this is only the beginning. Before the beginning of the pandemic, homeschooling was an admirable goal. Today, it’s a necessity that might even require its own room.

It is clear that, from just these two examples, the role of home has changed dramatically. This is true from both an emotional and a functional standpoint. It used to be that home was where we lived as opposed to where we worked. Today, homes are for both, which is affecting a lot of things about how homes are bought and sold. You can head to Veterans Community for more information.

More Sustainable Living

There was a time when people shopped for homes using general guidelines for what they needed and didn’t need in their living space. These included the size of the rooms, whether there was a good kitchen, a family room, and other features. This is not so true anymore. In fact, with the restrictions placed on home shopping by the COVID pandemic, home buyers are looking for other features, such as sustainability, in their homes. These are things such as energy consumption, variable use, and expense. These are the primary selling points of a home today.

Another aspect of sustainable living is the concept of open living, which more people are embracing. For example, having open areas is always great when you want to have a party, but having a place for kids to attend school while you are having a Zoom meeting for work is an idea that most homeowners have never concerned themselves with in the past. Some rooms simply don’t work well with these issues. Instead, some homeowners need specific rooms for specific needs.

It is also understood that some people like unused space that they can use, for example, as another bedroom, an office, or a loft when the need arises. It’s all a matter of using the available space in different ways as opposed to the past when a bedroom would always be a bedroom, etc.

Affordability

Another area where the real estate market is being affected is affordability. People are taking a longer and more serious look at what they are getting for their home buying dollar. This is a good thing today since, with the variability of space, people can change uses of rooms for the same price.

The times the homeowners find themselves in have caused them to look at what is available with a larger umbrella. This approach causes homeowner to think more about inclusive instead of exclusive factors. They will begin to consider how large their home is in relation to other homes in the same areas. Above all, the supply of housing is affected by bringing people the houses they want.