Are The Suburbs Becoming A More Attractive Option For Home Life?

In the last few months, I’ve found myself feeling very grateful that I live in the suburbs of Houston, rather than the city itself.

Even way before this spring, as I helped my son and daughter-in-law remodel their townhouse kitchen, in the midtown area of Houston a few years ago, I quickly realized I didn’t want to live or work down in a highly congested area.

The poor parking situations, the traffic, the stairs and vertical living, the gates and locked doors to go in and out of…..it’s all kind of off-putting for me.

Of course, as an empty nester, there’s the tendency to think about moving to a smaller and more urban environment. Many people do just that at this age.

Being close to cool restaurants and venues, having less property maintenance, feeling more in touch with people on a daily basis in a tighter living situation often entices people of my age to change their lifestyle and move.

To be honest, that’s never really appealed to me.

I’ve always preferred my own yard, a driveway and garage attached to my home, the convenience of local shopping and parking, the ease of living in a planned community, even if it does have cookie-cutter tendencies. :-)

You’ve got to admit, it is EASY to live in the suburbs.

Is it for everyone? No. But I like it. And when we were all staying home in these recent past months, it became my haven and a very comfortable place to live, work and spread out a bit.

I stopped and talked to this deer on my way home from the grocery store a few days ago. This is a green belt area in our neighborhood.

One of our neighborhood lakes that has a nice park with sports fields, swimming pool, picnic area and tennis courts nearby.

As I read more and more about how people are leaving some urban cities in this crisis, I think that others share these views also.

Especially now that living near your job might not be such a big factor for urban living anymore, I can see where relocating out of the city might receive more consideration. Many people don’t have their city jobs any more and many others have found they can work from home pretty easily.

My husband went up to his former offices last week and said it was a ghost town. All the lovely facilities they built for employees with cafes and restaurants are barely functioning and only essential people are at work on site.

My daughter’s employer let his employees know that they will likely be working from home for several more months. I imagine this work-from-home situation is surprising many business owners that thought they needed lots of square footage and employees in sight to be able to get work done.

All things considered, have you asked yourself this question yet?

If we were to go through a similar crisis again next fall or in a year or so, where would you want to be?

I’m not trying to sell anyone on suburban living really, I’m just wondering if people will be thinking about moving out of the city and into the suburbs in the next year.

I’ve been curious about real estate values out here and what the trend will be in home buying and well…..remodeling and new construction. :-)

Suburban Real Estate Market

I follow a local real estate broker on Facebook and he does a monthly report of the area on a Facebook Live every month.

He said after experiencing record low activity in April, May just popped right back up for our area. He said sales are almost exactly what they were last year at this time but inventory is low. Home prices are not dropping either.

A lot of people are in the market for a home in our suburb, but there isn’t much for sale. He referenced these statistics.

All the factors I mentioned above, paired with current low mortgage rates, may just cause more suburban growth.

These wide concrete paths connect all the neighborhoods of our community with local schools, parks, and shopping. For me, this is one of the best parts of our community.

Lake Woodlands, a larger lake where canoeing and rowing are enjoyed, from Hughes Landing shopping center, at sunset.

Flipping Suburban Real Estate

This should help one of my contractors who bought a house to remodel and sell, just before we got the stay at home orders. When all this hit our area, he was wondering if he’d made a bad investment in terms of timing.

As we are moving toward a new normal lifestyle now, he’s getting excited about finishing up the house and getting it on the market.

He’s not patching this home together with an eye on saving money with shortcuts and poor construction practices. He’s doing it right, with a major remodel. He’s taking a lot of it down to the studs, fixing any problems, and then updating it in a way that will create a well-designed family home.

I’ve been helping him with some ideas and finish selections and I’m getting excited about his flip too. I’ll be sharing more about this house in a future blogpost but I have some sneak peeks on my Instagram Highlights, right here.

I think the suburbs and remodeling will gain popularity

While I realize suburban life isn’t for everyone, I think it is appealing for ease of living. I do think our area will see growth.

I am looking forward to helping new homeowners update and remodel their purchases here and in other suburbs across the country. :-)

Although my local, in-person consultations are still very limited to empty houses at this point, my email consultations have been very helpful recently.

It’s a cost effective to way have an experienced home design pro look at your project and goals for your home. I can help you figure out where to invest in the remodel of your home, how much to invest, and what products and style will last for you in the years to come.

I encourage you to check it out and peruse some of these blogposts, below, that can offer free guidance and info to help you along your remodeling journey. :-)