Check list for House Hunting

Although I love my current house, I wish I had done more research about the area and the facilities it has to offer. As soon as I accepted the job offer, I had less than a week to get a house. I went on Craigslist and listed down few houses in the same area to have a look at. And the next thing I know, I was signing papers for my new house. But after a few weeks, I realized that my area has nothing much to offer. Living alone in the city is not fun all the time! So I came up with a list of things that I am going to look into when I am looking for a house next time.

So here is the list of things I would like near my house-



1) Convenience Stores: And I mean good stores. Although I have a ton of these stores in my area, I figured it's an important thing to have close to your house. You know, those quick runs for things on odd hours. Ofcourse having Walmart, Walgreens or Wegmens is a plus.




2) Gym/Yoga class: I don't have any of these close in my area. I like to be fit and active even after work. But I don't want to catch an additional subway or bus to get my ass in shape!







3) Restaurants: By restaurants I don't mean Chinese take-out. I am sick of that and its not even authentic Chinese! I need good food after a tiring day. Oh, good and healthy food of course :) Bonus for home delivery :P

4) Crowd: Don't forget the crowd! You got to know what kinda crowd you want to live in. You learn a lot from the crowd they say. You don't want to live in a retirement area when your 20-something, do you? The crowd in your area can set your mood and can turn a bad day around. I have noticed that good crowd makes me happy and it inspires me.

5) Night/Day: Make sure you visit and check your area in the day and night. Because I realized that locations look a lot different in the day and night. This is not only to see how safe your area is during night time but also how happening your area is in the day.

 6) Parks: Well I can't expect to have a park in NYC around the corner. And I definitely don't want to take a sub or a cab all the way to Central Park if I want to stroll around for that peace in mind. Its definitely a plus to have a park. Its not only refreshing but its good to get out of the house on a gorgeous day.





7) Transportation: Always make sure you have public transportation close to your house especially if you don't have a car. The closest subway/train from my house is 1.1 mile from my house. Trust me, its not fun to walk 1.1 mile at 8am…already tired and sweaty.!




8) Pharmacy: You got to have this walking distance from your house. Period.



9) Laundry: No everyone doesn't have their personal washer and dryer. Sometimes, the whole building shares a couple of those in the basement. But what if you don't have any of those either? Make sure you have these very very close to your house! It is very important when you realize you got nothing to wear and you need to do laundry ASAP.





10) Loud locations: After moving in, I realized I have a fire department right behind my house (no I did not know about it until I moved in and I did not realize there is a fire somewhere in my area every half an hour LOL) Stay away from airports, fire departments, hospitals etc. Its annoying, trust me!

So here is the checklist for must haves for housing locations. Hope this is helpful for your housing hunting process after college. This is best for 20-something gals and guys.


If I missed something, comment and let me know your ideas :)