Home Buying, Market Intelligence, Your Next Home
When looking for the “best home” it will look different for everyone, so it’s essential to write out a list of wants, needs and non-negotiables. We’ve compiled a list of things to consider when looking for your new home in Langley
If you don’t know the city of Langley very well, you might not know how vast the landmass size actually is, Langley is divided into two areas: Langley City and the Township of Langley. Both of these areas have a lot to offer for your lifestyle and various home types!
There are a lot of things to consider when looking for a new home, you can’t just Google: condos for sale in Langley, you have to think about your wants and your needs and how you are going to meet them when searching for a place to live.
The first important area you are going to need to look at is what stage of life you’re in. This is helpful to analyze because depending on your answer, your needs are going to be very different from someone else. If we look at each category of stage of life or reasons for buying, there are a lot of follow-up questions that come with it. We have broken it down to questions you may want to consider on how to find the best home in Langley!
Downsizers
Questions to ask yourself:
- Are you planning on this being your forever home?
- Will the size of the home accommodate your lifestyle going forward?
- Is there the ability to access all parts of the home easily?
- What is the proximity to amenities such as daily necessities and leisure activities?
- Will you be walking or driving everywhere? – consider a more walkable neighbourhood like Willoughby
- Is it close to family and friends?
- Is it a safe neighbourhood?
To consider:
For downsizers, we typically recommend either master-on-main homes or condominiums. At Fifth Avenue, we like to have an array of different styles of homes, check out Union – a collection of 3 & 4-bedroom townhomes in the heart of Willoughby. Looking for the lock-and-go lifestyle – The Hive at Willoughby Town Centre offers gorgeous 1- 2- & 3-bedroom condominiums with amenities galore. Interested in something a little further outside the bustling city of Langley? Be sure to register for Aldergrove Town Centre – the final release of 1- 2- & 3-bedroom condos coming soon. In regard to being close to amenities or your family and friends, as we mentioned, Langley is quite large and can take 30+ minutes to get from one end of the city to the other! Luckily, there are many family-friendly/safe neighbourhoods to live in Langley. Do your research as you would anywhere, to find the perfect community to live in.
Families
Questions to ask yourself:
- Is there enough yard space?
- Are you going to outgrow the space quickly?
- Are pets allowed?
- Is there enough space for everyone?
- What kinds of schools are close by?
- What amenities are close by (Parks, recreation centres, leisure activities, extra-curricular activities)
- Is it a safe neighbourhood?
- Are there other families?
To consider:
Langley has some amazing schools! They offer a wide range of institutions to send your kids to, as well as a well-known private university, Trinity Western University. Langley also hosts RE Mountain Secondary, known for its IB program (the perfect preparation for post-secondary). Most developments do allow pets, but always check with strata beforehand!
Langley boasts all kinds of amenities, from public pools to horse stables to sports and everything in between! When looking for a perfectly safe neighbourhood, we always recommend doing your research on specific communities before purchasing a home! You can never be too safe. You can talk to your local realtor about their thoughts on safe neighbourhoods and ones that a lot of families reside in. We also recommend spending a day in the neighbourhood you’re interested in, to see what kinds of people live close by!
Young professionals
Questions to ask yourself:
- Is there extra space to allow working from home?
- Are there available areas for workspace in the building/complex?
- Are there good career opportunities close by?
- What is the proximity to the highway if needing to commute to another city?
- What is the proximity to amenities outside of the building/complex?
To consider:
Work from home became even more common this year with companies wanting to keep the spread of COVID-19 under control. This became a reality for many when they had to adjust to a work/life balance. This is now something to consider as we move forward with the potential for work from home being permanent for a lot of companies! If you are someone that is continuing to commute to work, it’s important to note that there are parts of Langley that have easy access routes to HWY-1 and Fraser HWY with quick commuting time to various cities.
Young couples
Questions to ask yourself:
- Is there enough space to potentially grow a family in the future?
- Is there enough space for entertaining?
- Is it close to the amenities we want (hobbies, leisure activities, daily necessities)?
To consider:
Something we often see in young couples looking to purchase is the consideration of having a family eventually and whether the home offers them space if they see it in the near future. Another consideration we often see is the importance of being able to entertain in their home or even in the amenity space that is a part of the building/complex. Most amenity spaces do offer a party room or lounge to cater to these kinds of needs.
Investor
Questions to ask yourself:
- What is the price point, and will it work for me?
- If you are looking to rent it out, who are you looking to rent to? – see above for the various groups and answer the questions in each.
To consider:
When looking for a home that you are planning to rent out, it’s important to consider the price point. Luckily, Langley has a lot of homes that accommodate pricing that is suitable for investors.
Langley has both city life and country living, it is littered with restaurants, shopping, and businesses galore, but also has the country charm with farms, wineries, and nature.
These are just a few of the most common groups of people we sell homes to every week, as well as some considerations we know they often care about when looking to purchase their dream home. Once you have answered these questions, it now comes time to have a look at what is available in your area in terms of housing and what type of dwelling you want to live in, a condo, townhome, or single-family home. To see what we have available in Langley, check out fifthave.ca/find-a-home and keep up to date on our social media as we are always releasing new homes in this amazing city!
Home Buying, Market Intelligence, Your Next Home