Being Happy With Where You Live

Where do you want to live? Would you rather live in an upmarket prestigious area or somewhere that has a great community spirit? Do some locations have both?

Location
When looking to buy, sell or rent a property, location is an important factor. Some areas are more convenient and have more job opportunities, shops, schools, health facilities and services. Public transport is better in some areas than others and away from the cities there may be no public transport at all.

Price
What one can afford is often a deciding factor. Certain suburbs bring a higher price. The price of rent or buying a house will be much greater in some cities than others. Within a town or suburb, which side of the railway line or the highway the property is situated sometimes makes a difference of thousands of dollars. Sometimes one side of the street has a different suburb name from the other side. Houses at one end of the street may sell for a higher price than those at the other.


Things change
Over time areas can change in regard to their perceived desirability. An inner city suburb once considered a slum area may be upgraded and become a desirable place to live with a matching price tag. On the other hand, an area once prided as a 'good' place to bring up children may slide into disrepute and become a place people avoid if at all possible.

Community
However, although a house may be in a location generally considered upmarket it doesn't automatically mean one will be happy living there. Many years ago I lived in one of Adelaide's more prestigious suburbs but none of the neighbours talked to me or even exchanged a smile when I took my dog out for a walk. No, the problem wasn't that my dog barked and disturbed my neighbours. There was just no community feel, no sense of belonging.

Previously I lived in a suburb where my neighbours knew my name. One neighbour, an elderly woman, regularly invited me in for coffee and gave me cuttings from her garden and advice on how to strike them. I went to an egg cookery demonstration with the young mother who lived across the road and spent happy hours chatting to her and playing with her youngsters.

The neighbour on the left of us offered to pass on any phone messages as we didn't have a phone. Yes, this was decades ago when some people didn't have a landline, simply called a phone back then.

Local shop owners were friendly and other customers would smile and say hello. The people who worked in the butcher shop were always ready to share a joke.

There was a real community feel to that suburb. As well, we had friends living in nearby suburbs and family not far away. Although the location wouldn't have commanded a high price for a house sale, I was very happy there.

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