Finding a Fit

How do you define what a great place to live is?  I walked up and down the streets of this neighborhood carefully observing how they reacted to it.  It's those details that are important.  After all, there's a double-edged sword here early on in an agent-client relationship: most clients recognize the effort I put into a property tour, which I appreciate, but sometimes they'll pad what they think of an area because they don't want to say "bad things" about an effort.   Searching for a great home is about refinement: here are a few things people look for.  There are no doubt many, many others.  

1)  Personality Fit.  It was a nice place.  It just wasn't for them.  With all the things going on in their lives, they needed a place that was a little quieter and a little more serene.  It's the difference between Santana Row and Campbell, between downtown San Mateo or Mountain View and Foster City.  After a long day at work, what do you want to come home to, where do you see your family living, and where do you want to start your weekends from?  Some people need activity, others need serenity; you can find both in Silicon Valley.

2)  Safety.  The trips.  It wasn't the jet-set lifestyle but he was always flying back and forth between Silicon Valley and Asia.  Sometimes Korea, sometimes Taiwan, sometimes China.  It's the life when you're head up marketing for silicon.  He thinks about what his wife and baby are doing when he's on the plane.  She's extremely capable but he wants to make sure that she's never in a position where she has to be a hero.  

3)  Government Regulations, Planning and Zoning.  No one (who's not a land developer) ever asks for this upfront, but the benefit to land and home prices is extensive.  Given land prices here in the Bay Area, if governments relaxed their height regulations, developers would quickly build structures that maximize their use of airspace.  City governments also require details like a certain number of parking spaces per housing structure so that other land owners aren't affected by the additional street parking that would be caused.  Every home has an impact on the homes next to it and a well-planned city holds its value, often resulting in a neighborhood that "feels" better than others.