DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU’RE MOVING?

BY MELANIE ROBITAILLE, SR. STAFF WRITER & GRAPHIC DESIGNER

You’ve made up your mind; it’s time to move, and whether it’s into your first home or onto your next chapter, no two people look for the exact same things in the place they call home. Different lifestyles, careers, spiritual beliefs, and interests pull us in different directions, toward various styles of dwellings. But it doesn’t matter whether you’re in the market for condo or back country living, information like walking scores, proximity to amenities like retail and transit, as well as the quality of local schools and neighborhoods is all made readily available.

It feels like it’s all there, and with excitement and emotions running high when narrowing it down to the perfect home, one can easily forget to look to the future before putting down the deposit. Before you sign on the dotted line, get an understanding of the community you want to call home. Is it a settlement, hamlet, a township, or city? Is it historically significant? What are the geographical boundaries and what region, if any, does it belong to?

The neighborhood construct you see today is not what it once was, or what it will be in years to come.

It’s all part of a plan; a master or official plan that is, and each and every municipality or region has one. These documents contain maps of each town, or town within each region and outline planned projects, zoning, and protections in place for land. Yes, they’re often extremely lengthy, and they’re always full of complex jargon, but knowing information like this could potentially save you from buying a home that will one day be located next to a sewage treatment plant, along an airport flight path, or adjacent to construction that will destroy a beautiful view.

Even the most savvy real estate professional can only cover so much ground, so if yours doesn’t provide this information to you, don’t be afraid to set your agent to the task. Whether familiar with your market area or not, they’re your advocate. Note that these plans are subject to change as populations change too, so pay close attention to the zoning maps. Land is classified into various areas called zones like Farmland, Environmental, Residential, Industrial, or Commercial, and numerically categorized as primary and secondary for priority. Signs of possible change can be found where “zones” overlap and intersect. This means the area has two possible uses and could change one day.

Developers and landowners can also apply to make zoning changes at any given time during ownership, so once you’re in your happy home, pay close attention to the same websites and local publications for zone change postings. You can also sit in on, or tune into, municipal council proceedings where these sorts of changes are decided upon. The neighboring public is always given a period for comment before such changes can be put through.

A good real estate agent can gather this info as well as interpret, and present these types of details to you. It will no doubt leave you feeling much more confident and informed about your decision. And after all, with it being one of the single largest investments you will ever make in your lifetime, don’t you think you should be?