Basics of Property Management: Screening Potential Tenants

Buying A Home In A Cold Climate? 4 Things To Prioritize For Easy Winter Upkeep

8 January 2020

Jesse Obrien

When you decide to buy a home, one of the decisions that you will need to make is where you want to purchase. If you discuss all the details with your family and end up picking a cold climate, you may want to keep a few things in mind to enjoy a positive homeowner experience.

For instance, when you do not like the idea of putting a lot of time and effort into upkeep, especially throughout winter, you should make certain priorities while shopping for a home.

Sidewalk

While looking at different neighborhoods and streets, you will find that some homes have sidewalks that you will be responsible for maintaining. For instance, if you know that it will snow throughout winter, you should make sure that the sidewalk is not covered in snow. This is something that you can avoid having to do by buying a home without a sidewalk on the property.

Driveway

Another feature that you should pay attention to in an effort to avoid strenuous winter upkeep is the driveway. An ideal setup is a paved driveway that you do not have to worry about kicking up gravel on when you are trying to remove snow from the driveway. You should not find this difficult to do because you will likely see the driveway in online listing photos.

If a home has a dirt or gravel driveway, you can just skip the property and move on to the next one.

Landscape

When you buy a home, you will be responsible for maintaining the landscape. This means that you may want to consider passing on homes with enormous yards, especially when you know that winter will demand a decent amount of preparation and upkeep in general.

An excellent plan is to prioritize homes with native plants because this will reduce how much you need to prepare the plants as they may already be well suited for cold and snowy conditions.

Pathways

If you want to be able to move around the landscape with ease, you should look for a front yard and backyard with walkways that take you just about everywhere on the property. This way you can cross the yard easily by removing the snow and keeping the paths salted.

When you are making plans to buy a home in a cold climate, you should consider these priorities to enjoy minimal upkeep in the winter. Start looking at single-family homes to see what is on the market today.

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