By Lynda Cox
What is best: loving where you live or living where you love? You might say that is is a tricky question. Is there a difference or are they one and the same? The short answer: it depends. Loving where you live, to me, means finding and making a home that is comfortable, warm and inviting; a house or apartment that you love to come home to every day after work or play. This atmosphere is your own doing. You can create it in any location.
Living where you love, speaks more about neighbourhood. It is more an acquired love than a love that is already there. It requires getting to know the area, getting to know the people and amenities, finding your place in it all and loving the quality of life it gives you.
Many of us living here in Lowertown are living where we love. We might fantasize about a dream home in a warmer climate, especially at this time of year. We might fantasize about winning the lottery to finance those dreams BUT here we are, right in the middle of the best little city in Canada and the greatest neighbourhood in Ottawa. I can say that because this is where I live now. I have lived in rural Ottawa, I have lived in suburban Ottawa, I have lived in an urban university neighbourhood. I loved all my homes. I loved where I lived, but my Lowertown location is my favourite of all. I am now living where I love.
Why do we love it so? Our walking score is 99. Most amenities are at our fingertips, just a short stroll from home, without the need for a car. Our population is very diverse. Every season provides varying opportunities, different sights and aromas and, best of all, housing is still affordable.
FACT: Ottawa is a terrific place to live as a homeowner: the words ”housing bubble” and Ottawa have never gone hand in hand. Ottawa is a government town so housing prices tend to be steady and buyers plentiful.
I join my Lowertown neighbours in stating: We are living where we love. No lottery win would change a thing. … Well perhaps there’d be a few more warm winter getaways.
Lowertown……..What’s not to love?
Real Estate Update
Greater Ottawa experienced a 3.9% overall increase in prices compared with 2017, but Lowertown was only 1.5%. Lowertown experienced a 25% increase in sales volume comparedwith 2017. This was mostly due to the increased activity in the condo sector.
Residential activity since Oct. 31
SOLD 5 CONDITIONALLY SOLD 0 ACTIVE 0
Condominium activity since Oct. 31
SOLD 19 CONDITIONALLY SOLD 4 ACTIVE 21
Rental activity since Oct. 31
AVAILABLE ON MLS 14, RENTED 13
Lynda Cox is a sales representative with Faulkner Real Estate