What’s in a home? If you’re in Las Vegas, the name of the game is keeping cool and safe from the unforgiving summer sun. Elsewhere, you may spend half of the year trying to keep warm! Choosing to buy a new home, whether in or out of Las Vegas, means accounting for your home’s ability to survive inclement weather. You’ll also need to consider everything else a home has to offer in terms of space and local amenities. While some non-essential additions are mentioned with the essentials, the non-essentials can make life easier and more enjoyable for you, and your family, if you have one.

Home essentials aren’t just the right plates and paint – they’re everything you need everyday to make you feel at home. It doesn’t hurt, however, to have those little touches that make your home more cozy, and those little touches can add up to a larger profit if you decide to sell your home. When it comes to choosing your home, consider what you will do in other seasons. Will you really choose a home in Las Vegas that doesn’t already have air conditioning? What about Seattle? The city is known for its beautiful spring and summer, but winters can be harsh, and very cold. Especially if you’re a first-time homebuyer, you may not even know everything you may want, or even need, in a home without the advice and assistance of a professional and reliable real estate agent.

Las Vegas Essentials

An oasis in the middle of the desert, Las Vegas is known for its fabulous Strip, Nellis Air Force Base, and bright, exuberant nightlife. Las Vegas is also known for the fact that it’s one of the nation’s fast-growing cities, with hundreds of new homes built and sold last year. Las Vegas is also known for its triple-digit summers, and those can take a toll if you don’t have air conditioning. Not only do you want to avoid heat exhaustion, but you want to be able to enjoy your plush couch in any weather! Everyone doesn’t have them, but adding insulated windows to your property, or seeking a property that has these types of windows installed is important. Eco-friendly windows minimize the escape of cool air and heat in your home, allowing you to control your home’s temperature. What’s more, energy-efficient windows can be very affordable, and some governments have incentive programs to help everyday people offset the costs. In a city that gets as hot as Las Vegas, consider hardwood floors, even if your home doesn’t already have them. Hardwood floors can also help make summer more comfortable.

Los Angeles Essentials

The glitz and glamor of Hollywood is irresistible to so many, Los Angeles has become one of the most-visited tourist destinations in the country. Though the city’s housing and job markets were hit hard by what’s been coined, ‘The Great Recession,’ the city has bounced back, and is growing fast, and so has the demand for housing in the City of Angels. All of the new congestion, though, brings its share of traffic and makes parking a bit of a squeeze. Finding a home with a driveway is paramount in this huge city. Without it, you could spend more time looking for street parking than you would like. If you don’t feel the need to purchase a car, it can be relatively easy to find a home located near public transit. Bearing in mind the sparse parking, you may feel it better to skip the car and use public transit. If you do, make sure that you look for homes that are close to the lines of transit that you need to get to work, and to your favorite local businesses.

Seattle Essentials

A beautiful city with an equally-beautiful backdrop featuring Mount Rainier, Seattle is one of Washington State’s gems. Crisp, clean air, plenty of coffee, and an influx of businesses from Silicon Valley has caused the price of real estate in the city to rise quickly, and new properties have been sprouting up all over the city and surrounding areas. Seattle has a thriving and reliable public transportation system, and finding a great home to buy could mean being close to a transit stop. Most people, of course, prefer their cars – the rainy weather in Seattle is nothing short of legendary. Protect your new home with plenty of properly-installed weather stripping and siding to prevent the rain from entering your home. If you don’t know, it’s important to keep water out of the walls of your home, and away from moist, dark environments. Mold is almost always the result of untreated water damage to a home, and can range from a simple unpleasant smell to powerful spores that can cause neurological damage.

Houston Essentials

Last year, the largest cities in Texas – Houston, Austin, and San Antonio – were among the top 30 cities for most growth last year. Lower home prices, shorter commutes, and an excellent variety of cuisine make Houston the landing pad for many new Texans. Real estate in Houston is booming as much as it’s natural gas industry, a service you’ll definitely need while living in Houston, as winters can be below freezing. Most dwellings in this Southern city include air conditioning, an essential that’s truly essential. Houston summers are typically suffocatingly humid, and while it’s far from impossible to enjoy the outdoors, taking a break from the heat of a Southern summer is a necessity in Houston. While you’re avoiding the heat, consider properties that have swimming pools already installed, or properties with enough space in the back for the pool of your dreams. Like Seattle, Houston gets quite a bit of rain, and weather-proofing your house could save your thousands of dollars.

Home Essentials from City to City

Finding a home that’s the perfect fit is no easy journey. You’ll have to make time to see lots of properties, meet at least a dozen people, and make time to talk with real estate professionals about what you’re looking for in a new home.