For the hip home seeker who longs to be near great food and culture, neighborhoods in a city’s downtown area hold a nearly irresistible attraction. The “urban core” typically has a higher crime rate and less favorable schools than the suburbs, but many downtown areas across the country are undergoing a revitalization of sorts, as cities invest in projects and amenities to attract new residents. And as more people look for alternatives to long commutes and urban sprawl, homebuyers are flocking to the urban core. Homes in urban core neighborhoods come in a variety of styles, such as these brownstones in Boston.
Advantages of Urban Core
Professional writer Toni Kamins has owned a co-op in Manhattan’s trendy West Village for 16 years. “What I most appreciate is the constant availability of just about anything you want,” she says. “I know I miss that when I go out of town.” In a centrally located urban neighborhood, you can typically walk or take a bus, taxi or subway to restaurants, bars, shops, museums, libraries and parks — not to mention use public transportation or your own two feet to get to work each day.
About the Neighborhoods
Homes in the urban core can be skyscraper apartments, converted lofts in old warehouses, spaces above operating businesses, row houses, brownstones — if someone can build it, someone else will figure out a way to live in it. Neighborhoods often vary widely in demographic and socioeconomic development, sometimes even from block to block. Bob Eychner, a real estate broker and owner of Eychner Associates, Inc., in Greenwich Village, remembers trying to sell homes in a very different West Village in the early 1980s. “I can vividly remember the last block of West 12th Street,” he says. “I’d drag customers over there to try to sell them something. There was a banner up that read, ‘Hookers and johns beware! We are taking your license plate number.’ So I trumpeted the strong neighborhood watch system. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.”
But the West Village experienced a fairly common phenomenon for cities: a series of historical landmark designations began to prohibit old buildings from being torn down and new high-rises from going up, preserving the neighborhood’s architectural character. This move eventually attracted buyers and crime rates fell. “We moved to the West Village because it’s charming,” Kamins says. “It’s sort of got a small-town feel within Manhattan. It was, at one point, a lot quieter than other parts of the city.”
Climbing Popularity — and Prices
Trouble is, urban core neighborhoods by nature have defined geographic limits, so it’s difficult to keep a great little spot all to yourself. “In the last eight to 10 years, this area has become white-hot,” Kamins says. “It’s absolutely ridiculous. We get a lot of TV and movie crews — Sex and the City was always filming here.” Demand for such unique space can attract crowds and everything that comes with them: noise, congestion and skyrocketing prices.
“Prices are nuts,” Kamins admits. “We paid high prices 16 years ago for this place but nowhere near what they’re paying now.”
Cost of living in the urban core is a major issue to consider, because the real estate market there may not reflect what’s going on in other parts of the country — or even other parts of the same city. “The average number of days on the market for homes in Manhattan has increased in the last year,” Eychner says, “but our inventory has not increased.” Translation: prices aren’t rising as fast as they were, but they’re rising. In vibrant cities, someone will always covet access to great spaces.
Living downtown can sometimes mean getting rid of your car and all the expenses it entails, but the savings can be more than offset by steep mortgages, monthly condo or co-op fees, and increased living expenses. “Co-op and condo fees in Manhattan generally run anywhere from $1 to $4 per square foot per month, depending on the level of service provided by your building,” Eychner says. (In smaller cities, fees tend to be less than $1 per square foot.) “You should also budget for more expensive restaurants. And if you do have a car, parking can be insane.”
In smaller metropolitan areas, core neighborhoods often feature a diverse selection of properties with a wide price range. But be advised that in a given neighborhood, converted lofts and condominiums may arrive long before the amenities do; you may buy into the urban aesthetic but end up waiting a few years for jobs, restaurants and shops to follow your lead.

Urban LivingUrban areas are equipped with all the modern amenities. The modern-day facilities like the Internet, telephone, television and satellite communication facilities are widely available in the urban areas. A majority of the households of the urban areas are blessed with this technological advancement.The newly developing shopping complexes, theatres, food malls and restaurants are a commonplace in urban cities. Huge constructions, large housing complexes, skyscrapers are found in most of the urban metropolitan cities. Elevators, escalators, storeyed parking areas and towering constructions add to the magnificence of the urban cities.
Due to a greater availability of all the modern facilities along with an increase in the number of educational facilities and career opportunities, people of the urban areas lead an economically more stable and a luxurious life.

The increasing attraction of the people towards the urban parts of the world has resulted in crowding of urban areas. The increasing population, majority of which prefers settling in urban cities, has led to an imbalance in the density of human population. Excessive industrialization has invited environmental problems like pollution.

However, the rise in economic growth that has resulted in self-sufficiency in the common masses has resulted in a self-centered nature of society. While technological advancement has brought the world closer, human beings have gone far apart from each other. Buildings that touch the skies have built walls between people. The rise in prosperity has been eclipsed by the decline in peace.
Rural Living

Rural areas are not crowded with concrete constructions all over. Houses are rather widely spaced with ample room for fields and gardens. Rural areas are some of the only areas fortunate enough to house the greens. People in rural areas live in close proximity of nature. Apart from people, there is room for pets and grazing animals that help maintain equilibrium in nature.

Due to a relatively lesser number of people inhabiting the rural areas, the rural parts are not overcrowded by people. These areas are blessed to have least amounts of pollution. Due to afforestation and ample space for plantations, rural areas have managed to maintain an environmental balance. Pollution is less also on accounts of very less number of industries in rural areas.

The stress that results from a fast life in the urban areas is not a part of the peaceful and relatively slow paced life of the rural regions. The life may not be as lavishly led as that in the urban areas, but the people there are generous and their hearts have room for emotions. Rural are the ones where humanity is still alive.

Every coin has two sides to it. While the rural living is deprived of luxury and technology, it is rich in terms of its relationship with ‘nature’. The urban life is update in terms of technology and career prospects. However, the falling humane qualities and a disrupted environmental balance shadow the bright future of urban living.

But never fear, there are ways to make the most of a small space. You just have to be a little creative with the space you have. Here a few tips to help you make the most of a small space:

1. Buy storage-friendly furniture. There are many items you can buy that have hidden storage in them. Coffee tables that open up into a trunk, beds with drawers underneath, end-tables with drawers and shelves, TV consoles with DVD storage underneath. These types of furniture will provide a home for your things while keeping them hidden from view so you don’t have to look at a lot of clutter.

2. Make use of the space under your bed. If you don’t have built in drawers under your bed, you can pick up some cheap plastic containers that are made to fit under beds. You can store out of season clothing here to make room in your closets, or store other things that you don’t use every day.

3. Use your closet space. Closet space may seem limited, but you can optimize your closets. Make good use of the space above and below your clothes by adding a shelf for your shoes. Fold your sweaters and put them on the top shelf or simply use it as storage. The floor of your closet can also be used to store boxes.

4. Think small. Many stores sell storage units that are made to go in small spaces. You can buy narrow shelves that are meant to go in tight spaces in kitchens. These are good for storing canned or dried foods.

5. Use the walls. One place that many people don’t think of to use as storage is the wall space. You can easily mount a spice rack to the wall in the kitchen. You can also mount shelves to the wall to store books or family photos.

6. Feng Shui. It might sound cheesy, but this ancient Chinese practice can really make a huge difference in the way a small space feels. By using feng shui principles to arrange the furniture in each room, you can make a small space seem larger and more homey.

Keep in mind that in order to make your new home feel spacious and clean, it’s important not to have a lot of clutter around. Using these ideas will help improve the amount of storage space you have and help make your new home be a pleasant place to live. With a little creativity you can easily make your new home a clutter-free place and organized place to be.