What Do Buyers Look For and Why the Near South?

This article is the third of a four-part series about buying and owning a home in the Near South Neighborhood by longtime NSNA Board Member Greg McCown.
First installment:  Who are the buyers of Historic Homes and Why? 
Second:  How a Strong Neighborhood Association Supports Your Value!
Third:  What do Buyers Look For and Why the Near South?
Fourth:  The Value of History - Coming this Fall

 What do buyers look for? That’s a complicated question, keeping in mind that no two people will ever totally agree on all aspects of home ownership. As an agent, there have been too many times I’ve found my opinion is somehow crucial in whether or not a dog door adds value. But besides the basics of housing like keeping rain off your spaghetti, and the errant bat out of your attic, what does a buyer find attractive in a house and specifically what draws folks to our historic neighborhood? 

There’s a romance found in the historic. Images of families and their friends navigating lives in a by-gone era are attractive, and inspirational to buyers. But what positions the Near South as the place to put down roots?

For some, it comes down to economics. The Near South continues to be an affordable area of town attracting many first-time homeowners. But they actually represent a relatively small portion of the buyers. Business professionals, tradespeople, and many city and state employees of all ages and backgrounds find the affordability hard to ignore. But once here, that initial pragmatism is quickly replaced with true appreciation for the area. In every corner of the Near South they discover a tapestry of cultures and experiences that isn’t found elsewhere. 

Our natural world plays a crucial role in our neighborhood’s attractiveness and aesthetics. Big, towering trees and small neighborhood parks all add to a desire to call the Near South home. Over the last decade, we’ve seen a national trend that has taken hold in our fair city. A migration has been occurring, relocating residents back to core neighborhoods. The large, suburban homes and prestigious addresses have been traded in for mature trees, walkable parks and closer proximity to neighbors whom you actually get to know. The front porch is once again the gathering place as decks are relegated to a place for the grill. 

A combination of new amenities blended with the old, as we see in the Haymarket, have made Lincoln’s downtown vibrant and exciting. Across the country, thousands of office high-rises are re-purposed into luxury living, and that’s the case here too. The Near South is perfectly positioned to our urban center, not too close, not too far. In fact, the advent of the e-biker is one that can’t be denied. Year ‘round commuters from all points in the Near South take full advantage of our proximity to their work in the downtown and campus areas. Lincoln has spent considerable effort and dollars on creating a bikeable community with a myriad of trails and bikes lanes connecting all points of the city.

Then there is a less tangible or measurable appeal. It’s more of a yearning, a harkening back to a simpler time, one without invisible electronic tethers, FOMO or agendas…one that older neighborhoods conjure up in many folks. As our technology and connectedness ramps up, simpler concepts and activities become a poultice for our fast paced, fevered lifestyles. Vegetable gardens providing fresh produce, the cluck of chickens and alleys filled with hollyhocks all create in us a bucolic image of calm and centeredness. Things that might initiate a call from the HOA are not only tolerated, but appreciated here in the Near South.

So, today’s Near South buyers come here for many reasons.  Value, lifestyle and location all play their part, but as we look forward to cooler evening strolls through our historic, tree-lined avenues, the simpler reasons become increasingly evident. 

Greg McCown is a Realtor with Home Real Estate and has lived in the homes he’s de-converted from multi-family to single-family use.  He says he’s on his last renovation project in the Franklin Heights area of the Near South…time will tell!  His specialization in historic homes earned him the position as Chair-person for Lincoln’s Historic Preservation Commission.  He has enjoyed a seat on the Near South Neighborhood Association board for over 20 years.