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Motherhood, Emergencies, and Drive Times – The Tiresome Triad Heralding Anxious Home Buyers
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Access to Quality Maternal Health Care Varies Greatly
– Some areas boast excellent, readily available maternity services, while others are virtual maternity deserts with pregnant parents often needing a camel to traverse vast distances to prenatal appointments.
– This lottery-like distribution of services is a major concern for prospective parents and a lump in the throat when considering where to lay down roots.
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Emergency Services Distances – Again, A Jumbled Picture
– The accessibility of emergency medical care follows a similar pattern of inequality.
– Fast response times in metro areas contrast against woeful delays in rural and semi-rural regions, adding a stressful dimension for home buyers eyeing up country properties.
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Real Estate Decisions Driven by Fears over Drive Times
– Drive times to essential services have become a deciding factor for many home buyers, stoking an element of anxiety in the buying process.
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Concern Over Distance Impacting Real Estate Market
– Prospects are torn between a desire for peaceful, rural living and the necessity of accessible health care.
– High demand for properties close to medical amenities is driving up prices, while rural homes remain relatively affordable, albeit with their own set of worries.
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The Kitchen Table Talk Driving Change in The Real Estate Landscape
– The discussions over healthcare of pregnant mamas or relatives with health issues are reshaping the real estate scene.
– Demand is shifting toward ‘materni-burbs’ and ‘911-burbs’ as families prioritize health care access over size, location, or aesthetic appeal of properties.
And now for my hot take. It seems like our real estate adventurers are no longer merely concerned with white picket fences or the number of chimneys a house sports. Surely, those things still matter; after all, where else are Santa’s reindeers going to park? But it looks like the game has changed. A new breed of home buyers is in town, and their wishlist reads like a hospital directory.
If these trends continue, we might see maternity wards popping up right next to the supermarket. One might shop for turnips, push out a baby, grab a pint of milk, all in one go. Comfort and convenience, they say! We’ll also be seeing fire stations and police departments hanging out in the burbs more often. Nothing quite like the sizzle of a BBQ interrupted by the whoosh of a firetruck, right?
On a serious note, though, it’s time for policy makers and planners to pay attention. It’s all well and good aspiring to the idyllic rural life but it’s a tad hard to enjoy when you’re gasping for breath and the nearest help is an hour-long tractor ride away. Accessible healthcare is more important than a roomy backyard. Let’s hope our real estate evolves to reflect this change in priorities. Less of the grand fireplaces, perhaps, and more of the, well, firewall!
Original article: https://www.inman.com/2024/02/29/why-thousands-of-women-will-have-to-make-healthcare-moves-in-2024/
