Buying a home is one of your most important financial decisions. It’s not only about finding the right place, but also about the amenities that you need. In a study conducted by Statista in 2020, 85.5 percent of total U.S. households subscribe to broadband services such as cable, fire optic, or DSL.
The convenience of connecting with family and friends and going online for work or school is vital for many people in today’s society. A recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center found that nearly 80% of Americans have access to high-speed internet at home.
How Internet Access Affects Home Values
The availability of high-speed internet is a significant factor in determining home values. Many buyers and sellers agree that a faster connection will make their property more valuable, but how much its value will increase is up for debate. According to a Wall Street Journal feature, a fast connection can give buyers the confidence to make offers on properties that otherwise would be out of reach. Some real estate agents claim it can increase home values by 10% to 20%.
A study conducted by researchers at the University of Colorado and Carnegie Mellon University found that fast internet access can boost a home’s value by as much as 10%. The researchers asked real estate agents to list their properties on websites run by the university. They then compared the listings with those of similar homes that did not have high-speed internet access.
In a study conducted by National Association of Realtors, 45% of Americans surveyed said they would consider buying or selling their home based on access to high-speed internet. The same study also found that people without high-speed broadband access are more likely to rent than purchase a home.
The Internet in Today’s Society
The events of 2020, when COVID-19 struck, stamped the critical role of the internet. The work-from-home mantra solidified our internet use and the essential need for broadband connection. The internet is a powerful information tool for communication, real estate, education, and entertainment. It is a great way to keep in touch with friends and family from anywhere in the world and allows you to learn new things without leaving your home. Online newspapers and television news programs streamed live over the web enable you to keep tabs on what’s happening in your local community and worldwide.
Furthermore, school children across the globe had to complete their studies from home, and needed access to the internet to virtually attend classes.
Education
The internet is instrumental in spreading awareness about many social issues, such as disease, environmental problems, and war. The internet helps us gauge how far we are from achieving our goals and how much more work we need to put into reaching them. Internet access helps us stay abreast of what is happening worldwide in rural areas by accessing newspapers and other related websites.
Family
The internet provides a crucial role in the lives of families. It provides a way for families to communicate with each other through emails or by chatting on forums. In a family where parents work, they can easily keep up with their children’s studies by using the internet. It helps us realize care from people who are not physically present with us at that moment.
Practical Application
The internet is an excellent resource for families of all sizes, from teenagers to grandparents. It allows you to stay connected and take advantage of online resources to learn new things, get advice on parenting issues, and find new hobbies. Here are some practical applications of the internet in the average family:
Email is essential for staying connected with friends and family members who live out of physical reach. It is an excellent tool for research, communication, and collaboration. With the proper training and support, an employee can use the internet to gain knowledge that will propel their job or career path. Many employees today conduct business outside of office hours. Having access to their email keeps them productive even when they’re not in the office to communicate with clients and team members.
Social Media
Social media is a great way to stay in touch and an excellent way to keep up with news about people’s lives. Social media apps like Facebook allow users to share photos, videos, and updates from their phones almost anywhere and on the go. Text messages can be sent from anywhere as well.
Search Engines like Google
People can use the internet to learn more about virtually anything they want. The internet is helpful for conducting research for essays or completing assignments online. With an internet connection, you can read articles or books, learn how to spool weed-eater line, change your oil, put on makeup, cut hair, and more.
Marketing
The internet is critical to every business process, from marketing to sales and customer service. It’s also essential for training employees, creating new products, managing inventories, and much more. High-speed internet helps you get more out of your existing resources. For example, if you are a real estate agent, you can list the home prices of what you are offering. As a prospective buyer, the internet gives you access to information that can help you make better decisions that suit your needs.
Decision Making
People use the internet for research purposes before purchasing something from a store or making a purchase online from an e-commerce site like Amazon or eBay. At these sites, they can easily compare prices among different sellers and read reviews before purchasing.
Limited Availability of High-Speed Internet in Rural Areas
The digital revolution is leaving behind millions worldwide because they don’t have broadband at home. Many people do not have access to high-speed internet at home or work, which means they may have to go without if they dream of living on several acres of land in rural locations. “It’s terrible news for those who don’t have broadband,” said Eric Andrews, a North Carolina realtor. “Buyers want internet in their dream homes, and sellers can’t get as much if their home doesn’t already have it.” For one thing, not having access to high-speed internet can make it challenging for you to work from home or find employment in your field. It also makes it challenging to run your business from home if you’re self-employed. As a result, local governments are trying to figure out how to best support their communities in this new world of digital connectivity. Many of these efforts focus on ways broadband access could improve a residents’ quality of life.
What to Do When Buying a Home Without Access to High-speed Internet
If you’re planning on buying an existing home that does not offer high-speed internet access, you may consider looking for properties with cable or DSL service. If you already have a high-speed internet subscription, you can use that to your advantage. If you don’t subscribe to cable or DSL, the first step is finding a local internet service to install it. Assessing your options for internet service providers is crucial in this process.
A multitude of factors determines the price of a home, but one of the most important is access to the internet. In recent years, the events are increasingly apparent that lack of access to fast internet speeds can hurt a home’s value. With the rise of social media and email in the past few years, access to the internet has become necessary. The internet is not only a place for finding out about the world around us but also for communicating with people from all over the world and discovering things that interest us.
