Five tips for convenient living for families with children

As families grow in size, they often start to think about moving to a larger home. Read our five tips on what families with children should take into consideration when choosing a new home. 

A larger apartment? A garden of your own? Day-care, school and hobbies within walking distance? The process of choosing a new home starts from the family’s needs. For some families, living close to the city centre might be important. Other families might have entirely different priorities.  

According to Sari Hiilosvuo, Sales Manager at YIT Homes Sales, the common thread among the diverse needs of families with children is that they want daily life to be as convenient as possible. Hiilosvuo lists five key considerations that families with children should keep in mind when choosing a new home. 

1. Ensure convenience in daily life – where do you need to go on a daily basis? 

For many families, location is one of the most important criteria in choosing a home. Families are increasingly opting for apartments that are located in the vicinity of public transport connections, jobs, schools and day-care centres. The safety of the yard area and a safe commute to school are also high on the list of priorities. Hiilosvuo urges families with children to think about the key factors that ensure the convenience of their daily life and how much time they are prepared to spend each day on the road, for example.  

As cities become more densely built, the sizes of apartments decrease and the need for functional outdoor spaces increases. For families with children, having a play area in the yard is a significant factor. In Vantaa’s Kivistö district, for instance, the Apollo courtyard is an area shared by several housing companies that includes park-like recreational areas as well as zones for urban farming and physical exercise. 

Focus on functionality – what are the most important features of your home? 

In the past, families typically moved to a larger home as they had more children. These days, the focus tends to be on finding a functional home that adapts to the family’s needs. Whether they are looking to live in an apartment building in the city centre or a peaceful suburban neighbourhood of single-family houses, Hiilosvuo recommends that families with children focus on functionality. For example, a spacious kitchen and hallway are important, as is having enough storage space. Convenience in housing is an issue that goes beyond mere square metres. Comprehensive living design is YIT’s solution to this challenge. 

3. Get more years out of your home by making alterations – what to do when the children grow older? 

As the children grow older, the family can get more years out of their home if the rooms are adaptable. Sometimes redecorating is enough. A room divider can be used to create a play corner for a child, for example. Partition walls can be put in to create additional rooms or removed to create a more spacious living room. While larger alterations often require some demolition and electrical work, they are still less expensive options than moving to a new home.  

4. Make daily life more convenient – what services would make your life easier? 

Besides location, the availability of services is another important criterion in choosing where to live. According to Hiilosvuo, people today are unwilling to go far to use the services they need. They want to have services available locally. Hiilosvuo urges people to determine which of the daily services they need should be available nearby and which services they are willing to go further for.  

We are working together with service providers to develop the YIT Plus service marketplace that increases convenience in daily life by making it easy to buy local services ranging from cleaning to childcare. Hiiilosvuo says many YIT properties have combined the small clubrooms of apartment buildings into larger shared spaces that can be used to organise activities for local residents or rented out for events such as children’s birthday parties. 

5. Make efficient use of space – what possessions do you really need? 

Decluttering and letting go of things you no longer need has been an emerging trend in recent years. With fewer possessions, you need fewer square metres of space to hold it all. Hiilosvuo challenges families with children to think about what they really need and what types of things they could borrow instead, for example. Recycling and eco-friendly living are important perspectives for us and we are happy to help the residents of our properties in these areas. In Vantaa’s Kivistö district, for example, the Liiteri.net service provides local residents with a convenient opportunity to rent household goods, power tools and cleaning equipment.  

Contact YIT Homes Sales! Our experts on housing and living help you assess your needs and find alternatives that suit families with children. YIT’s offers homes ranging from apartments to single-family houses.  

For further information, please contact:
Sari Hiilosvuo, Sales manager, YIT Home, YIT Construction Ltd, tel. +35840 532 2400, sari.hiilosvuo@yit.fi  
Hanna Malmivaara, Vice President, Communications, YIT Corporation, tel. +35840 561 6568, hanna.malmivaara@yit.fi 

YIT is the largest Finnish and significant North European construction company. We develop and build apartments, business premises and entire areas. We are also specialised in demanding infrastructure construction and paving. Together with our customers our 10,000 professionals are creating more functional, more attractive and more sustainable cities and environments. We work in 11 countries: Finland, Russia, Scandinavia, the Baltic States, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. The new YIT was born when over 100-year-old YIT Corporation and Lemminkäinen Corporation merged on February 1, 2018. Our pro forma revenue for 2017 was over EUR 3.8 billion. YIT Corporation's share is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Oy. www.yitgroup.com