Blog #75: “Urban? Suburban? Rural? How to Tell the Difference? Whatever it is, Please Don’t Play Your Accordion Naked on the Porch!”

At one time, a location was urban if there were high-rise office buildings and no houses close by, suburban if there were merely low-rise office buildings and many houses nearby, and rural if there were no office buildings and lots of farms, ranches, and vacant land close by. 

To be specific, urban neighborhoods tend to have these characteristics:

• A location proximate to, or part of, a major city center;
• The community radius is relatively small;
• There is a large cohort of comparable sales and listings;
• You’ll find a full complement of utilities;
• Infrastructure is complete and functioning;
• Easy and rapid access to mass or public transportation;
• Local shopping within walking distance;
• Urban areas traditionally grow at rates greater than both suburban and rural areas;
• A dense population;
• No agricultural land uses;
• Little new residential or commercial construction unless an existing building(s) is razed (or significantly renovated/retrofitted).

Next is a suburb. One definition is “…a suburb is a residential area or a mixed use area, either existing as part of a city or urban area or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city…” Characteristics of a suburb include 

• Proximity to an urban area (a big city), but not part of it; 
• A community radius larger than that of an urban area, but smaller than that of a rural area;
• Within commuting distance of a major city (by either car or mass transit, but not by foot or bicycle);
• Population density is lower than an in urban area;
• A full complement of utilities (except possibly for the farthest reaches of the suburban area);
• Comparable real estate sales and listings are adequate;
• Few, if any, agricultural land uses;
• Most commercial buildings in a suburb are low-rise (one to three stories), with a few mid-rise (four to six stories).

Appraising Residential Properties  describes rural properties as:

• Having a large commuting radius (e.g., there is a great distance between the subject and population centers, which the inhabitants consider “typical”;
• There is a poor or small selection of comparable sales & listings (since the neighborhood has a large commuting radius);
• The necessity for the appraiser to go back in time to amass a “statistically significant” sample of sales and listings;
• “Comparable” properties will have a varied selection of building architecture styles & construction systems, ages (either from original construction or last major renovation), and/or a variety of uses and ancillary buildings;
• Lack of traditional utilities services indicating the property typically uses a well and septic tank system (which, again, the inhabitants consider “typical”);
• A large number of agricultural land uses (including grazing lands);
• Traditional mortgage lenders in the area may be more agriculturally oriented than would be the case otherwise.

Finally, it has been said that if can stand naked on your porch to play the accordion, yet nobody sees or hears you, that is a rural neighborhood. If you stand naked on the porch to play the accordion, but the neighbors merely ask you to stop playing, you are in a suburb. But, if you stand naked on your balcony to play the accordion, yet people applaud you for the way you are dressed and how well you play, you’re in the big city and that’s urban.

If you have any questions on this, or any other appraisal related topic, please contact me, Tim Andersen, at tim@theappraisersadvocate.com. It will be an honor to consult with you!