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There are many things that should be considered when buying a home. Since most homebuyers expect to buy a bigger and better home someday in the future, resale value is an important factor in decision-making.
As no one can guarantee that the home will grow in value, there are steps you can take that maximize your potential gain.
Location, is a common and almost hackneyed phrase in real estate literature. Mostly, location is repeated to emphasise that it is extremely important to the resale value of a home. The idea is to buy a house that will appeal to the largest number of potential future homebuyers. A careful choice of location can minimise potential negative influences on future resale value, and maximize positive influences.
Focusing on resale value requires you to make several different location choices. The first choice you have to make is "which community?" At the very least, you should narrow your choice down to just a few local communities.
Before you can actually pick out a house, you need to choose what cities or communities you would like to live in. There are many factors you should pay attention to, not only for yourself, but because you intend to eventually sell the home to someone else. Carefully choosing your community is the first step in location and can help maximise your future potential resale value.
When choosing a community for your purchase, it makes the most sense to buy in an area with a viable and stable economy. Five, ten, or even fifteen years from now - when you want to sell your home - you can have a reasonable expectation that your community will still be a desirable place to live.
In addition to residential neighborhoods, there should be a healthy mixture of commercial and business districts. These not only provide jobs to the local residents, but also add an income source that the city can use to upgrade and maintain roads and city services. In fact, you should take a drive and see how well the community is maintained.
You should also look into local crime statistics and see how the area compares to the national average and other local communities. Is the police force effective and responsive to community needs? Are fire stations located strategically around the community so that they also can respond quickly in an emergency?
Even if you do not have school-age children and do not intend to have children, you must pay attention to the local school system. That is because when you sell the property, many of your potential buyers will have concerns of this nature.
You want to be sure all essential shops and services are located nearby. This would include grocery stores, bazaars and markets, dry cleaners, and convenience stores. There should also be fairly convenient access to major traffic routes, and mass transit.
Within your residential neighborhood, you want the nearby properties to be fairly homogeneous - alike in style, size, and structure. This does not mean they should all be exactly the same, either. Owners will put their own unique stamp on their homes.
Your future home should be located as close to the center of this neighborhood as possible. Avoid the edges. In short, you do not want your property to back or side to a busy street. You also want to make sure the street you buy on is not used as a shortcut between two busier streets. Nor do you want to buy a house on a corner lot, as those tend to attract more street traffic and are not as safe for children. Buy in the middle of the block.
You want your home to be neatly tucked away in the center of your residential neighborhood.
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