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Plan on buying 3 or 4 homes for profit before you buy
your "Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous" home.
You and your agent should consider the following before buying any home:
a) Does the home fit the community where you wish to RESIDE?
b) The livability of it’s current condition
c) The location of nearby schools and amenities
d) The long term profit potential of the property
e) The home’s rental value (i.e. cash flow)
Homes that are most profitable for the future...will fit the following criteria:
1) Located in safe and secure neighborhoods
a) Avoid neighborhoods with Graffiti problems, it is a property value killer. Any neighborhood can be the victims of juvenile delinquents who acquire a few cans of spray paint and go out on a night’s rampage. The question is: is it a persistent problem?
b) Is the graffiti at the local park or school or church that is within walking distance of your home? If so, it maybe a hangout for gangs.
c) Does the graffiti cover the common walls or walkways that lead to shopping centers or markets?
d) Does your city have a graffiti removal program; and, how fast do they respond?
2) Functional Obsolescence
a) Is your home “backing up" to the noise and traffic of busy city streets? You don’t want to live next to the off ramp of the 405 Freeway—no matter what the selling price is. And neither will future buyers of the home!
b) Is your prospective home located on an "entry" street? Most parents prefer children play on a quiet street and be within eye sight.
A busy entry level street only exacerbate parents’ fears every time there is a screech of tires or the squeal of brakes.
Steer away from these homes if you want to maximize the homes resale value.
You can preview the home’s tract location by using Googlemaps.com; before you set out for a drive by viewing.
Check for crime with the local police department or community neighborhood newspaper's "crime log."
Crime statistics are useful for past criminal activity; but, the statistics are not always a predictor of future crime.
Make it a point to drive thru your future neighborhood after "curfew."
If the local gang bangers and hoodlums are “hanging out,” that indicates the police are not enforcing the law.
It may also indicate that local parents are not supervising their children. In either case find another neighborhood.
Is the neighborhood well lighted?
Property crime occurs most in dimly lit neighborhoods.
This results in property insurance/auto insurance premiums being more costly.
3) Sex Offenders
a) Check online for the sex offenders in your local community. All communities have problems. Just make sure these perverts aren’t living on your street.
4) Schools
a) Highly ranked schools are golden. Good schools indicate parental involvement, community investment and “civic pride.” All of these factors contribute to future appreciation in home values.
b) Parents who will be required to send their children to private schools typically will be left with less disposable income than those parents who don’t.
That affects the affordability index of your home. Even though you may not have children, future buyers of your home may have.
5) Public Nuisances
a) Is your future home located near jail or a homeless shelter? Is there a drug treatment center or a “board and care facility” on your street?
If so, find another location!!!!!!!!!!!!
b) Barking dogs and/or noisy neighbors? The last place you want to live is next to a frat house, or a neighbor that uses their home as a place of business.
Although cities have housing codes on the books prohibiting nuisance behavior, it will be a challenge to enforce the codes.
To avoid this situation have your agent check the public records to discover if and of the following situations exist: Is the home next door rented? Or a dog sitting service? Or a unlicensed day care facility?
c) Look out for overcrowding. This is most common in the older cities (i.e. Fountain Valley Westminster Huntington Beach).
Homeowners/renters simply park an RV next to the garage or in the drive way.
They then proceed to let their wayward brother (in law) reside there while "he gets his life together" or "gets off crack." Meanwhile that family’s drama is being played out and you will want to invest in a home security system in the hopes of keeping your plasma TV in your residence.
This is not the type of a property upgrade that reassures your future homebuyer.
d) Visit the neighborhood during the weekdays and look for the neighbor who parks their 30 ft yacht in their driveway Monday - Fiday.
If you only visit homes on the weekend, you may miss these modern day Tom Sawyers who are "chillin" at Lake Havasu every weekend.
Even if its not a problem for you personally, your future buyers are buying a home—not a berth in a marina.
PURCHASING A HOME IS THE BIGGEST INVESTMENT YOU'LL EVER MAKE...
A POOR CHOICE WILL NOT ONLY RESULT IN LOSS OF MONEY, BUT A LOSS OF TIME, OPPORTUNITY AND THEN ADD STRESS TO A MARRIAGE.
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