| No kidding! It shows that I'm a bachelor. | | | | buys the entire subsection of the city. |
| | | | |
| Most people buy residential real estate based | | | | This is the reason why one should buy the |
| purely on emotion, without ever really | | | | worst house on the best street, and not the |
| thinking rationally about why they are doing | | | | other way around. |
| what they are doing. For example, I have a | | | | |
| friend who lives in a suburban community | | | | In every city and town there are invariably |
| distant three hours by car from Downtown | | | | neighbourhoods or areas that are 'in demand', |
| Vancouver, where I live. As my pal also works | | | | and they are in demand for a reason - either |
| in Downtown, he has to travel six hours each | | | | they sit on a lake or river frontage, command |
| and every day of the working week - that's 30 | | | | views of the city skyline, of a ravine or the |
| hours per week just to come here to earn a | | | | ocean, or have peaceful, leafy streets. Some |
| living and go back home. That's an awful lot | | | | areas are close to schools or public |
| of driving. When I asked why he bought his | | | | transportation routes, or are unique in terms |
| home so far away, his answer was simple: | | | | of topography, history or population variety. |
| that's where his mother-in-law lives, and the | | | | So the savvy Buyer will try to get into these |
| wife wanted to be close to her. | | | | areas whenever he can, and then will sleep |
| | | | well knowing that he has taken care already |
| The trouble is, in that location the home is | | | | of the resale value of the home he has just |
| a tough sell and will appreciate in value | | | | finished purchasing. |
| slowly, if at all. Heck, I'm not even sure | | | | |
| it's Canada .... Meanwhile, six hours a day | | | | When shopping for a home, it is always best |
| on the road is enough to eat up a normal car | | | | to avoid houses that sit near major traffic |
| every three years and run up a mountain of | | | | thoroughfares because of reduced privacy and |
| gas and maintenance bills. That real estate | | | | more traffic; or houses sited next to schools |
| decision may make the wife happy, but it is | | | | or retail stores, as they will always sell at |
| hardly logical. The point is that when you | | | | a discount compared with the ones in the |
| are dealing with the single most expensive | | | | middle of a quiet residential block. And |
| asset of your life (your house, that is ... | | | | forget about buying anything that is near a |
| not your wife), representing the bulk of most | | | | police, ambulance or fire station, or a |
| people's net worth, then emotion has to be | | | | hospital or factory. Furthermore, it pays to |
| relegated to the back seat. | | | | avoid neighbourhoods that are in transition, |
| | | | since tree-filled areas will always and |
| The most valuable feature of real estate, by | | | | invariably be worth more than new, suburban |
| far, is where it is located. The old adage of | | | | streets with twigs planted along the |
| 'location, location, location' as being the | | | | boulevards. |
| three cardinal rules of housing is true today | | | | |
| as it has ever been. Real estate is, | | | | But since what one buys will always reflect |
| afterall, an unmovable commodity and it is | | | | what one spends at any given time, to buy the |
| worth what it is worth mainly because of | | | | worst house on the best street is the sure |
| where it is at. Therefore, location is the | | | | way to maximize capital gains at the time of |
| very first thing to take note of, not the | | | | resale, simply by fixing it up a little. It |
| condition of the structure that sits on that | | | | sure pays to live where everybody wants to |
| apron of land. In ultimate analysis, whatever | | | | live and make a little money in the process. |
| may be wrong with the house can always be | | | | And if you get dumped by your loved one in |
| fixed, rebuilt, repaired, restored or | | | | the meanwhile, look at it on the bright side |
| replaced. However, a bad or questionable | | | | - you can also enjoy your new neighbourhood |
| location can never be changed - unless one | | | | in peace and tranquility. |