The Jones’ family found their dream home and moved into it with all of the excitement and enthusiasm of a kid on Christmas morning. After a long and hectic day of unpacking, they collapsed into bed anticipating a good night’s rest. Unfortunately, they were shocked and dismayed when they began to hear the very obvious noise of trucks roaring along the inter-state highway situated less than a half mile to the rear of their home. Too late!

This unfortunate situation exemplifies the need to focus on location when contemplating the purchase of a home. A ten million dollar mansion isn’t worth a dime if it’s sitting next to a toxic waste dump. This example is far-fetched and outrageous, but it makes the point that finding the right location is certainly as important as finding the right house.

How do you investigate a potential neighborhood? There are a number of factors and issues to be considered in your evaluation. Some of them can be covered merely through visual observation; others will have to be explored with the assistance of community and government organizations.

One of your first and most significant concerns should be the crime rate. If every other house on the block is being burglarized every other month, you might want to look elsewhere. Talk to a spokesperson of the local law enforcement agency. Ask for a listing of their monthly crime stats and a copy of their year ending report. When talking to the spokesperson about crime rates, ask about their response times in your area. If it’s over five minutes, ask why. If the community has a neighborhood watch group or a neighborhood citizens’ security patrol, attend one of their meetings or speak with their group representatives.

How far is your new neighborhood from your place of employment? How far is too far? Bottom line: check the driving time and traffic patterns, both coming and going, by driving the route you’ll take. Are there any activities or facilities in the area that will make the trip more unpleasant or time consuming on specific days of the week? As an example, is there a bridge that backs up on Friday afternoons as people rush to their weekend retreats?

If you have children, or anticipate having them, you’ll want to check out the schools in the area. Visit the schools and talk to the Principals or school counselors. Ask about class sizes, bus service, curriculum and even school menus. If your child is a gifted student, you’ll want to inquire about accelerated courses. If your child needs special Ed opportunities, ask about them. Knowing about your child’s school is one of your primary responsibilities as a parent.

This may sound a bit picky, but you should visit and evaluate your local markets, shops and restaurants. Do they sell quality products? Is there a convenient place to purchase daily necessities such as milk, luncheon items, coffee, etc.? Do the local restaurants suit your taste? The answers to these questions may not factor substantially into your moving decision, but they are part of the equation and should at least be recognized and considered.

Availability of community services should not be overlooked. Is there a good hospital in the immediate vicinity? Do they have an emergency room? How about parks and a library?

You should visit the neighborhood at various times of the day and night to check for sounds, smells, heavy traffic and the presence of any activities that you might find offensive as a resident. Sometimes the complexion of a neighborhood changes at night. Drive around after dark and look for the presence of undesirables lounging about in public places. Try to get a sense and feeling of the neighborhood.

Finally, you will want to find out if the community has a community association. If so, visit the association and ask about membership dues, restrictions and covenants. If the representative is forthcoming, ask if there are any problems in the area that you as a prospective new resident should consider.

You are about to make one of the biggest financial decisions of your life. Don’t be timid. Ask questions, make notes and weigh all the pro’s and con’s before deciding.

A home is more than a place to live. It also represents a major financial investment. Most of us will buy and sell several homes over the course of our lifetime, so it is important to consider the resale potential of each home you purchase —before you buy it.

Consider your intentions when you go looking for a new or new-to-you home. Are you searching for your dream home, a place you hope to hang your coat for a long time? Or perhaps you are looking for smaller, lower-maintenance place to ease you into retirement? Maybe you’ve spotted a hot market and are hoping to turn a profit with a fast buy and a fast sell sometime in the near future. Your plans for your new house and how long you intend to stay there can affect its re-sale potential. For example, the trendy new neighborhood where your house is located may not be so trendy and popular ten years from now.

Regardless of your intentions, there are several other factors that will affect the re-sale potential of your home. First among these is location. You’ve probably seen house-for-sale advertisements boasting about a home’s location, and it’s true, location is very important. Today’s preferred location may not be the same five or ten years from now, but many of the elements that make it desirable will be the same. Large lots, mature trees, wide sidewalks, proximity to schools, shopping and public transit are all features that increase an area’s lasting appeal and will therefore fetch higher re-sale prices than homes in areas that do not offer the same advantages. When thinking about location, you should also consider the population and economic growth trends in your city or town, and in which direction growth appears to be moving.

Demographics can also come into play when it comes to home re-sale value. With baby boomers heading into retirement and their ‘golden years’, one-level homes with wide passage ways and rooms large enough to accommodate wheelchairs may become more popular in certain areas, while suburbs filled with young families may put more of an emphasis on large yards and ample public green space and playground facilities. Try to learn about a town or city’s population before you purchase a home there.

Be aware of the features that sell. Peruse local real estate advertising to find out the most desirable attributes in the area in which you want to buy. You may notice that homes with one bathroom sell for less than homes that have more bathrooms, or that homes with old, inefficient windows sell for less than those with newer, vinyl-clad windows and energy-efficient panes. The same can be said about a variety of features including closets, number of bedrooms, fireplaces, swimming pools and kitchen functionality. Don’t despair, however, if a dated or less desirable home is all you can afford: outdated houses present an opportunity for renovations and upgrades that can vastly increase their value and re-sale potential. With a small investment and a little work, you can turn a fixer-upper into cash in your bank account. The profit margin increase can be significant enough to justify enlisting the help of a professional to help with major projects.

A residential building inspector can also help you identify the ‘shelf life’ of a home you are considering buying. A thorough inspection report will give estimates on the lifespan of major home components such as the roof, furnace and driveway. If several of these components are reaching maturity at or near the time you want to sell, the re-sale potential of the home could be devalued as a result of the impending repairs. Take these timelines into consideration if you plan on moving in the near future, or if your cash flow will be compromised during the same period in which upgrades will become necessary.

Buying a house should be about meeting your needs and desires, but a little forward-thinking can mean an easier sell, and even a profit, a few years in the future if your needs change or you want to move on. A purchase designed to meet your current needs while accommodating future re-sale potential is a smart investment that will help you fund a bigger, better house when the time comes, or to create a little nest egg for future investments or retirement. Considering the re-sale value of a home before you buy it takes little effort but produces great routines – all in all, a logical thing to do.

It has been said that moving and divorce are the two of the most stressful events a person or family can experience. Divorce is a subject for another time. Let’s consider the event of moving and look at some ways to make your house hunting trip less stressful and more effective.

Location is the first factor to consider when planning a move. If you have children, or are planning a family, you will want to know about the schools in the area. How about shopping centers, medical facilities, recreational opportunities and of course how far will you be from your place of employment. If you require public transportation, is there any within walking distance of your prospective new home. What about the crime rate? A check with the local law enforcement agency can either put your mind at ease or give you reason to look elsewhere. And finally, try to assess the quality and character of the people who live in the area. This is obviously difficult to do without interviewing them, but you can get a rough impression from the condition of their homes and properties and from the activities you might observe. As an example, if your prospective neighbor has discarded appliances all over the front yard and their son is roaring around the neighborhood on a mini-bike with no muffler, you might want to take all that into consideration. And remember, a poor location will definitely be a negative factor when and if you attempt to resell the home at some later date.

Once you’ve zeroed in on your preferred location, you can start to think seriously about searching for your dream home. Rather than spin your wheels by looking at houses randomly, you should determine what you really want in a house and let those things help you focus your search. Make a list and start with the obvious: how many bedrooms do you need; do you want a garage; must you have a single story home due to your inability to climb stairs; is a fenced yard an absolute necessity? After listing the absolute “must haves”, think about the things you like and dislike about your current residence and factor those things into your wish list. Making a list will not only save you time, it will be a big help to your realtor in planning your viewings.

Most people don’t really know how much house they can afford. Affordability is based upon income, credit status, interest rates, down payment, closing costs and the type of loan selected. By getting pre-qualified by a lending institution, you will know what you can afford to spend. Often, that figure is quite a surprise to prospective home buyers. In any case, pre-qualification will save you time and trouble by establishing your price range.

Typically, house hunting involves seeing as many homes as possible in a short period of time. Both the house hunter and the assisting realtor have busy schedules and want to tour fast and furious. However, after the first two or three houses, they all start to run together. You need to make notes after each viewing. One effective means of qualifying each home is to make multiple copies of your list of priorities and use it as a checklist to grade each home visited. This little tip will eliminate confusion when trying to make mental comparisons at the end of the day.

Regard your hunt as an excursion. If you were going to the zoo for the day and contemplated a lot of walking, you would dress comfortably and wear comfortable shoes. House hunting is no different; you’ll be walking, climbing stairs, quite possibly going into basements and attics and constantly getting in and out of cars. Dressing to impress homeowners or your realtor should not be your top priority. Dress clean and neat of course, but comfortable is the name of the hunting game.

And last but not least, use your own realtor. When you call the realtor on a “house for sale” sign you’re speaking to the seller’s agent. Keep in mind that he or she represents the seller and will be looking after the seller’s interests. You need your own realtor; someone who is working for you and is looking out for your interests.

House hunting can actually be an enjoyable experience if you take your time and do your homework.

Starting Georgia real estate hunt with a real estate agent

Georgia is a wonderful place to live in. No wonder you have decided on picking up Georgia real estate for living-in or investing. Your Georgia real estate hunt can quite easily start with looking for the real estate prices (i.e. average prices) so as to gauge what kind of house and location will fit your budget. This is assuming that you have already estimated how much you can afford to spend on that Georgia real estate piece that you are so much after.
With little effort you can easily find out the Georgia real estate prices. You can do this in a lot of different ways. One way is to directly give a call to a Georgia real estate agent and ask him about what kind of house you can get within your budget (if you are looking for Georgia real estate for investment purposes). In fact, a lot of people find it easier to just make a call to the real estate agent and get a grasp of the going prices for properties in any place let alone Georgia. Now, as mentioned above, if you are looking for Georgia real estate piece as an investment option, then you would start with checking out what you can get for your budget. However, if you are looking for Georgia real estate because you actually want to live in Georgia (and enjoy your life), then you would be better off starting with your most basic requirements from a house e.g. you could specify a 1 bedroom house or a condo or whatever, if that is the minimum space you would need to be able to live in comfortably with your partner or your family etc. If you cannot get that basic house in the location of your choice in Georgia, you might have to rethink and figure out other options (e.g. not going for Georgia real estate at all, or picking up a house at another location in Georgia, or waiting for some more time before you can actually own a Georgia real estate piece etc). So evaluation of affordability is important. Here, we are not saying that you should not evaluate the affordability factor if you are looking for Georgia real estate for living in and not investing. It’s just that you will need to pose the question differently to that Georgia real estate agent. In any case, you should never reveal your real budget to that Georgia real estate agent. Mention an amount that is lower than your real budget by 10-20% even if your Georgia real estate insists on what maximum you can spend. For a person who is looking at Georgia real estate as an investment avenue, the Georgia real estate agent is just a way to find out the going rate, he will have to use other real estate investing techniques to find the best deal.
So your Georgia real estate hunt can easily start with just calling up a real estate broker.

Before you go for San Diego real estate (or any real estate) investment you must make sure that you have got your requirements right, have evaluated your options well and have learnt the tricks of making profit through real estate. San Diego is a pleasant place and that is one great reason why a lot of people want to get a piece of San Diego real estate. And if a lot of people want a piece of San Diego real estate then it must make business sense (and investment sense).
If you are looking for San Diego real estate for investment purpose, then you would really be looking at the profits you can make by reselling that piece of San Diego real estate. So, in this case your requirement would be to search for San Diego real estate that can be bought for cheap and sold for a profit. You might either be flipping (i.e. quickly selling off that San Diego real estate as-is to another party for a profit) or you might be selling it off after a couple of years (expecting appreciation) or you might be getting that San Diego real estate repaired in order to add to it’s value before actually selling it off. The key here is to get it cheap. A lot of people suggest that rehab is the way to go i.e. you buy an ugly looking piece of San Diego real estate and then get it repaired so that it shines and sells well. Some would say economic factors are the ones to be considered most when going for San Diego real estate. Others would say location of the property is most important when considering San Diego real estate. However, what everyone seems to be missing out on is the fact that you can buy it cheap only if the seller is motivated enough i.e. the seller just wants to sell the property (that San Diego real estate) real quick. This could be due to various reasons e.g. a divorce, an impending foreclosure, need for cash for some emergency, job transfer or moving to another place just for any reason. When the seller is in a hurry to sell i.e. when the seller is motivated (and the degree of motivation can vary from person to person), you get an opportunity to negotiate a real good deal. If you have great negotiation skills, you can get that San Diego real estate for real cheap. So, not only is finding the right San Diego real estate (and at the right location) necessary, you also need to find the right seller (i.e. someone who is motivated enough).
Surely, San Diego real estate does look attractive.