Location Location Location

You can change a house but you can’t change its location. People will pay more money for a broken down shack if it’s in the right neighborhood. Why? Because they can always fix up the shack but they can’t move the lot.

A good location is a good investment.

Buying a home in a good location is an investment in satisfaction and resale value. A good location will provide benefits such as a safe, clean, quiet neighborhood with good services. Because these qualities are in demand, your home will appreciate more quickly and sell more quickly for a higher price than a similar home in a less desirable neighborhood.

What is as a good residential location?

The qualities of a good location are based on the needs and preferences of "most home buyers". Those needs include safety, convenience, quiet, privacy, and space. Here's how those needs translate into tangible qualities.

• Safety: Away from busy streets, railway tracks, and sources of potential danger or crime.

• Convenience: Close to shopping, schools, hospitals, and other services, (though not so close as to compromise safety and quiet).

• Quiet: Away from busy streets, railway tracks, airports, commercial or industrial areas, or other sources of noise. Has a large enough lot (or soundproof common walls) to distance noise from neighbors.

• Privacy: Protected by trees, fences, etc to block direct view by neighbors. Ideally backs onto a green belt that offers aesthetic view and privacy. If attached, have private balcony or patio and soundproof common walls.

• Space: Fulfils need for personal outdoor living space and space for children to play. If it's a condominium, has spacious, well-maintained recreation and outdoor areas.

Different kinds of locations can have the above qualities – from a tree-lined street of single-family detached homes to a downtown high-rise of condominiums.

A good location costs more.

Because more buyers desire these locations, they tend to have the highest value. You will pay more in well-established neighborhoods. These are the comfortable neighborhoods that have the best examples of safety, convenience, quiet, privacy, and space.

You can get these location qualities for less.

If you want these same location qualities at a better price, look for them in gentrified neighborhoods. Gentrified neighborhoods are in parts of town that were once established, then experienced a period of decline. If the cause of the decline has been corrected and at least 25% of the houses have been improved, a gentrified neighborhood can be a good place to buy more house for less money. Over time, as the gentrified neighborhood becomes established, the house can appreciate more than a similar house in an established neighborhood.

What about locations that "might" improve?

Pre-gentrified neighborhoods are a higher risk for resale value. These are the neighborhoods that might improve; then again ... they might not. They might continue to languish on the wrong side of town. Unless you don't mind owning a house that could be tough to sell, or that might lose resale value, this location is best left to people who can afford to take the risk. It costs just as much to maintain and heat a home in a bad location as it does in a good location.