The first thought that comes to mind is most likely if your home is located in a desirable area, and while that certainly is part of it, we’re going a bit outside of the box to explain other factors less known to homeowners. While relatively simple and sometimes small, it’s easy to miss just how important these factors can be to folks who will want to buy your home when you’re ready to sell.
As stated, the most obvious factor is the location of your home. The success of selling your home partially depends on its proximity to other locations, such as grocery stores, parks, pharmacies, and schools. You can use Walkscore.com for a quick synopsis of how accessible the neighborhood is and whether you can rely on public transit or need a car to get around. The neighborhood itself also affects the value of your home. If you live on a noisy block or next to a more desirable neighborhood, that can lower the value of your home. Check out our guide for touring a neighborhood so you can be better educated on how to analyze the surrounding area of a potential place you want to live in. Less known to homeowners is the way the home sits on the property. If you have a south-facing home or corner property in Philly, that allows for more natural light to flood the home, making it much more desirable to buyers and ultimately increasing value.
The next factor is scarcity, and this current market is a perfect example. Land is not limitless; there’s only so much we can trade and own. There is extremely low inventory across the nation, and with the previously low mortgage rates, many buyers were taking the opportunity. This combination resulted in several things, the most significant in this case being bidding wars. Scarcity caused many buyers to put in offers well over the asking price, and as a result sellers walked away with more money than they thought they would get on their home. If the market was oversaturated with homes and buyer demand was low, the value of the home would be less.
Improvements made both inside and outside the home can also affect your home’s value. Many buyers increase the value of their homes by updating a kitchen, finishing a basement, or putting in a powder room. You can also upgrade your yard (if you have one) by putting in a patio or vegetable garden– but that’s not what we mean when we say making improvements outside of your home. If the city or township develops a park in the area, it can increase the value of your home. If they slap a highway behind your house or put up a power plant across the street, you can kiss an increase of value goodbye. It can be difficult to stop occurrences like these from happening, but it isn’t impossible. Some larger projects require the city to hold a public forum on the development, so keep an eye out in the mail for these events as the city typically sends out letters announcing when the next one will be. Many neighborhoods also have Facebook groups where you can meet and communicate with those in the area. You can also get involved with local neighborhood associations who can have a bigger impact on what is developed.
The last is permanence of investment. Although this can be an abstract concept, it’s actually pretty straight forward: land cannot move. A real estate investment is fixed and until you sell it, it’s permanent. But how can a property simply being where it is affect the value of your home if we aren’t referring to the location it is in? Take two vacant lots for example, both essentially identical. They both are the same size, same price, and in similar locations, however, one has a septic tank and water/sewer lines already established in the lot, and the other does not. It can cost thousands of dollars and cause many headaches to get a vacant lot ready to build anything on. Even a study needs to be done to establish where the septic tank should go, and that’s just one thing that will cost you money. If the systems are already there, you can skip that part and your wallet will thank you.
Now you know the other location factors that affect your home’s value. Going forward in your home searches, you can now consider what was previously unbeknownst to you. What factors are now affecting your upcoming home search? We’d love to know!
Stephanie Slapin
April 21, 2022