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How Far Is Starbucks From You?

Lately, stats have proven that your home’s value can be dependent upon your proximity to the local Starbucks, Trader Joe’s or any other local grocery store as well as fast food locations. According to Zillow, things that increase your home’s value are good school districts and neighborhoods, larger square footage and its closeness to these local retailers.

Recent research shows major increases in value for homes that are “in the thick of things” as opposed to those that are out of the way a bit.

Of course, we’ve heard this our whole life. Location, location, location.

The most recent data we’ve found shows that homes within a quarter mile of Starbucks had value appreciations nearly double that of homes that are further away. Meanwhile in Detroit, homes near a brand-new opening of a Whole Foods have nearly DOUBLED in price!

A RealtyTrac study showed that homes in the same zip code as a Trader Joe’s went up by an amazing 40% during a period when the average growth for the nation was only 34%.

In all fairness, what happens in other areas around the nation doesn’t necessarily apply here in our area all the time, but it certainly makes sense when buying the next home to start thinking more about location!

There’s a definite connection between property values and it’s closeness to these new or popular retail locations around the country.

There are many factors that go into what you are looking for when considering a possible move. First and foremost is always about finding the perfect home for your family’s needs. However, a very important second factor to consider is location to popular retail locations even if it’s not establishments that you would frequent yourself. You have to keep resale value in mind anytime you are buying a home for your family, or for investment purposes. If you have questions about any of these thoughts, just give me a quick call here. I’m always happy to speak with you (if it’s at Starbucks in Pearland)!

When Is The Best Time To Sell A Home?

This is the question of all questions when it comes to real estate. As a professional agent and marketing specialist, I talk to homeowners during every month of the year that are hoping to “time the market” to sell the home for as much as possible.

The common misconception is that you will sell a home for more money during one season as opposed to another one. Unfortunately, we’ve never found any data whatsoever to support that in this area.

In some areas of the country, there are more buyers in the Summertime and in other areas, the Wintertime is the big season. But guess what??? When there are more buyers, there are also more sellers trying to sell. As a matter of fact, most of those buyers also put their current property on the market so that they can make the move.

The most ridiculous thing anyone can do when making a move for their primary residence is to try to “time the market” in lieu of making the move when the family needs change.

In real estate, we know that most people have a housing need change when they go through a life change. In other words, a birth or death in the family, a job promotion or a job loss, children heading off to college, a marriage or divorce and other things of this nature. When there’s a life change, it creates a housing need change. The last thing you’d ever want to do is wait until “the hot market” time in the area. The truth is, everything is based on supply and demand and your home won’t sell for more money when there are 5 times as many homes available for sale in your neighborhood. As a matter of fact, due to the competition, I’ve personally witnessed this having a negative effect on home prices because after all, you probably don’t really NEED to sell your home so someone will always be a heck of a lot more motivated to unload their home than you are. That creates a downward pressure on asking prices.

In reality, if you are going to be utilizing a mortgage when buying your next home, you want to time the market by timing YOUR expenses which is the interest rate. Since rates are going up and it appears that will continue to happen for the next several years, the absolute BEST time to buy a home was 3 months ago. The next best time is right now. Waiting a year or two can cause you to pay several hundred dollars per month more in the form of a higher interest rate.

While nobody can precisely predict the future of the economy in any country, it’s safe to say that rates will never go any lower than they’ve been lately. After all, for all of us still living and breathing, we’ve never seen anything like this before throughout our adult lives.

It may be wise to find that new place sooner, rather than later. If you feel like your family deserves a bigger home and could really utilize the extra space, now is the time for us to start casually looking around with no commitment of officially making a move. But for my clients, I want to ensure they don’t wait until rates are way up again and it prices them out of the ability to secure a larger home for the same monthly payment they have now.

Give us a call if our team can help!

Tim LaBorde

713-965-4561

tim@directedrealty.com

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