Comments on: 18 Things That Will Help You Pick a High Appreciating Neighborhood

By: Stephen Davis

Stephen Davis — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:54:18 +0000

Please consider this. You are not talking about investing, you are talking about speculating. Buy low, sell high. I have won on every single-family deal I ever did (over 100) because I invested instead of speculated. I bought the deals because they had positive cash flow. I got the "speculative" appreciation by default. Does that make sense?

By: Bernard

Bernard — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:14:16 +0000

This is a very valuable point you raise, especially for investors.

It's important to have an exit strategy before buying an investment property. Let's face it. if you buy a house that backs up to a major highway, you might be able to rent it, but it's likely going to be more difficult to sell it since people don't want to be so close to traffic, noise, and polluted air.

Sometimes, we settle for a house just to 'get a house'. We fail to think "will a family want to buy this house when I'm finished with it in five years"? Selling is completely different from renting!

My recommendation is to ask yourself "would I buy this house for my family"? If the answer is 'no' then put it lower on the list, maybe as a last resort.

By: Rob McCance

Rob McCance — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:41:08 +0000

That's a pretty good list. I get the feeling you could keep going with the list, for a long time.

One thing completely out of our control is the general long term economic picture.

When I bought my home 7 years ago, they were all in the high $300s and low $400s. But they were huge, beautiful, and one 1+ acre lots. Everyone knew they would all eventually go to the $500-$600k range.

And, they did. But folks buying now in that higher range can't really feel too good about these homes making it to say $700-$800k.

That kind of thing. Call it "timing" if you want.