It is sometimes difficult to determine if an area is appreciating or depreciating. There can be pockets of appreciating properties right inside a depreciating zip code. A realtor who is very familiar with the area will know, but if they don’t list regularly in the immediate area, they may need to do some research to be certain. In denser urban areas, a single city or zip code can have values going up or down all over. Factors could be crime, urban improvement projects, or other unseen factors. Look at home sales (not active listings) around the home you're looking at over the last 2 years, there will be indicators of increase or decrease value with those sales. Look for the larger percentage of increase in sale price, those areas will have been appreciating the most. To learn about the unseen factors, talk to the neighbors a block away from the property you are considering, find out what they think of their neighborhood. The neighbor right next door may not be a good indicator because they could be influenced by a new buyer moving in.
Other growth factors in the city like: new parks, new businesses, urban development projects, etc. will affect your home’s value. All cities have a Planning Department, most have their current and future projects online. Visit the website of the city you thinking about moving to and see what projects they have planned. What if you find that the house you’re looking at has a wonderful view on the mountains, and there is a developer that is going to put a multi-story apartment complex directly in your view; wouldn't you like to know that? Or perhaps a night club owner was just been approved to convert the empty building around the corner into a night club, that could be a bad or a good thing. Perhaps the empty field around the corner is planned to be a new soccer complex. All of these things will affect the value of your home in the future, you need to find out.
See the other Blog posts that continue this topic: