Love Thy Neighbor

One of the best thing about being a REALTOR is the opportunity to help people you really love. I had the pleasure of helping my neighbor sell his home of 57 years (original owner) as he moves forward into a new adventure with his life. We were blessed to have Keat as our neighbor and will miss him very much. But, a sweet young couple now takes over to care for a home well loved. While I believe in treating all of my clients like family, Mr. Keat is a special person who I love dearly. This was a good week.

9 Neighborhood Features That Hamper Values

Certain neighborhood features near a home – like cemeteries and power plants — could drag down a home’s price. Realtor.com® recently identified which of those features could have the biggest impact.

To calculate, realtor.com® analyzed home prices and appreciation rates in ZIP codes of the 100 largest metro areas across the country where a specific so-called “drag-me-down facility” – such as power plants or homeless shelter – was present.

Realtor.com®’s research team then calculated the potential discount by comparing the median home price of the ZIP codes with that facility with the median price for all homes in the same country.

The following neighborhood features emerged as the ones that could potentially drag down home values by the greatest amounts:

1. Bad school: -22.2% (translation: home owners near a bad school received 22.2 percent less than an average home in the same county could get)
2. Strip club: -14.7%
3. High renter concentration: -13.8%
4. Homeless shelter: -12.7%
5. Cemetery: -12.3%
6. Funeral home: -6.5%
7. Power plant: -5.3%
8. Shooting range: -3.7%
9. Hospital: -3.2%

Source: “The Neighborhood Features That Drag Down Your Home Value – Ranked,” realtor.com® (March 28, 2016)