I’m an intern a national magazine. For a column I’m doing, a reader wrote in asking “How can I judge location when investing in real estate?” I know very little about real estate and after doing research for two days, I have not see a lot of progress in my work. My editor told me to get opinions from people with experience on what to look for in the location, even trends in buying. I was also hoping you guys might have good recommendations for websites to check or organizations I should get in touch with. Any advice you can give me would be a great help. Thank you!!!
Well you found the best web site I know for it by far there are investors here from everywhere!
There are many factors to consider in judging location. There are factors on a macro level (city or regional) and factors on a micro level (neighborhood). What makes a good location will be different for a single family residence than an apartment and both of those will be different from commercial or industrial applications. I will confine my points to single family residential since that is the area that I am more familiar with. On the macro level, I would consider employment opportunities, access to shopping, attitudes of city officials (ie are they progressive or conservative), availability of entertainment ,availability of good schools, and ease of transportation. On the micro level, I would consider, the condition the other properties in the neighborhood, the people in the neighborhood, the genereal noise and traffic patterns in the neighborhood, and the ease of transportation in and out of the neighborhood. I have probably missed a lot of things that should have been mentioned, but I am sure that others will chime in and help out.
Wilson