When It Comes to Home Buying, Location Is King.

Shopping for a home? Stack the deck in your favor by choosing the location best suited to you.

The real estate adage “location, location, location” has been around for decades. Real estate agents, investors and experienced home buyers will tell you that location trumps everything. I always advise clients that you can make changes to a home, but you can’t change the location — short of moving the house.

Some neighborhoods change over time, of course, and most improve rather than getting worse. So as you set out to buy a home, should you look for the best home on the worst block? The worst home on the best block? The best home on the best block? (In real estate, “block” is a loose term for an area or neighborhood.) Here’s what you need to know.

How to buy in a great area at a lower price

A home could be in the best school district in the top neighborhood of any town, but if it’s on a busy street, across from a commercial center, next to a school or near a freeway on or off-ramp, that home’s value will always be significantly less than the values of comparable homes nearby. If you want to be in a great area but don’t want to pay top dollar, buying a home near a slightly undesirable feature could be an option, so long as the broader location is good.

The worst house on the best block: go for it, if you’re willing to work on it

If you have a good location, nobody can take that away from you. Smart real estate investors and developers know that if a home is in a good location, it’s a good investment. In places like San Francisco, it’s not uncommon to see 10 developers make offers on an absolutely ugly, tear-down house simply because of the location. If it’s a good house, there’s a huge upside for the person who renovates it.

For a home buyer who wants to live in the home and isn’t afraid of a little work, this is the best purchase to make. Why? Because once the renovations are done, you’re sitting on equity. The lesson here: Don’t be afraid to buy a home that needs work, particularly if it’s in a prime location.

The best house on the best block: a great choice if you plan to stick around

Buying a fully renovated home in an A+ neighborhood is a safe choice because it will likely hold its value. But it will not have the same upside seen by its fixer-upper neighbor down the street. While there will likely be dozens of buyers lined up to purchase a move-in ready home on a prime block, a home buyer needs to understand that they’re paying top market value for the house.

In this next generation of real estate, the world moves faster. People get job transfers more often, and it’s less common for someone to stay in their home for 30 years. If you pay top dollar for the best house on the best block and then have to sell it within a few years, your investment may not have time to appreciate enough to cover your selling closing costs.

The worst house on the worst block: could be worth the gamble

Though there are no absolutes, you should have second and third thoughts about buying the worst house on the worst block.

Some folks prefer to be off the beaten path or buy in a transitioning neighborhood. And it’s true, areas can change rapidly these days. Once unsafe or out-of-the-way neighborhoods emerge as the next “it” spot. You can’t always predict which neighborhoods will change. And when real estate markets slow down, it’s often these gentrifying areas that feel it first.

If you’re comfortable challenging the status quo of the location game, buy a home that needs some work. As described above, you can build equity after making improvements. That built-in equity, plus the potential upside if and when the neighborhood changes, could equate to a great long-term investment.

The best house on the worst block: proceed with caution

The riskiest real estate move is to buy the absolute best home on the worst block. Paying top dollar for a fully renovated home in a bad location could present serious financial consequences. You may never gain any equity or fully recoup your investment, even after years of living in the home. That’s why this type of purchase is best suited for long-term, experienced investors.

Some markets are stronger than others today, and it’s nearly impossible to give blanket market advice across multiple markets. But these theories hold true across any neighborhood, school district or block no matter the market. If you are a buyer, keep these in mind as you consider the investment side of your purchase.

STORY / BY BRENDON DESIMONE ON 3 NOV 2014

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Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! 

Check out this haunted open house. 

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Have fun and stay safe everyone!

Zillow: Mortgage rates remain at 16-month low

7 New Housing Subdivisions Coming to the Gilbert/Queen Creek Area

A positive economic climate has led to increased homebuilding in Gilbert and Queen Creek.

Homebuilding in Gilbert and Queen Creek is robust, although not at the pre-recession boom level, town officials say.
Up to August this year, Gilbert issued 1,024 housing permits to build single-family homes, second only to Phoenix, which issued 1,190 during the same period.
Even though the permit number is down about 300 compared with the same period last year, Kyle Mieras, director of Development Services in Gilbert, doesn't view it negatively. He attributes the decline to a ripple effect as the larger region again begins to grow.
During the recession, the town had many "zombie subdivisions," those that had built infrastructure such as streets and utilities but had stalled construction, he said.
"When the recession was ending, it was easy for the homebuilders to go back in and resume construction on those lots ... so we saw an increase in building permits right away," Mieras said.
Those subdivisions are nearing completion, and new ones are on the way. Developers are building single-family homes in 28 subdivisions in Gilbert.
This year, the housing market has improved not just in Gilbert, but in the entire Phoenix region.
"So, while we had a lot of building permits going on in 2012 and 2013, other areas that lay farther out like Queen Creek, they didn't have as many, but as the region gets better and the economy gets better, now you're starting to see an increase in building permits in some of those outlying areas," Mieras said.
The ripple effect throughout the Valley causes outlying areas to benefit as well. "The pie is only so big, so as Queen Creek or some other outlying community starts to increase its permits, ours drops a little bit," Mieras said. "It's shared amongst the region."
Queen Creek issued 719 new-housing permits through September. That's up from 477 in 2012 and 650 in 2013.
"The town is seeing a tremendous amount of interest by both residential and commercial developers, and we are cautiously optimistic about Queen Creek's recovery from the Great Recession," Queen Creek spokeswoman Marnie Schubert said.
"The Town Council is carefully considering all requests for building to ensure that the community remains financially sustainable and maintains its hometown atmosphere," she added.
Mieras said pre-recession levels of housing construction might not return for a while. Land prices in Gilbert can reach about $300,000 an acre, he said.
That has given builders pause.
"Prior to the recession, you would see homebuilders buying hundreds of acres and tilling thousands of plots at one time," he said.
"Now, we're starting to see homebuilders starting on smaller chunks — 20 acres, 40 acres, 60 acres. They're not buying as much ground, because if there is a dip in the economy again or something were to occur, they don't want to be stuck with large amounts of land and lots they can't sell," Mieras said. "They're taking smaller bites of the apple now."
Ernie Haycraft is a real-estate agent for Blandford Homes, which is selling the last few homes in two small subdivisions in Gilbert, Blandford Homes at Power Ranch and TH Ranch, and another in Queen Creek called the Pecans.
"I think the market is doing very well," he said.
In a change from 2008, when the development of upscale houses at TH Ranch stalled, the homes sold well in the current market. They are on half-acre lots and offer a detached building such as an RV garage or guest house.
"Gilbert is a very desirable location, and there are not many new homes in Gilbert to choose from, especially in this type," he said.
Gilbert expects to reach build-out in mid-2030. Even now, there are fewer large swaths of desert land suitable for developing master-planned communities. Two such remaining areas are at the southeastern corner of Germann Road and Val Vista Drive and at the northwestern and southeastern corners of Val Vista Drive and Chandler Heights Road.
"The rest of the acreage has been split up and developed," Mieras said.
Meanwhile, one of the town's largest master-planned communities, Power Ranch, is nearly complete. The 2,084-acre community at Power and Germann roads opened in 1999 with Trilogy at Power Ranch, an active-adult neighborhood. Now, Blandford Homes is selling its last homes at the Lofts, offering triplexes.
By the end of fall, Power Ranch will encompass 12 neighborhoods built by 19 builders in 39 subdivisions with 7,035 homes. Its amenity list includes more than 200 acres of open space, 26 miles of loop trails and two fishing lakes.
The community had high sales at the outset, but like many other developments, was affected by the recession. It is on track to finish well within the intended time, however. The community originally was planned to completed in 15-20 years and is doing so in 15.
"Because things went so much faster earlier on, that even when it slowed down, we are probably back on our original timeline, plus or minus," said Sean Walters, chief operating officer of Sunbelt Holdings, the developer.

Srianthi Perera, The Republic | azcentral.com 4:56 p.m. MST October 21, 2014

Check out the link below to view video of this spectacular model like home for sale in the beautiful tree-lined, white picket fence community of Morrison Ranch in Gilbert, Arizona! 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nku0gYW1dH4