Things You Need to Know In Real Estate

The real estate business is one of time and experience. The longer you’re out on the market selling property, buying property, negotiating, building relationships with your colleagues and clients, the better you’ll get. But it takes time. In another one of my blog posts, I give some advice on finding the best real estate deal. In this blog post, I wanted to take a look at a few more tips. Investopedia.com has a list of things that every real estate professional should know. I definitely agree with a lot of these.

a graphic design image of a neighborhood

What does your neighborhood look like?

 

Know Your Market

You absolutely must do your homework. What are the price trend in your area? Are they accelerating more quickly in one area then another? Are they decelerating? Are they just not moving at all? Is there a wave of foreign buyers taking an interest in the area? The more you know about prices in a particular neighborhood, the more you’ll know about the demand there, and knowing about demand will help you determine how to price your own listings. If you’re going to sell a stereo on Ebay, you’ll want to see what other people are charging for that same stereo, or at one similar it. The same goes for neighborhoods. Make sure you’re combing through your MLS.

Know What’s Going On

Where has a neighborhood been? Where does it seem to be going? Not just in numbers, but also trends, events, developments. Are you seeing a number of new forms of infrastructure pop-up (e.g. roads, schools, etc.)? If so, your neighborhood is clearly growing. Are there a lot of stores popping up nearby? If yes, this may be appealing to buyers and also keep the tax base low? Is there an airport being built right next to it? This, for obvious reasons, would negatively impact the area’s appeal to buyers, although it would be cheaper. For starters, you can drive around the neighborhood. But I’d also recommend checking in with town hall to get a figure on what sort of developments are slated.

Know Your Tax Alternatives

Towns with lower property taxes will almost always be more in demand. Use this information to your advantage. Speak to the local tax assessor to learn how much the municipality charges for $100 of house. You’ll also be able to learn the last time a given area was audited by the local government and figure out when the next reassessment is set to take place. Are a lot of people moving to the neighborhood? Are school’s reaching their capacities? Do the roads look like they’re in terrible shape? If so, taxes may go up.

For more real estate info, checkout out my Twitter.

 

-Raanan