Thursday, December 06, 2007

Prime Location

I wish that I had really realized how important location is in the real estate world. Now I can't say I didn't 'know' in the general knowledge sense. After all, the main motto of all real estate agents is 'location, location, location', and yet, the real concept only hits home after you find yourself attached to a less than prime locale. When we bought the little farm we live on now 12 years ago we used the money from a sale of property up north that truly was PRIME. We got good money for that little 1/2 acre of land even though the house on it was ancient and not even going to be used. The developer that bought the land immediately tore down the house (it needed it) and put up a beautiful home in its place. We were selling the property--or more importantly we were selling the LOCATION.

We found our current place and it suited up perfectly. Out in the middle of nowhere in a town no one from where we lived had ever heard of, with plenty of room (over 10 acres) and a lovely newer, although not new, home. Never once did I stop to consider the location in regards to re-sale back then. We pretty much figured we'd be here forever. Twelve years may not be forever, but it is a long time. It's time to move on now though and that 'location, location, location' motto is really hitting home. Sure we could, and probably will sell for a little better than the purchase price. We made some big improvements like a new barn that is still relatively new, but there's no way we'll get the windfall of cash we did from the first property that ended up being the last of its very sought-after kind. Sigh... lesson learned. Mottos are created for a reason, and always look as far ahead as you can in your thinking before you buy a piece of property.

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