Tips for buying a house (part 3 of 5)
Rights
With most properties rights to the property can be sold separately. The most common rights to be sold separately would be mineral rights. What that means to you as a home buyer is that you might purchase a property to find out that a company can come in and start mining in your back yard if they own the mineral rights to your property. Yes, they can come in and tear up your back yard and start digging. While it doesn’t actually happen like that, the facts are that they can because they own what is under or in your land. When looking at a property, ask if any rights have been sold off. It should make a difference to your property selection. You may be ok with the rights being sold off, but you want to know that when making your purchase. It also affects the value of your property, because it may be worth more if there are valuable minerals on your property and the rights haven’t been sold off. It also gives you the option to allow a company to come onto your property and mine, meaning you get paid for any minerals that the company takes off of your property. It may help make your mortgage payment or possibly more depending on what the mineral is and how much is there. By the same token, if the rights have been sold off and it has been mined or being mined, then you know what you are getting and may be able to get a better price.
Location
Knowing where you want to buy can be a very important factor. Different neighborhoods can greatly affect the value of any home you are looking to buy. Nicer neighborhoods obviously will have a nicer price tag attached. If you are on a budget, do your research into which neighborhoods you can afford, then drive around them until you get them narrowed down to few possibilities. Next figure out what school district you want to be in. If you have kids or think there is a possibility you may want to start a family in the near future (next 5-10 years), this should be a big factor. You want your kids to get the best possible education, so where you buy will affect which school district your kids will go to. Even if you don’t have children and don’t plan on having any, this can affect the value of your home when you sell the property, because the new buyer might want a certain school district.
Other factors that should affect your decision could be are there factories close by, rail road tracks, freeway or other main road, are their a lot of vacant properties, there is a whole list of others for you to think about. Any one of these factors can greatly affect the value of your home. They may not affect your home at all, but doing your research will tell you what to expect. Local professionals will also be a wealth of knowledge that can help educate you to neighborhoods and local trends, so use them. They may even be the older couple that have lived in the same house for the last 50 years, I am sure they can tell you more information than you can remember. Regardless of how you get the information, spend the time.