I drive thought Anoka, Ramsey & Washington Counties on a regular bases. As a real estate agent, I tend to take many of the same major roads day after day. Of course I notice the for sale signs that pop up along these roads. Often a sign goes up and then 6 months or a year later the sign is switched out on the same house when they try a new real estate agent…sold signs go up slowly along busy roads. A home seller is literally dead in the water before the house is listed if they do not account for the negative impact the road will have on their sale price. But what other things affect price that are not quite as obvious. How about an address?
Recently, homeowners in Spring Lake Park, Minnesota paid to have their house number changed from 666 to the less eyebrow raising number 668. This got me thinking about whether or not homes sold slower with these unusual digits. I decided to run a search for sold homes with this infamous address. I wasn’t too surprised that this was not a very common address. Of the handful of 666 addressed homes that were sold in the past few years, the properties didn’t linger on the market for more than a few days or weeks. Almost all were foreclosures…that is a sign or coincidence, depending on your level of superstition.
"Location, Location Location" is the real estate mantra. If your home is located on a busy road, you cannot change it the same way you can petition to change your address. The best you can do is change the selling price. In order to sell, you need to factor in for the busy road. This will mean pricing your home significantly lower than all other homes on the market with similar features to attract buyers.
This phenomenon does not only affect properties on busy roads! There are other undesirable location situations that are very tough sells when the market is good but become next to impossible when there are many homes for the buyers to select from. These unwanted locations include properties which are next to or near the following:
- Cemeteries
- Industrial Parks
- Huge Power Lines/Transformers
- Gas Pipelines
- Landfills
- Airports
- Prisons
- Flood plains
- Train Tracks
- Shopping centers
- Gas Stations
- Open Land either for sale or not that has undetermined development potential
- Gun ranges
- Auto Salvage Yards and other disposal businesses
Tips for Dealing with the Busy Road Factor to get your home SOLD
- Be Realistic. Don't ignore the elephant in the room. Set your price reflecting the undesirable location
- Best Foot Forward Make sure everything else regarding your home is a positive. Make any and all repairs, stage the home and market its unique positive features.
- Work with a Professional REALTOR® An experienced professional real estate agent can assist you in pricing your home correctly factoring in all adverse conditions.
- Be Ready to Negotiate. When buyers submit a purchase agreement for review, don't pass on a low offer. Counter and try to reach terms that are acceptable for both parties.
- Be Patient. In most cases, a property affected by the Busy Road Factor, will required twice the market time compared to the average home.
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