Here’s are a few pointers that help homes retain  their value even in times of recessions

Location. Location. Location.

You may have heard this before, that location is everything in real estate. And this is true. Very true, indeed. Where a home is located truly determines its price. Even its position to the rising and setting sun. This is true for residential as it is the case for commercial real estate, but most especially so for residential real estate.

The village, town or city your home is located in also very much determines its value. For example, in the San Francisco Bay Area, generally speaking (with a few exceptions), the closer a city is to San Francisco the more expensive it is. For example, you can buy spanking new homes with massive square footage and numerous bedrooms/bathrooms in Contra Costa cities of Brentwood, Oakley, Antioch and Pittsburg for less than $500,000. Those same homes will fetch upwards of $1,300,000 in San Francisco and $1,000,000+ in Pleasanton and Pietmont, $900,000+ in Fremont and some parts of San Jose, $1,200,000+ in Cupertino .

Schools. Schools. Schools.

Speaking of places like Cupertino , good schools play a HUGE role in determining the price of homes as well. For example, just recently I listed a 1664 sq. ft. home for $1,015,000 in Sunnyvale . Now, Sunnyvale is much more affordable than Cupertino . However, this particular home happened to be located in the Cupertino school district, with Stockmeir being the elementary school and Cupertino Middle being the junior high school. This particular home was built in 1962 and boasts no bells and whistles. It just happens to be in one of the best school districts in the entire state of California , and that’s what I used as my selling point, and that’s why I received 3 offers on the property and sold it in less than a week at my asking price. Amazing! A similar property would have virtually no foot traffic in San Joaquin county or in places with schools lacking stellar performance. You’d have to price than home for less than $100,000 to generate any tangible traffic whatsoever.

Demographics. Demographics. Demographics

Closely related to location and schools is demographics. The composition of a neighborhood clearly determines the values held dear. If a neighborhood is populated by highly educated professionals you can rest assured that these residents treasure education and want their children to go to the best schools. If, on the other hand, residents of a neighborhood don’t care a thing or 2 about education, then you can rest assured that the schools will be in bad shape and the API’s will be low. This has a spiral effect in that such schools will inevitably produce graduates who are not considered the cream of the crop and who may end up doing jobs that do not generate the high incomes commanded by professionals in affluent communities. By this token, you can rest assured that the homes in places like Mission San Jose in Fremont, homes in Cupertino and homes in Ruby Hill, Pleasanton , will always receive the best care and ultimately retain the best values even in times of economic recessions. These homes sell for their asking price and even more.

Bio

Paul LeJoy is a real estate consultant based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Paul founded and is the CEO of Pacific Realty Partners, a company that shows people how to create wealth using real estate. A native of , Paul holds a Master’s degree in International Relations and Economics from the University of Kent , Canterbury, , and a California Broker’s License. A true cosmopolitan and globalist, Paul has lived in Africa, Europe, Asia and speaks English, French and Mandarin Chinese. An avid writer, Paul has authored and published 3 books and numerous articles on various topics. Lately, he expends all his energy in building his real estate brokerage firm. Paul’s office is located at

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