Should you consider buying the worst house on the best street?
A very frequent phrase used in the real estate industry is ‘buying the worst house on the best street’. Reading the phrase for the first time is bound to leave you confused. After all, why would someone buy a horrible looking house, regardless of its surroundings? Many people, especially first time home buyers, always dream of a beautiful house so why would they fall in love with the worst? The dream is usually about a well-maintained house with a white picket fence. The dream doesn’t consist of cracks in walls, painted brick and overgrown grass. However, there is a lot of thought placed behind this phrase. Whoever created the phrase was looking at the real estate industry with a different perspective, something most others will ignore.
The question is whether the phrase holds any weight and how true it is? Experts say that it is actually a good idea to buy the worst looking house on the best street, although there are real estate professionals that will disagree. Those suggesting that it is a good idea believe most buyers will ignore a horrible looking property and also feel that it is easy to fix a house to match the surroundings. On the other hand, owner occupiers can seek this opportunity and put their own mark on the property so that buyers will be paying irrational amounts of money.
Benefits of buying the worst property
- Many buyers will ignore the property and only a few bidders will remain in the end. This increases your chance of being the winning bidder!
- Once you fix the house, the other ‘better-looking’ houses will cause the value of the property to increase fairly.
- A worse looking property is a great opportunity to move into a good neighbourhood. Usually, it is difficult to move into a preferred neighbourhood because it is not affordable. This problem can be solved if you are willing to own a worse looking property and your priority is the surrounding area.
- Your money that goes into fixing the house will not be a waste. Instead, it will be an investment because the house will be able to maintain its new value due to the surrounding nicer looking neighbourhood.
How to make a final decision
As there has always been debate over this saying, there is also debate over whether to actually buy based on this. There are probably a few questions that you need to ask yourself before you proceed.
Could it be that the house is not actually unattractive just because of its rough appearance? A house is way more than just its looks!
What is the architecture and planning of the house like? There could be an amazing canvas underneath the exterior to support any cost effective renovations that you could make.
Can you live in this property whilst improvements are being made?
These are questions you need to ask yourself, taking into account your priorities and financial position before embarking on buying the ‘worst house on the best street’.
Call Bernie Lewis on 8300 8300 or email info@bernielewis.com.au
