Have you ever noticed there are always more condominiums, town houses, and patio homes for sale in a neighborhood than there are in a traditional neighborhood? There are many reasons for this activity but we will cover the most important. When buying a house you should examine competition. Competition is what is for sale in the neighborhood, how many and for how much, compared to the house you're interested in buying. For these types of homes, they are usually a first or last time home buyer. This means the young married couple or the elderly that down-sized. In these neighborhoods, there is always what I refer to as a fire sale. Someone is expecting a baby and needs more room so they need to sell fast. When a fire sale takes place there is always a drop in the asking price to try to sell it before any of their neighbors. This is a good strategy for them since all of the homes are identical. This is not good for you though. This is also called the principle of substitution. Why pay more for the exact same thing when you can get it on sale down the street? The value in these neighborhoods struggle to appreciate and go up in value because there is so much competition compared to a traditional neighborhood.
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