How to sell a house by showing what it’s NOT located next to…

Okay, we all know the importance of location, location, location. But that mantra is always used in the context of positive amenities  – a great school, a park, a grocery store, mall, etc.

A  mediocre home can actually increase in value if the homebuyer can see how far  the property is located from areas they might want to avoid.

And you can use a map-based real estate search tool such as SpatialMatch to point these out. With SpatialMatch, an IDX is integrated into a geo-spatial platform, any property in MLS can be viewed right alongside a map showing its location.

Not only can the location be viewed, but SpatialMatch is tied into an enormous database of millions of schools, businesses, government entities, health care facilities, parks, etc.

Now back to avoid buying a home in a less desirable area.

Say for example, a family needs to locate in a certain location due to several reasons: it’s close to their place of work, close to transportation hubs such as train stations or interstates, midway point between two spouses where their jobs are located in opposite directions, etc.

With SpatialMatch, you can point out how one property is situated in a more desirable area than another.

For example, say the place they want to live in is also near a heavy commercial or industrial area. Well, no one wants to live near a warehouse where people are painting cars and the odor of fumes can be smelled a half mile away.

And no one wants to live near a factory where items are shipped around the clock and truck doors can be heard clanging throughout the night.

Same goes for other large facilities where they may feel the need to make announcements over the loudspeaker at 3 a.m. in the morning.

It doesn’t have to be an industrial area.

Take a large night club or outdoor bar. Homebuyers John and Jane Doe might need to get up at 5:30 a.m. in the morning but the people going to that club are certainly not thinking of going to bed at 10 a.m. at night. In fact, many are just going out at that time.

Same goes for high-crime areas. Don’t want to live near them.

Or landfills, where properties nearby might be incredibly cheap. But there’s a reason for that.

How about airports? Large airports. International airports.

Don’t forget natural hazards. A family with small children certainly doesn’t want to live in an area where a large lake is located on the other side of the block.

Or a swift-flowing river.

Hazards attract children like candy.

A real estate professional can warn people about these areas, but nothing is more powerful than showing them these areas on a map, in relation to properties they are considering.

So homebuyers might like Property A because the house is bigger, but Property B is located much further away from several negatives.

By showing them the actual distance on SpatialMatch of Property A from the Yucky Inc. Processing Plant, with both map and aerial views, you can make the point very, very clear.

Sure, that home might be bigger, but when the wind shifts, it’s not going to be big enough to escape the aroma of whatever the heck they are processing in that building.

No one likes to be a naysayer. But locations don’t lie. Use a tool like SpatialMatch to take any guesswork out of choosing a place to live.

You’ll have a happy client. And at the end of the day, that, like location, is what matters most.

For a demonstration of SpatialMatch, click here.

For another perspective on location, read this article…