We've all learned that it's good to be the smallest house in the neighborhood because having large homes around your home increases its value.  This lovely mansion pictured at left is four blocks from my house.  Do you think it will impact the value of my house?  Will its historic beauty bring more value to my house?  What if my house is a wreck?  Won't the contrast then make my house look even worse?  and decrease its value?  

Well, really the "house" at left is not a good comparison because it's not a house.  It's a commercial building.  Okay, so doesn't being in a commercial district decrease my house's value?  What about how beautiful and well kept the grounds about this building are?  They are truly park-like with lovely plantings and manicured lawns.  The richness of the marble in this building and the gold sculpture . . . do they impact the value of my house?  What about the historic nature of the building?  Does any of that matter?  Does it matter that between my house and this building are only a therapy park, a small parking lot and two office buildings?  Does it matter that at night I can see the lighted dome of this building framed in my living room window?

So, the ramshackle house I live in borders a residential and a commercial area.  How on earth does one determine the value for resale?  Most of the "rules" I've been taught don't really apply because the commercial buildings around me are all State buildings that are impeccably maintained.  Or they are hospital buildings equally well maintained.  I get to enjoy their park like grounds without paying for their maintenance.

The rules are tough to maintain when valuing many houses.  How much is lakeshore worth?  How much is a lake view worth?  or lake access which can be taken away at some future date?  How much is the view of the Capitol worth?  How much is a park across the street worth?  How close to the "hood" can you be before you devalue the property?  How close to an airport?  or a highway?  Is close proximity to the highway a plus or a minus?  What if everything looks good, but the crime rate's high and you don't research that?  What if the property is stigmatized?  What if it was the location for filming the Mary Tyler Moore show?

All of these questions are concerns when we try to determine the worth of a house.  It's not an exacting science, but it's definitely more complicated than some would lead you to believe.  It takes a lot of gut instinct combined with statistics to do a good valuation?  Have you considered all the criteria when you do your comps?