3 Houses in a Row: Why the Land Beside a Park Is Worth More Than the House


On one street, there are three houses in a row — and my family owns all three. My wife and I own two of them, side by side, and my mom owns the third one right next door. People ask why we'd concentrate our buying on a single row of houses, and the answer is sitting right across the street: a park.

That's the whole strategy. The houses themselves are modest, but they're not really what we bought. We bought the land under them, in that location. A park doesn't move. The amenity across the street is permanent, and over time the land in a spot like that is going to be worth way more than the house sitting on it.

This is the oldest rule in real estate: location, location, location. Houses age, wear out, and eventually get torn down or rebuilt. Land in the right place just keeps getting scarcer and more valuable. When you're choosing between a nicer house in a weaker location and an ordinary house on great land, the great land is usually the better long-term buy.

It's also why buying as a family has worked so well here. Between us, we control the whole row, which only strengthens the position as that land appreciates. When you find a location you believe in, don't be afraid to keep buying it.

Key takeaways

  • My wife and I own two of the three side-by-side houses; my mom owns the third.
  • The reason for buying the whole row is across the street: a park — a permanent amenity that anchors the location's value.
  • Eventually the land will be worth way more than the houses on it.
  • Location, location, location: buy the land in the right spot and let time do the work.

Watch the original Short: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Dt1Fi6ZHgDo

Follow me for free investment real estate education!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Incredible Residential Garage with a Mezzanine: You Could Rent Out the Garage for $700 a Month

Image
Here's a property where the garage is the headline act. It's so big I joke that you buy the garage and the house comes free — and honestly, it's the biggest residential garage I've ever seen. It's not just wide or deep, either: there's a full mezzanine level inside it. The house itself is really nice, but the garage is what makes this place an investor's kind of property. Most buyers walk through a home and judge it on bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchen finishes. Investors need to look at the extras, because extras are where the hidden income lives. A garage this size isn't just parking and storage — it's rentable space. Space like this could rent out for $700 a month, and that's income most buyers never even think to count when they're running their numbers. That's the lesson here. Two buyers can look at the exact same property and see completely different deals, because one of them only sees a house and the other sees a house plus a secon...
Read more

It's Cheaper to Own a Vacation Home Than to Rent One

Image
My mom couldn't afford to rent her vacation home — so she bought it instead. That sounds backwards until you run her numbers, and her numbers are exactly why she owns the place today instead of handing a landlord a small fortune every winter. Here's the math she walked me through. Renting the home in prime time would cost $23,000 Canadian a month. Broken down nightly, that's $545 US a night — and she likes to stay for three months at a time. Three months of prime-time rent adds up to roughly $75,000. As she put it, she doesn't have $75,000 to spend on a vacation rental. Most people don't. So she flipped the problem around. Instead of paying $75,000 in rent and having nothing to show for it, she bought the home. The place isn't a cost sitting empty the rest of the year, either — she rents it out for ten months, and the rental income is what carries the property while she's not there. Then comes the best part: because she owns it, she gets to stay there for tw...
Read more