Five Signs of a Home that Will Appreciate in Value

It has been abundantly clear in the last few years that the housing market is a gamble. And whether you're buying a home as an investment or a place to retire, it'll be worth the effort to look for signs of future increases in value. Here are a few examples from the Utah market.

Quality construction. A home won't appreciate in value if it is poorly built. This doesn't just mean how it looks from the street. This includes having modern energy efficient components and good craftsmanship starting with the foundation. Daybreak Homes in South Jordan is a model community of quality green construction. When you find a house you like, have a building inspector take a close look at it to see that everything is in good order.

New and burgeoning communities. New developments tend to be strategically placed to encourage growth in the surrounding area. Eagle Mountain in Utah County was nothing but fields a few years ago. Now it's one of the fastest growing communities in Utah. And properties there are not only cheap, local governments are giving incentives for families to move in. That's a recipe for appreciating value.

Environmental quality. Most people don't think about the water or soil quality of new homes -- at least not until they have problems and they're stuck with it. Poor environmental can greatly reduce the value of your home even if you aren't planning on growing crops. When Geneva Steel was operating on the shore of Utah Lake, the water and property value was toxic. You can collect water and soil samples and send them somewhere like Timpview Analytical Labs to find out about the health of the ecosystem on a property.

Business growth. New businesses in an area are usually good for property value. This goes for Adobe coming in at the point of the Mountain and for a new dental practice for sale around the corner. Businesses provide jobs, and offer goods and services that can build demand for housing in an area. Many of the same things that make an area good for buying a business make it a good place for a home.

Community investment. - If the community is willing to put money and effort into keeping the neighborhood clean and safe, investing in schools and other institutions, your property value will likely steadily grow. Drive around the community and note how people keep their yards. Investigate how local schools are performing. Look up city ordinances and neighborhood covenants governing the use of property in your area.

There's no guarantee that any property will increase in value in the short term. But if you look for the foundation of a strong property value, and get in early, you're likely to be happy with your purchase down the road a few years.

Modern Solutions to Ancient Problems

Moving earth to build roads and shelter, making food last longer, and easing the pain of a toothache are all problems we've been dealing with since the first human tied a rock to a stick. After thousands of years of technological development you might think some problems would be laid to rest. You'd be wrong. We're still coming up with new and better ways to meet these age old challenges.

Bulk Material Handling

The invention of the shovel was no doubt a watershed moment for primitive builders. But the more we've developed as a society, the bigger we've wanted to build and to less we've wanted to exert ourselves. So we've invented drills, bulldozers, and conveyor belts to do the heavy shoveling for us. But we're not satisfied with that. All conveyor belts are not created equal. Engineers a Cambelt have further specialized this tool by varying the shape of the belts to be ideal for a variety of different materials. Somehow they figured out the most efficient way to convey sand up an incline is with a belt covered with 2-inch rubber studs. Cambelt sells conveyors for mining, agriculture, oil extraction, and many more industries.

Food Storage

Finding ways to carry and keep food for long periods of time was often a matter of life or death for our early ancestors. Today it can still be a making the budget every month. Food storage has come a long way in just the last few decades. It wasn't long ago that the typical food storage pantry carried a few cans of over sugared dried fruit, dried milk, a couple huge barrels of wheat, and a grinder. You could survive off it, but not happily. Today's food storage consists of a wide variety of freeze dried foods, many of which are made into just-add-water meals. You can even find food storage blogs that specialize in recipes for these foods so you don't have to learn to use freeze dried food from scratch.

Dental Work

Who knows how the first men and women dealt with a tooth ache? It's true they learned to use plants as pain killers. But that must have been a harsh trial and error process where the lucky ones felt better awhile but the unlucky ones died of poisoning. Then came alcohol and other strong drugs. These helped ease pain long enough for someone to yank out the tooth, but could addict you for life. And the tooth extraction could lead to further infections and other mouth problems. Modern dentists have localized anesthetics or can even put you to sleep. They can often drill out the infection saving the tooth or replace a missing tooth with a real looking and functioning permanent dental implant. If you can survive a few days of pain you'll probably end up going on as if there was never a problem to begin with.

Some problems are as old as the human race, and many of them will be with us as long as we exist. But it's interesting to see how far we've progressed and wonder what the next material handling tool or food storage trick or dental innovation will be.