Look up. No really, look up at these two very similar blue houses. They both are blue for starters; in fact they both are 'starters.' One is on a tract of land that is 33x50 (feet that is), the other is on a half acre. Both have basements. Both are described as 'Peaceful' and both are located in Midwest states --the heartland of America, if you will.
Maybe you can already see where this is headed. One of these blue beauties was a recent listing of mine offered for $624,900 and placed under contract after 120 days on the Chicago market. The other is an E-Flyer offering I just received in my Inbox from an agent in Beloit, Wisconsin (less than 2 hours north). List Price: $71,900. Oh... and we both dangled the ubiquitous $900 at the end of our real asking price in typical Realtor fashion.
I had to look twice when I saw the 'pop-up' photo as they do appear similar at first glance. And on paper they are only separated by a single digit...one seemingly meaningless decimal to the right. A lone, hollow zero.
So, what's in a zero?
Answer: In this case, over a half million dollars ($553,000 to be exact)! Paradoxical, huh? An extra zero on a spreadheet is worth a cool half mil. Or to be more specific, $5,475 for each mile between Beloit and Chicago, all 101 of them. And with all due respect, you have to look pretty closely to see the beauty in either of these two examples. Perhaps the real beauty is in fact, on the inside (as in equity).
There's really not much more of a point to be made here except that while a picture might indeed be worth a thousand words, a picture in the right location is worth that plus a half million dollars to boot! Now, look up again and tell me...which is which?
Geno Petro
Dave, thank you for the comment...yeah, I'd say 'gray' sounds about right. Yet another reason why I'm not expecting the Pulitzer Prize this year.
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