How to gauge the prospects of a location that you plan to invest in?

Rishi Singh has been in the city for a few years now. A tech job brought him from Kolkata to the Garden City of Bangalore. No longer happy with a rented space, he decided to set out looking for a home that he could buy. Naturally, the first step was to ask for advice from friends and family, and he was overwhelmed with all that came pouring in.While many emphasised the importance of location, others insisted that location was immaterial and amenities were important. Yet a few others spoke about maintaining a particular lifestyle and few more insisted on examining the appreciation of the property. For many finding one that matched all the criteria put forward proved to be a humungous task .So how does one prioritise the various aspects related to selecting a home to invest in? How does one gauge the prospects of an area? Amenities, prospective lifestyle and comfort levels, in no specific order are the primary factors examined when searching for a home. Before all of this however, is the very important factor of location.Cities with a high level of job creation continue to see high volumes of residential real estate supply and absorption feels Om Ahuja, CEO - Residential Services, Jones Lang LaSalle India. He explains his thoughts on the prospects of any residential location saying, “Cities with few or no economic drivers to spur the growth of employment fall behind, no matter what other factors seem to work in their favour. Earlier, Mumbai and Delhi attracted the most talent from rural areas. Today, cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Gurgaon have taken lead positions and are all set to overtake Mumbai and Delhi. The best investment locations in these cities are the ones where employees of a growing industry such as IT, IteS, manufacturing or the services sector seek homes.”As you would with any large investment, your purchase of a property has to be one of good value. A smart investor will keep in mind that the built-up structure on any land is going to depreciate with time.What will appreciate is the land itself. This does not mean however, that the quality and appearance of the structure be completely ignored. It does, to a large extent, have an impact on the growth prospects in that particular region.So how does one best assess a location to invest in? Sunder. P, CEO & Co Founder, HomeShikari.com, elaborates on a few important basics:Assess your investment goals: Your investment goals play an important role in choosing a location. Your decisions must support these long term investment goals.

• If you are a speculative buyer, then it would be prudent to buy in upcoming locations. Studying the kind of projects coming up in the location and the commercial growth it is witnessing today and its future prospects is important.
• If you want to earn on rentals, the supply and demand of housing in the location is an important consideration. Also examine the profile of prospective tenants in the area and their ability to help you generate and income while meeting various expenses.
• If you are looking to own and use the home for yourself, then assessing the prospects of surrounding urban infrastructure is as important for the appreciation of land value and your lifestyle? Will proposed government undertakings in the area be favourable or detrimental to your property's value or its liability in the coming years?

You will get your answers to all these questions by simply visiting the location and making enquiries. Interacting with the local residents and shop owners often reveals a lot.Assess current urban infrastructure: Whether you plan to live in your prospective home immediately or intend to make the most of rentals, ask these few questions

• Do you have access to basic urban infrastructure needed to live comfortably
• Do have clean and well paved access to the road
• How good is the connectivity of public transport
• Facilities around you in terms of shops, medical help, educational institutions, spiritual centers, etc

Assess how future infrastructural changes may affect your investment: Visiting the local government offices and asking for proposed infrastructural changes may not be easy but can go a long way in determining the true investment risks involved in buying a property there.If the property abuts a main road make sure it isn’t earmarked to be acquired for road widening projects. Even if the property is a safe distance from the main road, how long will these infrastructural changes take to come into effect? If you plan to live in the said property or rent it out, you must take into consideration that during such public undertakings, the liability and accessibility of the location may see a downtrend, at least until they're complete.Your assessment of a location has to from the long term viewpoint as well as the immediate difference it will make to your current life. Only when you are very sure of all that an area offers you, should you take your home search to the next level.