Buying A Home Near A Starbucks Can Increase Your Homes Value - Who Knew?

I occasionally use the website Zillow to look for properties, look at potential rental properties I may want to buy as well as check the "Zestimate" of my homes, even though I know a Zestimate really doesn't serve much practical purpose and is more for entertainment.

Anyhow, Zillow occasionally will send me articles and e-mails on various topics. Recently they sent out an e-mail giving tips to home buyers such as how the lowest interest rate isn't always the best loan if there's pre-payment penalties or high loan initiation fees.

Can Buying A Home Near Starbucks Increase Your Home's Value?

Anyhow, one interesting thing they mentioned in the article is that homes near the Coffee giant Starbucks see an increase in home value just due to being near a Starbucks coffee shop. Who knew?

Now on the surface this may seem stupid, really someone is going to pay more for a home because it's near a Starbucks? Now personally I'm not a huge fan of Starbucks, I'm more of a Dunkin Donuts kind of guy, however I can attest to wanting to live near a coffee shop.

It may seem trivial but if you're a coffee drinker like me you have to have a cup of coffee before your day starts. I prefer getting my coffee out as opposed to brewing it at home. I realize it's not the frugal thing to do and is a waste of money, however it gets my day started and it's one of my few splurges. Also, I'm just getting a plain cup of Joe and not some fru fru milkshake coffee drink that costs $7, so not a huge loss.

I have never really lived close to a coffee shop. I often go get a coffee as soon as I wake up to enjoy at home while doing my morning routine before actually getting in the car and going to work. It may sound silly that one would choose to buy a home based on a location of a coffee shop however I have said before "man I wish I had a coffee shop down the street I could walk to" or even one a short drive away as opposed to having to drive clear across town wasting probably a half hour round trip just so I can have my coffee before leaving the house and starting my day.

Now as we all should know stats and figures can be twisted to say anything so we do have to examine, is it strictly having a coffee shop near the house which increases home value or is the main factor that Starbucks typically is going to open stores in affluent or improving areas and therefore home values are following good areas which would grow in price whether a Starbucks is there or not. Basically this could be that Starbucks is not driving home prices, but Starbucks is simply moving into and opening up stores in areas where home values or already rising.

I woulnd't make the distance of a Starbucks a prime decision point in my home buying decision, however that said it can't hurt to have a Starbucks or coffee shop nearby.

If you're interested in reading Zillow's article you can read it at the link below...


Starbucks caffeinates home values, too, and some cities see a bigger jolt than others.