February 02, 2015
One chapter of "Zillow Talk: The New Rules of Real Estate" by Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff and chief economist Stan Humphries discusses a phenomenon they refer to as the "Starbucks Effect."
The new book covers the rules of real estate, from buying and selling to renting and financing.
One of their rules suggests that living near a Starbucks, "equates with venti-sized home-value appreciation. Moreover, Starbucks seems to be fueling — not following — these higher home values."
The chapter, excerpted by Quartz, explains that between 1997 and 2014, the average American home appreciated 65 percent, compared to a 96 percent increase for Starbucks-adjacent homes.
Rascoff and Humphries, acknowledging the argument that the "Starbucks Effect" may just be a coffee shop effect, also examined homes close to another prominent coffee chain, Dunkin’ Donuts.
They discovered that while the values of those homes do go up faster than the nation’s housing as a whole, they still don’t appreciate as fast as properties near Starbucks.
Indeed, at the end of the day, where you buy a home is based on countless subjective factors. As in "Moby Dick" — whose pages gave us the first mate Starbuck and inspired the Starbucks name — finding that perfect, ahead-of-the-curve home can sometimes seem like chasing your very own white whale. But some factors can make that search a little bit easier. So grab a venti skim latte — hey, get the extra shot — and go find the right home for you.
