Most homebuyers fall in love with the glamour of the home’s elevation first. Potential owners picture their family, business associates, even their boss pulling up to the home and being impressed. The homebuyers think of their kid’s prom pictures and Easter egg hunts snapshots in front of the home.

A home’s elevation is important and does add to the value of a home. But what if I told you that the back of the home may be more important?

What is behind your home can add or subtract value. Let’s analyze landmarks that can greatly increase and sometimes decrease a home’s value.

Landmarks that can generally increase your home’s value include:

• Golf course lots. This depends on the hole location, however. For example, does the home get shelled by hacker level golfers?
• Waterfront lots. These are the most consistent value improvement.
• Greenbelts or parks backing lots.

Landmarks that can generally decrease your home’s value include:

• Commercial backing lots. These commercial operations are busy weekdays, though often quiet on the weekends.
• Retail backing lots.
• School backing lots. Schools are busy weekdays though often quiet on weekends.
• Freeway backing lots. These lots are tougher to sell.
• Apartment complex facing lots. Like freeway backing lots, these lots are tougher to sell.
• Power line backing lots.
• Underground oil pipe backing lots.
• Any lots near a waste treatment facility or junk yard.

Other factors can be classified as wildcards. These include:

• Vacant lot facing lots. These lots if you don’t know what’s coming behind you.
• Bayou lots. It’s important to know the flooding history.
• A neighbor/fence. Are they the best neighbors you ever had, or do they play their music too loud and their dogs bark without provocation?

Every lot has its pluses and minuses based on what’s behind it and of course there are exceptions. Some people hate waterfront/golf course lots because people can see in your back yard. Some people like backing to a commercial lot. Still, as stated earlier, these are generalizations.

Most people will have a good old-fashioned fence and a real neighbor. I recommend meeting them in advance of closing. Most importantly, before you close, consider what is behind you.

The prom pics in the front yard are nice, but few things raise or decrease value more that what’s behind you.

Timothy Sojka is the broker of the See TIM Sell Team at Keller Williams. His team has sold over 2,000 homes. Tim is also the author of the Amazon #1 political thrillers Payback Jack, Politikill and the upcoming addiction thriller, 39.