Good homes sell even in a bad market — and here are a dozen principles the experts watch for when evaluating a potential sale.

By Marilyn Lewis

The real-estate bust has stripped all the smoke and mirrors from the housing market. In the starkest way possible, it is revealing which homes hold value in a recession, and why.

"Even in this market, there are certain things that will sell," says real-estate agent Michelle Sandoval in Port Townsend, Wash., where it’s difficult to sell homes, although prices haven’t dropped.

"Even in this market, I’ve had things sell for over full price. There are always bulletproof properties" that hold value better, Sandoval adds.

Certain upgrades can help recession-proof your house, but your home’s price resilience mostly depends on choices you made when you purchased. Since most homeowners buy and sell several times in their lives, you’re likely to have a chance to use these bulletproof principles the next time you buy.

Location, location, location

You’ve heard it before because it’s true: Location matters. It matters most, in fact, when it comes to holding value under pressure. Why? Because houses are replaceable, but land is not. If you’ve got a spot everyone wants, your place will sell faster and for a better price than a similar house elsewhere.

Take Punta Gorda, Fla., where, at this very moment, house prices are sliding so fast you can almost hear them sink.

"Everything is depreciating," says Cady Rowe, an agent with Coldwell Banker Morris Realty in Punta Gorda. However, Rowe adds, how deeply your price depreciates depends on where "your dirt" is.

"If your dirt is sitting in Punta Gorda Isles on the waterfront, it’s going to be worth a lot more than dirt somewhere else with a thousand lots just like it," Rowe points out.

A December study by Moody’s Economy.com predicted price declines in Punta Gorda will be the worst in the nation — down 35.3% by the second quarter of 2009. And that’s not accounting for inflation.

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