Investing tips – the stock market should present you with a wide variety of NEW stocks in 2009. Many of them are going to be new technology stocks that come from the financial, energy, & communications sectors. Investing tips – mostly seem promising, but the truth is that a good number of these trading & investing opportunities could be extremely risky, while others are simply not as good as they look. That’s why it’s very important to know how to choose among the best especially if you want to trade them the same day.

Why do so many investments fall through cracks? Experts blame everything from lack of information to wrong strategy and over-confidence about the swings in the market. Here, some tips that may get you find the tracks of investments.

1. Determine your objectives in terms of short and long term.
2. Once the objectives are finalized, seek towards the type on investments to buy.
3. Calculate the level of risk to withstand it.
4. Determine where you stand in terms of needs and goals.
5. Make sure you have time to follow through your commitments.

Investing journal – Let me begin with some of the eye – catching metrics that might lead an investor to consider purchasing shares. Investing Journal – this newspaper company has a price – to – earnings ratio of 11.3, a price – to – sales ratio of 0.93, a 5 year average return on capital of 17.6%, and a five year average pre-tax profit margin of 27.4%. Investing Journal – the Journal Register Company has an enterprise value – to – EBITDA ratio of 9.07 and an enterprise value – to – revenue ratio of 2.24. Obviously, this company is carrying a lot of debt. So, perhaps the multiples on the common stock price are deceptive.

Investing the stock market – Stock is a share in the ownership of a company. When a private company decides to divide its business and allows the public to be a part of the firm, then it sells shares of ownership through stock offerings. For example, if a company sells one million stocks and you buy one share, then you own one-millionth of that company and vice versa.

When a company sells stocks to the public for the first time, then it is called initial public offering or new issue. One of the major reasons of selling stocks is to meet the financial needs of the company for its growth and expansion. If a company plans for expansion and if the bankers of the company feel that borrowing money would be a heavy burden, they look to investors and/or shareholders to finance the growth of the company.

Investing commodities – now, brokerage firms offer a variety of investments, including equities, bonds, CDs, REITs, mutual funds, money market funds, government treasuries, real estate, options, futures, and other derivatives. The Internet, so crucial in relaying information, is an important source of data for today’s investors. The links herein relate specifically to investments and ventures.

charts candlestick – The concept of charts candlestick is said to have originated in the 18th Century as a way to analyze rice prices over periods of time. Method was immediately popular with other rice traders because it allowed five data points to be displayed simultaneously. Additionally, it was easier for rice traders to predict future demand for their rice based on the trends and patterns shown by the charts candlestick.

new investors – New investors can begin by locating a house that requires some cosmetic modifications, with a mere finishing touch to bring back its lost charm. It is better to buy houses that can be renovated easily without any heavy expense. You can update the home lighting, carpeting and plumbing fixtures. You can sell the property for a huge profit. Try to avoid houses that cannot be marketed without any major structural repairs.

oil etf – We were discussing about Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) and its use which is mainly to save commission cost and reduce volatility. There are, however, instances where buying ETF will enhance your return compared to buying one individual stocks. Buying Oil ETF and its corresponding stock is one example.

energy etf – This means that they watch the future prices and resources of the energies. For example, oil and gasoline are futures. These energy ETFs depend on the future prices of a barrel of oil as well as how much oil is being made and stored. In other words, will there be enough supply to meet the demand. If the prediction is that there won’t be enough, then the obvious follow up is that gas prices will continue to rise. Therefore, anybody owning these energy exchange traded funds are likely to make money on them.

10000 dollars – Some of the simplest strategies work the best but having 10000 dollars today to invest can be a daunting thing to do. Most investors start at the risk profile of any potential investment and doing this is the first step in making sure your investment not only pays off, but that your seed capital stays intact and is returned to you.

invest 10000 – Some of the simplest strategies work the best but having invest 10000 dollars today to invest can be a daunting thing to do. Most investors start at the risk profile of any potential investment and doing this is the first step in making sure your investment not only pays off, but that your seed capital stays intact and is returned to you.

investing 10000 – If each share costs ten cents then you can buy 10,000 shares with $1000. And if a share rises to $12 then you can easily earn $2000 by selling those 10,000 shares. You can sell the shares for $12,000 immediately after investing 10000 dollars. That means you have not made 20% profit but its 100% gain.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

His reply was both profound and accurate. “David,” he said, “The smart money is moving into gold, but the SMARTEST money is moving into silver!”

Investing in silver is a great way to make money, especially if you are looking to secure your future or your retirement. But of course, just like any type of investing, there are no guarantees. You need to know what you are doing and what the silver market is all about before you can get too involved. This is the only way to make sure that you give yourself every possible advantage to benefit from silver investing.

That’s the ONE and ONLY reason that I am here today. I want to share with you some tips that will give you direction when you start investing in silver so you can make the most money possible.

7 Getting Started in Silver Investing Tips That Will Make You More Money

1. Take a close look at the market before you decide that silver investing is right for you. Investing is silver is different than investing in stocks and bonds.

2. Educate yourself. If you are not sure how investing in silver works, touch base with a professional who can help you with the buying and selling process.

3. Complete effective online research. Be careful of the information you find. There’s so much information online about silver investing, but a lot of it is misinformation. You want to learn from experts who are in the trenches tracking the silver market and making investments every day. For example, the information that you will find on http://www.silver-investor.com is based on my experiences and knowledge from following the silver market daily for more than thirty years.

4. Get familiar with the many different ways that you can invest in silver. You can invest in silver mining companies, silver ETFs, silver futures, silver bullion and silver coins. The sure-fire way to invest in silver without the worry is to invest in bullion or coins. This is the place to start– real metal for your future. You don’t have to pay for a mining company’s energy costs. And you don’t have to buy 1000 to 5000 ounces in a futures contract that carries too much risk for a beginning silver investor.

5. If you are looking to invest in silver coins and silver bars then you need to know this trick — Find sellers who are actually selling as near the spot price of silver as possible (spot plus a reasonable fee). A general rule is that the more silver you are buying the less percentage of fees you should be expected to pay. When buying coins to invest in their silver content be certain you are not buying coins for their numismatic value (the value to a collector of rare coins).

6. Before you invest in silver, make sure you calculate how much you can invest between your IRA rollover funds, cash on hand and other assets that you wish to turn into silver. Be sure to keep your emergency fund mostly in cash for unforeseen expenses. You don’t want to bite off (invest) more than you can chew (afford).

7. Stay on top of the market. There are times to buy. And, there are times to sell. Yes, at some point, it may be better to sell some or perhaps even all of your silver holdings for currency, depending on the bull market and your personal investment goals. But the only way you know when to buy or sell is if you have current silver market investing information at your fingertips.

Here’s a Bonus Silver Investing Tip For You…

Get started now. The time to invest in silver is today!

What are you waiting for?

Put my tips into action and start investing in silver right away.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

First of all, like it or not, people make value judgements about you before you even open your mouth. Think about it. What preconceived ideas do you have about a bag lady vs. a movie star? You get an image but the reality is you don’t really know anything about them. It is in your best interest to present a well-groomed professional image and make sure your staff members comply as well.

This professional image extends to the meeting location you choose, the marketing items you provide, and your presentation.

This is whether you want to borrow money, buy their house or sell them a home.

The first verbal message should be to gain rapport with the guests. I share that I have lived in the area for 10 years and I have kids in school. I establish credibility as a member of the community. We are in this together. If you lose, I lose – and I’m not gonna lose because I have a lot at stake.

The actual presentation sends one clear, consistent message such as “you loan me money and I’ll give you high interest payments”. That’s it. While I have other facets to my business and other interests, I do not waiver in my message.

Sending a straightforward message in an easy-to-understand way, to convey credibility because there is no “small print.” You let them know this is a simple program. These are the simple forms. This is the way it works. Period.

Current action conveys credibility. I always mention one of my most recent deals which is usually that I bought and/or sold a property yesterday or within the last few days.

In my presentation I acknowledge their fears and openly address a big one when I show the slide that says, “What Happens to my Investment if Alan Dies.” They usually chuckle because they thought of that but didn’t want to say it. I let them know that the corporation is structured to sell properties and their principle and interest will be paid as agreed. Talk about credibility. Have I not crossed all the T’s and dotted all the I’s with this presentation?

Also, If you say you are going to do it, DO IT.

Someone might be testing you by loaning a small amount just to see if you are for real. Make sure you send them their interest check at exactly the agreed upon time for the correct amount. I’ve seen this happen time and time again where the lender comes back a couple months later with more money. Then a few months later they come back with even more money. You must prove that you are for real and that you do what you say.

If you break that trust, it’s over.

Finally, I build credibility by being reachable. I have an office that they can stop by. I have an answering service that picks up my calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and relays important messages quickly. I have a web site where the lender can see what I’m doing and, they can send me email and I respond promptly.

Credibility is powerful… Learn to use it to your advantage.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

What is meant by foreclosure?

Literally speaking, a foreclosure is referring to as loss of ownership from a property when a loan is not duly repaid. For one reason the terms and conditions have to be strict. You may ask why? Countering which I may ask that what would happen when I miss my mortgage payments? In this case Foreclosure may occur. By this legal procedure your lender can use to take over your home. In this case you must move out of your house.

How can foreclosure be a risky business and how may I avoid it?

All I should say on this part is that it is a real time threat for those who are defaulters. If you have not paid off all your dues, taxes or any other sort of debts within given time frame that does necessarily mean that you are on top of the list. The simplest way of avoiding is to keep your self a non-defaulter.

How foreclosure does accommodate in real estate?

Another scenario of Foreclosure is that given your property is worth less than the total amount you own, your mortgage loan will result in deficiency of judgment which would ultimately result in selling out your property at cheaper prices. So it is better if you are paying off all your dues inside allotted time period to avoid being included in the foreclosure listings.

Is there any way out; once being included in the foreclosure listings?

Once you are into it, the only way out of such situation is that you should keep all your letters and legal documents those have been signed between you and your landlord to counter any illegitimate claims by the owner.

What are the margins and flexibilities of foreclosure?

The margins of Foreclosure are beyond buying and selling. The scope at which it is growing is worrisome in one sense of the word and awesome in the very best sense of the word. Since it is being fluently practiced in institutional system where recovering debts and taxes is a big deal, this is the reason why it is not widely appreciated by defaulters. It is like once a bank is in listings; it will then be given a suitable time period to pay off all its dues failing which means government will have all the rights of an ownership of the said bank. The authority of an individual over his home or a group of people over an institution is no more legitimate once the home or the institution is held for listings.

Is foreclosure legitimate or an illegitimate business?

To answer this, I would say that those who are sincere in dealings would always recommend it over those who don’t believe in fair dealings. The ethical aspect of the said system should never be ignored while criticizing the proposed system

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Buying a house (property) is a big deal, not to mention a big expense. If you’re thinking about buying your first property, it pays to know your rights as a buyer and how the buying process works. If it’s been a while since you’ve been in the market this might be just the refresher you need.

It’s obvious that buyers are starting to gather by the sidelines and homes sales should slide by about five percent. But that’s nothing to panic about, Evens continue, Keep in mind that housing sales have reached new records every year for the past five years. Also, home prices are still expected to rise.

What can be property ?
Only when items are relatively scarce with respect to people’s desires they become property. For example, hunter-gatherers did not consider land to be property, since there was no shortage of land. Agrarian societies later made arable land property, as it was scarce.

Who can be an owner?
Ownership laws may vary widely among countries depending on the nature of the property of interest (firearms, real property, personal property, animals). In some societies only adult men may own property.

Types
On the basis of common law that can be divided in to two
1.real property- interests in land and improvements there to
2.personal property – interests in anything other than real property

Investing in property:
In recent years land investment has become an increasingly valuable commodity. Today investing in plots is just simple but possibly a better hassle free alternative. The difference is when one is buying a property it would involve a higher initial outlay, comparatively more than buying land. However, the interest in many investors including tester investors – are not simply looking for land for sale. The popularity of buying plots is manifesting worldwide. An opportunity for developers not to miss land for sale in an area where so many rich fruits are being offered all at once.

For know about India real estate and property go to:

http://www.onlineghar.com

http://www.property-india.in/

Here you find the good real estate marketing flyer will also be attractively designed, neat and devoid of clutter. It should also be done in clear and easy to read type fonts. They give you an idea about property management and real estate management and what a real estate manager do?
Onlineghar.com is a privately owned company with offices in North India. Its web site consists of the largest single collection of properties and estate agents in India, with over 200,000 unique visitors every month.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Consider investing some money in Search Engine Optimization and/or placement. It is now known that most of the consumers start their home search on the Internet. A strong Web presence is no longer a novelty it is a necessity to anyone who wants to be a successful realtor. If you are serious about being a successful realtor, you owe it to yourself to look to become a marketing professional.

That’s all they are. It doesn’t have to get any more complicated then that. One of the main reasons WHY people come online is to search for Information that’s either related to a problem they’re facing or for some consumer reviews on a particular product or service they’re thinking about purchasing.

Real estate agents would say that the more you tell them, the better they can negotiate on your behalf. However, the degree of trust you have with an agent may depend upon their legal obligation. Agents working for buyers have three possible choices: They can represent the buyer exclusively, called single agency, or represent the seller exclusively, called sub-agency, or represent both the buyer and seller in a dual-agency situation

The suggestions for marketing your listings:
Create a marketing proposal; try to approach your proposal to each client. As soon as you receive a signed listing agreement, enter it into your Multiple Listing service, making it instantly available to other real estate professionals.

Have a professional photographer photograph the home and create a Virtual Tour. When marketing your homes, pictures speak a thousand words! Since exposure is the key to selling a home, use signage whenever possible. As people pass by, day or night, they see from the sign that the home is for sale, and see immediately who to call to get more information or to view the property.

If you want to know more go to:

http://www.onlineghar.com

http://www.property-india.in/

Here you find the good real estate marketing flyer will also be attractively designed, neat and devoid of clutter. It should also be done in clear and easy to read type fonts. They give you an idea about property management and real estate management and what a real estate manager do?

http://www.onlineghar.com is simply a Information Packed website with hundreds, if not, thousands of WebPages full of targeted information.
Onlineghar.com is a privately owned company with offices in North India. Its web site consists of the largest single collection of properties and estate agents in India, with over 200,000 unique visitors every month.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

There are so many ways to let the world know what you do. Some ways are cheap and some are more expensive. Real Estate is one of the expensive ways, according to average peoples. Some one says “If the deal is right, I will find the money!”Because money does not matter, so many banks/companies provide loans for investing in real estate.

Really that is not risky, because in future we find the big demand for properties/housing. Typically, when more entry-level jobs are available here, means more people need property/housing. But for investing in real estate you should always be smart. S.M.A.R.T. stands for Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Timely. You should always use a real estate agent, because he provides you good advice and guidance for buy/sell.

There are so many reasons for investing in real estate, because if you start a business that will be own dangerous assets. Also you have to pay too many taxes. Real estate is less expensive maintenance, long-term investment benefits.

But there are so many things that should kept in mind always. You should have marketing strategy. You have the capability to identifying strategy that works, that time. How accurately estimate the current market value of investment properties.

These days all the work is done with the help of computer. Property buyers/sellers can now quickly, accurately assess a distant property’s location quality from their PC. If you want to invest in real estate, you don’t have to go to the dealer. You just get the all details on computer in few second, and you can buy or sell the property on the internet also. There are so many sites which helps you to have a good deal in the real estate market. Huge percentages of buyers begin their home searches online and sign up to receive automatic e-mails when a house matching their criteria comes to market.

For know about India real estate and property go to:

http://www.onlineghar.com

http://www.property-india.in/

Here you find the good real estate marketing flyer will also be attractively designed, neat and devoid of clutter. It should also be done in clear and easy to read type fonts. They give you an idea about property management and real estate management and what a real estate manager do?

Onlineghar.com is a privately owned company with offices in North India. Its web site consists of the largest single collection of properties and estate agents in India, with over 200,000 unique visitors every month.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Scenario 1: You current mortgage loan rate is high in relative to market rates

If you are currently holding a mortgage loan which has interest rate significantly higher than the rates offer in the market. And after calculating all the refinance cost and you are seeing a “Saving” in loan repayment. Then, refinancing your house would be your wise decision.

Scenario 2: Refinance from adjustable rate mortgage to a fixed mortgage

You currently hold on adjustable rate mortgage and you have recently discovered that your long term income prospects aren’t looking as rosy as they once were. And the mortgage interest rate has very high chances to be increased in near future. You do not want to your financial future to be affected with these unforeseen changes which may causes a spike increase in your loan repayment. Therefore, you can refinance to a fixed mortgage loan so that you can budget more effectively on your reduced income stream.

Scenario 3: To shorter your mortgage loan term

Your financial situation is getting better and you may want to build equity as fast as possible in your house so that you can fully own it with full loan settlement. Hence, if you refinance to a shorter mortgage loan term, you can create this equity faster.

But, you should consider it carefully with you financial ability with the new loan term. If you are going to take on higher monthly payments, its savvy to work with a financial planner to see how these increased monthly costs may impact your investment portfolio and general quality of living.

Scenario 4: Refinance to avoid spike payment due to balloon mortgage

You might signup a balloon mortgage loan package when you bought your house. As you know that you need to pay for large payment at the time of maturity. The time is coming close but you forecast that your financial situation may not support it when the time come; thus, you may want to refinance your house before the large payments come due and pass the debt down to your future self. By creating this time cushion, you give yourself a window to generate income and asset streams in anticipation of your upcoming refinanced mortgage payments.

Scenario 5: Refinance To finance other big ticket purchases

You can refinance to draw upon the earned equity in your home to finance certain big ticket purchases. Remember that the duration of time you expect to stay in your house will influence your refinancing calculations.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

The equity you have built up can be used for many purposes on your advantage. Many people will use this equity to draw out cash by refinancing their house; the cash may be use to finance other major purchases such as second mortgage, making major improvement to your property or to fund their children educational expenses.

If you are in bad debt situation, your equity can be the hero in saving you from bankruptcy. You can pledge your equity to apply for a home equity loan which will allow you to borrow a relatively large amount of money to consolidate your debts. As compare to other personal or unsecured loan, a home equity loan is easier to get approve even you are in a bad debts situation; lenders may be more liberal because they view home equity loan as relatively safe. You can’t disappear with your house or hide it if you default on your loan, so the lender has a good chance of collecting the collateral.

Besides using your equity for bad debt consolidation, you may use it for other high-interest rates debt consolidation. One of the advantages of home equity loans are they typically have lower interest. And you could you this advantage to consolidate all your high-interest monthly payments into a single loan which had a considerably lower interest rate.

Typically you are allowed to refinance up to 75%, (sometimes 80%), of the value of the property on conforming loans whereas on jumbo loans you are limited to 70% of the property’s value. For example, if your home is now valued at $150,000 and your loan balance is $70,000, you might be able to get a new $150,000 x 75% = 112,500 mortgage. That would allow you to repay the existing $70,000 balance and use the $42,500 for your financial needs.

Another possibility to use the equity to your advantage is home equity lines. Many lenders offers home equity lines for homeowners and allow them to draw cash advances with their credit card or write checks up to certain credit limit.

Before using a home equity loan or home equity credit line for any purpose, you should be aware of the pitfalls of these loans. The main thing is that you can lose your home if you fail to meet the payment schedule required by the loan. Therefore you need to consider it carefully before do a cash-out with your equity.

Dream Home Mortgage providers readers with free mortgage financial tools on New Home Purchase, Home Refinance, Home Equity Loans and other general mortgage calculators.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

With the development of private property ownership, real estate has become a major area of business. Purchasing real estate requires a significant investment, and each parcel of land has unique characteristics, so the real estate industry has evolved into several distinct fields. Cities such as Vancouver, British Columbia have experienced remarkable growth in real estate prices in the new millennium.

Now a days property is play many role it is use as investing money or for a living purpose If your desire is invest money in property then it is not bad for now a days but u r looking for living reason then there are many precautions that is keep in our mind earlier than the buying .If you are moving out of your rented flat and you want to your bond back. Then decide which city is good for you & your future then decide to buy it .as we know that in metropolitan city the price is touch to sky then it is not easier to buy a house. Then you should city as your budget.

Because the amounts of money involved are typically very large, a majority of real estate development projects are financed with a large amount of debt leverage. Because expense is high, sale is difficult, and return on investment is delayed, real estate investment is inherently risky. A large part of the work of developers is the management of risk.

Successful real estate developers can become enormously wealthy due to the large sums of money being transacted and the value of the assets they control. However, because of the illiquidity of their assets, they are also very often cash-poor. Inability to remain cash solvent is the primary cause of business failure for real estate developers.

Real estate markets are modeled as a stock/flow market. About 98% of supply consists of the stock of existing houses, while about 2% consists of the flow of new development. The stock of real estate supply in any period is determined by the existing stock in the previous period, the rate of deterioration of the existing stock.
Every piece of real estate is unique, in terms of its location, in terms of the building, and in terms of its financing. This makes pricing difficult, increases search costs, creates information asymmetry and greatly restricts substitutability

Real estate can be purchased with the expectation of attaining a return (an investment good), or with the intention of using it (a consumption good), or both. These functions can be separated (with market participants concentrating on one or the other function) or can be combined (in the case of the person that lives in a house that they own). This dual nature of the good means that it is not uncommon for people to over-invest in real estate, that is, to invest more money in an asset than it is worth on the open market.

Real-estate consulting group Knight Frank has ranked India 5th in the list of 30 emerging retail markets and predicted an impressive 20 per cent growth rate for the organized retail segment by 2010. The number of malls in Mumbai, Bangalore, New Delhi, Hyderabad and Noida was expected to grow to about 250 by 2010 as against 40 now. In terms of total area, there was 12.40 million square feet of mall space available in these cities.

For years, India was lagging behind in the real estate sector. Despite the inherent potential, the real estate market in the country was characterized by lack of institutional funding support and absence of world-class developer now we can say that real estate market in India is booming. India is a fast growing economy in property.

For know about India real estate and property go to:

http://www.onlineghar.com

http://www.property-india.in/

Here you find the good real estate marketing flyer will also be attractively designed, neat and devoid of clutter. It should also be done in clear and easy to read type fonts. They give you an idea about property management and real estate management and what a real estate manager do?
Onlineghar.com is a privately owned company with offices in North India. Its web site consists of the largest single collection of properties and estate agents in India, with over 200,000 unique visitors every month.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Real estate agents in India are knowledgeable about the different areas and can provide you with a wealth of information regarding available real estate options. You may need to visit the state a few times if you are not sure where you want to live. It may be a hard decision, unless of course you are relocating for a job, in which the choice you make is somewhat limited. If you have a certain area in mind, you may want to consult with real estate agents in India to help you find exactly what you’re looking for.

Many homeowners think that selling home alone without the help of a Realtor will help to shorten the process and you can save money in the end. The fact of the matter is that selling your home on your own isn’t an easy task. In fact, you may actually lose a substantial quantity of money when you try to sell your home alone because you aren’t well spoken in the language and business of real estate.

A Realtor can not only save you money, instead they can save you time and stress so that you can pact with the changeover from one house to the other as efficiently as possible.

There are quite a few websites that can help you locate homes for sale and real estate agents in India. Some of the most popular are

http://www.onlineghar.com
http://www.property-india.in/

Which feature the information for only real estate in India.

By using the Internet you can search for a real estate agent, and find the perfect home all online. You can even use mortgage calculators and apply for a mortgage. The Internet has definitely made finding real estate agents in India, and all states for that matter, a snap.

Here you find the good real estate marketing flyer will also be attractively designed, neat and devoid of clutter. It should also be done in clear and easy to read type fonts. They give you an idea about property management and real estate management and what a real estate manager do?

http://www.onlineghar.com is simply a Information Packed website with hundreds, if not, thousands of WebPages full of targeted information.onlineghar.com show the market for houses and plots of land also upholds an active market. They are also looking for good property investment opportunities and advise.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

As the awareness of Feng Shui increases, more real estate agents are being asked to show buyers homes with “good” Feng Shui. If a real estate agent has knowledge of this ancient and highly respected design philosophy will assists him/her to:

Increase the value, marketability, and emotional appeal of a home.
Build confidence with Feng Shui savvy buyers and sellers.
Provide solutions to remedy a home’s Feng Shui energy challenges.
Build referrals by selling “Feng Shui friendly” homes that support the well being of your clients and their sphere of influence.

This section will explain the 5 Feng Shui tips for your references.

Tip 1 : Main Entrance

The main door is like the mouth for the house. It is the gateway between the world and the privacy of the home and air currents literally enter and exit at this point.

The positioning of a main door can determine the fortune or misfortune of the occupants. Therefore you must keep the entrance clear of any clutter to allow the energies to flow freely.
Make sure there is nothing in direct alignment with the door such as a tree or telegraph pole. To remedy this place a Bagua mirror over the door so it is reflecting the Sha Qi.
Avoid facing a dark, pokey room, an interior staircase, mirror, stove, sink, fireplace, the door of a toilet, laundry, bathroom or bedroom. To remedy this keep the doors closed or place a screen between the doors.

Tip 2 : Bedrooms

Bedrooms should be sacred spaces where an adult or child can retreat and regenerate. Most people spent roughly one third of their lives in their bedroom, so maintaining balance and serenity in this area is essential.

Tip 3 : Kitchen

In any case, it’s better if you don’t see the kitchen immediately upon entering the house, as this can portend digestive, nutritional, and eating problems. Having the kitchen at the entry point can also mean that guests will come over and eat and then leave immediately, and such a placement can also encourage the inhabitants to eat all the time.

Tip 4 : Windows

A house should have sufficient windows. Windows are in very important to allow sufficient light or pleasant views into the room.

Tip 5 : Dining & Living Room

Whenever possible the dining room should be separate from the living room. It is a social area for family members, thus it better to have as big as possible.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

A little further drive up the east bank of the canal you will find the Gamboa Rainforest Resort. It’s a pretty pricey place to stay or eat. But, if luxury accommodations and gourmet dining in the rain forest are not in your budget don’t despair. You can still plan a day trip to Gamboa and take in it’s many ecological tours al la carte. On our first visit we took the Aerial Canopy Tour and checked out the 5 exhibits which showcase local flora and fauna as well as a replica of an Embera Indian village. I have to say we were a little disappointed in the Canopy Tour. It was pretty cool but it didn’t produce any bird or wildlife spotting. Our guide explained that we had come at a time of the year and a time of the day when the wildlife was quiet. Later we learned that one of the best tours was a visit by boat to Monkey Island.

Although we didn’t catch it on our first visit, on a subsequent trip to the city we hiked our way up Ancon Hill. It rises 654 feet from the bay and for 400 years has been a key geographical reference point in Panama. The commanding 360-degree view of the city, Casco Viejo, the Pacific Ocean and the entrance to the Panama Canal makes it a great place for taking photos.

My wife always says, “A trip to Panama City is never complete without a day or two of shopping.” We discovered two beautiful modern indoor malls. The Multi-Plaza and Multi-Centro are relatively recent additions to Panama City and boast some of the best shopping in Latin America. The Multi-Centro is located in Paitlla, one of the wealthiest areas of Panama City. It’s also billed as the largest shopping mall in Central America. In Multi-Centro you will find a casino, movie theatre, arcade, internet cafe, bookstores, 3 department stores and many more shops. It is also connected with the Radisson Decapolis Hotel. The Multi-Plaza is similar and is connected to the Marriott Courtyard (one of my favourite places to stay in PC). The Multi-Plaza has a similar selection of shops and also has a couple of great restaurants. Paladar serves a wonderful selection of dishes and for those missing home you can check out Tony Romas.

A great place to spend your last night in Panama City or any night for that matter is the Amador Causeway. The night time views back to the city lights are spectacular. Go out a little before sunset so you can stop by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. It’s also fun to rent a bike and ride the boardwalk. Check out the shops on Isla Naos and after you have worked up an appetite and the sun has set continue out the causeway to Isla Flamenco where you will find the marina and the Flamenco Shopping Plaza. Get a table outside at Alberto’s. You can enjoy great food and drink while admiring the mega yachts in the marina with the city skyline behind.

Well it’s time to say goodnight as we have an early flight to Bocas del Toro tomorrow. Ciao! Hasta Luego!

For two years Mark lived in the Republic of Panama. With his wife and two young sons he traveled throughout this beautiful country and learned how to Safely Invest in Panama Real Estate bargains. Panama City, Bocas del Toro & Boquete – Shop, Golf, Bird Watch & Snorkel – Now you can follow the journey with his young family discovering the best places to eat, stay and live.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Three years ago if someone had suggested investing in Panama I would have laughed and thought they were crazy. Like most people I knew little of Panama. To the best of my memory it was a small country, somewhere in Central America, with a canal for shipping and I recalled talk of a dictator roaming about. A wake up call followed by some internet research changed my life and my knowledge of Panama forever.

My journey began as I prepared my apprehensive family for a different kind of vacation. We removed our jewellery, left our “nice” clothes behind, donned our backpacks and boarded a plane in Toronto. Less than 5 hours later we landed in Panama. Something had to be wrong! There was no stop-over and the time was the same. How could this world away be less than 5 hours, non-stop from Toronto and in the same time zone?

After arriving at the international airport in Tocumen we drove along the modern toll highway (Corredor Sur – the south run) into the city. Reaching the point where the highway is built out over the ocean, I looked to my right and noticed the ruins of Panamá Viejo. On a later trip I arrived at night and enjoyed a special little treat as the site is lit by flood lights and looks quite impressive and beautiful in contrast to the modern condominium towers of Punta Pacifica, directly in front.

Our whirlwind adventure began with a hotel stay, in the heart of Panama City, for just over $50! Close by we noticed all of the night life and modern conveniences of any major city. It really was as modern as Miami, just as we had heard – too bad we left our nice clothes and jewellery behind! And where was this “Third World Country” we had been led to be afraid of? Although the city was busy and the drivers pretty crazy it reminded me of many other older big cities – Montreal, Rome, and Paris.

Rich pre-Colombian heritage of native populations stretching back over 12,000 years was still evident in the art and artefacts. Of course the Spanish Colonial period combined with some French influence is most obvious in the architecture. The protective fort walls (circa 1673) still stand along the edges of Casco Viejo – direct translation means ‘Old Helmet’ which is quite appropriate considering it was a location chosen for it’s safety and ease of defence. Prior to Casco Viejo the city was located to the north east. This is ‘Panamá la Vieja’ although it is commonly referred to as Panamá Viejo. Panamá Viejo was founded in 1519 by the conquistador Pedro Arias de Ávila, better known as Pedrarias. In 1671 the city was sacked and burned to the ground by the notorious Welsh pirate Henry Morgan. There really is little left beyond a few ruins but it is certainly worth a stop or drive by. Casco Viejo by contrast is still a small city within the city and we spent a number of hours here during the day and returned again for some great dining at night. It’s a mixed bag here and the area is definitely in transition. You find old buildings with peeling paint right next to beautifully restored ones. It is quite reminiscent of New Orleans with narrow streets, cafes, restaurants and even a jazz bar. My favourite sights included: the Church of the Golden Altar (Iglesia de San José); Plaza de la Independencia (this is the plaza where Panama declared it’s independence from Columbia in 1903); Plaza de Francia, Plaza Bolívar, the area around the Palacio de las Garzas, and the Flat Arch (Arco Chato). It was lovely walking around and I really felt like I was in Europe when I visited this special place.

Although we didn’t have any problems at all, Casco Viejo is known not to be the safest part of the city. However, like anywhere I found using common sense kept us out of any trouble. Also, there were plenty of tourism police around and that added a touch of comfort. Returning at night I really felt more comfortable being dropped off in the plazas.

To end our day we discovered one of my favorite restaurants in all of Panama, Manolo Caracol on Avendia Central y calle Tercera in Casco Viejo. When you plan your visit be sure to call ahead for a reservation!

Well it’s time to head back to our hotel. I’ll catch up with you tomorrow as we explore more of Panama City. Hasta Luego!

For two years Mark lived in the Republic of Panama. With his wife and two young sons he traveled throughout this beautiful country and learned how to Safely Invest in Panama Real Estate bargains. Panama City, Bocas del Toro & Boquete – Shop, Golf, Bird Watch & Snorkel – Now you can follow the journey with his young family discovering the best places to eat, stay and live.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

a) Make interest payment when property sells
b) One private lender per mortgage
c) I keep my word

Let me further explain what I mean on each of these…

a) Make interest payment when property sells…
I didn’t start out that way. I thought everyone would expect monthly or quarterly payments, so I started paying some early lenders monthly. But after a conversation with a RE guru, I quickly changed and now pay when the property sells. What a huge benefit to cash flow and what a BIG help with the office paperwork. Not only is this a matter of less paperwork for the staff, there is another practical reason for doing this. When a lender’s money is applied to a property at closing, the clock starts ticking. The interest rate starts. However, it may take a couple months to renovate the house and find a buyer or rent-to-own tenant. So the cash flow from the property will not even start for a couple months.

In addition, when you sell the house the lender gets a bigger chunk of money to lend back to you for your next project. Everybody wins.

b) One private lender per mortgage…
The #1 question I get from all over the country is “can I pool lenders money”. The answer is maybe.

You cannot “pool” lender’s money unless you fill out some paperwork with your state.

So, if you need more funds to purchase and rehab a property, then the 1st lender (the one with the most money) gets a 1st mortgage on the property and if you need more money to rehab the property, bring in a 2nd lender and they get a 2nd mortgage.

They are your “Bank” and they get a mortgage (lien) on your property.

You take possession of the property in a land trust and you get the deed. The lender gets a mortgage. These are the two key documents on any real estate transaction.

Actually, you can have as many mortgages (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) as you like on a property as long as you don’t over leverage the property.

c) I keep my word…
I follow my agreement with each lender exactly. I run my business with integrity. Like I said earlier, my rule now is that I make interest payments when the property sells. But there are a few early lenders with whom I made the agreement to pay monthly. I will stick to my agreement with them regardless of how long they invest with me. And, since they love those checks, they’ll probably be around a long time — and that’s great as far as I’m concerned.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

You can find private lenders who will change your life and help you take your business to an incredible level of success.

As you prepare to find these lenders, it is practical to stop and consider just who they are and how to reach them. You want to attract people who have the means to step up and take action on your program.

When I decided to work with private lenders, I wanted to go beyond just my circle of friends, I wanted to reach others as well. My challenge was to determine common denominators and find a way to effectively reach those people.

I knew the kinds of individuals I wanted to reach were financially savvy and could appreciate the generous interest rate I offer.

I found out that I could get an extremely targeted list of names of potential lenders from a list broker. You can find the name of a list broker in the phone book or on the Internet. The one I used was Dunhill’s. You can tailor the list almost any way you want. I thought a lot about this then requested the names, addresses, and phone numbers of people who met the following criteria:

a.) They were located in our county
b.) They owned their own home
c.) They bought items through the mail
d.) They owned bank Certificates of Deposit (or CD’s)

Let’s look at each one on this list for just a moment and I’ll explain the logic behind my target choices.

A.) They were located in our county.

I wanted to focus on my local market because it was likely they already knew about me from my other marketing efforts:

They’d seen the ‘I Buy Houses’ signs for years. I sponsored Little League teams and so they may have seen the t-shirts with ‘I Buy Houses’ and my phone number on the shirts. They may have even read the newspaper articles the local paper had done about my company Integrity Home Buyers, Inc. and me.

When I specified this criteria, I believed the lender would be comfortable loaning to one of their neighbors.

Also, some of my current lenders seemed to delight in being able to actually drive by the house on which they held the mortgage while I was having my crew do the work. They seemed to feel safe knowing exactly where their money was. They liked being able to tell their friends, ‘My money is in that house right there.’

b.) They owned their own home.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Each state regulates investments offered to its citizens. The federal government, through the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), regulates offerings across state lines. This means that you’ll have to look at the laws and regulations in your state when you’re only working with private lenders in your state. If you’re working with folks across state lines, you’ll need to comply with the laws in each state you’re working in and comply with the SEC’s rules too.

What about advertising?

It’s important to understand that each state sets its rules for advertising investment opportunities, which includes private lending. Every state has opportunities for you to advertise to bring in private lenders. There are strict regulations on this and you need to comply with the states rules.

What about advertising across state lines?

You would use a state exemption that allows you to advertise and only advertise to accredited investors. Accredited investors are defined elsewhere in this package of information. As a reminder, the Securities Act of 1933 has several definitions of accredited investors. The most important for your business are likely to be these two:

1. A natural person who has individual net worth, or joint net worth with the person’s spouse, that exceeds $1 million at the time of the purchase;
2. A natural person with income exceeding $200,000 in each of the two most recent years or joint income with a spouse exceeding $300,000 for those years and a reasonable expectation of the same income level in the current year.

So what sort of disclosure should I give my private lenders?

When you are reaching out to private lenders, whether it’s just one or a large group, it’s very important that you disclose the risks and benefits of the private lending opportunity you’re offering them. There are several reasons you should do this. Some are for the benefit of your private lenders, who will want to know what your business is and how they can make money lending to you.

Securities laws work to protect private lenders, so you must disclose to them what the potential downsides are. These might include how long it will take to sell a property; mortgage rate changes, housing market pricing fluctuations, or the cost of rehabbing a property. There are others you’ll want to mention.

Disclosure documents will also help you protect yourself and business against possible claims that you didn’t describe the business properly. A strong disclosure document will help you protect your reputation and protect you against frivolous litigation. It will also help you comply with securities laws and regulations and, should you get a question from a regulator, help you demonstrate to them you are working to be in compliance.

Commissions- Can I pay them?

The bottom line on paying commissions is: don’t. Unless you are using a proper registration or exemption and using a licensed or registered broker/dealer, almost every state prohibits paying commissions for the sale of securities.

Now, in Ohio, it is possible to pay someone to help you get potential private lenders to a luncheon, but only if you pay him or her whether or not these folks end up lending you money. That means that you can’t pay them based on their success rate or anything that connects their compensation to getting private lenders. Other states won’t even let you do that unless the people you’re compensating are registered or licensed broker/dealers.

Public Offerings- What does that mean?

It’s easiest to explain what it means by explaining what a public offering isn’t.

Generally, any offering that is not exempt under the private offering exemption of the securities act of 1933 (Regulation D) is a public offering. This means that if you aren’t using an exempt offering, as we talk about in the course materials, then you are getting involved in a public offering. Each and every state has its own definition of exempt offerings and these aren’t considered to be public offerings.

Exempt offerings are what open the door for you to run your real estate investing business successfully and in compliance.

In Summary, remember securities laws and regulations offer you many opportunities to do your real estate investing business and stay in compliance. Yes, there’s going to be some paperwork that goes with these laws and regulations. It’s just part of doing business, and that’s what Alan’s course is all about, helping you get into business and do it the right way and successfully.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

The confusion seems to arise because of the following:
1) Each state establishes their own regulations and exemptions. Therefore there are different guidelines depending on where you live.
2) If you cross state lines with your private lending, i.e. houses in one state and lenders in another, the Federal SEC regulations come into play.
3) There are a lot of half truths floating around and when people hear these, they get confused and possibly fearful.

To be better equipped to answer everyone’s questions, I decided to hire an attorney to do some research. Since each state is able to establish their own regulations, I decided to have the attorney start his research with the state of Ohio.

Some highlights while working with my attorney:
1) As long as my properties and lenders are in Ohio, just the state regulations apply. If I have lenders and/or houses in different states, then the Federal SEC regulations apply.
2) I need to give a disclosure statement to potential lenders.
3) Can’t pool lender money, but I can if I file the proper paperwork.
4) Can’t use the word ‘guarantee’ in my advertising.
5) You can’t advertise at all with having a registered security.

As a side note, some of you are under the impression that the SEC is out to cause you problems. The SEC is not the bad guy; they are looking for the bad guys. They want legitimate business owners to prosper. They are very willing to help you if you just ask. They just want you to comply with their regulations.

So what is a security?

The term “security” is broadly defined to mean “any certificate or instrument, or any oral, written, or electronic agreement, understanding, or opportunity, that represents title to or interest in, or is secured by any lien or charge upon the capital, assets, profits, property or credit of any person or of any public or governmental body, subdivision, or agency.”

That’s the language used on the website of the Ohio Division of Securities. This definition includes such common items as shares of stock, warrants and options, promissory notes, membership interests in limited liability companies, bonds and debentures. Limited partnership interests are considered to be securities, while general partnership interests are generally not considered to be securities. The statutory definition additionally includes the term “investment contract,” which has been construed by court decisions to include numerous investment opportunities and business opportunities, which at first glance may not appear to fit within the definition of “security.”

Does that mean private lending may be considered securities?

When you are borrowing money from private lenders, you are offering them a security. You’re making an IOU to them by borrowing their money and promising to pay them a fixed interest rate over a certain time period or when the sale of a property is concluded.

When a company sells shares or stock, it’s giving the purchaser of the securities an ownership interest. Shareholders make their money when they get dividends on their investment or when they sell their stock. Private lenders are lending you funds, and they make their money by receiving the interest rate you’ve promised them.

All states allow securities to be offered to lenders when they are either registered or offered under a proper exemption . Securities laws do define debt as a type of security. This means that your business has the same kind of opportunities as businesses that sell shares of their company to the public. It also means that securities laws and regulations apply to the business.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Real estate properties in LA, MO are a thriving business and have become very popular. La grange real estate is one of the most sought after properties. Similarly, LA Grange MO Real Estate, LA Grange TN Real Estate and LA Grange Park Real Estate are other properties that you could take a look at before making a decision.

Buying property in La Grange has become very common in the past few years and moreover, people are more than willing to invest in real estate as a way to cash in on the LA Grange real estate housing market. One may be surprised to know, within three months two most popular areas of la grange – grange la nc and grange la have sold up more than 700 homes and apartments! Within these two popular areas of la grange, over 57 % and 42% of the homes were sold as it relates to lot of flipping in the last two years which has combined for 99% of those two real estate markets in la grange housing sales.

There is major problem associated with the La Grange Real Estate investors, they lack the knowledge and the information and do not understand the pitfalls associated with La Grange real estate exchanges. Many estate grange la park real estate investors get caught up in buying small family homes, then reselling them for a profit. Some of the best real estate agents can help you out to make your deal more profitable and guide you sincerely all through the deal.

The main reason that people do not invest in commercial real estate is because they think that they do not have the necessary skills to do so, but there is nothing to worry if you have the support of some of the best brokers in the market. La Grange Texas Real Estate is another most flourishing market for real estate investors and brokers. It would be unwise to get in the flow, rather carefully choose your property before you decide. But when it comes down to it, investing in commercial real estate is pretty much the same as single family homes. Sure, there are a few details that are a bit different, but all in all everything works out the same in the end.

La grange il real estate, real estate la grange ca and la grange ky real estate are some other places for investors.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

There has been a significant amount of talk over the past few years about buyer’s agents and seller’s agents. Real estate law now obligates an agent to indicate who they are representing. This is more often than not done early in the process through a disclosure document that you must sign that identifies whether the agent is aligned with the purchaser or seller. A seller’s agents represent the seller. Most real estate agents who show and market houses are seller’s agents. The agent is may be friendly to you as a possible buyer, show you multiple homes and help you through the offer process. However, the agent is typically representing the seller and looking out for the interests of the seller. Conversely, buyer’s agents actually work for the purchaser and have an obligation to look out for the interests of the buyer. There are also dual agents, but we’ll come back to that in a moment.

Generally, this has little to do with who really pays the agent. Why should you be concerned about this? If you are the purchaser, you want to use a buyer’s agent because of the financial, legal and ethical implications. A seller’s agent has a fiduciary duty to the seller not to you as the buyer. Accordingly,during the negotiations a seller’s agent will be negotiating for the seller. Here’s a real life illustration to help clarify. Suppose an agent learns that the seller has a significant personal event, has become highly motivated and is now willing to accept $25,000 under the listed price. If the agent is a purchaser’s agent – working for you – he/she will be obligated and likely excited to tell you this news. However, if the agent is the seller’s agent aligned with the seller – he/she will not have to reveal this information to you and may keep the essential fact initially in an effort to get the greatest offer from you.

Now, back to dual agents. Occasionally your will find an agent that says the agent is are practicing in a dual role; meaning the agent is are performing as a purchaser and seller agent. Be cautious in this home sale/purchase. As a buyer you may want to avoid a dual agent. In reality, the dual agent is unable to fully represent the purchaser’s interests without adversely affecting the seller and visa versa. There are some exceptional agents that can operate effectively in the dual role. However, as a purchaser, you should appreciate the possible conflict. If you want the bottom price on a home, seek a first-class buyer’s agent whose loyalties are aligned totally with you.

You may be wondering who really pays for a purchaser’s agent. Usually the selling agent lists the house in the MLS (”multiple home service”) and evenly divides the commission with the agent who brings the purchaser. More often than not, the seller’s agent and the buyer’s agent share the real estate commission with fifty percent going to each agent. This means that although the buyer’s agent is representing for you, the seller is funding the commissions to the purchaser’s agent. On occasion you may find a home where the selling agent will not agree to split the commission with the agent who brings the buyer and in that case you would have to settle on who will pay for the buyer’s agent.

Understanding the financial, legal and ethical implications of buyer, seller and dual agents is consequential to you as a home buyer. Prior to hitting the market to look for a new home, find yourself a positive purchaser’s agent with at least 7-8 years of expertise in your market. They will be aligned with your interests and have the expertise to help you agree the lowest price for the home.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Several popular TV shows now focus on improving the interior appearance of homes in order to increase their market value or appeal. Often, properties showcased on this program undergo amazing visual transformations through very small changes. We can use this attitude – more for less – to improve the appearance of your home as well.

Always remember our motto – more for less. We want to focus on small, inexpensive changes that impact the VISUAL appearance of your home. Wiring the home for high speed internet (things that will not be seen by visiting buyers or only used in situational circumstances) or spending big bucks for major improvements, like adding granite countertops, will surprisingly yield less than you think.

1. Look Down

This is an important factor for many buyers – what type of flooring you have and most importantly, what the condition is. I’ve literally seen buyers walk away from a home simply because the carpet was overly dirty. You can prevent negative appearance or outright rejection by making sure your floors look their best. If you have carpets, rent a steam cleaner for the weekend and put it to use. They are rather inexpensive and can really rejuvenate carpets, especially older carpets. If you have laminate or hardwood, use a floor cleaner and when it dries, a no-slip floor polish. Make sure you do this in advance of any showings or open houses – you don’t want the house to smell like the cleaning isle of your grocery store. Speaking of which…

2. Destroy Offensive Odors

This one’s tough to judge. Often, we get so used to the smell of our own homes, we can’t be objective anymore. Enlist the help of a friend (your REALTOR is a good choice) who you’re sure will give you an honest evaluation. Here are some common sources of home odors and ways to combat them:
Pets: keep the litter box/bird cage/pet areas spotlessly clean. If you have a room that pets frequent, it might be a good candidate for some potpourri or a non-offensive air freshener. Febreeze is a great odor masker – if you have pets (especially dogs) that climb on the couch, chairs or lay on rugs or carpets, give those pieces of furniture a quick spray in advance of your open house.
Food Odors: certain types of cooking can really add strong scents to your home. Make sure you keep your kitchen very clean – get rid of any grease that might have collected on your stove, hood, floors or cabinets (check up top too). Get an oven cleaner and wipe out the inside of your oven. Also, make sure any kitchen trash is disposed of promptly. Finally, if you know visitors are coming soon, refrain from cooking anything with powerful odors – take yourself out as a treat for working so hard to get your home ready for sale.
Musty Smells: Often the harbinger of water problems that should be checked out, a musty smell is a big turn-off for a buyer. Certain places tend to collect this odor – basements, lower bedrooms, rec. rooms off of walk-in basements, attics or sun rooms. You can try to reduce this by using a de-humidifier regularly (if you own one) in the problem location for a few weeks before any showing. Carpets often collect this odor – make sure you steam clean them (see above). Also, this might be a good candidate for a non-offensive air freshener. If you suspect there is a water problem, get it checked out by a professional.
Just a couple tips on air fresheners: less is more. Make sure you don’t overpower your buyers with air fresheners. This often raises their suspicion that something is being covered up even if there is no real reason for them to be suspicious. Try to use non-offensive odors – lavender, chamomile, light citrus – heavy scents like pine, rose or heavy citrus can be a real turn-off. There is also a good option that I’ll discuss in my last tip of this guide.

3. Fix and Touch Up Walls

Just a few minutes with some spackle, a bit of light sanding and a couple dabs of touch-up paint can repair that hole in the wall from when you bumped it moving furniture, those expansion cracks, nail pops or other wall blemishes, even if you have no repair skills. It just has to look decent, not perfect. Stick down any drywall tape that’s peeling with some spackle and touch up – it tends to be rather unsightly and is easy to notice. Oh, and….

4. Should I Paint Entire Rooms?

It depends. If you have the time to do it yourself or if things look really bad, painting can be a great enhancement. Plus, if you do it yourself, it can be done fairly cheaply. Try to rent a paint sprayer at your local rental store – you’ll be amazed at how easy it is. Strong colors are often an issue with many buyers. You may love pumpkin orange in the family room, but will they? Neutral colors are the best – remember you’re selling this house – you can paint your new one whatever colors you want, but you have to maximize your home’s appeal to as many buyers as possible. Trust me, stick with neutrals here. If there are sections of your home that you feel could really use a new coat, use your judgment. Just remember – more for less.

5. Remove Personal Touches

You want your buyers to identify with your home – to see themselves living there. One thing that distracts from this is seeing a picture of your family every time they turn around. I know it might be sad to see all the pictures come down, but it needs to happen. Just think of this as part of the packing process. It’s also a good time to take all of the homework, pictures and drawings that your children have done off of the fridge or walls.

6. De-clutter Your Way to a Sale

Keep your home neat and tidy for visitors. This is one of the toughest things about having your home on the market – the feeling that your home always needs to be at its best. Even a little can go a long way here. Make sure toys are picked up and put away, home office spaces are kept neat and tidy, storage is stacked in an orderly fashion, laundry is put away, workshop organized, the kitchen is in order and all of those hundred other things you do when company is coming over. A neat home inspires feelings of peace and order in buyers – both good things.

7. Open up the Home

There are a few easy things you can do and a few more difficult things – the good news is that all of them don’t cost much. One of the biggest transformations that happens on those TV home makeover shows occurs when furniture is rearranged to create the impression of more space. Take a critical look at each room in your house – if you have the time, move the furniture around a bit – see if one position is more spacious than another. If you have a digital camera, take pictures and compare them side-by-side. Another option is remove furniture altogether. This is a great idea because not only will it make the house feel more open, but it will give you a jump on packing. I would suggest moving the furniture completely out of the house – perhaps rent an offsite storage area or if this isn’t possible, store all removed items neatly on one side of the garage. Some buyers don’t even look in the garage and if they do, better to have one room full of stuff than the entire home. The final thing is to leave all of the curtains pulled back – this makes a room look more “breezy” and the additional natural light is always a plus.

8. Clean, Clean, Clean

This is a very useful selling tactic, so you really can’t get away with not doing it. Keep those carpets freshly vacuumed, counters wiped down, kitchen cleaned top to bottom (the kitchen is the most important room to many buyers), bathroom completely spic and span (bathroom is often the second most important room to many buyers) and everything dusted. A few other tips – clean the bugs out of the light fixtures – they are a big “YUCK!” Give any woodwork a once-over with some furniture polish and clean those window sills and panes. Make sure you keep all dishes washed and off the counter – dirty dishes are a big turn off. Also, make sure all your closets are organized and neat – buyers will be looking through them to get an idea of storage space – be prepared!

9. Windows and Doors

Surprisingly, this is fairly high on a buyer’s annoyance factor. A sticky or noisy door will make any buyer stop a second and go “hmmm”. The good news is that this is an easy fix – a can of WD-40 takes care of the creaks and for those sticky doors, buy a bar of paraffin wax (found in the canning area of your grocery store) and rub it a bit on the area of the door that looks worn. For windows, make sure they open easily – start by cleaning the tracks – often you will find lots of dirt and grime that prevent the window from opening cleanly. If this doesn’t do the trick, try some WD-40 or a little paraffin wax here too.

10. Prepare the Home for Showing

Our goal here is to make the home as bright and “homey” as possible. There are a few selling tricks that you can use that will really establish this environment.
- Bake something – cookies are a good option – toll house is fine – just don’t burn them. We’re going for the aromas here. Freshly baked cookie smell is like expensive perfume to home buyers.
- Offer cookies (works out well with the above), or in the summer, cold bottled water. Buyers like these personal touches and they will subconsciously raise their opinions of your home.
- Open all the curtains and turn on all the lights – you want your home to feel breezy, bright and open. Change any bulbs that are out. If it’s winter and you have one, light the fireplace.
- Set the table as if you were going to have a nice meal with company. You want to sell your dining room as an entertaining space and place settings help build this impression.
- Turn on some light music – nothing offensive – smooth jazz is a good option. Keep the volume low – in the background.
- This one is vital: remove any small valuables from sight. I’d like to think that all home buyers are always on their best behaviors, but sometimes this isn’t the case – better to be safe than sorry.
- The most important thing you can remove from your home to help it sell is yourselves. Take your family out for the day or out for a few hours during the open house/showing. Usually, when a homeowner is present for an open house, it never goes as well – the buyers always feel like they’re imposing, and that’s not what you want. You want them to spend time in your home.

In many cases, a buyer’s decision to make an offer on your home will not come down to any one factor. Think of it as two cups sitting on the counter – one is labeled “YEA!” and one is labeled “YUCK!” As the buyer tours your home, features will either do nothing (every house is supposed to have certain things – they are expected) or will add to one of these two cups. At the end of the showing, if your “YEA!” cup is full and the “YUCK!” is nearly empty, generally you will attract an offer. If it’s the other way around, the buyer moves on. Our goal here is to reduce the number of things that fill the “YUCK!” cup. I know many of these things seem like small details, but they add up in surprising ways. There will always be a few things that buyers don’t like about your home – these are unavoidable – there is no “perfect” house. But all we’re looking for is a majority of the buyer’s experiences to be “YEA!” If you can do this (and we think you can), you’re on your way to selling your home.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Regrettably, it seems no one told Paul that Panama has no taxes on new construction*, low home insurance rates (about 1/3 of Florida’s) and NO HURRICANES!
(* Tax exemptions apply to new construction and last for up to 15 years. The exemption is transferable. The exemption just recently changed to 15 years. In past years it was 20 years. So, resale homes built in the last few years may still have transferable exemptions left for up to 18 years!)

I’ll address the cost of living issues in another article but for now let’s talk about hurricanes and violent weather – how they can affect your vacation, your retirement, your investment and your peace of mind!

Hurricanes are essentially tropical phenomena, that are driven by the evaporation of a large pool of very warm water somewhere not too far from a shoreline. Local geographic conditions may cause them to strike (i.e. cross the shore) in non-tropical locations, e.g. Florida, Louisiana, Atlantic coast, as well as Japan or Taiwan (where they are called typhoons). Hurricanes can strike the Pacific coast, but less commonly than the Caribbean, typically between about Acapulco and Panama. Source: MadSci Network: Earth Sciences

It’s almost something we expect each winter season: we hear horror stories about cancelled trips or worse being stuck in a hotel room, “Riding out the Storm”; we still have those haunting images of poor familes lost and homeless in Louisiana, Florida or some tropical local. Well, your Panama vacation will never be re-scheduled due to natural events and your property investment will always be safe from hurricanes and earthquakes. This translates into lower insurance rates – lower risk, and lower tax rates – the government doesn’t need to pool revenues for that inevitable clean up. Panama is blessed by nature, unlike the rest of her Central American neighbors, with no hurricanes – amazingly it’s in a special climate area that is hurricane-free. It also has no major earthquakes.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Several popular TV programs focus on improving the exterior appearance of homes. Often, properties showcased on these programs undergo amazing visual transformations after very small changes. We can use this attitude – more for less – to improve your own home.

First, a tip: remember our motto – more for less. We want to focus on small, inexpensive changes that impact the VISUAL appearance of your home. Fixing that broken sprinkler head in the back corner (things that will not be seen by visiting buyers) or spending big bucks for major improvements like adding mature landscaping will surprisingly yield less than you think.

1. Mow, Trim and Water

Perhaps the cheapest of all fixes – if you have a yard, you more than likely already have the tools. Plan on mowing 2 days before an open house (this gives the grass clippings a chance to dry up and blow away – sweep up whatever is left before your visitors arrive). Trim those hedges and cut away dead or unsightly tree branches. Also, if you tend to save money by not watering, now’s the time to spend a little – just a couple good soaks a week can really make a difference. You can also invest in a bag of fertilizer. You really want your grass to be as green and nice as possible.

2. Keep the Yard Neat

Some buyers can be turned off by clutter in the yard. This can include:
Scattered toys – clean them up and ask your children to help clean and keep things tidy – maybe offer an incentive like a trip for some ice cream
Excess lawn ornaments – as a general rule, no more than 2 in the front and 2 in the back. Seriously. If you have more, time to start packing them up for the move.
Jumbled or neglected lawn furniture – if you’re keeping it, put it in the shed or an off-site storage shed. If this isn’t possible, do your best to clean it and keep it stacked or placed nicely. Of course, if you have a nice deck or patio and your furniture is in good repair, you can highlight the use of this space for entertainment – unfurl the umbrella for your open house.
Visible yard equipment – keep the mower, trimmer, shovel, rake etc. in the shed or in the garage, or if possible, in an off-site storage shed. Coil up that hose and keep it out of site (but at hand for watering).
Trash – give your yard the once-over – look for stray pieces of trash in and under the bushes, near the fences and wherever you feel trash might collect.
Animal waste – if you have a pet, really work hard at removing all pet waste. Buyers want to walk around the yard, and stepping in something is never good – even worse if they track it into your nicely cleaned house. This is a big one and only takes an hour or so of unpleasantness.

3. Freshen the Mulch and Remove Weeds

If you have beds with mulch, get a bag or two of fresh mulch – changing the washed-out grey of old mulch to the light-brown of new is a big visual improvement. Also, do your best to keep your planters weed free. You can save by staying away from weed killers or other chemicals – the last thing you want is brown, dying weeds. Two hands, a small trowel and some sturdy gloves are the way to go.

4. Flowers Sell

An oldie but a goodie – if it’s an appropriate time of the year, plant some nice flowers in the front of the house. Go for rich colors – reds, purples, blues – and low-maintenance types. Impatiens are hardy, pretty and fairly inexpensive – that’s just one suggestion. Hanging baskets or potted flowers on the porch create a warm and inviting entry to your home.

5. Wash that House

You’d be surprised at the amount of dirt a house naturally attracts and how much brighter it looks without it. If you have a hose nozzle, put it on the stream setting and give your house a bath. Even better, spend a few bucks on one of those spray-on, wash-off house cleaners – just make sure you get one suitable for your type of siding (read the product specifications before you buy). For a real revelation, borrow a pressure washer from a friend, just be careful you don’t strip paint – we’re trying to save, not start a month-long painting project. Speaking of which….

6. To Paint or Not to Paint

That is the question. On one hand, paint is fairly inexpensive and can make things really look fresh and new. On the other, some houses have LOTS of areas to paint, and painting one or a few only draws attention to those areas that didn’t get treated. Here’s where you have to use your own judgment. Exterior painting can really get to be a can of worms, especially when you have to deal with scaffolding and such. My rule of thumb is: if you can do it yourself without using expensive equipment (scaffolding) and do it quickly and relatively cheaply, go for it. If not, focus your energy on other areas.

7. Fix any Obvious Repair Issues

Things like broken shutters, missing shingles that are visible from the ground, badly dented or missing siding and all other random and general repairs should be taken care of if possible. Remember our motto: more for less. If something will take too long or cost too much, unless you feel it is a major visual distraction, best to leave it alone. I usually take a few circles around the outside of the house and just write down any negatives I can see. Go stand out at the curb and take a look – note anything out of order. Afterwards, I take the list and prioritize. I put the things that are big visual distractions or cheap/easy fixes at the top and begin there.

8. Wash the Windows

You don’t need to get all the way up to the highest ones, but the ones on the ground floor should be washed. This will allow visitors to see into the house from outside and gives it the appearance of being more inviting as opposed to drawn curtains and closed blinds.

9. Ask the Neighbors to Help Out

Many don’t even think about this, but make sure your neighbors know you’ll be holding an open house – they might even help you with some word-of-mouth advertising. If your neighbors are thinking of having the drive resurfaced, doing heavy yard work, paining the exterior of the house, parking a garbage truck in the driveway, (etc. etc.) the day of your open house, politely ask that they do those things on another day. You don’t want buyers to come away with any negative impressions about your home or neighborhood and neighbors are a big thing to new buyers.

10. Prepare the Home for Showing

Remove all personal items from the exterior of the house – those plaques that read “The Smith Family” should be taken down and packed away, same thing with personalized mailboxes – either replace them (you will have to if you want to take it with you) or remove any personal identification. Take a few minutes and sweep the porch, steps, deck, patio, driveway and sidewalk before visitors arrive – a good once-over is fine. Put your cars in the garage, or better yet, the street. If you have heavy oil or grease spots, try to get your hands on a degreaser – you can find them at your local home improvement stores. A little scrubbing will really improve the look of your driveway or garage. Finally, turn on all exterior lights, even during the day. If you have landscaping lights, turn these on as well. Do any last-minute pick-ups or put-aways, and then head out. It’s always better to NOT be home when visitors come to look at your house – it feels like an imposition for many people. You want them spending as much time as they want in your home.

Congratulations – you have now set yourself up for success! After completing all of these things, you have greatly increased your chances of a sale and also increased your chances of realizing more money at closing. Many home buyers take visual appearance very seriously when choosing a new home. By making sure your house looks as nice as it can be from the outside, you have left a positive and lasting impression on your potential buyers.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

First, you must meet two tests: the ownership test and the use test.

The Ownership Test

This test requires ownership of the property for at least two of the five years prior to the sale. The ownership does not have to be continuous.

The Use Test

The use test requires that you lived in the home as your principal residence for 2 years during the 5 years preceding the sale. Again, the 2 years do not have to continuous. Short temporary absences, such as vacations or spending a couple or months in the summer at the lake, are periods of use. Even if you rent out your home while you are gone, there is no interruption in your period of use.

The periods used to satisfy both of these tests do not have to be the same. In addition, members of the Armed Services or Foreign Services can choose to suspend these tests for any period they or their spouse is on “qualified official extended duty”. If people become mentally or physically unable to care for themselves or have to go into a nursing home, the two-year use requirement shortens to one year. Therefore, it is possible to qualify without actually living in the home for the required two years.

For people who have lost their homes to hurricanes, floods, tornadoes and other natural disasters, or have had them condemned, a special rule applies. They can add the time they lived in the home destroyed or condemned to the time they have lived in the home on which they want to exclude gain.

What is a Home?

A home, for capital gain exclusion purposes, must be your “main” home. It could be a house, houseboat, mobile home, co-op apartment or condominium. Note that if you sell the land on which your home is located, you cannot exclude the gain from the sale of the land. An example would be selling the land on which your mobile home sets, buying another piece of property and moving your mobile home to the new location.

If you own a vacant lot next to your home and sell it as part of your home sale, special rules apply. If you own a home in the city and a cabin in the mountains, the home where you spend the most time is the one where the tax exclusion applies. There are at least nine tests used to determine your main home if you own more than one.

The Exclusion

First, you must meet the ownership and use tests, or fall under one of the exceptions, and have not used the exclusion on the sale of another home within two years of the current sale.

If you are single, you can exclude up to $250,000 of the gain on a sale. If you own the home jointly with someone else, and each of you files single returns, each can exclude up to $250,000 of their interest in the home.

If you are married and file a joint return, you can exclude up to $500,000. However, you must meet one of several conditions. Either you or your spouse must meet the ownership test. Both you and your spouse must meet the use test. During the two years preceding the current sale, neither of you excluded gain from the sale of another home.

If your spouse dies, and you do not remarry before the sale, you can count the time your spouse owned and lived in the home to satisfy the ownership and use tests.

In today’s society, many scenarios require careful adherence to the rules. For example, a single woman sells her home and remarries a man who owns a home. They decide to sell. Another common example: Mary and John are single and each owns a home. They marry and decide to sell each of their homes and buy another. Here is another: Janet receives the home as part of a divorce settlement and later decides to sell.

The Partial Exclusion

Even if you do not meet the ownership and use tests, it still may be possible to claim a partial exclusion under certain circumstances.

If you have to sell your home because of a change in employment, your home sale could qualify under a “safe harbor.” The rules contain many tests to determine if the safe harbor applies.

If the primary reason you have to sell your home is health-related, you could qualify for a partial exclusion. The health issue applies not only to you, but also to a large list of people classified as your extended family.

Unforeseen circumstances also qualify for a partial exclusion. These include an involuntary conversion of your home, man-made or natural disasters, death, unemployment, a change in employment status, divorce and multiple births.

I hope you have seen that applying what you may think the rules are to the sale of your home may not be as simple as you thought. With all the rules and exceptions, it would be prudent to solicit the advice of an accountant, tax attorney or real estate professional prior to listing your home.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

1. Pay attention to way the agent acts on your first meeting. Dress, body language, confidence – these are all tell-tale signs that will tip you off as to how serious and experienced they are. Let’s face it, real estate is a business – you want to hire an agent that will treat your greatest possession with the respect it deserves. Dress is a big indicator – a shirt and tie should be minimum dress requirements for a first meeting with a client, if not a full suit or formal dress for a woman. Any agent that dresses down for your appointment might not be taking their job seriously enough and probably isn’t someone you want to hire to market your home. Also pay attention to body language and confidence – does the agent seem at ease in front of you or do they seem nervous? Is their presentation smooth or fraught with hesitation and questions they weren’t able to answer? Does the agent seem difficult to talk with or not willing to explain details to you? You are looking for an agent who gives you the respect you deserve by dressing for the occasion, is knowledgeable and at ease speaking with you (a potential client), will take the time to answer your questions honestly and acts like they have done many such interviews in the past.

2. How did the agent follow up with you when you contacted them? How long did it take? Usually agents who are serious about the business should return your contact request within 24 hours. If the agent you are interviewing took longer than 72 hours to respond, you might want to seek an agent who is better about follow-up.

3. Beware of agents who ask you this question: “So, how much do you think your home is worth?” An experienced agent should tell you what your home is worth and stand by that figure based on a strong analysis of sales data for comparable properties. That’s one of the reasons you are paying your agent, isn’t it? Any agent who asks you what you feel your home is worth before they give you a figure is looking to use that figure against you. If you think it’s worth less than the sales range the agent already determined, the agent might take your listing at the lower amount to sell it fast, maybe costing you thousands of dollars. If you think it is worth more, the agent might simply agree with you to gain the listing and cost you months of time while your home sits on the market un-sold before eventually having to lower the price. You eventually determine the listing price of your home. However, home pricing is one of the most important pieces of advice your agent can give – don’t work with someone who isn’t confident about their own estimates.

4. Make sure your agent addresses exactly how they will market your home. A good agent doesn’t rely on just one or two areas to market your home. You need an agent who gives your home the greatest exposure in as many areas as possible. This is one of the biggest services your agent can provide. Any agents who skimp on marketing or try to explain why certain marketing avenues aren’t important are trying to pull a fast one. Marketing costs money – many agents would rather put that money in their pocket and try to convince you that it isn’t needed. But if they aren’t marketing your home, what are you paying for? Your home on the MLS, a sign in the yard and the hope that someone will eventually buy it? Make sure to choose an agent that offers you the service and marketing your home needs to sell.

5. Watch out for sales gimmicks. Agents who have to rely on tricks to gain business such as “I’ll buy your home if it doesn’t sell”, “Your home sold in 30 days or I’ll sell it for free” and other similar programs usually don’t explain the fine print very carefully. The bottom line is – would you rather work with a REALTOR who is focused on doing business with you and selling your home the right way or one who tries to hook you with one of these programs which, in the end, is the last thing you want to happen?

6. Does the agent make full use of current technology in their business? An agent who isn’t on top of current technology such as internet marketing and e-mail correspondence might be missing a large portion of potential buyers. It’s also a bad sign that the agent isn’t willing to adapt to current business practices.

7. Is the agent familiar with the local market and current industry trends? Are they honest in assessing market conditions and how this affects your current buying or selling situation? We are in a buyers market right now – inventory is high and homes require more time to sell and more aggressive marketing. Is the agent trying to gloss over these details or view them with rose-colored glasses?

8. What type of guarantees does the agent provide? If you are unhappy with the service you are being provided, are you able cancel your listing or buyer agency agreement without penalty? Good agents will give you a guarantee of services and some may even allow you to terminate the listing or buyer agency agreement without penalty if you are not provided with the services you are promised.

9. How focused is your agent on customer service? It should be a top priority. You should look for an agent who is willing to keep you regularly informed about all aspects of the buying or selling process.

10. When will the services that the agent is offering to provide be delivered? A Virtual Tour is a great tool, but if it takes the agent a month to produce it, it’s not doing you any good for that first month when you can expect your most activity? For buyers, when can you expect the agent to show you your first homes?

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

In 2nd Home Journal, Ellen Newbury writes, “International Markets Heat Up – Boomers Fuel Second Home Buys Abroad.

Americans are driving the second home market, and redefining it in the process. Baby-boomers continue to expand the market with their increased buying power. And they have begun to turn their attention more seriously to locales outside the U.S.

The move toward international second homes comes is no surprise to the analysts who have tracked boomers for decades. Globalization and the internet have made it easy for these adventuresome Americans to look beyond U.S. borders for investment and recreation. Boomers are being romanced by international hot spots, and they’re looking to invest in the attractive global real estate markets.

The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) confirms the phenomena. “We have seen this trend in Americans buying vacation homes abroad,” says Jeff Hornberger, International Market Development Manager for the NAR.

Hornberger says the NAR expects no slow down in the international second home market in the near future. “The foreign second home market will continue to explode in the coming years. It is not a temporary trend. The most popular destinations for Americans seem to be in Latin America, as this is where the dollar exchange is the best. Especially in Panama where the U.S. dollar is the local currency!

Panama, the third largest country in Latin America, is emerging as a popular second home destination. “The secret is ‘out’ for Panama, and Americans, especially retirees, are expected to move there in droves in coming years,” says Hornberger.

Comprised of 480 miles of terrain linking Costa Rica with Columbia, Panama is arguably the hottest investment opportunity in Central America. Scott Harris has 16 years of real estate experience, and works in sales and marketing for Red Frog Beach in Panama. Harris says, “Panama is one of the hottest international markets and Americans and other foreigners are snapping up property like crazy.”

Jaime Figueroa Navarro is President of Panama All In One, Inc. Navarro says that he has seen the trend in the booming second home market extend into his country. “…we’re experiencing robust growth…many baby boomers are looking to live here as there are many advantages not available stateside…for example, the purchase of a new home or condo comes along with a 20-year homeowner’s tax exemption.”

The local currency is the U.S. dollar, making transactions easier for Americans, as well as removing the component of currency fluctuation and potential investment devaluation.

Navarro feels that now is the time to invest in Panama. He says there are many bargains on the market and the potential returns on investments loom large. “…this is where there is the largest business opportunity for the growing number of investors and promoters. In Panama now, the rule of thumb is, if you build a quality home, it ’s sold…this trend will continue for the foreseeable future.”

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Realtors are often trained in home showing safety techniques and have quite a few tools at their disposal to mitigate these risks. They know the correct questions to ask and the red flags to watch out for. If you haven’t thought of this, here is a quick list of some things you should consider before you answer the door or the phone:

1. Do not show your home by yourself.

This is often difficult to do but is very effective in deterring problems. Your risks are significantly lower if you show your home to visitors with a friend or spouse present. If someone is not available to help you, then ask your visitors to stop by another time when you can arrange for some help.

2. Set appointments

Another tool is to automatically ask all stop-in visitors to come back at another scheduled time for a showing. This is also a great way to weed out the unmotivated who might only be interested in seeing inside your home and have no intention of actually placing an offer.

3. Keep groups of visitors together during a showing

Don’t leave someone downstairs while you show someone the upstairs or allow groups to split up. Thefts have occurred and some criminals are very skilled at getting themselves into this situation, claiming “bad knees” or other medical problems that require that they be “left behind”. If this occurs, have a helper or spouse keep the other party company while you show the home to the rest. If you are alone (hopefully you aren’t), ask them to wait outside while you finish showing the home to the rest of the party.

4. Keep a phone handy

If you have a cell phone or cordless phone, make sure you have it with you during a showing. Also, if you have a car alarm, keep your keys with you in case you need to use the “Panic Button” on your remote. You can also ask your visitors to wait outside while you “prepare the house” and call a friend or family member. Let them know that you will be doing a showing and will call them back when it’s done and if they don’t hear from you in an hour, to call the police.

5. Don’t let visitors box you inside a room

Always keep a clear avenue to an exit. Don’t go first into a room – ask your guests to go first.

6. Ask the right questions.

A few questions will tell you a lot about a potential buyer. Realtors are experts at reading people and you can be too, if you know what to look for.
Ask a potential buyer if they have been pre-qualified or pre-approved by a lender. If so, they are probably serious buyers. If not, you might want to ask them to set an appointment for a showing – if they are not willing to do this, they are probably either unmotivated or may be a safety concern.
Ask them when they’re looking to move and if they have a home to sell first. This will also give you an indication of motivation as well as warn you if they are unable to answer these questions quickly.
Ask how long they have been looking for a home. Again, this is a dual-purpose question. If your answer is “6 months”, you probably have an unmotivated buyer. If the answer is “Ummm…..”, you should watch out.
You can always ask to see identification before you let them in. Tell them that you just want to be safe – buyers will understand.
Ask them if they are being represented by a Realtor. Nearly 97% of buyers are represented by Realtors and should be accompanied by them when they tour homes. If they are working with a Realtor, ask them to have their Realtor contact you for a showing. If they aren’t working with a Realtor, there are many possibilities, the most innocent being that they have just started looking for a house and don’t yet have representation. However, other possibilities may include a lack of motivation, no desire to buy (I.E. “We’re just looking…..”), or other more dangerous reasons. Just be cautious and stay safe.

7. Be careful of what questions you answer.

Never tell someone when you won’t be home, especially over the phone. A better phrase is, “the house won’t be available for a showing at that time”. Other questions from a visitor/caller that would raise a warning would be, “Do you live alone?”, “Do you work during the day?”, “Will your spouse be home soon so we can meet them?”, “Do you have a security system?”, or similar probing questions.

8. Watch out for Red Flags

There are a few safety concerns that should be kept in mind and if you encounter them, think twice and maybe opt for an appointment instead of an immediate showing.
Visitors at night or early morning.
Two or more visitors if you are alone.
Visitors unwilling to set a scheduled appointment for a showing.
The types of probing questions described above.

Always remember that the safety of you and your family is your greatest possession – not your home. Nothing is worth giving up your security. If you are presented with a situation that might compromise this, always opt for another appointment and don’t open the door. The scheduled appointment is your best tool for being prepared for guests and staying safe. Serious buyers will understand and be willing to return at another time.

If many of these precautions are difficult or impossible, you can always seek representation from a Realtor. One of the many benefits of selling your home with professional help is that safety is always a top priority and many issues and concerns can be prevented and eliminated.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Property in Cyprus is still relatively cheap compared with some of the more affluent parts of Europe and this makes it more affordable than you may at first imagine. You can still pick up a brand new apartment with all mod cons and a communal swimming pool for around £70k British pounds! When you compare that with the cost of an apartment in the U.K they are still areal bargain. There is a lot more to it than that though because the cost of living inn Cyprus is also much lower than The U.K. too.

Council tax or rates are a fraction of those in England and despite the fact that Cyprus is an Island the water bills are minuscule as well. With the average wage in Cyprus round about £cy150.00 per week your money bought in from the U.K will go quite a long way indeed. Mobile phones and fixed lines are also a lot less expensive as is electricity. Oh! and how about taxing you car for £30.00 a year plus petrol round about .58p a litre too.

If none of the above is enough to tempt you out of draughty old Britain and into the warm Cyprus sun how about this. The Cyprus banks are now offering loans (subject to status) for none residents to purchase property on the Island. Many people are releasing equity in their U.K. homes and financing the balance using this method. It does get better still because they are then renting their Cyprus properties out whilst they are not using them for themselves.This is helping to pay off the loan and covers the cost of property maintenance ect.

With the value of Cyprus property continuing to rise there couldn’t be a better time to live that dream and buy an apartment or villa. You, your family and friends will have years of enjoyment in the sun whilst your investment continues to grow. Why wait until you are priced out of the Cyprus property market just like so many were who dreamt of a home in Spain. Remember he (or she) whom hesitates is lost. So take a harder look at property in Cyprus and who knows we may even bump into you when you are living in the sun. Enjoy Cyprus and we wish you every success in living that dream!

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

The whole Island is bustling with new developments of apartments and villas which are being built to a very high standard in all aspects including the interior finishes. Air conditioning and modern fitted kitchens are the norm with private swimming pools being offered as incentives to buy. With competition among the many developers hoting up it is a real buyers market too. This is great news for any would be investors in Cyprus real estate looking to bag a bargain Cyprus villa or a luxury Cyprus apartment. The developers are keen to release capital for the next project so they will want to sell off remaining properties on any development that may be nearing completion.

There is no doubt that Cyprus is a beautiful place to live and that’s why people are literally queuing up to buy property on the Island. There are still plenty of small apartments with communal pools and sun terraces available at realistic prices. These properties are ideal for holiday lets if you should want to make a good return on your Cyprus investment. In fact now that the Cyprus banks are offering loans to none residents wishing to purchase property many of them are doing just that. Buying villas and apartments with the sole intention of renting them out to the holiday market and then selling them on in a few years time when the prices have risen.

The bottom line is that Cyprus is the perfect location for any U.K. residents looking for a holiday home in the sun. Talking of sun Cyprus has over 300 days of sunshine every year and the climate is fantastic. The people are friendly and most of them speak English because it is taught in all the Cypriot schools as a second language. In fact there is a very strong British influence in Cyprus due to the years that the English ruled there which in turn has caused Cyprus to develop a little faster than other parts of Greece.

There are numerous Cyprus real estate companies on the internet and many of them even offer cheap inspection tours from the U.K. so you can have a look at several properties during your visit to the Island. Remember that property prices seldom go down so real estate will continue to be a sound investment for years to come. You could enjoy a beautiful Cyprus holiday home with your friends and family then sit back in the Cyprus sun watching your investment grow for years to come!

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

National parks encompass both mountainous regions as well as Costa Rica beach properties, making it some of the most well loved real estate in Costa Rica. The parks also contain a variety of geological features including active volcanoes, hot springs and caves as well as spectacular waterfalls.

Given its natural beauty and thriving protected area, Costa Rica real estate has become prime investment property for international buyers. Investors are flocking to the tropical paradise to stake their claim on Costa Rica land for sale.

With the help of local development companies, investing in Costa Rica has never been easier. Developers take great pains to match buyers with just the right Costa Rica properties. In addition, most will help the buyer with all the critical details involved in purchasing land in a foreign country including taxes and other applicable fees.

The topography of Costa Rica makes it an exciting destination to visit and explore. It is a tropical paradise with something for every interest level. The crystal-clear, white sand coastlines are perfect for snorkeling or sun bathing, while rain forests offer a haven for bird watchers and hikers.

Several years ago, land was not of great value in the country, however, with the influx of big businesses in Costa Rica’s thriving metropolitan areas values are on the rise. Furthermore, because the country is on the cusp of a major land boom, prices are still quite moderate. From locations close to the capital city of San Jose to remote beach frontage, there are still a lot of prime locations from which to choose.

Costa Rica beckons thousands of visitors to enjoy all of its natural splendor and beauty every year. Once visitors are immersed in everything the “rich coast” has to offer they often wish they never had to leave!

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Do you want to be there to catch it?

I love the metaphor of the wave.

Have you ever tried surfing, even body surfing or just playing on a boogie board? Do you recall those feelings when you catch a wave just right and it carries you effortlessly to the beach? It’s a great feeling isn’t it? But, do you also remember how 9 times out of 10 you miss the wave? You end up just sinking and watching that wave roll away from you to crash on the shore? Now that can be kind of a downer can’t it? What if I could show the sweet spot? I wonder how, many of you would love to know exactly where to stand and exactly when to jump so you can catch that wave and have the ride of your life?

Speaking of waves, the Baby Boom is more like a Tsunami and it’s picking up speed and it’s going to make land fall.

Have you thought about where that 78 million boomer high wave is going to hit?

Well, the demographers have plotted the course and determined it is pointing directly at Panama!

Listen to what author & real estate guru Kevin Kingston has to say about Panama, “As I sit here Sunday morning getting ready for my 5th trip to Panama I just can’t stop running numbers through my head. I’m a huge fan of leveraged returns, so much so that I wrote a boo k about my experience leveraging $15,000 to over $5 million in about 4 years. Well what’s about to happen in Panama is mind numbing. There are several major trends converging on this country which will create a massive boom that only comes along once in a lifetime, maybe twice. Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s partner in Berkshire Hathaway, calls this the Lollapalooza Effect. He says, if you are attentive enough to recognize these occurrences and smart, brave or ballsy enough to act on them in a major way you can make fortunes.”

Well, let’s get back to those boomers. We’re all aware that whatever they go for turns to gold. As the Baby Boom Wave of Capital crashes on Panama it’s going to turn retirement property to Gold!

And it’s just starting! Are you aware that 13,000 people are retiring every single day in the US alone? That’s one every 7 seconds! If 30,000 retirees decide to move to Panama, it would represent only 1% of the retiring population –or- only two days worth of that 13,000. That is quite a market to buy or rent investment properties and at the same time it’s probably an ultra conservative number considering all Panama has going for it.
AND, that’s based on today’s numbers. What’s demand going to be like when the wave crests in 2012? Can you see why the time is now? Can you see that Panama is the sweet spot? Are you ready to jump and ride that wave?

Are you seriously considering the purchase of a vacation, investment or retirement property? Discover the beautiful Republic of Panama! Follow my journey as I reveal the best places to eat, stay, live and invest. Explore Panama City, Boquete, Bocas del Toro and more at http://www.LearnAboutPanama.com

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

If you have ever had the pleasure of vacationing in Costa Rica, you will most assuredly agree that it only takes a moment to start a love affair with the country that will last a lifetime. It is easy to see why so many people believe that Costa Rica land is among the most beautiful in the world.

The Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica is home to hundreds of sun soaked beaches and lush groves of coconut palms. The region also plays host to some of the country’s most dense jungle properties. The Northern and Central Pacific Coasts include a wide array of the most desirable Costa Rica beach properties. Visitors enjoy exploring, white water rivers, tropical rain forests and secluded island refuges.

After spending some time in this tropical oasis, many visitors find it hard to part company with the Costa Rica land and people. Given the economical nature of Costa Rica properties, they don’t have to! Investing in Costa Rica has never been easier. Some investors are choosing to purchase land for resale value, while others call Costa Rica their permanent home. Thousands of people are achieving their dreams of owning a piece of real estate in Costa Rica thanks to the help of local development companies.

Development companies help investors chose the perfect piece of Costa Rica property and help them through the entire purchase process. Investors who choose to go through the task of purchasing land in a Costa Rica by themselves, will often find it to be completely overwhelming. In order to purchase land in the country, individuals must first form a corporation. In addition, there are a host of confusing fees and expenses that go along with the purchase. This is why many will choose to leave the details of their purchase to an expert. Furthermore, as land values rise, the choice of Costa Rica land for sale will begin to diminish. This is one of the key reasons investors are getting involved in land purchasing right now.

Whether you choose to call Costa Rica your lifelong home or a well-loved vacation destination, it is a land that will never disappoint. Its varied topography and vast natural resources make it a source of both pure relaxation and high-energy fun.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Often after a visit, tourists will long to have their very own Costa Rica beach properties. Being enveloped in the sounds of crystal blue waters as they lap the pure white sand beaches is a dream that can actually become a reality. Investing in Costa Rica is easier than you might think, and there is a plethora of prime Costa Rica land for sale right now!

Several years ago, owning land in Costa Rica was not a valuable investment. While the land was desirable because if its beauty and location, it did not pay off for the owner in increasing land values. Today, however, real estate in Costa Rica is booming. Land that was once only $30,000 to purchase has increased in value to $750,000 over the course of 15 years. And, these increases happened at the very start of the appreciation boom; therefore investors are seeing even sharper increases currently. Today, developers are purchasing and selling choice parcels of Costa Rica real estate with considerable profits.

So how do you purchase that ideal piece of Costa Rica property? The country is host to a variety of land developers who assist buyers through every step of the land purchase process. They take potential landowners to several locations, many of which are the highly prized beachfront locations. After choosing the perfect piece of land, the developers normally handle every detail of the purchase. Buying real estate in Costa Rica has never been easier.

After you are firmly established in your new Costa Rica home, there is a lot to enjoy throughout the country. Costa Rica land is as diverse as the people who choose to call it home. Along with the coveted white sand beaches, the country boasts mountain ranges, rainforests, national parks and modern metropolitan cities. It is truly a country that has something for everyone.

Come spend some time in Costa Rica and see why everyone is so enamored with the tropical paradise. But beware; once you come for a visit, you may never want to leave.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Usually this issue occurs when the buyer realizes he can not afford your property. Or after signing a contract with you, he may also have continued shopping and found another property he prefers.

Frequent excuses for not closing usually include a job transfer that fell through, unexpected spousal separation, illness of a family member, didn’t like the neighbors when he spoke to them, and a myriad of other things that have gone wrong since he signed your sales contract. Even if his excuse is true, you now face the dilemma of having to resell your home and incur the additional expenses of carrying the property for several months or longer. Even if you are able to rapidly resell your home again, you will have been delayed by at least thirty days and have the loss of carrying your home longer.

Here are some ways to protect yourself from your closing being cancelled:

1.) You should have your mortgage broker pre-qualify the prospective buyer to be certain they can actually afford to buy your home and if they have enough money for closing. The closing cost issue can be overcome by increasing the selling price and giving back the same amount as a seller concession at the closing.

2.) You should make certain that the buyer gets a Good Faith Estimate. Too often, the buyer’s mortgage broker has the buyer sign a blank Good Faith Estimate. The buyer may get a huge surprise, often the day before or the day of closing, when he finds out how much he has to bring to the closing. You have an option, in this case, of reducing your sales price to accommodate the buyer or, even better, you can take back a small second mortgage at the closing to defer a portion of his closing costs.

3.) The best way to guard against these surprises is to be inquisitive about the buyer’s funding status initially and insert a clause in your sales contract that allows you to get information from the buyer’s mortgage broker regarding the Good Faith Estimate and the status of the loan. You have a lot at stake when you sell your home and this is not too much to ask.

4.) Make certain that your sales contract has a non-refundable escrow deposit clause that encompasses any reason including the buyer’s inability to get financing. Most real estate contracts have a provision for the buyer to get a full refund of their deposit if they are unable to get financing. The second most important part of this sales contract clause should include that any extension of the closing will cost the buyer a given rate per day and for a maximum of fifteen days.

A frequent reason for a cancelled closing is a dramatic change in the buyer’s FICO score. Usually this results from large purchases of furniture or an automobile just prior to closing. Inform the buyer of this possible issue by explaining to him that the lender will re-pull his credit report the day of closing and stop the closing if the buyer’s debt ratio has changed too much. Ways to overcome this problem are credit re-scoring by the lender and quick fixes for your credit report, such as increasing the limits on your existing credit cards to adjust your debt ratios.

Your best protection from surprises is to put appropriate penalty clauses in your contract; have alternative lenders available from your mortgage broker; be open-minded about doing a seller concession at closing; and be willing to consider a small second mortgage to assist with last minute financing shortfalls.

In summary, your best prevention is to proactively keep in touch with all the parties involved in your closing. Of particular importance, and on the front line of issues that “pop up” is your closing agent’s file processor. Make friends with this person so you can call and find out about the progress of the lender, mortgage broker, the buyer and any issues they may be having with the title work. As always, keep yourself informed by keeping open communication with all parties involved in the sale of your home.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Many sellers don’t understand that overpricing can actually result in your getting LESS for your house than if you had priced it correctly in the first place. Knowledgeable agents and buyers often won’t bid on an overpriced home. By the time you “wise up” and reduce the price to where it should have been priced in the first place, many of your best prospects will have bought other houses. This decreases demand for your now properly priced home! The problem is exacerbated if you placed your home on the market in the spring, it sat on the market “overpriced” throughout the summer, and now that you’ve reduced your price, the market has slowed.

Also, consider that agents tend to steer buyers away from homes that have been in the Multiple Listing Service for long periods of time. Agents and buyers become suspicious that something is wrong with your property if it didn’t sell relatively soon after it went on the market. It’s important to price it right the day you put it on the market!

Also, consider what you could have done with the profits from the sale of your home if you had priced it right. Suppose you priced it right and sold relatively quickly, and invested that money in a rising stock or bond market. On the other hand, suppose you overpriced your home, and after several months, had to reduce it to where it should have been priced in the first place. Even worse, the house still isn’t sold! You get the picture.

The Dangers of a Lack of Exposure

It’s a fact that most real estate transactions occur between buyer’s and seller’s agents. Buyer’s agents typically find properties for their clients through the Multiple Listing Service. Not being in the MLS makes it extremely difficult to get buyers through your door. If your home is not in the MLS, you’re off the radar! Hire a good real estate agent, and get into the MLS!

Also, make sure your real estate agent uses aggressive marketing strategies to make sure your home sells. In a red-hot market, the MLS is probably the only exposure your home will need. However, if the market is anything less than red-hot, your agent will need to print flyers and introduce your home to other agents in his or her office, as well as other local sales offices. Also, exposure in home magazine ads, classified ads, and the Internet will help generate demand for your home. Make sure your agent uses a powerful marketing program!

The Dangers of not “packaging your home” for sale!

Curb appeal is everything! You can take two identical homes next door to each other, both for sale. The first home has a cluttered yard with tall grass and weeds. The shutters on the house are chipping. There are toys in the yard. When you open the screen door, it’s half way off the hinges. The inside is fairly cluttered as well, and the wall could use a coat of paint. On the other hand, the owners of the home next door paid $300 for a landscaper to mow the lawn, trim the shrubs and clear the gutters. Inside, they added a fresh coat of paint and cleared up all the clutter. Again, the two homes are identical. Both owners paid the same amount for the same model. Guess which home is going to fetch more money?

Don’t be lazy. A few days of labor and minimal investment can make the difference between your house sitting on the market and selling the day you put it on the market. Cosmetic appeal is essential!

Finally, don’t negotiate foolishly!

Don’t appear overly eager when you negotiate with buyers. If you appear too eager or too anxious to make a deal, buyers may become suspicious. Worse, they may lower the offer because they think you’re desperate to sell your home. Stay cool! Also, don’t appear too tough. A good deal can fall apart if buyers find you too rigid to work with.

You probably have a lot of emotion invested in the house, which can certainly get in the way of effective negotiations. The best thing you can do is let your real estate agent handle your negotiations. She or he is emotionally detached from the home and has strong negotiation skills.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

If it has always been a dream of yours to live in a tropical paradise, then Costa Rica is the place for you! As a country with a stable economy, and home to more than 4 million people, this would be a sound financial investment in a friendly and peaceful country.

With so many square miles of land available for purchase currently, it has become relatively hassle-free for foreigners to enter into the market of investing into Costa Rica land. One of the main benefits is not only the abundance of ocean view property, but also that anyone looking for Costa Rica beachfront property can purchase it at a fraction of the cost as compared to buying it within their home country. This huge cost savings has made it affordable for modest income earners around the world.

Another benefit to purchasing Costa Rican property is land ownership. Unlike other countries where only citizens of the country are allowed to own land, in Costa Rica, land ownership is granted regardless of citizenship. With such a large amount of undeveloped land available, and foreigners being able to legally own, it brings the investor one step closer to purchasing in beautiful Costa Rica.

A third benefit to purchasing Costa Rica land for sale would be the minimal property taxes required. Anyone previously paying property tax in a large city will be amazed at how affordable the property tax in Costa Rica will be. (It is only about $350/year US, for a 5-acre parcel as of late 2006.)

A fourth benefit to investing in Costa Rica is the exceptional value you get for your money. In Costa Rica, a real estate investor is able to spend less money, but acquire more acreage and build a larger square foot home. This equates into an investor being able to buy more real estate at a more affordable price. Based on this, acquiring Costa Rica real estate will be a great way for you to climb onto the property ladder as a first time real estate investor.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

A real estate installment sales agreement or land sales is a contract among the seller and buyer that states the acquire price and technique of payment, as well as other rights and responsibilities. The buyer frequently does not receive an action to the land until all needed payments are ready. In the occasion of default, payments may be forfeited, and the buyer attention in the property may be misplaced.

Frequently called the sincere money agreement, acquires and sale contract is prepared to specify all the terms and situations of the deal. It is a lawfully binding agreement which establishes the relevant rights and liability of the purchaser and seller. The buyer frequently creates a deposit, known as a sincere money deposit.

Property ownership has been explained by lots of as the great Australian dream and we chase this dream for a number of good causes. Whilst buying their own property engross for most, the largest single speculation we will create, it provides us security both of occupancy and financial. In buy your own land you are investing not only in your future but that of your family, since history dictates that land speculation is one of the greatest long term investments that people can create in wealth making.

Here are the listed steps that must be getting when purchasing a home:

• Assess your borrowing capacity
• Research your loan options
• Set your requirements
• Research the market, choose your location
• Look at houses auctions

There are some significant decisions that require to be creating and steps to follow when selling possibly a person most valuable asset their home or real estate speculation. You will possibly never sell anything additional precious than your home. While you may be persuaded to save severally money and go it by yourself, the best advice you can get is to seek the assist of a specialist. That means search an agent you can trust to provide you good advice and act in your best awareness.

Every agent will give a quotation on their commission fee and accuses to sell your home. Do not mechanically select the agent who quotes the lowest commission fee and the maximum selling price.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

The new hot spot for recent land acquisition and development has been within the country of Costa Rica. The benefits of turning raw land into developed Costa Rica real estate have been met with increasing popularity, and many more people have signed up to become landowners in the last several years.

One of the most important questions asked by anyone interested in purchasing raw Costa Rica land is, “What happens once the raw land for sale begins to be developed?” In order to effectively answer this question, the process depends on what the raw land will be developed for.

Let’s use this example – If the land will be developed as residential real estate, it will need the expertise of an experienced construction company specializing in land development. This is due to the fact that raw land, once it has entered the developmental stage, to be turned into Costa Rica properties, will need basic requirements such as utilities and roads to sustain habitation.

One of the first tasks in developing Costa Rica real estate would be to survey the land for its various sources of water, and then determine where the septic system should be established and connected to the house.

Once these two areas are in place, the next task would then be to determine where the house should be built. This can be decided, by working closely with a residential construction company, and choosing the best place on the property to build.

Therefore, once raw land is developed, it can go from being a parcel of property, to a beautiful patch of land worth a whole lot more. This is one of the main benefits, of investing in raw land development. The price of the raw land will increase in value as the development on it continues. So not only will you be acquiring and developing the land, but you will also investing in the country of Costa Rica.

Another main benefit of purchasing raw land would be the fact that it is undeveloped land, and you would be the first to live on it. This would mean you could build almost any type of real estate as long as it has adhered to zoning regulations, and in Costa Rica you will find minimal restrictions, if any. There would be no difficulties with the land previously being spoiled by anyone, because you will be the first to live there. This is definitely a huge bonus of raw land acquisition.

A third benefit of purchasing raw land is its appreciation value. There is a considerable difference in the price of the property when it is raw land versus developed and again when a dwelling is built upon it.

As you can see, buying undeveloped, raw land has many worthwhile benefits and opportunities that lead to lucrative investments in Costa Rica property.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

It always amazes me how people look only at the price of a product and neglect to consider the true cost of ownership. For most a car purchase is based solely on emotion and the sticker price. They never bother to check on insurance rates, cost of repairs and maintance. In Real Estate there can be an even greater impact. One which can determine whether you live like a pauper or a king.

On Sun, Apr. 15, 2007 MARTHA BRANNIGAN reported in the Miami Herald, South Florida Homeowners Feel the Tax Imbalance. She writes, “Claus and her husband, Brad Wagshul, a federal law clerk, bought their 1,473-square-foot house for $215,000 in 2000. Their tax bill was $3,482 last year. But right next door, Erin Kobetz and Joshua Diem, who bought a slightly smaller three-bedroom, two-bath home on an identical lot in 2004, were taxed $6,323 — 82 percent higher.

Among the largely comparable homes along Southwest 63rd Place, property taxes last year ranged from $2,278 to $9,432. Some neighbors — such as those with second homes and rental properties — aren’t eligible for the precious 3 percent cap on tax increases, and they are paying the most of all.

A block away live Ximena and Kurt Prelle, who bought their home at 8215 SW 63rd Pl. in 2003 for $280,000, before the hot run-up in prices that boosted some homes in the neighborhood above the half-million-dollar mark. But you can’t tell their good fortune from their property taxes. The Prelles, who are from Peru, are in the United States on work visas and haven’t yet obtained permanent U.S. residency. That means they aren’t eligible for the homestead exemption or Save Our Homes cap. So every year, their taxes have soared along with the rising property values. The Prelles forked over $8,550 for 2006 property taxes on their three-bedroom, two-bathroom house, which was assessed at $412,134.

In Panama I have had people see home prices as an ‘incredable bargain’ or ‘too pricey’ based on where they are from. Some have even said, “I can buy a place in Florida for that!” Well, yes maybe you can but have you considered the true cost of ownership and how that affects your lifestyle?

In his Blog, developer Sam Taliaferro writes, “This weekend I had a visitor from Florida who shared with me that his insurance on his home in Boca Raton is over $7000 a year. On top of that the taxes have been increasing each year to where it is over $8000 for an under 2000 square foot home. When you compare Panama (And Valle Escondido specifically) where the insurance on a 2500 square foot home is about $450 and the property taxes are zero for the next 20 years, you can see why Panama has become so popular. You can actually live very comfortably here in a master planned community with great amenities just on the $1200 a month you save on these two expenses.” (Sam Taliferro is an American expat many consider the pioneer who put Panama on the map with his first class development, Valle Escondido in the mountain town of Boquete.)

What would an extra $1,200 a month mean to your standard of lving?

Cheap Quality Health Care, Low, Low Insurance Rates, NO Property Taxes on new construction PLUS Fresh Produce, Groceries; Entertainment and Dining Out at about Half the cost of comparable American fare and you can see why Panama has become the number one retirement spot for the baby boomers!

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

To fulfill the demand, property developers in India are developing residential, commercial and retail space in the major metropolitan cities of the country. This demand for property has made cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, and Jaipur the most coveted hot spots for commercial and residential activities. More and more people are coming to these cities in search of better employment, which has resulted in high demand for residential property in these cities.

The demand for property in Mumbai is even higher as it is the business capital of country and world’s largest film industry is also situated here. Every one in India wants to be in this city of dreams. Many people want to settle in here in hope of good career and some want to spend a few days here. This has made the job very difficult for those who are looking to rent or buy residential or commercial properties in Mumbai. But many real estate agencies are helping people in buying property in Mumbai. These agencies offer a wide range of services to their customers together with buying, selling, renting-in and renting-out. In order to expand their business few property agencies offer some services through internet. So if you are looking to buy residential properties in Mumbai or buy commercial properties in Mumbai then simply visit to the website of any of such real estate agencies like Better Homes India (http://www.bhomes.com/india/) and you can find the best deal for you.

But there are some points that should be kept in mind while buying or renting a property for you.

1. Take a seat with your family and come up with an amount that you are ready to pay out.

2. Keeping in view the amount at your disposal, agree on some grounds with your family. For example, if you looking to buy residential property in Mumbai, you must agree on some basic things with your family like; how many bedrooms you want, in which area of the city the apartment should located, etc.

3. Be realistic in your decision. Always keep an eye on your budget and limitations.

4. Be very clear with your property dealer about your requirements and budget. Many online property agencies have detailed search form on their website that can help you in locating desired property for rent or buy in Mumbai.

5. Be ready to compromise. It is not always that you can rent or buy a property that has every thing you want. It could have your desired no of bedrooms in the amount in your hands but could be half a kilometer away from your preferred location.

6. Last but not the least; always beware of fraud real estate agencies. Always look for trusted and well established property agencies.

So it is becoming easier and easier today, for both foreign & domestic investors as well as common man, to find residential or commercial property in Mumbai that best suited to their requirements. All you have to do is be clear about your budget and requirements and acquire the services of good property agency and Better Homes India (http://www.bhomes.com/india/) is definitely one of them.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Moving to a warm climate for a job in a country such as Costa Rica would be one of the happiest moments in the lives of many people. However, before you start packing your bags, it is ideal to first research the job market availability.

Finding a job in another country is usually not that easy, and it is very dependant on the unemployment rate therein. It is possible to make the task easier by looking for a job in the industry sector you are currently in or may previously have worked in. By researching Costa Rica information on jobs available, it will help narrow your focus and concentrate your attention on your job search. An example of this would be, a banker looking for a job in the Costa Rican banking industry, or a real estate agent applying to a Cost Rica real estate company for any job vacancies. By starting your search in your current industry sector, the task of finding a job is made easier.

However, if looking for job opportunities in Costa Rica has convinced you to start fresh in a new industry sector, then Costa Rica is also the place for you. With an active hotel and tourism industry, jobs opportunities in tourism are usually the most plentiful. These jobs can include being a tour guide for one of many tour companies, or serving as a front desk attendant at a luxury hotel. Other than the tourism and hotel industry, one of this country’s needs that remains constant is the job market for English teachers.

With the lower cost of living, it is possible to live more affordably in Costa Rica as long as you can budget your money, because, of course, the wages you will receive are also considerably less then you are accustomed to. When deciding to move to Costa Rica permanently, one of the greatest benefits of relocation is the ability to own Costa Rica land as a foreign resident. If you decide to purchase Costa Rica property while working there, you are able to benefit because you will possess the same property ownership rights as Costa Rican citizens.

However, you will find that before being hired, the company must sponsor you for a work permit, or you can elect to apply for residency in Costa Rica. Most foreigners are granted an annual work permit that must be renewed every year they are employed in Costa Rica.

There are a large number of job sites that post job opportunities available in many Latin American countries. But with the economy on the upswing and tourism constantly increasing, Costa Rica remains the destination of choice for many wanting to rediscover themselves in a foreign land.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Overall, the basic principle for paying taxes in Costa Rica is based upon level of earnings. If you earn over a certain amount of income, you are liable to pay income tax to the government. There are four main types of taxes that a foreigner moving to Costa Rica will have to pay – income, government, property, and sales tax.

Income Tax

Everyone regardless of his or her citizenship pays income tax in Costa Rica. However, the only way in which you would not have to pay income tax coming from abroad, would be if your income was less than eight hundred dollars a month. Any earned income below this amount will not levied income tax. Above this salary however, the income tax you are required to pay will range from 10 to 15 percent, dependant on the amount you earn. In Costa Rica, the tax year ends in September.

Government Tax

Each area of Costa Rica land is divided into branches of local governments (or municipalities) who oversee the collection of government tax. Just as in the United States, this government tax is used to provide services to the residents such as electricity for streetlights, or garbage removal etc… Each area has its own government tax, at its own levels that to go towards the services that municipality provides. Depending on the price of your home, you will also be required to pay a government property tax.

Property Tax

The government of Costa Rica has established a Costa Rica property tax equivalent to 0.5 to1.5 percent of the purchase price of a home in Costa Rica. If you are planning to purchase a home in Costa Rica, expect to pay property tax for Costa Rica real estate, at the price similar to that of many states within the United States. With one large exception,…The cost of the home will be considerably less!

Sales Tax

If you are relocating from the United States, then paying a tax on items purchased will not be a new concept to you. Costa Rica has a sales tax of 13 percent above the cost of each item. However, unlike in the United States in which certain items are exempt from sales tax, Costa Ricans pay sales tax on all goods sold to them. This sales tax can also be levied against certain services in the country. Again, remember though the cost of most goods and all services are drastically lower than what you are used to.

When it come to taxes, everyone will have a different situation, and it is therefore important to consult your tax advisor when considering the tax implications in any relocation or that of any foreign country. One thing the Costa Rica government does well is that it goes easy on its own citizens, and relocating residents when it involves prying the tax dollars from them.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

First off, home value and property value can be used pretty much interchangeably. Property value just sounds more encompassing because it includes the land on which the house is located. Home value should take into account the same thing, it just sounds like it only deals with the house itself.

Getting a home appraisal or assessment does give you your home value, but it comes from 2 different entities with 2 different motives. An appraisal is something you pay to get done – you higher a (hopefully) neutral third party to evaluate your house and come up with an accurate home value. In most cases, to qualify for any kind of home equity loan, you must have a home appraisal done. It’s most often done after improvements are made to a home.

An assessment on the other hand, is when the government (usually the city or county your property is located in) assesses your home value in order to determine how much property tax you should pay. Most governmental agencies do home assessments every 2 to 4 years, but that span can vary from area to area. In some areas you may never even know your home was reassessed because the government will base the home value on property sales records, age, condition, size and other factors of the home. In other areas officials will send a notice that an assessor needs to see the inside of your home to see if any improvements were made which may affect the home value.

Every governmental agency offers a window in which you can dispute their assessment of your home value. Some homeowners want to see an increased assessment because they may be considering selling, they have plans for a home equity loan, etc. Other homeowners prefer their home value to remain pretty static if not lowered when assessment time rolls around, so that their property taxes won’t sky rocket.

Keep in mind, an ASSESSMENT will ALWAYS affect your property taxes, where as paying to get an appraisal of your home value won’t necessarily do so because the government may never know about it. The two can also be used hand in hand. For example, if you think the government assessed your home value too high, you can pay for an appraisal that might lower your home value and therefore your property taxes. Of course, you do run the risk that the appraisal may wind up being similar to the government’s assessment.

Another term that is often used along with home value, assessment and appraisal is a comparative market analysis or a CMA. Getting a CMA done adds yet another third party to your home value search: a real estate agent. A CMA is an informal assessment of a property’s market value, usually done to generate a fair listing price if a home is selling. Real estate agents figure out your home value by comparing it to similar properties that have sold in the past year. For more accurate home value information, real estate agents will visit the property and do their version of an appraisal and than adjust the price based on similar homes that sold and come up with a comparative market analysis: basically, what you could expect to get your home for if you put it on the market.

There are many different ways to get an accurate home value, but the way you go about it should be determined by what exactly you want it for. If you’re thinking of getting a home equity loan, go for an appraisal. If you think your property taxes are too high, you may want to contact a governmental assessor AND and appraiser to get your home value in case you need to dispute the government’s assessment. On the other hand, if you’re thinking of selling, or you’re just curious and looking for a free home value report, go with a real estate agents.

There are plenty of sites online that offer free home value reports and get you hooked up with a Realtor. You don’t have to be selling, just willing to talk to an agent who is then going to follow up with you from time to time in an effort to win your business. Their home value report will be just as accurate as an assessor or appraiser, and if you play your cards right you might get some freebies from a real estate agent, along with that home value report you ordered!

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

In my day to day conversations with real estate professionals and both my sales and customer service teams at GetMyHomesValue.com, I’m finding that too many agents look at open houses the wrong way. Just like many agents look at doing a free CMA for their real estate leads as a waste of time, many agents don’t like doing open houses…usually because they have the wrong expectations. A free CMA is simply an icebreaker for you to get a listing appointment. An open house is not for the purpose of selling that particular house. If you do, great, but that rarely happens. An open house is simply another rich source of real estate leads for you.

The attitudes of some agents just baffle me: “Oh gosh, I gotta appease my client…appease my seller. I can’t find somebody to do this open house for me on Sunday. I don’t want to do it.” These are the same people complaining that they don’t have a check coming in for the next 90 days. Real estate leads ensure that you have a steady flow of income for the rest of your life. You must always keep your pipeline full of leads…I always had several hundred of them (at different stages, of course). If you don’t want to do this, get out of real estate. it’s not for you. This is how you secure your income flow…just always keep your pipeline full of real estate leads.

Agents sometimes start off strong and then relax prematurely, thinking they can rely on referrals when they really should be generating more real estate leads. Open houses are a great way to do it. Form a relationship with a loan officer and have them with you at your open houses and listing appointments to do good faith estimates. The opportunities are there for you. There are very successful agents, some of whom you work with, who literally are so busy that they NEED someone to work an open house for them. If your pipeline isn’t full of real estate leads and you have the time, don’t miss out on these opportunities. ASK for them. They’re there.

Look for FSBO open houses, as well. Don’t let the “For Sale By Owner” sign scare or discourage you. FSBO’s can be a great source of real estate leads as well. I met with a lot of FSBO’s and converted them into my clients. All you have to do is show them how they’ll come out better with you as their agent. I can’t tell you how many times I went to FSBO open houses, had a nice conversation and asked if I could list their house. The worst they’ll tell you is “no.’ So what? If you don’t ask for it, you don’t get it and I found that most FSBO’s were okay with me visiting their open house. If they sell it on their own, that’s okay…you didn’t put out too much effort anyway. On the flipside, I made many calls where I asked them if they had sold the house, they said “no,” I said “I have a buyer for you,” and I wound up earning their business and making a commission. I’m amazed at how many agents just won’t do this.

Keep an open mind with open houses. Whether you’re hosting the open house or visiting a FSBO open house, they’re a goldmine of real estate leads if you have the right mindset.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

How often do you contact preforeclosures and hear homeowners say, “I want to keep my home?” Most of the homeowners you meet have invested most of their hard earned money into purchasing and maintaining their home. Homeownership is the “American Dream.” As an investor, shouldn’t you also be helping homeowners maintain that dream?

Based on years of research, SaveMeFromForeclosure.com has found that 8 out of 10 homeowners facing foreclosure just want to keep their home. So how can you help them? There are many ways you can help individuals save their home and their credit.

First, you can speak to homeowners about the possibility of refinancing. Remember that they need ample time before the foreclosure date, and enough equity in their property to refinance. Credit scores are a large part of getting qualified for a loan, the more payments the homeowner has missed, the more difficult it will be for them to qualify for a loan. The homeowner will also have to come out of pocket to pay for an appraisal and a credit report, at a minimum, with no guarantee of the loan getting closed.

If refinancing isn’t an option you could offer loss mitigation services. This is where you can negotiate with their existing lender to restructure their loan. During this process you will help the homeowner understand their expenses against their income. You will be able to tell the homeowner whether they can realistically afford to keep their home. Once you determine that the homeowner can afford to keep their home you, or a reputable outsourced company, can work to negotiate with their lender on their behalf.

Finally, and as a last resort, you could help the homeowner find a bankruptcy attorney who could determine whether filing bankruptcy would allow the homeowner to stay in their home. You should remind the homeowner that a bankruptcy will be on their permanent financial record, and that you’re not an attorney and therefore can’t give any legal advice.

After you have walked thru these options with homeowners you can determine which course of action could be most effective for keeping their homes. Oftentimes homeowners have reasons to want to get out of their home quickly and avoid a foreclosure with the least amount of work and risk. For these people selling to an investor may be their best option. But by now you have also provided the homeowner with real options for staying in their home.

The last thing you want to be sure to offer the homeowner is advice on improving their credit and assistance in obtaining credit repair services. The number one thing you can do to help homeowners is to help them stop a foreclosure followed by assisting them in getting back on track financially. Poor credit can and will continue to haunt the preforeclosure homeowner until they do something proactively to correct the problem. As an investor you must provide this help in some way or another.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Real estate is an investment and it’s important to put your investment in a place where it has an opportunity to grow over the years. In order to get an idea of whether your new home will increase in home value, or whether there will be a flood of new people wanting to move into the area, you’ve got to examine specific factors of the area you’re living in or would like to move to. Specifically, take a look at the area’s past home value averages and rate of sales, as well as its economy, job market, and attractions to outside visitors. These factors will have an affect on whether your home value is likely to rise or fall over the years.

Kansas, with it’s capital city of Topeka, has long flown under the radar of the American public – there’s just not much talk about the Heart of America’s West. But Kansas has a bit more to offer than most people would think. To start, Kansas has a fairly large population compared to most Midwestern states: 2,764,075 people reside in the state. Kansas has an economy based strongly on agricultural products such as cattle, wheat, sorghum, soybeans, hogs and of course, corn. Its industry sectors include a large aircraft manufacturing section, food processing, printing and publishing, chemical production, machinery, apparel, petroleum and mining. So many varied employment opportunities has led Kansas to a stable real estate market, with home value averages steadily rising.

Although tourism is not a major industry for Kansas, the state still has plenty to offer travelers, with a history steeped in the American Old West and flavored with the adventurous pioneer spirit. There are plenty of outdoor activities for adventurers: hiking, biking, camping, fishing, boating, visiting dude ranches etc. Lewis and Clark made part of the famous journey to the West through Kansas, and the state also has a strong Native American heritage. There are plenty of historic landmarks to visit, including Pony Express stations, Mine Creek Battlefield (one of the biggest calvary battles of the Civil War), Constitution Hall and various frontier forts to explore. The two major cities of Topeka and Kansas City offer plenty of nightlife experience such as dining, clubbing, breweries, shopping and other “city slicker” activities.

Though not hailed much for tourism, Kansas has enough to offer that it becomes clearer and clearer why home value and real estate in general is still doing well in Kansas. Another reason is the income potential and job opportunities available in Kansas. Unemployment is down to about 4.3% and 2006 saw 11,000 new non-farm payroll jobs added, as well as more opportunities in the government and professional and business services. The state’s median household income has stayed near the national median income at about $44,000 in 2005. With a low median home value of about $157,000 in Kansas City, this means that Kansas residents have more money to spend on housing – and with the low cost of housing, they can get more bang for their buck.

Most real estate agents agree that the beginning of 2007 has seen a market that is correcting itself and settle in with reasonable interest rates and home value prices. Some areas are definitely more of a buyer’s market, but overall it is balanced, as long as sellers are realistic about asking prices. In the Wichita area, the majority of homes sold so far have had a home value of less than $300,000. With such affordable housing, the Kansas market looks to be staying stable, with no major crash as in other sections of the U.S. but slow and steady gains in home value averages.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Real estate is an investment, so you want to make sure you’re putting that investment in an environment that has room to grow. Basically,you want your home value to appreciate over the years. The best way to predict where a specific area’s real estate market and home value prices are going is to examine the past market (home value rates, number of sales per month, etc) as well as the specifics of the area: economy, employment opportunities, and attractions to outside visitors. These factors will have an affect on whether your home value is likely to rise or fall over the years.

Oklahoma and its capital, Oklahoma City, is one of the more populated Midwestern states, with a total population in 2006 of 3,579,212. The people of Oklahoma rely on a mix of an agricultural and industrial economy for their livelihood. Their main agricultural products include cattle, wheat, milk, poultry and cotton, while their industries produce transportation equipment, machinery, electric products, rubber and plastic products and food processing. With so many different employment sectors, Oklahoma has kept a low cost of housing and living as well steady home value rates.

Though tourism is not a major industry in the state, there’s still plenty to do in the area. With cities such as Oklahoma City and Tulsa, nightlife activities are never scarce. Visit theaters, clubs, bars, restaurants, breweries and shows in the evenings and enjoy the various museums, amusement and water parks, zoos and aquariums Oklahoma has to offer during the day. For the adventurer several state parks provide the perfect environment for hiking, biking, camping, boating, fishing, etc. Wildlife refuges are prevalent in Oklahoma, as is a heavy Native American history and culture. Oklahoma has something for everyone’s tastes, though in many ways it is an underrated part of the United States. The lack of attention is most likely why Oklahoma didn’t experience the same kind of boom in real estate as other areas did and why their market has not crashed nor home value prices fallen drastically. There has been some decrease in home value appreciation, but nothing like what other areas have experienced.

Yet another reason for Oklahoma’s stable market is its relatively low unemployment rate of about 4.2%. More than 20,000 jobs were added in 2006 and since then several sectors have seen job growth, particularly: natural resources/mining and education and health services. Unfortunately, this increase in job availability hasn’t been echoed in income, as the national median household income of Oklahoma in 2005 was $38,895 which was a decline compared to some areas in the U.S. Luckily for residents, Oklahoma’s housing costs are fairly low also, since the median home value in Oklahoma City in 2006 was $125,000, while in Tulsa it was about $131,000.

Homes on the market in the Oklahoma City market have an average selling time of around 72 days, with median home value sales price of $122,725. According to agents in the area, it is a fairly stable market, with buyers having the upper hand in sales with a home value of $300,000 or more and sellers having a bit more negotiating room for more affordable homes, since they are more in demand. Tulsa, Oklahoma does not have as large an inventory as some markets, and can therefore be considered somewhat of a sellers market. Homes with a home value higher than average are in a weak buyer to balanced market, while, like Oklahoma City, more affordable housing is in demand and therefore more of a seller’s market. All in all, Oklahoma certainly did not hit any lows in the market or home value averages, but instead settled in for a balanced market opportunity over the next few months.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

The only market you should focus on is the one in the area you’re thinking to buy or sell in. It’s important to get an idea not just of the average home value in the area and rate of sale, but the economy, employment and attractions in that area. Knowing how an area pulls in visitors and residents will give you a good idea of how steady home value averages and the market is in that area and let you somewhat predict what those factors may do in the future.

Montana, with it’s capital of Helena, is any sportsmen or wilderness lover’s paradise. With a relatively small population of about 944,632 (in 2006) in a pretty big state, 46 of the 56 counties in Montana have only an average of 6 people per square mile. In general, the more rural an area, the lower home value averages tend to be, while the more populated areas tend to hold on to higher home value prices simply because they are a more popular place to live.

So far in 2007 Montana’s unemployment rate has reached all time lows, at 2% in March 2007 and rising to only 2.2% in April. This rate is one of the lowest in the United States. The economy of Montana and smaller population surely has some impact on this rate, since Montana has more land to raise agricultural products such as cattle, wheat, barley, sugar beets, hay and hogs while their industries are mainly mining, lumber and wood products, food processing and of course, tourism. The abundance of land in space in Montana leaves it open to further development, and gives good prospects for the future that home value averages will rise again.

Montana’s tourism breaks is down into 6 regions: Glacier Country, Russell Country, Gold West, Yellowstone, Missouri River and Custer. Though Montana has it’s share of big cities, it is more known for its historical, wilderness and cultural attractions then its night life, though there is still plenty of that! Montana is perfect for the adventurer, home of Glacier National Park and not far from Yellowstone National Park. Montana has been a spot of exciting dinosaur discoveries with a Dino Trail of 15 museums and field sites, as well as tons of Native American cultural spots and activities and even reenactments of General Custer’s famous last stand. You can follow part of Lewis and Clark’s journey through the state, or sit back and hike, fish, and climb mountains all day in some of the most beautiful wilderness in the United States. Montana’s market and home value averages should stabilize easily with such low unemployment and so many attractions in one state.

The median household income in 2004 was about $35,500 and rose just a bit to over $37,000 in 2005 and a fair estimate for the median income for 2006 would be between $38,000 and $39,000. As with the rest of the United States, the rate of income growth seems slightly below the rate of growth of home value medians. The average median home value in March of 2007 was $145,865 while April’s average home value dropped to $131,680. To be fair, the lower price in April was for a slightly smaller home.

According to many agents in Missoula county, the higher tiered homes are still selling pretty easily, while the mid to lower-tier homes have a bit of a longer wait when put on the market. Motivated sellers are adjusting their home value asking price, mostly in response to reports that markets in other areas were sliding fast.

Overall, it would appear that Montana has stayed relatively stable in terms of real estate ups and downs. Home value medians never really hit the high-highs some areas of the U.S. saw and are therefore less likely to experience the low-lows either. The number of homes for sale in any given neighborhood has an effect on overall home value medians. With new homes hitting the market in the spring for Montana, it seems likely the home value median will stay level as buying and selling activity accelerates.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

To get a true idea of how a particular area’s real estate market will do over the next few years, or to try and predict whether home value prices will go up or down, it’s important to look at the area you’re in or moving to. Taking a look at past home sales and home value averages is important, but just as important is looking into that area’s economy, employment opportunities and attractions to outside visitors. These factors can give you a gist of whether home value averages will be on the rise in a given area.

Nebraska (capital city: Lincoln) is well know for its spacious plains and outdoor adventures. For a farm-centric state, Nebraska is fairly well populated at 1,768,331 residents. Nebraska has a strong agricultural economy based on cattle, hogs, corn, soybeans, wheat and sorghum, while its main industries include food processing, machinery, electric equipment and printing and publishing. Unlike most states, Nebraska does not have a strong tourism industry, though that doesn’t mean people aren’t visiting! With rivers, lakes and wide open plains, Nebraska is an outdoorsman’s dream.

Visitors to Nebraska can live the simple life hiking, biking, boating, camping and fishing, or visiting one of the various national parks in the state. History buffs can follow the path of Lewis and Clark or other adventurous pioneers and relive the spirit and adventure of the frontier. Nebraska is also known for it’s archaeological discoveries and the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument is a popular place to tour.

With two major cities relatively close together (Lincoln and Omaha), Nebraska also has an exciting nightlife to offer , with fine dining, breweries, wineries, clubs, theaters to fill the nights and museums, zoos, gardens and parks to visit in the daytime. Though Nebraska may not be as huge a tourism front as other states, there is still plenty to do when visiting the Cornhusker state. Their steady real estate market proves that tourism isn’t everything when it comes to steady home value averages and sales.

Most likely Nebraska’s recent low unemployment rate of 2.8% along with job opportunities rising in non-farm industries, especially education & health and leisure & hospitality sectors have contributed to a balanced real estate market. The fact that Nebraska’s median household income is pretty high by national standards at about $47,900 in 2005 while it’s median home value in 2007 has been as low as $156,731 is sure to have an effect on the market as well. Anywhere with job opportunities, low cost of living and housing, and high incomes is bound to be a popular relocation spot for many, which again will help keep home value averages and the real estate market pretty steady in Nebraska.

Most of Nebraska seems to be in a buyer’s market at this point according to many real estate agents in the Omaha and Lincoln areas. In Lincoln the demand for higher-end residential homes has slowed, but houses with an average home value of about $200,000 are still moving at a good pace. In Omaha there are plenty of new and existing homes available and the average time a home spent on a market was about 56 days. All in all, Nebraska’s real estate market has not experienced as much of a lag as most of the rest of the nation. Though home value prices did take a bit of a hit, things are picking up in the early part of the summer of 2007.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Real estate is an investment and obviously you want to invest somewhere that your investment is likely to grow. In order to somewhat predict how a certain area will do in real estate over a span of years, it’s important to look not just into past home value and sale trends, but the economy, employment and attractions of the area itself.

South Dakota (capital city: Pierre), is one area of the nation that has stayed relatively strong in real estate, which is little wonder with all the jobs, space and low cost of living available in a big state with a population of only 781,919 in 2006. South Dakota has strong agricultural economy of cattle, hogs, wheat, soybeans, milk and corn and industry production focused on food processing, machinery, lumber and wood products and tourism. Unlike many states, South Dakota’s factories have added jobs in each of the past three years, and service sectors have also grown, keeping its unemployment rate at a relatively low 3.4% over the past few months.

This strong employment base along with South Dakota’s various tourist draws has helped keep their real estate market steady and home value prices creeping up. South Dakota, is of course, home of perhaps the most famous and patriotic sculpture in the world: Mt. Rushmore as well as the still-under-construction Crazy Horse Memorial dedicated to Native American heroes. South Dakota is also a treasure trove of outdoor adventures, with the Badlands National Park (famous for it’s moon-like landscape), the Black Hills National Forest and Caves as well as many archaeological and paleontological sites and discoveries (world famous T-Rex “Sue” was discovered in South Dakota). Even the Old West and pioneer spirit is kept alive in Deadwood, national historic landmark styled authentically after the Old West. You can spend days visiting cultural and historical landmarks, go shopping, dining and enjoy the nightlife or be adventurous with hiking, climbing, camping, fishing, boating, sailing and more in South Dakota – what
ever you like, South Dakota seems to have something for everyone, a draw that pulls in many new residents!

One more major factor that has kept South Dakota’s real estate market strong is its low cost of living coupled with relatively high incomes compared to median home value prices. In 2006, the median home value sales price in South Dakota was about $152,000, which was nearly $80,000 below national median home value. In 2006, South Dakota’s median household income had risen above $43,000, not too far below the national median income. This high income combined with low housing costs allowed South Dakota families to afford more expensive homes.

As of now, the market in most of South Dakota is steady, with average home value sales prices in the Black Hills region steady at about $183,871 and spending an average of 71 days on the market. With a strong job market, diverse culture and landscape that attracts thousands of visitors a year and low cost of living, South Dakota’s market is likely to stay strong, with homes selling within about 90 days or so of being put on the market and home value averages creeping steadily higher.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Arizona is well known for it’s bustling capital city of Phoenix, a hot spot of cultural, natural and historical value. The whole state of Arizona has much to offer residents or visitors in the way of job opportunities, real estate and attractions. The economy is based around agricultural production in cattle, cotton, diary, lettuce and hay, while their industries focus on mining, electric and transportation equipment, machinery, printing and publishing, food processing, electronics and tourism. These markets are steady enough that job opportunities are all around, keeping the state a prime locale for new residents, which in turn helps stabilize the real estate market and home value averages.

Arizona is also home to one of the 7 Wonders of the World, the Grand Canyon, which is the biggest tourist draw in the state. Other attractions include bustling nightlife of the major cities of Phoenix, Tucson and Flagstaff (where visitors and locals alike partake in the myriad bars, billiards, casinos and music and comedy shows available) as well as the many museums and festivals dedicated to the cultural arts. With a large Native American population, Native ruins, historic and cultural sites are always a big draw, as are any sites having to do with the “Old West.” With so many different things to do, it’s no wonder Arizona has been one of the top recipients of new people moving in from another state.

Arizona is currently home to 6,166,318 people, with the unemployment rate for April at about 4%, just a bit of an increase from the historical low of 3.9% from the previous month (March 2007). As of 2004 the median household income was about $43,696, which has most likely increased to about $45,000 or so by the end of 2006. The median home value in Arizona is currently $306,877 for a home a little over 1700 square feet.

Most real estate professionals agree that Arizona’s market has definitely shifted to a buyer’s market and the huge inventory of houses for sale help keep the home value averages down. Even the median home value for the greater Phoenix is down somewhat from what it was this time last year. Until the inventory of homes levels out, home value averages are likely to stay down. If you’re looking to buy in Arizona, now is a great time to do it. If you’re trying to sell your home, be patient, because it may be a while. Supply is too high and demand is too low for Arizona home value averages to stay as high as they were a year ago. Most realty professionals predict that the market will slowly begin to rise again as long as the huge gap between buyers and sellers begins to balance out.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Real estate is an investment, and a large one at that, so it’s important to think about where the market and home value prices will be over a 10 year span when thinking of moving to a new area. By looking at the economy, employment rates, job opportunities and attractions of a particular area, you can get a much better idea of where home value prices and the market in general will be headed.

North Dakota (capital city: Bismarck) isn’t a state often thrown about in the news, but one that has much to offer regardless. With a relatively small population at 635,867 in 2006 for a broad state, North Dakota has wide open spaces and wildlife enough for any adventurer. The state’s economy is heavily agricultural, with wheat, cattle, barley, sunflower, milk and sugar beets being it’s main products. North Dakota’s main industrial services are food processing, machinery, mining and tourism. The varied economy and relative rural-ness of the state keeps home value prices at a relatively affordable price.

Tourism is a major factor in the real estate market and home value averages of any area. The more popular an area, the more likely it is to see large growth of residents, and demand for housing in the area will lead to a booming market, so it’s always good for a state to play up its tourism aspect. North Dakota has plenty of historical and cultural sites to offer visitors, with several different American Indian (including the Sioux) originating in the area. The state is full of adventure activities such as hiking, biking, camping, boating, sailing, skiing, wildlife viewing, fishing and much, much more. National and state parks abound and North Dakota has plenty of family friendly activities such as museums, arcades, go-karting, recreational centers, water parks, zoos, etc. Family attractions are always a huge pull for families, and the more family-friendly an area, the better off its real estate market.

With an unemployment rate of about 3.3% in April and an median household income of about $41,000 in 2005, North Dakota is not one of the wealthiest states in America, but it does have low costs of living. In April 2007, the median home value of properties sold was $325,831, meaning in April, half the homes sold were of higher home value while the other half were of lower. The median assessed home value was about $152,011 and the average home value of a single family home, condo or townhouse was about $164,601 in 2006, keeping homes affordable in the state.

Home value averages rose steadily from 2005-2006 and continue to do so, though more slowly through 2007. Cities and more populated areas tend to average higher home value prices and according to real estate professionals in the Bismarck area, the market still shows steady growth, with home value prices still increasing in numerous sub-divisions and a good balance of buyers and sellers entering the market.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

California (with it’s capital of Sacramento) has a population of 36,457,549 with an unemployment rate of about 5.1%, inching closer to their historic low of 4.7% in November of 2006. The median household income in 2004 was $49,894 while the current median home value is about $575,000. The economy is based on agriculture (mainly vegetables, fruits & nuts, dairy, cattle and grapes) and industry sectors such as electronic components, computer and software, film production, aerospace, petroleum and tourism.

California is well known for it’s attraction of tourists. In fact, California is first in the nation for travel earnings, domestic and overseas visitors, with tourism equaling out to 6.5% of the gross state product. There are 12 specific regions of California, all with their own attractions to offer: the North Coast, Shasta Cascade, the Bay Area, Gold Country, Central Valley, High Sierra, Central Coast, Los Angeles, Desert, Orange County, Inland Empire and San Diego. The myriad tourist attractions California has to offer are amusement/recreational parks (Disney Land, Yosemite National Park, etc), beaches, mountains, desert, wine country, museums, and of course cultural hot spots like the cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Santa Barbara.

With such a high level of tourism, it’s no surprise that in the early years of the 2000s, California’s real estate market was booming and home value averages were at an all time high. People were moving to California or trying to purchase second homes like crazy and inventory sold like hotcakes. As the California Association of Realtors predicted, the market has downshifted since 2006. They predict the median home value will decline about 2% to $550,000 while home sales will decrease by about 7% to under 450,000 units, compared with over 480,000 units in 2006.

C.A.R. President Vince Malta believes the gap between buyer and seller expectations has slowed the market because sellers still hoped to obtain the highest home value price possible in 2006 while buyers’ sense of urgency wanned as they had more choices on the market. Vice President and Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young of C.A.R. has another explanation as well: “The anticipated slowdown that began in October 2005 was heightened by dual natural disasters in the Gulf Coast, a significant drop in consumer confidence, rising energy and raw materials costs and a series of Federal Reserve interest rate hikes that began in June 2004.” She goes on to say that mortgage rates passed a threshold as well, causing a decline in affordability of homes.

The California Association of Realtors also expects that some regions such as Central Valley, San Diego and the Riverside/San Bernardino regions will have greater sales declines and home value drops than the rest of the state. So what does this mean to a consumer looking to sell? Well, right now your home value has probably lowered some what (especially when compared with inflation) so if you can hold off on selling, you may want to see what happens in a year or two. If you’re looking to buy a home and stay in it long term, now might be the time to get a great home at a low home value and hold on to it. Ten years from now, there’s no telling how the California real estate market will go or what your home value will be – but for right now, California is moderate at best.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Nevada is probably best known for the dynamic city of Las Vegas, the city of Sin, though it’s capital is the slightly less well known Carson City. Home value averages and home sales have been pretty steady if not booming for a state with so much to offer. Whether moving to Nevada permanently or just visiting, the state has something for everyone: cultural attractions, wildlife and nature attractions, winter activities, historic sites, etc. There’s the Las Vegas life: visiting the Hoover Damn, taking in museums, zoos, and aquariums during the day, while taking advantage of the grand casinos, shows and clubs at night (because after all, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas). The Sierra Nevada range in the Reno-Lake Tahoe area is one of the best places to ski and partake in other winter activities. With so many varied attractions, and with such high profits from casinos, it’s no wonder that Nevada home value prices haven’t been affected TOO drastically in the deflation of the housing bubble.

Nevada’s economy is a strong mix of agriculture (mainly cattle, hat, dairy products and potatoes) and industry services, such as tourism (a big one for them), mining, printing and publishing, food processing and electric equipment. With a population of nearly 2.5 million, Nevada has a low unemployment rate of about 4.4% for 2007, coming closer and closer to their all time historical low in May of 2006 at 4.1%. The average household income in Nevada in 2005 was about $48,496 (currently, it’s probably very close to $50,000) while the average home value for an 1800 square foot single family home is a little over $330,000. As with most parts of the country, home value prices were rising faster than household incomes, though according to many real estate agents in Nevada, that is beginning to balance somewhat as home value prices level out as a correction to the post-bubble era.

That means that sellers are beginning to lower their prices and it’s a great time to buy in Nevada. Since the state has attractions and climate for everyone (ranging from the wintry Sierra-Nevada region to the deserts surrounding Vegas), it’s all a matter of choosing the best location for you. Las Vegas has greater economic development than anywhere in America, so there are plenty of jobs available in that area. Home value averages have fallen since June of last year, when the median home value sale price was about $319,000 (with the list price usually about $324,000). In April of 2007, that median home value sale price has moved down to $304,000 making homes in the booming city of Vegas much more affordable and proving that the housing bubble did not burst, but rather deflated as things leveled out. It is very much a buyers’ market in Nevada.

According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, new residents, total employment and visitor volume have all increased since this same time last year. New home sales, average home value prices and existing home sales however, have decreased quite a bit (existing home sales are down 40.7% since last year!). All this really means is that like most states, Nevada’s real estate market is leveling out, home value prices are leveling out, and though you’d still see a return on investment if you sell, Nevada is definitely experiencing a market that favors buyers at this point in time.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

The state of Oregon (with its capital city of Salem) is fast becoming one of the real estate hot spots of the nation. More and more people are relocating to Oregon, especially Californians, according to statistics by 3 national moving companies. It’s not hard to see why: with a population creeping up on 4 million, the cost of living is fairly low, unemployment rates are decreasing and Oregon has plenty of attractions to offer to new initiates. A rise in economy and job growth is a sure fire way to keep a real estate market stable and continue to have steadily increasing home value prices, while a big tourism industry is a great way to continually attract potential residents to a state.

Oregon’s economy relies heavily on its agriculture (cattle, vegetables, fruits, dairy products, wheat) and industries such as lumber, wood and paper products, machinery, scientific instruments, food processing and tourism. The unemployment rate, which stayed in and around 7% or so through early and mid 2000s, has dropped to 5.1, edging closer to the historical low of 4.7% Oregon experienced in 1995. The median household income was about $43,262 in 2005 and with more jobs available, more first-time home buyers can afford a higher home value than previously.

Oregon has seven distinct regions, and between them, there’s something for everyone to do in the Beaver state, which helps keep their home value median rising. Oregon can be broken down into: Portland Metro, the Coast, Williamette Valley, Souther Oregon, Central Oregon, Eastern Oregon and Mt. Hood/The Gorge. You can check out cultural attractions and the nightlife in the Portland Metro area, drive up and down the Coast and visit famous lighthouses and fishing villages, visit Williamette Valley for wineries and scenic covered bridges, or take a trip to Southern Oregon to see the deepest lake in the US: Crater Lake, which was formed in about 5700BC after a 12,000 foot volcano called Mt. Mazama explosively erupted. Then you can travel to Eastern Oregon for Hell’s Canyon and the famous Oregon Trail and north a bit to the Mt. Hood and the Gorge area to ski, hike and windsurf.

Last but not least is Central Oregon, and currently the hot spot for real estate activity in Oregon. Central Oregon is a playground of skiing, golf, hiking, biking fishing and climbing. Bend is the new big area for real estate in Oregon, especially with job growth in transportation and utilities, tourism, education and health and government services. The current home value median in the state of Oregon is about $236,000, while in Bend that home value median is actually much higher at $279,000. Oregon as a whole is seeing homes stay on the market for an average of 60-120 days, with homes taking a bit longer to sell in the Bend area, simply because of the boom there in 2006, which is slowing down. The Bend, Portland and Klamath Falls areas are all seeing activity in sales of single family homes, while Salem and Eugene activity tends to come from “move up” buyers.

According to a federal agency report, home value prices in Bend appreciated faster than any other city in the nation in 2006. The market has since slowed down, but home value medians in the area continue to rise and the inventory of unsold homes has stayed relatively steady since the first of the year at about 2,250 homes on the market. Though the huge boom Bend and the rest of Oregon experienced is likely over, with everything Oregon has to offer and the way 2007 is shaping up, it looks as if Oregon will continue to enjoy increasing home value prices and one of the more successful markets in the nation.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

If you’re a native of Washington state, or thinking of moving there, you’ve made a good choice. With its capital city of Olympia (but usually known more for Seattle) Washington has tons of job opportunities and tourist attractions. The varied places to visit, the historical landmarks and national parks all make Washington a great place to vacation. Any place that can draw in a lot of tourists is more likely to see their real estate market stay balanced and home value prices rise. Washington’s Tourism website suggests several varied opportunities for tourism in Washington. There’s the cultural side of things: museums, historical landmarks, wineries, arts festivals, theaters, etc and there is the wild side: camping, National Parks, wildlife viewing, hiking, biking, etc. Whatever your interests, the state of Washington has something for you.

The economy of Washington is based mostly on agriculture and industries such as aerospace, software development, paper, lumber and wood products, chemical production and tourism. Any area with high employment rates is bound to be a hot spot and therefore keep home value medians relatively high. In fact, Washington’s unemployment rate has fallen to 4.4% (a historical low) of the population after January 2007, which is only about 170,000 unemployed out of a population of over 6 million. The average household income in Washington was right around $50,000 or so in 2005 and does not seem to be rising very quickly.

Like many other areas in the nation, home value prices in Washington have risen faster than incomes, which hurts residents’ ability to buy their first home or upgrade to a new one. However, Washington’s market as a whole is still doing better than most. Although the national home value median for single family homes dropped 1.8% in the beginning of 2007 compared to the opening months of 2006, the median home value for Washington has increased about 7.4% since 2006 to about $300,800 according to the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at Washington State University.

Also according to Washington State University research, home value and sales varied significantly across the state, with home sales increasing in 20 counties, declining in 15 and staying unchanged in 4 compared to last year. Median home value prices range from close to $500,000 in San Juan County and down to under $150,000 in Adams.

Washington’s home value averages and real estate market is affected largely in part to its labor and economic situation. As long as jobs are open and available, Washington’s market should stay relatively strong, though it will take time for income growth to catch up with home value gains. If home value prices rise steadily but modestly and and allow average income growth to catch up, there is no reason why Washington state can’t have a booming market once more and even first time buyers can’t find the home of their dreams.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Wyoming, with it’s capital of Cheyenne, seems to be a state that flies under most peoples’ radar. Known as the Cowboy state, and relatively sparsely populated with only 515,004 residents in 2006, many assume Wyoming is a middle of nowhere state with nothing to do and nothing to offer, which is definitely not true. First off, with it’s sprawling plains and fertile land, Wyoming’s agriculture provides the rest of the country with cattle, beets, sheep, hay and wheat, while it’s industries provide mining, chemical products, lumber and wood, printing and publishing, machinery and of course, tourism. A strong economy is one good indication that an area’s real estate market should stay steady and home value rates will increase.

Wyoming is known also as “forever west” and evokes the very essence of the American Old West, a simpler time of cowboys and cattle runs. Wyoming has stuck to that simplicity and many of it’s tourist attractions are along the same line. The central region of the state is the corridor that many pioneers followed to the West, from sage-covered plains to tree-studded mountains. Historical trails and cultural spots abound. Wyoming is probably most famous as the home of Yellowstone National Park, as well as many other national parks and Indian Reservations, so there’s plenty to do, whether you like visiting historical and cultural spots or want to get outdoors for some wildlife-watching, fishing, hiking, boating, etc. Wyoming is also home to many fossil findings (see the Fossil Butte National Monument) as well as herds of wild horses and dude ranches. For those craving night life, the major cities like Cheyenne and Laramie has clubs, theaters, dining, breweries and anything else a city should have to offer.

Though many of Wyoming’s attractions are geared more toward the outdoors type, they still see plenty of tourists each year, yet another reason their real estate market and home value rates should stay relatively steady. Even their unemployment rate is down from recent years to 2.9%, though they say a historical low of 1.9% back in February of 1979. The average household income is similar to many mid-western states at about $46,000 in 2005. The median home value is relatively low as well, at about $152,011.

Wyoming’s real estate market, though not booming, does not seem to be affected by the supposed slump as many other states are. It is one of the largest coal suppliers in the world and because of the high need for mineral related products (like coal and gas) the eastern part of the state had suffered a severe work shortage and lack of housing. Due to this need, the job market exploded and construction began on new housing for the state. Because of this, much of Wyoming is still a seller’s market, unlike the rest of the country. With so many job opportunities and a strong economic future, Wyoming home value rates haven’t taken much of a hit as many other areas, and as long as those factors stay booming, it should have a steady market for a while to come.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

If you’re thinking of buying or selling a home, then you’re looking into a specific geographical area, and that should be the market you’re examining. Real estate is an investment, so it’s always good to think where your home value may be 5 years after you move – if you want to be able to somewhat predict that, you’ll have to look at the region you’re in. Studying an area’s market, employment rate, economy and attractions are a good way to determine what home value prices and the real estate market will be do over a period of time in a given area.

Right now, Utah, with its capital of Salt Lake City, is probably one of the fastest growing states in the U.S. Many Hurricane Katrina survivors have settled permanently in Utah, bringing it to a healthy population of 2,550,063 in 2006. More and more people are seeing the allure of Utah, which is what has kept their home value averages high and real estate market booming compared to the rest of the country.

With plenty of room for it’s agricultural products (cattle, dairy, hay and turkeys) and industry areas (aerospace, machinery, mining, food processing, electric equipment and tourism) Utah has a strong economy with low unemployment rates. As a matter of fact, Utah’s unemployment rate reached an all time low of 2.3% in 2/07 and has only risen a bit to 2.5% in April. Utah’s median home value is also relatively low at about $152,118 in April, which is about $30,000 MORE than it was in March. With an estimated median household income in 2005 of $53,226, Utah’s income growth and home value growth seem to be rising steadily together, rather than one being way ahead of the other like most of America.

Perhaps it is the attractions of Utah that keep people coming back, wanting to become residents, which in turn helps keep home value prices high. After all, Utah is home to the Mormons and Temple Square a 3 block radius in Salt Lake City chronicling Mormon pioneer history, is its most popular tourist attraction. As with any big city, Salt Lake City’s got great nightlife to offer as well. If you’re a bit more adventurous and outdoorsy, then Utah is definitely for you. Go hiking, biking, golfing, boating, or camping in it’s lush scenery. You can check out the Navajo Tribal Park for historical and cultural learning, as well as the many National Parks to be found in Utah.

And definitely don’t forget the snowing conditions:Utah’s got great snow and lots of it, so you can ski, snowboard, snow tube, etc. You can also visit the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere: Great Salt Lake. Take your time exploring the beautiful areas, because the more people a place attracts, the more new residents it attracts, the less land it has but the higher the home value medians go.

Utah already leads the nation in home value appreciation and this sustained surge in the housing market continues to defy national trend. Only about three years ago, Utah had the worst home value appreciation in the country. Much of the state’s real estate boom is due in fact to Utah’s low cost of living, low unemployment rates and booming job opportunities. Job growth in the state is one of the highest nationwide. Home value averages are still rising for Utah, but most experts predict it will level out somewhat, since such high levels can’t be sustained indefinitely. Already in certain areas gradually rising mortgage rates and tighter lending standards make it more difficult for buyers. For now Utah is a growing state and looks to continue – as long as job opportunities remain available and home value prices fair, Utah should have a booming market for quite a while longer.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

In order to get an idea of how a particular area is doing in real estate and home value averages, and where they may go in the future, you need to take into account more than just average home value and sales rates. You must look into the economy, employment rates, attractions and the past trends of that area in order to get a good grasp on how the market is doing in said area.

Idaho (capital is Boise), probably best known for being the potato state, has much more to offer than just agriculture. With a population of nearly 1.5 million and plenty of land to spread out on (it’s said that if you were to flatten Idaho’s mountains, it would be the size of Texas), Idaho’s economy does rely on it’s cattle, potatoes, dairy, wheat, sugar beets and barley production, as well as industry production like lumber and wood, paper products, food processing, machinery, chemical products, silver and other mining and tourism.

The more tourism a state receives, the higher it’s market and home value averages tend to go, simply because knowing a place is so popular tends to drive people to reside there. Broken into 7 distinct regions, Idaho has something to offer everyone. In northern Idaho, you can visit lakes and thicks forests, as well as the North West’s largest theme park: Silverwood. Northern Central Idaho is where Lewis and Clark searched for a Northwest passage to the Pacific and so has plenty of hiking and historical opportunities. The South Western region holds the capital city with it’s bustling night life and only miles away, high deserts and rock canyons. Visit Eastern and Central Idaho for the mountains, beautiful landscapes and outdoor activities, and South Central for national reserves and state parks. Finally, South Eastern Idaho is a treasure trove of Native American history, hot springs (warmed by volcanoes) and all kinds of adventure.

With so much to do in Idaho, it’s a wonder anybody has time to work, but they sure do. Idaho’s unemployment rate hit a record low of 2.8% in April of 2007. The median household income in 2005 was about $43,959, which by 2007 has most likely risen to $45,000 or more. The median home value of Idaho is still relatively low at about $131,854 in 2007.

As of now, the busiest area of Idaho, Boise, has a conflicted market. Properties listed with a home value over $400,000 are going slowly, usually sitting on the market for a year or more. It’s a good time for buyers, since there’s so much competition and homes on the market, and sellers are dropping prices to sell their home quicker. Anything with a home value under $400,000 is still in a very healthy market, with homes selling usually within 90-120 days and within 1% of a seller’s asking price.

In northern Idaho, the Coeur d’Alene region, home value averages are down a bit from last year (considering inflation), while listing are up about 25% and sales down by almost the same amount. It does not look to be a very strong market at this time for northern Idaho.

Western Idaho and the Idaho Falls region has seen an increase in average home value and it looks as those prices on existing homes and new construction will continue to rise, based on rising costs of materials and consumer demand. So far the inventory of homes isn’t so high that prices are dropping and homes are just sitting on the market.

All in all, Idaho’s real estate market is still doing pretty well, though mostly in the southern part of the state. With the low unemployment rate and all the available land, Idaho as a whole shouldn’t suffer too badly from this supposed real estate “slump” and though home value averages aren’t rising as fast as they did 2 years ago, for the most part they’re still moving on up.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

If you’re going to be a PreForeclosures investor, knowing what new foreclosures are being filed at the county courthouse is very advantageous. It gives you the inside track as to which new foreclosure filings are being recorded in your respective county.

There are many different methods to gathering this data. The first, and most obvious is to go down to your local county courthouse and mine the data yourself. While this method is free, I do not recommend it. It is very time consuming, and if you don’t have any experience, it can be a frustrating and time wasting task.

Fortunately for us, in today’s information age, many county courthouses put their data online. You should visit the website of the county that you’re interested in and find out if they post their public announcements online. If you do find the public announcements online you’ll be able to read the new foreclosures on a daily basis, as they are filed.

Some counties, however, aren’t as Internet savvy as others, and don’t yet post their information online. For these counties, I recommend going to a list provider who gathers such data, and paying for it. There are many businesses out there that are based on going to the county courthouse, gathering new foreclosure filings, putting them into a list format, and then selling that data. Most list companies either email it or fax it to you: some do it daily and others do it weekly.

You’re probably wondering why I would recommend paying for information that is free to the public? The answer is simple: it’s a much better use of your time and energy to outsource this function to a company that specializes in mining this data.

Another method of obtaining this is information is thru a title company. A lot of title companies compile and send out lists of foreclosures for free. While this is a great “free” resource, the data coming from title companies isn’t necessarily the freshest, newest data. While you might not be paying for the information, it’s not very valuable if you’re finding out about a foreclosure that was filed a week or two ago. Chances are those people have been already contacted by a lot of other investors, realtors, mortgage brokers and bankruptcy attorneys offering services to them.

The best way to find preforeclosure homes is to use a list provider. Finding good reliable data is the first step if you want to market to homeowners in foreclosure, and it’s very often worth it to pay someone (or a company) to mine this data for you. Once you’ve developed a system to have this information delivered to you, your marketing becomes a lot easier.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Real estate is an investment, so it’s important to invest somewhere your home is bound to gain value over the years. To do so, you have to examine the specific area you may be investing in. Take a look as past home value and sales trends. Then look at that area’s economy, population changes, job opportunities, unemployment rates and the attractions the area offers. A strong combination of these factors will almost always indicate the potential for large home value appreciation over the years.

Iowa, with its capital of Des Moines, is a state lodged partway between the mid-west and the east coast and is influenced by both. Iowa was home to about 2,982,085 people in 2006 and continues to grow thanks to many factors, but not least of which is low home value averages and a growing economy. Iowa deals mostly with hogs, corn, soybeans, oats, cattle and dairy products on its agricultural side, while its industry sectors include food processing, machinery, electric equipment, chemical products, printing and publishing and primary metals. Although tourism isn’t a major industry in the state, Iowa still has plenty to offer.

Any place that has attractions to offer visitors has a chance to draw in more and more residents. Obviously, the more in demand a spot is to live in, the higher the average home value is bound to be. While Iowa may not be an obvious vacation spot for most, it doesn’t change the fact that the state has plenty to offer in the way of museums, festivals, theme parks, historical sites, water parks and state parks. National historic landmarks include old frontier farms, stations on the Underground Railroad and one of the most famous, the Amana Colonies, seven authentic German villages that were founded as a religious commune 150 years ago and still preserve their traditions, way of life and crafts. You can also retrace the steps of Lewis and Clark, catch a hint of the Old West at rodeos, horse ranches and cattle trails or get a taste of city life in Des Moines. There is of course camping, fishing, boating, hiking and other outdoor activities galore, and the metropolitan areas of the state offer plenty of night life (clubbing, bars, dining, music, etc) as well as shopping, exploring and family entertainment. While not traditionally thought of as a hot spot to visit, Iowa does have plenty of activities for anyone looking for a laid back, simple vacation.

Though Iowa may not have quite the tourist pull as other states, it’s still doing fine in important matters of unemployment, income and economy (the things that really drive home value prices). Iowa’s unemployment rate is down to about 3.6% and has seen a growth of job opportunities in sectors such as trade, transportation and utilities and leisure and hospitality, which may be an indication of a growing tourism sector. The median household income was projected to be about $46,170 in 2005, but has actually declined from inflation adjusted values in 2000 to $43,609. Iowa falls about in the middle when it comes to household income compared to other states.

The low cost of housing helps offset lower income, as the average home value sales price in April 2007 was only about $146,075 and in the 1st quarter of this year, the median home value of properties sold was only at about $110,000. As a matter of fact, all housing-related costs are low in Iowa, with only 12% of households spending more than 30% of their income on housing, which is the second lowest in the country. These facts show that although home value rates in Iowa are not appreciating noticeably (and in some areas seem to be decreasing) the cost of living is low enough to offset the low home value appreciation. Des Moines, the biggest city in Iowa, seems to be very affordable, with home value appreciation slow but steady over the last few months, and a median home value of about $109,000. Sioux City and Iowa City are the more pricey areas to live in the state, with median home values the past couple months of $139,178 and $225,831 respectively.

All in all, Iowa does not have the strongest real estate market nor highest home value appreciation in the country. There has been moderate decrease in some areas, while other areas have seen a modest increase in home value. However, with a growing job force, more employment opportunities and such a low cost of living (and housing for that matter) there is no reason why over the next year or so, people wouldn’t want to at least visit the state. If Iowa can create more incentive to live there, there is no reason why a large influx of wannabe residents won’t help get home value averages rising and the market going strong again.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Real estate is an investment, so make sure you’re moving somewhere your home value is likely to appreciate decently over the years. But if you’re like me, you probably can’t tell the future, so how are you supposed to figure that one out? Simple: good, old fashioned research. Research the past home value and rate of sale trends in a specific area, as well as its population, job opportunities, economy, unemployment rates and the attractions it holds to visitors. Those various factors can give you a fair idea of where home values in a given area may be headed over the years.

Minnesota, home of the Twin Cities (one of which, St. Paul, is the capital city) has a population of about 5,167,101. Their economy is based on agricultural products such as: dairy, corn, cattle, soybeans, hogs, wheat and turkeys and on industrial sectors such as machinery, food processing, printing and publishing, fabricated metal products, electric equipment, mining and tourism. With a large population and a strong economy, it’s obvious Minnesota is a favorable spot to live, which usually means high home value averages and faster sales. Of course, the tourism factor and attractions an area has to offer can have a big impact on the amount of new residents drawn in as well.

Minnesota has tons of state parks for outdoor adventures such as camping, hiking, fishing, biking, boating, landscape and wildlife viewing, etc. The state can be broken into 4 main sections, each offering it’s own unique attractions. The Northwest/Central area has the largest lakes, prairies and bogs, it is the source of the Mississippi River and the is the home of the legend of Paul Bunyon, the famous bigger than life lumberjack. There are plenty of resorts to stay in with golfing, music and theater, museums and historical sites readily available. The Northeast region is the scene of many lakes, tumbling rivers and lush forests, perfect for the outdoor recreations mentioned earlier. The Southern portion of Minnesota is all about scenic valleys, wooded bluffs and peaceful prairies. Numerous historic sites honoring Dakota Indians and the pioneers alike are spread throughout the area, as are antique shops, historic architecture and ethnic festivals.

Last but not least is the Metro area, the home of the Twin Cities, where hip, urban Minneapolis meets gentrified, historical St. Paul. A wide spectrum of metropolitan experiences is the result, including, but not limited to: art, history and science museums, stage performances, zoos, family-friendly entertainment, shopping, a live music scene, dining, clubbing, bar hopping and theater. The area combines urban comforts with a beautiful natural setting including lakes, rivers, parks and trees. With so much to do, and a large metropolitan area, it’s a fair bet to say home value prices, at least in the metro area, are constantly on the rise.

Minnesota also has middle to low unemployment rate, staying steady at about 4.6% over the past couple months, with a rise in jobs in trade, transportation and utilities and education and health services. Government, construction and manufacturing jobs seem to have slipped somewhat. The median household income was about $52,024, higher than the national median and the median home value sales price in 2006 was about $235,000. The median home value in April 2007 was $260, 277.

In Minneapolis, the average value of a single family home is about $255,000. As long as sellers are willing to price their homes fairly, homes are still moving. St. Paul has an average home value of about $235,000. The average days spent on the market is a bit less than 90. The rural areas of Minnesota are bound to have lower home values but the homes probably don’t get sold as fast. However, if Minnesota stays on course, and job opportunities continue to arise, there’s no reason why home value averages can’t continue to rise steadily over the next few years.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

With real estate being such a large investment, you want to invest somewhere that your home value is bound to appreciate over the years. Although we can’t predict the future, you can make logical estimates as to where home value in an area will go by looking at past home value and sales trends, the population, economy, job opportunities, unemployment rate and attraction a specific area has to visitors.

When I think of Wisconsin (capital city of Madison) I tend to think 2 things: Greenbay Packers and cheese. But with a large population of over 5.5 million, Wisconsin has more to offer than football and dairy. Not surprisingly, the main agricultural products of Wisconsin are cheese, dairy, cattle, hogs, vegetables, corn and cranberries. Its major industries include machinery, food processing, paper products, electric equipment, fabricated metal products and tourism.

Between its strong economy and tourist attractions, Wisconsin keeps people coming back and it’s why their home value prices have stayed steady. The state offers amusement parks, water parks, casino and greyhound racing, clubs and taverns, fairs and festivals, science and nature centers, spectator sports, zoos, gardens, parks – you name it, they have it. You can spend time ATV-ing, biking, birding, camping, fishing, golfing, horseback riding, hunting, participating in winter sports, water sports, anything you can think of. Or take a trip to the more urban areas and enjoy the night life, with bars, clubs, breweries, theater and more. You can even see Wisconsin as it was at various points in time through various historical sites including: Old World (when things were just getting started for America), the Civil War era and the Victorian era. And of course, being surrounded by the Great Lakes gives Wisconsin a unique edge on lake and coastal scenery and various water sports including fishing, boating, kayaking, and jet skiing.

Wisconsin has been experiencing an average rate of unemployment, about the same as the national percentage: 4.9%, with more openings in the professional and business services as well as educational and health services and a large drop in manufacturing jobs available. The median household income in Wisconsin in 2005 was about $47,105, a decrease in the value projected in the 2000 census, which was about $51,235. The median home value of houses sold was $212,918 in April of 2007, with the median assessed home value at about $176,814.

Agents in both the Milwaukee and Madison areas seem to agree that Wisconsin is experiencing a buyers market at this point, and most homes with a value of $500,000 or higher are sitting for quite a while, a good indication the majority of people moving around Wisconsin want affordable housing. In Madison, if a home sells in under 60 days, it was most likely under priced. Buyers seem to understand they have the upper hand right now and are taking their time choosing their new home. In the Lake Geneva/Twin Lakes area, the average home value in 2006 was $286,071.

Wisconsin’s market at this point is fairly stable – as long as homes are correctly priced (and they’re under $500,000) they seem to be moving at a decent rate. Madison is the more expensive area to live, with Milwaukee coming in behind it. Home value averages have varied over the 1st quarter of 2007, without much of a steady gain or fall. As the boom of the past few years settles however, and as long as Wisconsin’s economy and employment stays strong, there is no reason why home value prices may not begin to noticeable appreciate again as 2007 comes to a close.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

When I started my Real Estate career, I heard about the necessity of finding private lenders. In fact, I even found two. But then I stopped. For four years I PROCRASTINATED. I didn’t get it!!! For four years I continued to go to banks and jump through their hoops.

I also had used hard money lenders, but found them VERY expensive.

It wasn’t until I quit my J.O.B. and found that banks wouldn’t loan me money that I realized that I needed to bring private lenders into my life quickly.

When I took that step, everything changed for the better.

What are some of the advantages of using private money for your real estate investments? Well, if you haven’t decided whether or not to use private money, I decided to lay it on the line here for everyone to see.

- Fast & you can buy at a discount
- No credit check & doesn’t show up on your credit report
- Unlimited funds
- Control, you set the rules
- Help friends, family & meet a great group of people
- Get some of your profit when you buy
- Cash flow
- Flexible
- Can make offers with confidence
- Can structure quick and more profitable exit strategies
- Saves you money
- Cheaper than a partner
- Fund the purchase of defaulted paper
- It is the foundation for a very profitable brokerage business

In this business when a deal comes along you have to move fast. Many Real Estate investors have watched a deal slip through their hands while they waited for the bank to approve their loan. Once you have private money available, that won’t happen to you! You can make an offer knowing you can go ahead and set a closing date. Meanwhile, your competition is wondering how you did it so quickly!

Perhaps the most unexpected aspect of using private lenders is the accumulative response by satisfied lenders.

After my first seminar I got only a few responses, at first. Then came the steady, unending trickle of eager lenders. Today, that trickle is more like a river!

Maybe it’s the credibility of one investor to another, or the proof of another’s prosperity through investing, but word of mouth is so powerful that once you’ve established a few private lenders, you’ll have a continual revenue stream with which to invest.

A real estate guru told me, “There’s plenty of capital out there. All you have to do is ask, and make people understand what you’re using it for and how safe they are. It’s really not difficult to get it.” Simply educate lenders about the high rate of return available through your real estate investments, and watch them line up to give you money!

Incredible, I know.

But listen to this: here are a few of my recent deals, made possible only because I had the cash on hand to close these deals quickly.
• Short Sale: $59,900 bank discounted to $25,000 = net $32,900
• Rehab: $51,000 purchased for $15k plus $13k rehab = net $23,207
• Subject to: $85,000 for $71,000 + $1,264 repairs = net $12,736
• Wholesale: $28,000 purchased for $22,000 = net $6,000

That’s $74,843 in only four deals, and all because I had the confidence and flexibility of assured funds through private lenders.

Today I shake my head at the thought of it, but once upon a time I was practically begging for bank loans – for the opportunity to wait in line, fill out applications, and wait weeks or even months to see if they would deem me and my prospective property a good “risk.”

I could have been using private lenders years earlier, but I hesitated. I lacked confidence and I wasn’t sure where to start. If I could give one piece of advice to any budding investor it would be this: Start today.

Don’t let even one more deal pass you by. You never know where life is going to take you. That one, 2 a.m. infomercial started me on this path, and today I’m the one appearing in the infomercials, teaching people how to change their lives through real estate.

With private lenders in line, you’re always equipped with the funds you need to grab each opportunity as it arises. Your confidence will soar and you’ll be making the kind of money of which you’ve always dreamed.

Private lending allowed me to finally take control of my destiny. You’ll gain nothing by waiting. Discover the key to true freedom and big money in real estate investing. Private lenders are out there. They’re waiting for you…

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Finding a realtor that you can trust is essential if you want to be successful in real estate investing. Without this “external” team member you are left using your gut and more than likely a lot of your time researching the market to help make your decision. Realtors can access information on properties in minutes that may take you hours or days to access, so use them!

When you do find a realtor that you can trust have them assist you with the following:

The property’s asking price. Could you get it for less than what is being asked? A realtor can tell you.
The property’s selling price and what repairs are going to be needed to get it sold for the same amount as other like homes in the area are selling for. You want to make sure your property is just a “notch above” the others in your market at your price range.
Find out how long like properties in the area have been on the market (on average). This will tell you the amount of time that you can expect until you flip it (if that’s the route you’re taking).
Find out the average sale price for like properties in your area also. This will help you decide how much to rehab (dollar amount and quality), and how much you can expect your house to sell for.

Next are some suggestions on how to identify a property. These tips will put you ahead of the competition in your area and help you to buy smart for huge profits:

Look for properties with large bedrooms. People like space. They don’t want to walk into their bedroom and fall face down into the bed.
Look for openess in a floor plan. A very open floor plan can give the illusion of more space.
Try to locate properties with bigger kitchens. Why is this important, you may ask? The next time you have a party, take a look at where everyone gathers (understand?).
Make sure that the property you are considering has a dry basement and that the foundation is straight with no bowing. Wet basements mean leaks and leaks mean repairs, and repairs mean EXPENSES! In addition, wet basements can mean the dreaded four letter word, M-O-L-D. Steer clear of wet basements!
Find a property that has a maintenance-free exterior, such as a brick or maintenance-free vinyl siding. They’re out there, you just got to look.
Consider the neighbors and the neighborhood. Come by at different times of the day to see how the neighborhood is. Is it loud? Are there a lot of kids who should be in school or people milling about who should be at work? Are there any abandoned cars? Are the neighbors’ homes next to the property, across the street from the property, and behind the property in disrepair? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions–FIND ANOTHER PROPERTY!
Run a registered sex offender search for your area. You don’t want to rent to a family and then find out that there is a sex offender living right next door.
Look for a property with a newer roof and mechanicals.
Find a property with some curb appeal.

These tips offered in this article should have you on your way to identifying money-making properties in no time. Once you get it down to a system, there will be no stopping you from making huge profits each and every time!

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

One way they can do this is to find a landlord that they know, or talk to someone (friends/family) in the area that in which they want to move, and ask if they know of anyone that would allow apartment rentals without a credit check. The key is for the homeowners to let the potential landlord know that their credit is not great at the present time, and that they are not willing to damage it even further with more inquiries, but that they want to have an opportunity to start recovering their financial situation. A lot of landlords will be reasonable if the situation is explained to them very clearly, and if the former homeowners make a good first impression.

If the foreclosure victims do not know any friendly contacts in the area, though, they will have to offer the landlord an incentive to decide not to pull their credit histories and discover the late payments and foreclosure. For this purpose, they can offer an extra amount as a security deposit, or offer to pay an extra 2-3 months rent up-front, in exchange for the landlord not conducting a credit check. The offer of more money is a very powerful incentive for landlords, as they will be able to use the extra resources for current projects and investments. If the former homeowners need a “cover story” to explain their unwillingness to have their credit pulled, they can use the one in the paragraph above, or simply inform the landlord that they are very private and do not want to give out their social security number and financial information to anyone, since they have been a victim of identity theft in the past. This can be useful to explain their poor credit situation as well as the reason they can not give away any personal information that can be used to pull a credit report. Extra cash in the form of a security deposit or extra rent will usually help the landlord see things from the foreclosure victims’ perspective.

The important point is to concentrate on the desire for personal and financial privacy, or the homeowners’ intention to begin repairing their credit because of recent, unavoidable financial hardships. As well, it helps to offer the landlord a reason to trust them at their word. These tactics should take care of many of the problems for foreclosure victims attempting to rent an apartment after facing foreclosure, although they may have to speak with several different landlords who will lend an understanding ear in this situation. Money talks, though, and most landlords, for the right price, can be persuaded not to pull a credit report on applicants.

It is unfortunate that not all homeowners are able to save their homes from foreclosure, but each situation is different and needs to be dealt with in the homeowners’ best interests. When there are no options left to prevent the foreclosure, or the foreclosure victims do not want not keep the property but can not unload it due to market conditions, adding another level of problems in trying to rent a new apartment just continues the humiliation and rejection that so define foreclosure situations. But even in these cases, with a small amount of planning and the addition of a few financial incentives, the homeowners can get a fresh start and gain some control back over their financial lives.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

The condominium vacancy rate increased slightly in both the grade A and grade B markets. The overall vacancy rate of downtown freehold condominium was at 15.9% in the first quarter, a rise from the 15.2% recorded in the fourth quarter. Grade A buildings have somewhat higher vacancy rates than those of grade B buildings on average, at 18.3% for grade A units compared with 15.7% for grade B.

More people are looking at investment in property for the rental returns. Falling interest rates have forced many investors to look for other investment options other than low-yield bonds and stocks, and investing in physical properties has emerged as a good alternative. Luxury and high-end condominiums in prime areas are proving to be in high demand because there is recognition that there are few freehold sites available in prime locations. Foreign buyers are still important in this luxury segment.

Supply
Total downtown supply grew by 9.5% year-on-year and 3.4% quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter of 2007. The total downtown condominium stock increased to 48,128 units during the first quarter of 2007, comprising 46,152 freehold condominium units and 1,976 leasehold condominium units. 34.6% of downtown condominium units are located in the Sukhumvit area. This is followed by the Riverside/Rama III area and the Silom/Sathon area, with a 31.4% and 21.4% market share, respectively.

There were four newly completed condominium projects in the first quarter of 2007: The Height, Urbana Sathon, La Vie En Rose Place and Lumpini Place Narathiwat Chaophraya. These four projects have added 1,580 units to the market. Two of the projects are located in the Sukhumvit area with 129 units. Most of these projects were launched in 2004, with only 1% of their units still on the market.

As of the first quarter of 2007, the number of future condominium units in the peripheral areas totaled 33,000 units. This number includes only major projects outside the downtown area, mainly projects along the mass transit systems. Newly launched condominium projects are located in ThonBuri and Paholyothin, which are, seen as the new popular areas, and have a 35% share of the market.

Demand
The occupancy rate fell slightly from 84.8% in the fourth quarter of 2006 to 84.1% in the first quarter of 2007. However, the total number of occupied freehold condominium units rose from 37,802 to 38,793 units, comprising 4,102 grade A condominiums and 34,691 grade B condominiums. This fall in occupancy was due to the total supply increasing at a faster rate (3.4% quarter-on-quarter) than the total number of units occupied (2.6% quarter-on-quarter). Occupancy rates were highest in the Central Lumpini (92.5%) and Sukhumvit areas (89.7%)

Vacancy rates of completed condominium buildings have started to rise since 2006. The units are either being decorated or are for sale on the secondary market. Grade A condominiums have higher vacancy rates than those of grade B on average, at 18.3% for grade A units compared with 15.7% for grade B. The overall vacancy rate of downtown freehold condominiums was 15.9% in the first quarter of 2007.

Trend
More people are looking at investment in property for the rental returns. Luxury and high-end condominiums in prime areas are proving to be in high demand because it is recognized that there are few freehold sites available in prime locations. The changing lifestyle of home buyers seeking to live closer to their work place is another key factor affecting the city condominium market. Overall, prices have continued to increase but there were significant differences in the pricing of old projects, depending on their quality. Prices for off-plan sales have continued to increase, driven by higher land prices and high construction costs.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Real estate brokers and their salespersons, they are generally called real estate agents. They assist home or property sellers in marketing their assets and selling it for the best possible premium price, and on the best terms.

The brokers assist the buyers by helping them purchase a property for the lowest possible amount under the suitable terms and gain a commission after the sale has been concluded. This is done when a broker is acting as buyer’s agent with a signed and verbal agreement. And when there is no signed agreement, brokers may assist buyers in attaining the property but still represent the seller and his interests.

There is brief description between a real estate salesperson and a real estate broker.

Real Estate Salesperson:

A person first becomes licensed to be a real estate agent whenever one obtains a real estate salesperson’s license from the state in which he chooses to practice his technique. For the person to obtain a license, the achievable applicant must take specific subjects and required course work. Then he must pass a state licensure exam on real estate law and practice. Salespersons should must then be associated with, and act under the authority of a licensed real estate broker.

Real Estate Broker:

After the person has gained an experience of few years in real estate sales, a salesperson may rise high and be licensed as a real estate broker. For a person to become a perfect broker, he should go through a thorough course work and should pass a state licensure exam. When a person obtains a broker’s license, a real estate agent may continue to work for another broker in a similar capacity as before, usually referred to as a broker associate or associate broker, or open up his own brokerage and hire other salespersons.

How to choose a good real estate broker?

Most of the people who want to buy real estate generally ask there relatives, friends or business associates who have recently bought a house. Many of the buyers refer newspapers advertisements, or directly visit the real estate agents office.

Some people just go to the agents at an open house. To find a good agent, the buyer must visit many real estate brokers from different firms and find out the best one. The buyer must find out if the broker is familiar to that area, and whether they specialize in some particular type of house or range of price.

The buyer must try the local broker to be on a safer side. They will be able to help you better and they are familiar with the local market surroundings. They also know the local prices and what’s new or not in your society.

The main thing is that the real estate brokers are highly experienced and educated. This type of person benefits from all the advantages that can come from possessing a real estate license. These professional people assist the buyers in buying or selling a property.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Now, you can do this two ways, call moving companies for free moving quotes – not a bad idea either because you can talk to someone right away – or you can get free moving quotes online. The online method of getting free moving quotes will get you quotes just about on the spot. What happens is, you submit a call for quotes for you move and moving companies bid on the job. In most cases you will get up to four free moving quotes and you can then compare the companies and their services. Once you have made your decision about which company suits what you need, you can contact them.

Online free moving quotes aren’t a bad idea, but there can be problems with them that you need to be aware of. For instance you may not have any idea what services to ask for when you do submit a quote. That could be a major problem because if you leave something crucial to your move out, you may find yourself paying more for it later. For instance, if you don’t mention in your call for free moving quotes that you have a piano or heavy safe to move, that will affect the cost of your move. Also if you change your mind from doing your own packing to having the moving company do it for you, this will up the cost of your move as well.

Calling moving companies for quotes is probably better all around. Why? Because not only can you actually talk to someone, they can ask you questions about your move to help you focus on what services you do require. If you don’t realize that you have choices in services provided, then you aren’t going to be asking the right kinds of questions that will give you a proper estimate for your relocation. Also, if you are calling companies, you can also drop by and visit them to see their facilities and get a better ideal of whom you are dealing with.

By the way, if any moving company or online quoting service suggests you need to pay for your quote – run like the dickens. Moving quotes are just that, quotes for a prospective job. Quoting is a service moving companies provide and they take the business risk that you may not go with them. And that decision is totally up to you. Happy moving!

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

The first step is getting your finances in order. This usually starts by contacting a loan officer or other mortgage professional and talking about what type of financing you have available. If you have a pool of savings to tap or can liquidate some assets to be able to pay cash for a home, that’s the best financing situation you can be in. Otherwise, talk with a mortgage professional about how much you can afford and get a letter of pre-qualification or pre-approval for that amount.

At the same time, you will need a budget for your rehab project. This should include projected expenses for selling the home once it’s rehabbed. Once you work out your budget, subtract 10% and that’s the amount you should use as your realistic budget with a 10% cushion.

The next question is how do you go about finding your first property to rehab? Well, your top resource is your local real estate expert. Being a local REALTOR, I see many properties come up every week that would make great rehab projects for first-time rehabbers. Just remember: as a buyer, you won’t have to pay your REALTOR for their assistance. When I work with buyers, my fees are paid by the sellers of the home you will eventually purchase with my help.

Once you have your budget and financing in place, contact your local real estate professional and give them the numbers—the more information you can give them about what your budget is and what types of homes you are looking for, the better they will be able to aid you. It won’t be long before your REALTOR starts sending you information about homes that meet your requirements.

You should always seek to establish trust with your REALTOR—your bottom line depends on them finding you a great project. Always be upfront and forthcoming about what you’re looking for and what you’re not. Once you find a few properties that meet your price range and budget constraints, have your REALTOR set up private showings for those homes. That’s where the real business of finding a good rehab project happens.

When preparing to go see a potential project, you should bring a few important things. These include a pen and notebook for taking notes, a measuring tape, trundle wheel or sonic tape measure, a small tool kit with basic tools and a flashlight. Remember, many of the homes you might be looking at are going to be in poor condition and likely be without power, water and gas service. Always dress for the occasion—in long pants/sleeves and work boots if you have them. A good pair of work gloves is also vital.

When you set foot on the property, you have to act like a detective. Look for hints of past and recent leaks, foundation issues, structural issues and other major defects that can kill your project. At the same time, you should be adding up the estimate costs of the rehab work that is needed. If you did your homework and have an idea of what things cost, you should be able to estimate some values. Make sure you take room measurements so you can better estimate expenses for carpet, tile and similar items.

After you’re done, it’s time to crunch the numbers. Go over your notes and start adding up estimated costs. Your goal should be to do this quickly. Often, good rehab projects sell quickly, so you may not have a day or two to think it over. Pay attention to big-ticket items that add up fast like a roof tear-off or foundation repair. These are the expenses that can quickly put a rehab project in the red.

At the end of the day, you should have an estimate of what the rehab work should cost. That will give you a good idea of what your bottom line is for purchasing the property. If the investment seems sound and you decide to go forward with the purchase, the next step is to make an offer.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

There’s more. People seeking real estate want to see pictures of the properties out on the market. Real estate email marketing is perfect for that, in that you can send pictures of available properties in your real estate emails. Technically, you can include as many pictures as you’d like.
However, it’s ideal to include between 1 and 5 pictures, so your real estate email isn’t too long, too crowded, or too large in file size. The best real estate email marketing campaigns include one large picture of the outside of the property, and 2 or 3 smaller pictures of the inside of the property. The top real estate email marketing programs offer pre-made real estate email templates with sample pictures in the right spots, so all you have to do is click and replace with your own property picture. You can also feature several properties in your real estate email. The great thing about real estate email marketing is that the emails are highly customizable, and you can change them as often as you’d like, so as to achieve the perfect fit for each real estate email marketing campaign.

But real estate email marketing is not just for realtors looking to sell properties. Maybe you run a real estate course; maybe you provide real estate financing; or maybe you supply a different real estate service all together. Whatever the case, the great thing about real estate email marketing is that it integrates your online promotion and sales process in one step. For example, say you teach a course on how to make the most commission from your sales. When you use real estate email marketing to promote your course, your potential customers can click a link right on your email, and be directed straight to course signup form on your website.

Don’t sweat if you don’t have a website. The best real estate email marketing programs offer full, end-to-end solutions. So in addition to propelling your real estate email marketing campaigns, these services will also help you create and maintain a professional-looking website with all the features you need. Best of all, you won’t need to break the bank or learn any complicated programs to get your website and real estate email marketing up and running.

Another great benefit of real estate email marketing is that is helps you identify qualified leads. For example, say you sent out a real estate email featuring several properties recently made available. First, you’ll be able to see exactly who opened your email, and who went back to see it several times. Clearly, if one of your customers opened your real estate email marketing campaign several times, he or she is at least partially interested in one of the properties featured. For you, that means it’s time for a follow-up call. It gets better. With the top real estate email marketing programs, you’ll even be able to see exactly which property this person is interested in. For example, if you included pictures of properties A, B and C, and you included a link under each property saying “Click here for more pictures of this property,” you’ll be able to see that your customer, John Smith, clicked to see more pictures of of property A at exactly 3:45 pm.
Now, indeed, it’s time for a highly educated follow-up call, perhaps offering an exclusive early tour of property A.

When it comes to real estate email marketing, the benefits are endless. On top of it all, with the best real estate email marketing programs, you’ll have a dedicated account executive who knows the email marketing industry inside and out, and has lots of experience working with real estate professionals. Couple your real estate savvy with your account executive’s email savvy, and you’re sure to have a winning real estate email marketing formula. You’ll soon be seeing more sales and more customers as you learn, first-hand, about the effectiveness of such a powerful online sales channel as real estate email marketing.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Lifestyle buyers tend to purchase condo hotels at their favorite resort destination. They love the idea of owning a fabulous property at their favorite destination, but they don’t want the burden of a second home sitting empty and draining them financially. They also are attracted to the idea of their vacation home being fully managed by someone else and being cleaned and completely in order upon their arrival. Additionally, because condo hotel ownership generally comes with major amenities and service benefits, the purchase makes even more sense. These types of buyers are called “resort enthusiasts” and tend to visit their property 5-6 times a year.

Investors, on the other hand, will buy regardless of whether the purchase fits their lifestyle. If the property makes financial sense, that is all they need to justify the purchase. For the pure investor, appreciation and cash flow are of paramount importance, with appreciation being the greater determining factor. In addition, the opportunity to own a hassle free investment that is fully looked after by a professional management company is another highly valued attribute.

Many savvy real estate investors have achieved fantastic appreciation gains over the years from condo hotels and continue to buy whenever a premium property comes to market. Some repeat buyers own upwards of 10 – 20 condo hotel units and look to add more every year. They love the concept of purchasing at a lower price point during preconstruction and then selling at a higher price point once the property has been in operation for a few years. In particular, most investors are drawn towards the name brand condo hotels, such as Trump, W, Hard Rock, Ritz Carlton, Westin, and the Four Seasons.

Incidentally, even among the buyers who would consider themselves investors, most stay at their property several times a year and enjoy taking advantage of the many benefits that come with being an owner. However, it must be noted that this lifestyle component is secondary in their purchasing decision. Ultimately, the decision to purchase is based off of the condo hotel’s ability to appreciate and cash flow.

Demographically, the age of the typical condo hotel buyer is what you would probably expect. The average buyer is between the ages of 45 – 55, is married, has children still at home or in college, and has owned vacation property previously. The typical buyer trends to be more affluent and views the purchase of real estate as an intelligent way to increase wealth.

With that said, different condo hotel projects do cater to different sectors of that demographic and this will cause slight fluctuations in those statistics. Ritz Carlton’s, as you can imagine, have great appeal to older members of that age group and beyond. W Hotels and Hard Rocks, along with their hip atmosphere, appeal to the younger members of that demographic, as well as to persons who have attained wealth at an earlier stage in life.

Condo hotels also appeal to buyers from around the globe. Europeans, South Americans, and Asians are all buying condo hotels in North America. They are competing with Americans for the best properties in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. In fact, Europeans and Asians have quickly emerged as one of the fastest growing segments of condo hotel owners in North America. Aiding this trend is the weakened dollar. The citizens of these regions have flexed their economic might in recent years and have shown exceptional interest in the condo hotel model. In fact, half the units of Trump Waikiki, the most
successful real estate project in the world, were sold exclusively to Asian buyers.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

This trend of quality hotel brands taking the lead in the condo hotel boom should not be surprising. The business model of condo hotels are a natural fit for a company looking to minimize risk and maximize revenue. By selling off ownerships in the hotel in a preconstruction phase, developers are able to more easily acquire favorable construction financing from banks. This can save hotel developers millions and millions of dollars and shave the number years it takes them to pay back their loans to the bank.

The condo hotel model has clearly proven to be a financial windfall for hotel developers. The construction debt for a typical hotel project can run from 50 to 60 percent of cost. When the “condo hotel” element is added, the equity credits the developer can earn from condo hotel presales can provide debt financing approaching 90 percent loan-to-cost leverage. This equates to millions and millions in dollars saved. This allows developers to achieve significant front-end profits on the sale of condo hotels. Lenders also like the condo hotel model. They are more willing to finance condo hotels because they are banking on condo sales that come in the preconstruction phase.

Expect the trend of luxury brands building condo hotels to continue. All the data that’s come in over the last few years, continues to suggest that condo hotels are the hottest thing going in the hotel industry and that this form of hotel ownership provides the greatest potential for developers and other stakeholders in a new project.

The locations that most major brands are now honing in on are major urban destinations. Many top brands already have condo hotels in North America’s major winter and beach destinations. Now it’s a race to put up condo hotels in North America’s finest cities. The major cities that have attracted the most attention are New York, Las Vegas, Miami, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Within the next few years don’t be surprised to see every major 4 and 5 star brand with a condo hotel in the aforementioned cities.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

The most common cliché regarding preconstruction real estate is “You get to secure your purchase of tomorrow’s real estate at today’s prices.” And while that statement may be passed around a little too often, it does capture the very definition of preconstruction. You do get to buy the properties of the future at present day pricing.

Your opportunity to purchase a condo hotel in the preconstruction phase is quite good. Nearly all condo hotels are sold at preconstruction. In fact, the very best condo hotels tend to sell out 100% of their inventory in the preconstruction stage. Savvy real estate investors know that preconstruction pricing can be a bargain and that the property can sell for a great deal more once it is completed and fully operational.

Some developers will space the release of their inventory over the course of two or three phases. Pricing tends to be progressively higher each phase. On some of the higher end condo hotels, you can see a price jump of 10% between phase 1 and phase 2. And, of course, the difference between phase 2 and phase 3 can be equally substantial. This is why you’ll often find the most savvy real estate investors who own several condo hotels making their purchases in the very first phase of the preconstruction development.

However, one should be very careful and incredibly selective when considering the purchase of a condo hotel. In the last few years many pseudo investors have lost money by purchasing condo hotels with the idea of turning a quick buck in mind. Not all condo hotels are the same. If the condo hotel does not have a major brand associated with it, one should be quite weary. The possibility of a Trump or a Ritz Carlton losing value is much less likely than a no name condo hotel. In fact, many real estate investors make it their number one rule of never owning a non-branded condo hotel.

In addition, if the condo hotel is being built in a region that is saturated with condo hotels, be particularly weary. This problem of saturation has afflicted the Las Vegas market in recent years and many condo hotel owners ended up purchasing a property that is worth less now than when they originally bought it. The theory of supply and demand holds true for condo hotels, as well. If there is a glut in the market place of condo hotels, you might want to think twice about purchasing.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Nearly all condo hotels are sold at preconstruction. In fact, the very best condo hotels tend to sell out 100% of their inventory in the preconstruction stage. Savvy real estate investors know that preconstruction pricing can be a bargain and that the property can sell for a great deal more once it is completed and fully operational.

Some developments will sell out their inventory over the course of two or three phases. Pricing tends to be progressively higher each phase. On some of the higher end condo hotels, you can see a price jump of 10% between phase 1 and phase 2. And, of course, the difference between phase 2 and phase 3 can be equally substantial. This is why you’ll often find real estate investors limit their purchases of condo hotels to the very first phase of the development.

If a particular property is having trouble selling its inventory and the developer simply wants to move on to the next project, they might discount the properties in the final phase just to get rid of them. Be wary of this. Generally, it’s the non-branded and non-desirable condo hotels that do this. It’s nearly unheard of for a sought after luxury condo hotel to partake in this practice and you could be setting yourself up for disaster if you buy a discounted property. The main idea when buying a condo hotel is to buy a property with the possibility of appreciation. You don’t want to buy a property that is being discounted and depreciated from the moment it’s sold.

On occasion, some developers will sell their properties at a slight discount if the buyer is going to make a bulk purchase of 10 to 30 units. This practice is desirable for all parties involved. The developer has peace of mind knowing that they can unload a significant amount of property and it helps them get closer to their sales target. The buyer, of course, gets to purchase a premium property at a discount and will realize these gains down the road when they resell them. You’ll often find bulk purchases occurring in highly sought after 4 and 5 star developments. Premium properties tend to attract heavy hitting real estate investors.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

People investing in Costa Rica real estate are given such a warm reception because of what they bring to Costa Rica, which is money. Lots of money! Commercial investors who buy up large amounts of Costa Rica land can spend hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars on their purchase. That’s great for Costa Rica. And you know what? The government even offers incentives to these investors to make the idea of investing in Costa Rica real estate even more appealing.

What’s even better for Costa Rica and its people is that when the developers begin construction on the land, building a new hotel, restaurant, spa or other business, that creates jobs and money for the locales. Then, once the construction is done on the investor’s new Costa Rica real estate, tourists and locals flock to the establishment, where locals are working, and recycle even more money through the Costa Rican economy. This of course, is the best benefit of all of being nice to investors.

The story is similar for individual investors who by Costa Rica land or previously built Costa Rica real estate. Those investors also contribute the growth of Costa Rica’s economy by paying mortgages, buying goods, and using local services. Again, Costa Rica likes this and individual investors sometimes also benefit from certain government buying incentives. So if you’re thinking about buying a couple acres of scenic Costa Rica real estate, stop thinking and act. Costa Rica will be happy that you’re there!

As you begin your investing process, keep in mind that you will need to consider alternative funding methods. As much as you’re wanted in Costa Rica, you will be hard-pressed to find a Costa Rican bank that will provide a loan to you if you’re not already a resident of Costa Rica. This, as well as the fact that there are many other unique laws for buying and selling both Costa Rica land and Costa Rica properties, is why purchasing real estate with the help of a real estate agent, land broker, and / or lawyer who specializes in Costa Rica real estate is highly recommended. With a little help from one of them, you’ll have your property picked out and ready for use in no time!

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Some developments will provide owners with a 50% revenue split, but because the average nightly rates and average occupancy are so low, the property will cash flow negatively each month. On the other hand, another condo hotel might only provide the owner with a 35% rental revenue split, but that owner might end up being cash flow positive, because the hotel’s average nightly rate and yearly occupancy are exceptionally high. So, don’t ever put too much stock into what the rental revenue split is. The terms of the split don’t affect your bottom line each month.

As previously stated, most condo hotel rental management companies will provide the owner of a condo hotel with a split in the range of 40% – 50%. It’s not uncommon to find the higher end luxury hotel brands lowering that split to 35%. But again, don’t think that the 35% split is a drawback. Luxury brands charge much higher nightly rates and tend to have much higher occupancy, so your ability to cash flow could be much better.

To understand how the rental management company determines what rental revenue percentage split to use, you must look at their overall hotel operation. The hotel operator must bring in enough revenue to operate the hotel at the high level of service that the paying guests expect. Much of this will depend on the hotel’s particular brand and market position. For example, a guest staying at a five star Trump Towers property will understandably expect more than a guest at a non-branded three star property.

If the operator of the hotel collects too little rental revenue, the hotel cannot be maintained at the expected level of quality and service, and they run the risk of not operating a profitable business. On the other hand, if the operator gets too much rental revenue, the unit owners will have less revenue to pay off their monthly mortgage. A fine balance must be struck to accommodate all parties.

When determining the rental revenue splits, no one formula can apply to every condo hotel property. Each property is completely different and must be assessed on its own merits. However, all the industry experts agree that the manner in which the revenue split is derived must be logical to all parties and also be substantiated through a financial
formula that makes sense to both sides.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Most reservations require a fully refundable $5,000 deposit. By and large, you cannot attend the sales event if you do not have a reservation. If you choose to make a purchase at the sales event, you generally put down a 10% deposit to secure the property.

Almost all 4 and 5 star condo hotels sell out in the pre-construction phase. Typically, branded condo hotels sell out in the first day that they are made available for purchase. Some of the most recent examples of one-day sellouts are Trump Waikiki and Hard Rock Hotel San Diego. Trump Waikiki sold over $700 million in real estate in the first 9 hours they were made available. Hard Rock San Diego sold over $300 million in the first 6 hours they were made available. Needless to say, many persons were not able to purchase. Only those who put in reservations at the early stage of the development had the opportunity to make a purchase.

A common question is whether you can double escrow a condo hotel. Some developers will allow this, but most do not. In fact, most developers have it expressly written in the contract that if you open escrow on a property you must wait until you close before you will have the opportunity to put it on the market.

Once escrow has closed and an owner wishes to resell their property, they have all of the options available to them that they would if they were selling traditional real estate. They can either try to sell it themselves or use an agent who works for Coldwell Banker or Century 21. But, there’s an even better option.

As is often the case with higher end branded condo hotels, most will have a sales office in the hotel lobby or onsite to assist owners in reselling their property. This is almost always the smartest way to go about reselling a condo hotel and it’s wise to take advantage of this resource. The thousands and thousands of hotels guests staying at the hotel on a monthly basis are all prospective buyers and they’ll walk right by the sales office each visit. You couldn’t ask for a more targeted amount of high volume foot traffic.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

- There are 157 airports in Costa Rica.

- A majority of those airports are designed for private use.

- Only about 32 of the airports in Costa Rica actually have paved
runways.

- Two dozen or fewer of Costa Rica’s airports are serviced by regional airlines.

- Only two Costa Rica airports have the capacity to handle international flights.

The need for a new international airport in Costa Rica is clear. With all of the nation’s international traffic from corporations doing business in Costa Rica, foreigners traveling on vacation, and investors looking to own a piece of the “Rich Coast” being funneled through one of Costa Rica’s two international airports, the strain on those international airports is too great. Travelers feel the strain too, especially those headed to Costa Rica’s South Pacific coast for their final destination…It’s a 3 hour drive!

As a way to meet the needs of both the nation and those visiting, investing, or doing business in Costa Rica, the government has decided to build a third international airport in the Southern Pacific coast region. The airport, which it’s rumored will be built near Sierpe, will provide much needed access to popular Southern Pacific coast destinations such as Palmar Sur, Quepos, Dominical, and the Peninsula de Osa.

Making Costa Rica’s Southern Pacific coast more accessible will benefit everyone. For tourists, increased accessibility will mean more time vacationing and less time traveling to and from vacation spots. For those looking to invest in Costa Rica real estate, it means that the land value in the Southern Pacific coast is about to shoot through the roof. It also means major profits if they buy low and then sell high once interest in Southern Pacific coast real estate and traffic to the region increases. As for corporations, a new international airport is bound to entice more businesses and more people to live in the region, which will be attractive to foreign employers looking to recruit expatriates.

The actual effects that a third international airport have on Costa Rica’s Southern Pacific coast won’t really be able to be measured until airport construction has been completed; Currently, it’s predicted that won’t be until 2012. Still, if the outcome is anything like the economic boon Costa Rica experienced when the Northern Pacific coast’s Liberia International Airport began operating, only good things are to come for the Southern Pacific coast.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

1) The condo hotel unit may lose value over time. Just like traditional real estate, appreciation is never guaranteed. This very scenario most recently occurred in Las Vegas. Several of the more notable condo hotels have sold for less in the resale market than they did during pre-construction.

2) Local governments typically limit the amount of time owners may use their hotel room. This is done to assure room availability for visitors. In particular, you’ll often find limitations at the condo hotels that are located in cities. The Hard Rock Hotel San Diego, for example, limits owner occupancy to just under a month.

3) Financing is generally costlier than for a primary residence. Your rate may be a full point higher.

4) You will need to give notice that you’ll be staying in the hotel. Condo hotels are located in major travel destinations and are often booked up well in advance.

5) You may not be able to use your room if it has been reserved by another guest. The hotel may not be able to relocate someone from your room to another room – even if another room is available.

6) If you buy preconstruction, you may have to wait a year or two before the condo hotel is completed and ready for operation. This means you won’t be able to stay in it the moment you buy it.

7) You might have to pay extra for daily housekeeping and other services when you’re staying at your place.

There will be a monthly homeowner association fee. Although this is hardly uncommon for anyone familiar with condominium real estate, just be aware of all your potential costs. Some condo hotels can have low monthly HOA’s and some can be exceedingly high.

9) Rental income from hotel guests is at the mercy of travel patterns and may decline. Rental income should always be viewed as an added benefit and never something to be counted on.

10) You may have to buy extra insurance to protect against liability claims and some types of damage or loss.

11) Not all condo hotel rooms have storage lockers, so you may not be able to keep any personal possessions in the very room that you own.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

RSH purchasers have become major components in the tourism and property markets in Spain, Florida and Australia’s gold coast. The RSH market is growing in South East Asia. Competition between countries is intensifying but significant obstacles still remain in particular foreign ownership of property, availability of property loans for foreigner, and visas.

The benefits of the RSH market are that once a property is purchased, repeat visits by the buyer are guaranteed avoiding the growing competition to attract tourists. The length of stay is longer and more money is spent on local goods and services.

Thailand has been at the forefront of retirement and second home development centred in Phuket and the Andaman coast, Pattaya, Hua Hin, Cha Am, and Koh Samui. Thailand offers an attractive combination of quality of living compared to cost but still has restrictive property ownership rules. Thailand is facing growing competition from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam to attract RSH purchasers.

Malaysia has been the most aggressive country in providing an attractive property ownership, property financing and visa structure. The “Malaysia My Second Home Programme” allows foreign ownership of land with houses, the ability for foreigners to borrow money to fund a property purchase and a ten year visa. In 2006, 8,700 people had successfully applied for the “Malaysia My Second Home Programme”.

Singapore as well as developing two integrated resorts with casinos to attract visitors also has Sentosa Cove, a resort development aimed specifically at foreigners. Overseas buyers are permitted to own a 99-year lease for land with houses. This is the only place in Singapore where foreign land ownership is permitted although there is no restriction on foreign ownership of condominium developments. Vietnam allows foreigners 50-year leases.

The RSH market is destined to grow driven not only by expatriates working in Asia, but also by Asian buyers. Thailand has enjoyed huge growth in medical tourism driven by Middle East and South Asian demand for good quality, reasonably priced medical care. These medical tourists could also become RSH purchasers particularly as countries like India look at relaxing controls on investment overseas.

“Thailand faces growing competition to attract RSH purchasers from other countries that can offer an attractive combination of quality and cost of living. This competition means that, in order to succeed, countries will have to offer attractive property ownership, property financing and visa regulations,” according to Mr. James Pitchon, Executive Director at CB Richard Ellis Thailand.

Thailand has introduced a retirement visa and about 12,000 foreigners had successfully applied in the first seven months of 2006.

The RSH market will to continue to grow. The strongest growth will be from Asian buyers. In 2007, the Korean government relaxed conditions for Korean nationals investing in property overseas and CB Richard Ellis has already seen an increase in Korean demand for Thai property. India has also relaxed its conditions for its nationals investing overseas.

As the market becomes more competitive countries will need to examine property ownership and financing restrictions as well as visa policies to fully benefit from the booming RSH market.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

1. Hire a real estate agent, real estate lawyer or Costa Rica land specialist to assist you with the purchase of your Costa Rica land. The laws in Costa Rica are very different than those in the North America and other countries.
2. Hire a relocation company that specializes in international moves. Your consultant will become your best friend as you navigate all the little “must-do” tasks so that you can relocate in Costa Rica without interrupting your lifestyle.
3. Unless you’re planning on starting with all brand new things, you will need to hire a specialized moving company that deals with international relocation.
4. You must apply for residency status in your home country. You cannot personally do it once you’re in Costa Rica. The residency statuses available for foreigners include “pensionado” or rentista. Pensionado is for foreigners who have a guaranteed income of $600 / mo or more. Meanwhile, the rentista is a residency classification for foreigners who have a guaranteed income of $1000 or more each month. You’ll be given a residency card that must be renewed biannually once you’re granted one of those forms of residency. At the time of this renewal, you can also apply for permanent resident status, which will give you all the rights of a citizen except the right to vote. Note: Unless you’re a permanent resident, you cannot work as an employee with just your residency status. You can, however, own a business.
5. You can drive on your U.S driver’s license for a maximum of 3 months (90 days.) To be able to legally drive in Costa Rica after that 3 months, you’ll need have a medical exam and then go to the MOP (equivalent to the U.S.A’s DMV) to apply for your license. Take your current driver’s license, your passport, and cash with you!
6. You will need proper documentation to bring your pets with you. Again, this is an area in which relocation specialists can really help to make sure you have all the required licensing and permits. The good news is that there isn’t a quarantine period required for your pet.
7. If you’re a foreigner moving with children (non-Costa Rican citizens), you will need a copy of each child’s birth certificate. It’s ideal for both parents to be present when traveling in and out of Costa Rica with children. If only one parent will be traveling, that traveling parent will need a notarized letter that confirms that both parents have knowledge of the child’s trip to / from Costa Rica.
8. Even though the cost of living is cheaper in Costa Rica compared to countries in Europe and North America, you will still need to budget carefully. Remember: You cannot be employed by anyone unless you become a permanent resident or have been granted temporary residency due to providing specialized services such as teaching at a school or working for the government.

There are, of course, more details to consider when moving to Costa Rica but the above are the biggest hurdles you’ll have to overcome. After that, it will be smooth sailing and plenty of time for you to enjoy your beautiful Costa Rica real estate and all the perks of living in exotic Costa Rica.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Condo hotels have been around for nearly three decades. It all began in South Florida back in the early 1980’s. The very first condo hotels sprung up in Miami Beach, and to this day, the largest concentration of condo hotels can still be found up and down the Florida coast. In the early 1990’s, condo hotels began to appear in other regions of North America with greater frequency. However, it wasn’t necessarily the beach destinations where most were showing up.

Many condo hotels were built in ski resorts. Luxury destinations such as Aspen, Whistler, Vail, and Tahoe had immediate success with the introduction of condo hotels. As we move forward through the first decade of the new millennium, condo hotels have begun to appear everywhere. The strongest trend, of course, is the urban condo hotel. With top luxury brands now getting involved, they’ve set their sites on major urban destinations such as New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas.

Many see the next major area of growth to be in Asia. The citizens of these regions have newly acquired economic might and have already shown exceptional interest in the condo hotel model. In fact, half the units of Trump Waikiki, the most successful real estate project in the world, were sold exclusively to Asian buyers.

Of course, no matter where condo hotels are built, you can still count on them appearing in locations that have several common traits. First and foremost, because the primary purpose of a condo-hotel is to maximize revenue year in and year out, you can always expect to find them in high occupancy areas that have high nightly hotel rates. If there’s a place in this world that has a nice mixture of high yearly occupancy and high yearly nightly rates, expect to find a hotel there within the next few years, if there isn’t one already.

So, it seems quite clear that over the course of the next decade, condo hotels will appear any place that a nice mixture of high nightly rental rates and occupancy is met. This means they’ll continue to appear with more frequency in major urban destinations, and of course, they’ll continue to be built in popular resort destinations throughout North America.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

There are no simple answers to these questions, of course, but the trend is to label foreclosure victims as either the innocent victims of banks, mortgage brokers, and real estate agents, or as consumers too greedy and lazy to read the mortgage paperwork that set out all of the traps in front of them that they are now walking straight into. In fact, though, both of these perceptions are wrong, and homeowners in foreclosure face financial hardships for numerous reasons. But let’s meet some of these people and see if their hardships can teach us anything about the current state of homeowners and consumers in general in America.

They are the people who lied on their mortgage applications in order to afford those $300K and million-dollar homes, when their real incomes would only qualify them for houses one quarter of the size they ended up purchasing.

They are the people who bought a new SUV last year to replace a smaller SUV that was only three years old, in order to keep up with their neighbors next door and across the street who had one year old SUVs.

They are the people who continue to finance their own hardships, by borrowing money on credit cards until no one will give them any more money, effectively tightening the noose around their own necks the longer they rely on debt. They know they are tightening their own noose, but they feel they have no other option at this point.

They are the people who have not taken care of themselves first, and are now facing huge medical bills that cause them to fall behind everywhere else, and they are now realizing their work health insurance, once a selling point of taking the job, has enough technicalities to prevent them from ever receiving real support from the program.

They are the people who bought these huge homes and did not realize simply how much it would cost to keep them warm in winter, and now they are faced with the choice of heat, eat, or pay the mortgage.

They are the people whose jobs were sent to India and China.

They are the people who borrow their conspicuous wealth from the same banks that finance the companies that outsource their jobs, but are not aware this is what their bank is doing to them, with their assistance.

They are the people who were given fraudulent appraisals that increased the values of their homes far beyond what was reasonable, just to increase commissions payouts for real estate agents and mortgage brokers, and create more paper wealth that banks could sell to hedge funds.

They are the people who did not realize that having children is very expensive.

They are the people who tried opening their own business and, for one reason or another, just could not keep up and had to confine themselves to the prison of wage slavery and give up their dreams of owning their own business and controlling their own lives.

They are the people whose parents needed extra care and had no one to take care of them after the government handouts ceased and health insurance would not cover their illness or disability.

They are the people whose children needed extra care and found that they could no longer sacrifice their family for work and their income decreased because of their commitment to their own families and children.

They are the people who are now hoping against hope that the government will swoop down and come to their aid, not realizing that it was ineffective government policies, poor economic oversight, and a revolving door between big banks and big government that created the conditions under which so many foreclosures could take place at once.

They are the people who get up every day, just like you and I, and succeed some days, fail others, and make their own decisions in life and learn from the consequences of those decisions, or are doomed to repeat the same mistakes endlessly.

They are the people who, hopefully, once they face foreclosure, realize that family and community are more important than owning the biggest house or competing with coworkers for the most debt or the least-efficient SUV.

Homeowners face foreclosure for any number of reasons, all the way from unbridled greed to outdo their neighbors, to a sudden financial catastrophe that demands their urgent attention and too large an amount of money, regardless of how much they have saved and how prudent their spending habits have been. In finding solutions that will help these people prevent the foreclosure process from taking away their homes, condemning them will offer no benefits, short-term or long-term.

Although criticizing foreclosure victims may be fun and easy for some, while providing a scapegoat for declining home values nationwide, this does not provide effective solutions or a way out of the current foreclosure crisis. It is only with community support and involvement, with neighbors and families helping each other, that foreclosure can be confronted and homes saved. Foreclosure victims are just like all the rest of us, who can learn from our mistakes, financial and otherwise; they are not an aberration or abomination to be shamed, ignored, or made to feel guilty for hardships out of their control. Fixing the foreclosure problem is more important now than pointing the finger of blame, and will lead to more sustainable results in the future.

The ForeclosureFish.com website has been created to provide free foreclosure information and advice to homeowners in danger of losing their homes. With hundreds of pages of blog entries, articles, and reference materials, homeowners can put together a plan to save their homes on their own.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Once homeowners start missing payments on the old house, the foreclosure process will start (especially if they planning on letting it go into foreclosure and are doing nothing to gain foreclosure advice or seek out options to save their home). The bank will sell the house at a sheriff sale, and the new owners will be able to evict the foreclosure victims and anything that is left in the old house. Purchasing a new house after this process has begun will be impossible due to the foreclosure status of the old house and the negative effect on one’s credit after several mortgage payments go unpaid.

Foreclosure victims should also be concerned about the danger of the bank suing them after foreclosure and trying to take the new house or attach a lien to it. If the house does not sell at sheriff sale for an amount to pay off the defaulted loan plus the extra foreclosure costs and late fees, the bank may be able to sue for a deficiency judgment and come after any other assets owned by the former homeowners. The bank will have to proceed with a new lawsuit after the foreclosure process is over, though, which will cost them additional time and resources.

However, banks almost never sue their former homeowners, because they know that homeowners face foreclosure because they are unable to continue paying the mortgage, and the mortgage company will not be able to collect on the judgment anyway. It costs them more time and money to sue the foreclosure victims and obtain a judgment, and there is little chance they will get the money in the end. At this point, most banks would rather prepare the foreclosure property to be sold on the open market and make their money back that way, rather than chase after a few hundred or thousand dollars, at most, from the former homeowners.

Not every state allows deficiency judgments after foreclosure, so homeowners spend some time researching their state foreclosure laws. There may be no danger at all after the foreclosure of the old house, and homeowners can close on a deal to purchase a new home before the foreclosure is even an issue. This is a bit of an underhanded technique to obtain a second home while intending to let the old house go into foreclosure, but homeowners who know they will not be able to afford a higher payment or will lose a portion of their income soon have a responsibility to plan for their own future and the future of their families. This whole method does raise moral questions, of course, which homeowners must answer in the context of their own family’s long-term financial health.

Purchasing a new home to bail out on a mortgage that will soon be too expensive can often provide homeowners with additional benefits in terms of their credit, as well. With two mortgages, the late payments and foreclosure of the first house will not drag down the homeowners’ credit scores as much as if they owned only one home. This can offset some of the devastating effects of foreclosure and allow foreclosure victims to obtain new credit in a much shorter time than if their only home was foreclosed. If homeowners understand the moral and financial consequences of such an action, this method of avoiding becoming a former homeowner can give families a great head start on the road to financial recovery despite a very recent foreclosure.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

The timeline of the foreclosure process will depend almost entirely on the state laws, so homeowners in danger of missing more than one mortgage payment should look those up as soon as possible. Various time lines are determined by the state, including notices that must be posted or mailed, redemption periods after the sale, and the scheduling and confirmation of the sheriff sale. Even procedures for postponing a sheriff sale are determined by the state laws. All of these aspects will be taken into account for the actual time that foreclosure victims have available to save their homes.

However, in general, the mortgage company will start the foreclosure process about 3-6 months after the first missed mortgage payment. Even though they can start it after the loan is technically in default (after 30 days late), lenders understand that many homeowners face short-term financial hardships and will be able to get back on track quickly. If the homeowners are keeping in contact with the bank, working out a repayment plan or trying to sell, they may postpone the actual foreclosure filing for a number of months, depending on the success of the homeowners. The mortgage company will want to give their clients some extra time to pay the loan back if the lines of communication are open. Of course, if the homeowners do not call the bank and ignore the phone when the lender calls to find out why they are not making the payments, then the foreclosure will begin much earlier.

Generally, a few weeks to a few months after the foreclosure is filed, the sheriff sale will be conducted at the county courthouse. Again, homeowners can get this postponed for a while, if they are working on a solution to save the home. Keeping in contact with the bank, letting them know how the process is going, and asking for more time if it is needed are all actions that foreclosure victims can take to prevent losing the home at a hastily scheduled foreclosure auction. The homeowners will have to put something in writing to the bank to show what they are working on, but postponing a sheriff sale can be quite simple. All it takes is communicating with the bank and working on a solution to the problem.

Now, after the sheriff sale, there are two possibilities, depending on the state foreclosure laws. First, the eviction process may begin right away. If this is the case, it can be another 2 weeks to a month or so between the sale date and the eviction date. The bank will have to ask the court for possession, the court will have to confirm the sale and order the county sheriff to evict the former homeowners and change the locks. But this is not a one-day process, with the sheriff kicking out the homeowners a few hours after the auction. Homeowners will still have a small amount of time to plan their future, find a new place to live after foreclosure, and move items out of the house.

The second possibility is if the state law allows for a redemption period, which is extra time after the sale that homeowners can work to keep their homes. During the redemption, they can try refinancing, selling, or paying the loan in full some other way, and keep the home in their names. After the end of redemption, though, the eviction process will start and it will be a few weeks after that that the sheriff shows up to remove everyone. But, if homeowners are unaware of the extra time they are given by state law, they may move out of the house before they have to. Redemption periods can be used by homeowners to begin a savings plan, pay off other debts to improve their credit, or begin to recover financially in other ways.

Without having the relevant information to understand how long the foreclosure process will take, many homeowners make mistakes that could otherwise be avoided. They may believe they have to move out before it is necessary, crippling their ability to start repairing their financial lives. Or, they may think that they have a lot of time left because of faulty assumptions about when the bank will start the foreclosure process, which can leave them staring at a sheriff sale before they even know it has been scheduled. Knowing how long foreclosure takes, and understanding that it is conducted differently in each state, is some of the most important advice that homeowners can receive, and will allow them the greatest chances to save their homes.

The ForeclosureFish.com website provides homeowners with foreclosure advice and resources they can use to save their homes on their own. With hundreds of pages of information, articles, blog entries, and reference materials, foreclosure victims can put together a comprehensive plan to avoid foreclosure.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

The market for commercial properties such as retail outlets and offices was subdued. Political and economic factors continued to negatively affect the commercial property market. Office and retail rentals remained largely unchanged as business and consumer sentiment remained low throughout the first half of 2007. The hotel industry in Bangkok improved slightly, while hotels in resort destinations continued to outperform their peers in the capital. The continued increase in the number of tourist arrivals in the first half suggested that foreign tourists’ confidence still remained at high levels.

Housing – New residential supply in Bangkok dropped 10% q-o-q in Q1 2007 due to the large decline in the number of developer-built housing units. This number increased slightly by 0.3% y-o-y. Future residential supply is expected to drop since the numbers of land allocation and building construction permits dropped significantly recently. The demand for the housing market remains weak with sales rates dropping in almost all areas of Bangkok. Townhouses performed better than SDH (single detached house) as buyers seemed to prefer lower-priced products that are located closer to the city area.

Lower interest rates will continue to be supportive, even though the market is not expected to respond significantly. The delayed construction of new mass transit lines has caused new launches to be delayed and home buyers to put their buying decision on hold. The political uncertainty continues to affect consumer confidence, and lower economic growth is affecting purchasing power.

Condominiums – Sales of upscale condominiums improved slightly in the second quarter, while prices continued to rise in most market segments. Consumer sentiment seemed to improve as we saw more buying activities in both luxury and middle markets.

The condominium market will remain active throughout the rest of the year, especially those projects located in the prime area and those near the mass transit routes. As sales for luxury and upper-middle market started to increase in Q2 2007, the situation for this sub-market further improved in the second half of the year. The “skytrain generation” and the changing lifestyle of city dwellers will continue to drive mid-end condominium market in the secondary locations. Prices of these condominium projects are likely to increase further as land prices continue to rise.

Serviced Apartments – The supply of serviced apartments increased to over 9,000 units in downtown Bangkok in Q2 2007. Weak demand continued as a result of the ongoing political uncertainty in the second quarter. The average occupancy rate stood at 79.1%. The average achieved rent of grade A serviced apartments increased by 4.3% y-o-y.

The continuing increase in supply has led to a more competitive market, which in turn has resulted in an increase in the number of projects targeting not only expatriates but also tourists. The total supply looks set to reach 10,800 units at year’s end. This will further increase competition and could limit increases in occupancy and rental rates unless demand can catch up.

Office – Demand improved slightly in the second quarter, raising the total take-up in the first half of 2007 to 79,000 sq.m. In Q2 2007, the total office supply in Bangkok increased to 7.47 million sq.m. Despite an improvement in overall demand for office space this quarter, net take-up of office space in the first half of 2007 still dropped by 37% y-o-y. The average occupancy rate of offices slightly increased. Despite a slight decrease of grade A rentals in the CBD area on a quarterly basis, overall office rentals in Bangkok continued to rise by about 3.5% y-o-y.

A rebound in take-up will be crucial to this year’s performance. The office market looks set to register a lower level of whole-year net new take-up than last year. Average rents will remain mostly flat should demand fail to improve in the second half of the year. The average occupancy rates could drop once the new supply comes on stream at the end of the year. The situation could reverse if the demand comes back.

Market Outlook
The property market in Bangkok is likely to perform moderately towards the end of 2007 as Thailand’s economy looks set for a slower growth this year. The housing market is expected to continue slowing, while the condominium market will perform well with prices in the luxury category and mid-end in some locations increasing toward the end of the year. More residential developers are building to target the mid and lower market as the purchasing power of home buyers remains weak. Deeper discounts are anticipated as developers are now trying to reduce their backlog in housing developments. More community malls will be opened to serve growing residential communities along existing transit routes. Offices will face a challenge as about 140,000 sq.m. of new office space is due in the second half of the year.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Costa Rica is an excellent place to invest because of a number of factors. Here’s a look at the top three:

#3: Costa Rica’s economy is strong. Major corporations are opening offices in Costa Rica, tourism is up, and Costa Rica’s export industry is thriving. That’s all in spite of the fact that most people still think of Costa Rica as a non-progressive, second world country like some of the other Latin American countries. Imagine how interests will grow as people learn how much of an economic powerhouse Costa Rica really is!

#2: Costa Rica an exceptional location. It may be similar to the other locations I mentioned above but it’s definitely not the same. It’s a tropical atmosphere with city and rural areas, unmatched biodiversity, and a government that encourages both real estate investment and entrepreneurship.

#1: Investing in Costa Rica real estate just makes financial sense. In fact, the overall reason that Costa Rica is a better buy comes down to pure economics. Supply is high and demand is moderate, so Costa Rica land can be (and is being) sold at bargain prices. Investors can currently buy land in Costa Rica for 50% to 75% less than what an equivalent purchase would cost in the United States or a tropical locale. Plus, those who do invest in Costa Rica real estate typically see a significant return on that investment in 24 months or less.

You will get more land (or property) for your money in Costa Rica. You will see larger returns in less time on Costa Rica real estate. The key, however, is to buy smart and buy soon. After all, it’s only a matter of time before undeveloped land becomes sparse and prices skyrocket. Remember: Once upon a time, Mexico, the Virgin Islands, Jamaica, and the Bahamas had investment opportunities like those currently available in Costa Rica. Now you’d pay out the ‘wazoo’ to own property there!

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

It’s not that I completely disagree with the forecasters. Investors did flock to Florida, Las Vegas, and California earlier this decade. Those who did in the early years made some decent buys, but investors who bought more recently are finding themselves in a bind. For the last couple years the markets in those regions have been, at best, lukewarm. So clearly, Florida, Las Vegas, and California are not truly “prime” locations for investment properties for the long haul as predicted.

In my opinion, those popular U.S real estate investment havens have cooled off because of the state of the U.S. economy. It’s been shaky since the late 1990s and has only gotten shakier. As a result, people aren’t sure which way things are going to go with the current economy—up or down—so they’re holding on to their money instead of buying and selling real estate. They just don’t feel like they can afford to take the risk on purchasing a property that they may not be able to sell when they need to. It’s the exact opposite in Costa Rica.

Down in Costa Rica, the economy is strong so there’s no fear about investing in real estate. Because of the steady interest from corporations in building offices in Costa Rica, the ever-increasing flow of tourism, and the spike in retiree relocation, there’s very little perceived risk in buying land in Costa Rica. In fact, “profit” is the number one word being tossed around when anyone speaks about the real estate market there. Currently, most investors are experiencing a 100% return on their investment in less than 24 months; and some are seeing 150% return on investment (ROI) in less than two years! And guess what? Those figures are more so the rule rather than the exception.

It’s clear that when industry forecasters were projecting the real estate market for the next 10-15 years, they made one major mistake: They neglected to consider the X factor, which is this case is whether foreign investments would provide better real estate opportunities over domestic ones. It was naïve of the forecasters not to consider foreign real estate opportunities since so much of our economy and the way we think are global. But with the real estate boom happening in Costa Rica as it is today, I don’t think they’ll make that same mistake in the future. Costa Rica is, without a doubt, the hottest real estate market in the western hemisphere. The land prices and ROIs confirm it. So here’s my forecast: The Costa Rica real estate market is just starting to heat up and it will be the ‘primo’ spot for the at least the next 10 years!

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

I’m never surprised that the questions are asked but rather at the fact that people still feel the need to ask the question. Though I’m a huge proponent of Costa Rica, I’m not the only person who knows about the great real estate opportunities there. I’m certainly not the only one who has made significant profits from investing in Costa Rica land either. Still, when I come across a person with a question or comment like that above, I just tell them the truth. I say, “I do it because right now, in this first decade of the 21st century, there is no better, safer place to invest money.” You know what they say next? “Tell me more!” Here’s how I explain it to them…

Costa Rica has a lot of undeveloped land. About one quarter of it is protected to maintain the nation’s unique biodiversity but much of the land is earmarked for development purposes. Demand for land is strong, and steadily growing, but it doesn’t outweigh the supply YET. Therefore, prices for Costa Rica land lots are low. Inevitably, the person I’m speaking with asks, “How low?”

I usually give them an example. For instance, what comes to mind right now is a community in the southern Pacific of Costa Rica that I’ve heard about. There, an investor can purchase a half-acre to 1.25 acres of golf course or waterfront land for under $80,000. Add a four bedroom, three and half bathroom house to the mix and they could spend less than $200,000 for both. Property in any other similar location—Hawaii, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Mexico, etc.—would cost two to three times that much. Next, I tell them that property taxes one quarter of one percent of the value of the property, and then they’re really interested. (For those who aren’t math wizards, that’s about $250 for every $100,000!) After that, I give them my top financial reason for investing in Costa Rica real estate: The fact that returns of 100% or more in the first two years of ownership are common!

Once people learn about all of the financial perks of investing in Costa Rica real estate, they understand why I rave about Costa Rica and why investing in a foreign country is a good idea. It makes financial sense and millions of cents. The thing is, that conversation leads to a whole new conversation. It usually begins with, “Can you help me ________,” but I don’t mind. Makes me feel good to help others get on the path to financial freedom and knowing what it feels like to own a piece of paradise.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Well, as a real estate investor myself, I know how difficult it can be to find reliable information on Costa Rica beyond the typical “tourist” jabber. I’m not saying that the touristy information isn’t good; it actually is very helpful and usually accurate information. After all, tourism does have a major impact on the real estate market in Costa Rica. However, there is a plenty of other information that, as someone interested in investing in Costa Rica real estate, you should also know about Costa Rica.

Some of the other information that you should learn about Costa Rica includes the country’s history, why people flock to the nation year-round, and the business environment that you’ll be entering once you begin investing in Costa Rica real estate. It’s important to know the nation’s history so that you can understand how the nation, its land, and its people all came to be the way they are today. Meanwhile, knowing why people visit Costa Rica will help you as a real estate investor to determine the way you can best capitalize on the ever-increasing tourism traffic Costa Rica is experiencing. In regard to the business environment, you don’t want to invest your money somewhere that you’re not wanted or where you won’t be able to prosper, do you? Fortunately, Costa Rica welcomes foreign investors so that’s not a problem there, but you should still know more specifically what to expect when buying real estate in Costa Rica.

There are several sources on the Internet where you can find the type of information I’m referring to, but very few sources where you’ll find it all in one location. That’s why I’ve created a special 18-page report, the ‘Investors’ Blueprint to Costa Rica Riches.’ The report allows you to ‘look over my shoulder’ gaining insight to all the research I have done over the last several years. It also includes excerpts form the hundreds of articles I have written on Costa Rica recently, including information on the life, the land, the people and the investment opportunities. It provides a great overview of what you’ll need to know to determine whether a Costa Rica real estate investment is right for you. Therefore, if you’re planning on investing in Costa Rica real estate, it’s the best way to start your research.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Generally, if an investor does some research before he / she buys, that person will turn a profit. The questions are: How much and how fast? The answers to those questions are dependent upon one thing: Knowledge. It’s as simple as that. I’ve heard of people making 50% of their initial investment back within six months and others doubling or tripling their investment in less than two years! Typically though, people choosing to invest in Costa Rica real estate that are experiencing extraordinary returns are doing so because they’ve heeded my advice, literally.

See, I’ve been investing in Costa Rica real estate for years. I know the nation as well as the charms and drawbacks of the various regions. I know Costa Rica land purchase / general real estate laws, and the trends that have led to certain areas emerging as white-hot markets. In addition to all of that, I’ve paid my dues by putting my money where my mouth is and have invested in Costa Rica myself for years. The point is: I know what works. I know what it takes to be a successful Costa Rica land and property investor and have used what I know to help others follow suit. If you’ll let me, I’d like to help you too.

To begin tapping into the wealth of knowledge that I’ve collected over the years, log on to DevelopingParadise.com. There, you can get a free DVD and special report on investing in Costa Rica. If you like what you learn (which I guarantee you will), there’s even more knowledge—books, DVDs, guarded access online links, etc.—that I can provide to help you get your feet wet in Costa Rica land purchases. If you have the discipline to sit down and read a bit of research I’ve compiled, you’ll be well on your way to investing smartly, and making exceptional returns on Costa Rica real estate will be well within reach.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

At present, the most sought after real estate investments are in Costa Rica’s Southern Pacific coast. The region consists of the Puntarenas Province, which runs along much of the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. However, it’s the portions of the Puntarenas province that extend from Quepos southward that are considered the Southern Pacific Coast. The region is home to the nation’s newest top-of-the-line medical facility as well as many seductive beaches and picturesque mountains. In a few years, the Southern Pacific region will also be the location of Costa Rica’s third international airport. Costa Rica’s Southern Pacific Coast is also home to the renowned Corcovado National Park, which features the most dense and diverse animal and plant life in not only all of Costa Rica, but according to National Geographic, in the entire world. Needless to say, the views and the real estate surrounding the park are unsurpassed. That is another reason why real estate investors are so drawn to the area.

While the entire Southern Pacific Coast of Costa Rica is expected to experience a surge in real estate development, much of the current real estate development is in the Coronado Bay area near the cities of Palomar Sur, Sierpe, and Puerto Cortes. Two of the more notable are being constructed near San Buenaventura and along the mountains above Cortez.

The San Buenaventura real estate development is called The San Buenas Golf Resort. It’s massive. Six hundred forty-four acres of Costa Rica land is currently being primed to build hundreds of homes, some of which will sit directly on the golf course around which the community is being built. Meanwhile, the Amelia’s Estates real estate development—a mountain’s edge development hidden away among the rainforest—provides views of Palmar Norte and Cortez.
Both of these developments are designed for investors wanting to own a home—for general investment, vacation, retirement or primary residence—in Costa Rica.

The Amelia’s Estates and San Buenas Golf Resort developments are just two of the real estate investment opportunities along Costa Rica’s Southern Pacific Coast. As the Costa Rican government continues to release land for sale and offering incentives to investors, more real estate development (and therefore real estate investment profits) are inevitable. So if you’re looking to buy real estate in Costa Rica, it’s a good time to explore the market.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

When you think of the Caribbean from May to October images of hurricanes, endless rain and violent storms often come to mind. However, are you aware that when it comes to Panama Weather hurricanes and other violent weather miss this hidden gem? (Just click on the highlighted text for a map of Panama and the hurricanes of the past 100 years).

What, Where and Why Hurricanes

“Hurricanes are essentially a tropical phenomena, that are driven by the evaporation of a large pool of very warm water somewhere not too far from a shoreline. Local geographic conditions may cause them to strike (i.e. cross the shore) in non-tropical locations, e.g. Florida, Louisiana, the Atlantic coast, as well as Japan or Taiwan (where they are called typhoons). Hurricanes can strike the Pacific coast, but less commonly than the Caribbean, typically between about Acapulco and Panama.” Source: MadSci Network: Earth Sciences

Suffering Summer in the South

It’s something we have come to expect each winter season: horror stories about canceled trips or worse being stuck in a hotel room to, “Ride out the Storm”; we all still have those haunting images of poor families lost and homeless in Louisiana, Florida and other tropical locales. Well, your Panama vacation won’t be canceled or rebooked due to nasty weather. Also, for those who call Panama home or second home your Panama Real Estate investment will always be safe from hurricanes and earthquakes. This means low insurance rates due to the lower risk. Lower tax rates are another benefit as the government doesn’t need to save tax revenues for the big clean up. Panama is blessed and protected by nature, unlike her Central American neighbors, with no hurricanes – amazingly it’s in a special climate area that is hurricane-free. Panama also experiences no major earthquakes.

Paul Owens of The South Florida Sun-Sentinel -

“For the first time in 30 years, United Van Lines Inc. says it moved more people OUT of Florida than IN! Fed-up Floridians are moving to other parts of the country, (and other parts of the world!) in part to escape rising property taxes and insurance rates. Many residents now say they can’t afford to move elsewhere in Florida because of the huge hit they’d take on taxes. What’s more, busy hurricane seasons in 2004 and 2005 led to massive rate hikes from the state’s largest home insurance companies.”

How Rainy is Rainy Season?

“Yes,” you may be thinking, “but what about that long rainy season I’ve heard about?” It’s true Panama weather may be free of violence but it does have a long rainy season – it can last up to seven months – from May to December. However, rainy season is actually something the local inhabitants and many of the transplants look forward too. Again, we get that Hollywood image of torrential down pours for days on end. It’s simply not the case in Panama. Yes, when it rains it can come down in buckets but most showers last for only a few hours sometimes just a few minutes. Even in the middle of rainy season it is typical to have beautiful sunshine for at least half the day. In June, July and August it is not uncommon to have many beautiful sunny days with a quick shower now and then. Not unlike summer in the American Mid-West.

Come Discover Panama!

So, if you are thinking of Panama Real Estate for retirement or just a Panama vacation don’t let the Panama Weather in rainy season hold you back!

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

The first obstacle that homeowners facing a financial crisis will have to overcome is a low credit score. Although their credit may be reasonably healthy in the beginning stages of the hardship, once they begin missing mortgage payments, their credit score will drop dramatically and it will be very difficult to obtain any kind of loan, mortgage or otherwise. This will force them to rely on alternate sources of funding, such as private real estate investors, subprime lenders specializing in bailouts, or hard money lenders, that may not offer terms in favor of the homeowners. The qualification guidelines will be drastically more difficult to meet, and costs for these types of mortgages may seem very expensive.

Additionally, the current foreclosure crisis in the real estate market has caused many lenders to go out of business, and many more to tighten their lending guidelines. One hundred percent, stated income, interest only loans are simply no longer available, and homeowners who obtained loans such as these may have very little equity to work with. Hard money lenders, while not hit quite as hard as subprime lenders, are also experiencing decreases in the value of their mortgage holdings, due to the softening market. And decreases in home values are sucking the wealth out of communities, as local homeowners turn into renters, and large corporate banks end up owning vast portions of cities, unable to sell them to a market that no longer exists. These current events will continue to make qualifying for a refinance to prevent foreclosure very difficult.

However, the most difficult qualification to meet for any loan to stop foreclosure will be the equity requirement. With banks that specialize in these kinds of loans, the house will usually have to have 70% loan to value as a minimum. Some start even lower, at 60-65%; this makes a vast number of foreclosure victims immediately unqualified to obtain financing. The bank, because they are aware of a great danger of having to foreclose on the house again, wants to know that they will have their loan paid back through the proceeds of the sheriff sale, and such low loan to value properties have a better chance of meeting this aim. There is also a better chance they will be able to sell the property on the open market for very little but still make a profit, if they have to foreclose on the loan and end up owning the house after foreclosure.

Furthermore, interest rates from foreclosure bailout lenders or hard money lenders can be relatively high. Depending on which lenders are chosen and what their individual guidelines are, payments can be in the range of 11-15% on the low end, and up to 18-20% at the highest point. These loans are designed for homeowners who experienced a temporary financial setback but are now able to afford a higher mortgage payment in exchange for the chance to establish an on-time payment history again and save their home. If the homeowners have not repaired their financial situation and established good spending habits, these qualifications will ensure they can not find a solution to foreclosure by going this route, and other options to prevent foreclosure will have to be considered.

Private investor options are often the most flexible in terms of payments and equity considerations. The homeowners will not have to give up their ownership rights to the home in all circumstances, if they use a land contract option, or they may have the right to purchase back their property after a certain period of time under a leaseback agreement. Also, investors are often more willing to work directly with the foreclosure victims, because they are more concerned with the equity in the house and its potential future profit and monthly cash flow, and they can negotiate with the foreclosing bank for a short sale to generate even more equity. But these considerations also work in the homeowners’ interests, because more equity in the property will require a smaller mortgage, which will be accompanied by lower payments. This can give the foreclosure victims a little bit of extra cash every month that they can use to save for a rainy day or pay off other debts.

Other loan programs, such as payday loans or car title loans, are often the most predatory of all plans a homeowner can take to save their home. In nearly all cases, relying on such loans during a financial hardship is almost a guarantee for future financial problems, and will result in the foreclosure victims becoming even further behind on monthly expenses. Although there is a place and time that these loans can help homeowners out of a tight situation, they should be avoided when there is a serious financial hardship that does not have an end in sight. And they should be considered as a last resort to make a payment, rather than a short term solution that can be relied upon numerous times to keep a property out of foreclosure.

Homeowners have numerous options when looking at loans to save a home from foreclosure, but the qualifications for many of these loans will be difficult (if not impossible) to meet. Due to the drawbacks and difficulties with these loans, using debt to solve a debt problem should be one part of the plan to stop foreclosure, but it should not be the only part. Other options need to be considered in addition to credit, especially working with the lender, selling the home, and filing bankruptcy to avoid foreclosure. The problem of losing a home can be solved in various ways, but every situation requires a unique perspective and several backups in order to be successful. Loans of any kind are just one part of the equation in homeowners helping themselves to understand what can be done to solve their current problem and ensure they have a long term plan to prevent going into foreclosure ever again.

The ForeclosureFish.com website provides homeowners with free advice and resources to avoid foreclosure on their own. With hundreds of articles, blog entries, and reference materials, foreclosure victims can put together a comprehensive plan to save their homes.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Most people under thirty planning on moving to New York City approach finding an apartment to rent the same way they usually find a job, car, bike, or even a date:they go on Craigslist.More often than not, though, the notoriously difficult New York City rental market breaks the will of these go-it-aloners like a sadistic, push-up happy drill sergeant does his cadets.

The biggest factor in any rental market is inventory.For those that don’t know, inventory in regards to rental markets means the percent of the city’s rental apartments that are currently available to rent.

Since the middle of the 20th century, New York City has had low inventory rates, usually defined as below 5%.Nowadays, however, the situation has become almost barbaric:The current overall inventory rate is just 2.2% (you don’t even want to know what it is in Manhattan).Furthermore, the situation is only getting tougher… there are more and more people out there, and New York City is not getting any bigger.

Combine the inventory picture with New York City’s landlords, who are extra skeptical about their future tenant’s ability to pay rent – a security deposit of six months rent is not entirely unheard of – and you have a market that can be truly scary for first time renters.

The lesson from all this?Using Craigslist or similar sites for New York City is a bit like taking your trusted rowboat from the hometown pond and paddling it across an ocean during a hurricane:The trusty device has worked for you in the past, but it’s just not going to cut it here.

Whether you are a savvy renter just starting out, or someone who has had their will to live chipped away to dangerously low levels by months of uncomfortable couch surfing, you know that specialized, professional help is the only way to go.

Unfortunately, fees for rental agents are often prohibitively expensive; in many cases they are as high as 15% of the entire year’s rent.Consider also New York City’s classic “moving fee” – which is another completely arbitrary, because-we-can fee that landlords use to force new renters to fork over another month’s rent.When you combine both of those fees, you are often looking at having to pony up over $20,000 just to move in to a place.

So, it’s no surprise that specialized websites like www.citycribs.com have grown in popularity as the renter’s market has gotten tougher and tougher. They combine large numbers of listings – the citycribs website has over 29,000 listings for New York City – with the expertise that the New York market requires.

It’s another example of the digital economy replacing the old; and making life a whole lot easier when finding New York City Apartments.

The history of Coral Gables is comparatively new when compared to other cities in the United States. It was developed by George Merrick somewhere in the 1920’s. Despite a relatively new history, It is one of the first classic planned communities with three-lined boulevards, winding roads and architecture that is mostly Mediterranean in character. The developer formulated a concise planning for the city so much so that he boasted that no business was too far away for anyone to reach. Coral Gables is also referred to as the “The City Beautiful” and is situated very close to the Miami International Airport and the Port of Miami. The city is perhaps most acclaimed for being home to a large number of high quality dining establishments like Norman’s and Christy’s and retailers known internationally.

The Gables also has some major places of interest among which the most famous are Coral Way scenic drive, Montgomery Botanical Center, the University of Miami and the Venetian Pool. The Coral Way is none but the State Road 972, in which the beauty lies in the banyan trees lining the road. The Montgomery Botanical Center is a non- profit botanical garden that collects seeds of wild plants from world over, but primarily emphasizes on cycads and palms. It acts as a research facility and is not open for public visits. The University of Miami happens to be a major center for education for Coral Gables and the surrounding areas. It was founded in 1925 and is accredited to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Among all the interesting sites in Coral Gables, one of the most unique is the Venetian Pool which looks complete with a Venetian style bridge and classic mooring posts. The Biltmore Hotel, the City Hall building, the De Soto Fountain, and Miracle Mile are also a must see.

Coral Gables real estate is a very desirable address as it is one of the most prominent cities in South Florida. A few upscale communities include, Coral Bay, Gables by the Sea, Coral Estates, and Granada Place. The real estate in Coral Gables is luxurious and elegant. Currently over 500 homes are available for sale here from $400,000 dollars to over 10,000,000 dollars. There are over 300 condos for sale from $200,000 dollars to over $2,500,000 dollars. Presently the real estate market in Coral Gables is very slow and there are many opportunities to find a beautiful home at an excellent price. Coral Gables Real Estate is due to improve again by 2009. Now is the occasion to buy a home in the City Beautiful.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

Gaining financial security is the main reason why most people turn to property, which is no surprise because property has been and continues to be one of the most solid investments around.

Investing in property represents the best reward vs. risk investment you can make for you and your family. It\’s commonly known that pensions are giving poor returns, so whilst other investments are failing to deliver, property investment in the UK and overseas continues to grow.

Property in the UK has doubled in value on average every 8.2 years since 1946 (when the average house price was under £1500!) and some overseas property hot spots have seen an average 15% annual growth in recent years. Deciding whether you want off plan, key in hand, renovation or auction property are all important decisions to make when it comes to building an investment property portfolio.

For most of us it’s the only investment we have ever made any significant money from; and we all have friends, family or neighbours that have or wish they had done the same. We’ve seen our own property and the properties around us go up in value and continue to do so and comments like I wish I had bought five years ago are commonplace.
It’s all about finding the right property for the right price at the right time.

Here’s the main reasons why people invest;
• Legacy – to leave something tangible for your loved ones
• A comfortable early retirement
• To increase current wealth status
• To supplement or replace a pension for later life
Understanding your property investment needs
The simple fact that you’re even reading this feature shows that you’ve realised that you have to do something to secure your future. You’ve also hopefully identified that property is your solution so you need to start asking yourself some questions; who do you turn to? who do you trust? if you don’t have the expertise yourself, how do you find out how to do it? and who has the time with full time jobs and busy lifestyles?

Its time for you to take a closer look at your circumstances to figure out your needs. After all there’s no point buying a buy to let or a renovation project if you simply don’t have the time to dedicate to finding tenants, doing DIY jobs or project managing.

Apart from deciding how much time you can spare, looking at your finances is another fundamental need. Whether you’ve got savings, plan to use equity from your current property or get a loan, your ability to raise funds will determine your overall strategy.
All developments have an entry price. This price obviously varies but for off plan it’s usually a percentage of the overall purchase price until the property is complete. For key in hand properties an administration fee secures your reservation then the remaining funds will have to be sourced pretty much straight away.
Devising your entry strategy
• Financial situation – where can you source funds from, how quickly and how much.
• Time – Assessing other work/life commitments will help you figure out this part of your strategy.
• Timeline – are you starting or building an investment property portfolio? How long do you want to keep it?
• What’s most important, regular income or longer term capital growth?
• Type of property – off plan (not built yet), key in hand (ready to move in to), renovation (DIY projects)
• Usage of property – holiday lettings, residential lettings, personal etc.
• Size required – Who’s your target market? i.e. If your planning to rent your property out to families on holiday don’t buy a one bedroom apartment!
Devising a strategy is essential and a reputable company should provide you with the help and support you need if required.

Once you’ve established your requirements, it’s time to move on to finding the best investment deal – always remember though property investment is a head decision not heart, so finding the most financially savvy deal is the key.

How to put your investment strategy into action

With your finances and strategy in place, it’s time to take the next step – choosing a reputable company to match your requirements with the best investment opportunities available.

There are many companies in the property investment industry so you have to be careful about whom you choose to trust. Many advertised investment properties simply don’t make sense because the figures don’t stack up – you just need to know what questions to ask. Research is the key, do you really want to pay for expensive seminars when you can get the same advice for free from experienced property consultants? Equally beware of companies that offer cheap inspection trips, they often use hard sell tactics in the hope that you’ll sign on the dotted line without carrying out your own due diligence checks.

Another point worth mentioning is that there’s no governing body managing the investment property industry. So perhaps look for a company who uses FSA regulated finance partners, this way you’ll have the peace of mind knowing that a trusted relationship is in place between the partner and property company.

Once you’ve decided who to approach, a reputable company will talk you through your requirements then discuss what options you have – if they go in for the hard sell straight away steer clear – they’re not interested in getting you the best deal, just closing the deal and getting their commission.

Good property consultants will want to understand your circumstances and will help you ‘firm up’ your strategy and put it into action. They will advise you on the best opportunities including the different finance stages, supply you with all the relevant investor data then it’s down to you to make the next decision.

Securing your first, second maybe even third property!

Once the figures stack up, you’ve had all your questions answered and are happy to proceed, you need to take your commitment further. Generally this process follows a certain pattern:

• You confirm you’re happy to proceed
• You sign the relevant documents and pay a fee to secure/reserve a property
• You visit the development/property
• Again you confirm you’re happy
• Legal documents and contracts are signed
• You pay for your property – if you’re buying off plan you’ll only need to pay a percentage of the agreed cost until it’s built.
• Then finally you can use your property to reap the rewards!

All forms of property investment should be viewed as a medium to long term commitment which means a minimum of five years. ‘Flipping’ is a term used to describe selling your off plan property before completion, this was popular several years ago for making a quick profit, but it’s very risky. Buying off plan gives you a great discount to begin with then you’ve got to wait until it’s built before you can obviously rent it. Buying key in hand property means you can benefit from a rental income straight away. Either way, the longer you keep hold of your property the more capital growth you’ll achieve.

Your commitment and dedication can be as much as you want, obviously during the first few weeks of committing to a deal you’ll need to spend a fair amount of time signing and sealing the proposition. Property investment is flexible to a certain extent, if you’ve got little time to spare but you want to rent out your property you can get managing and letting agents on board to sort it for you. Involving a third party obviously means they’ll want a cut of your profits so dealing with this yourself will be more cost effective but time consuming.

Investing as a full time occupation

In general people view investing in property as a way to gaining financial security for their future. For many investors they manage their investment properties alongside their regular full time job, providing an extra source of income.

However full time property investment is big business. Experienced investors know the pitfalls of doing it full time and can manage it well, but for novice investors this could be a massive gamble.

Giving up work to become a full time property investor is a big commitment. Whilst it may free up your time to concentrate on your property investments, you’ll need a regular cash flow to support you.

There are two main ways to running your investments as a business; by becoming a professional residential landlord or becoming a property developer.

Becoming a landlord

Serious investors with multiple properties often become professional landlords. This in itself is a challenge but it has the potential to be very profitable.

The main benefit is you can achieve good rental rates because the cost of renting a property is now higher than ever before. The Association of Residential Letting Agents has recently reported that rent levels have increased in all UK areas so far in 2007.

However being a landlord of residential property means you have certain responsibilities to undertake to ensure the investment property is up to rentable standard. This includes maintenance, so if you’re not a handy DIY-er you’ll need to factor in the costs of tradesman.

Becoming a property developer

Buying property to ‘do up’ has proved very popular over the last decade or so. This boom is mainly due to media coverage, the number of TV programmes highlighting the potential profits to be made in property is astonishing.

Fuelled by the inspiration of other success stories the market has been flooded with wannabe developers, which has and continues to have a knock on affect on the housing market. High demand for previously undesirable properties naturally increases prices so there’s actually less of a bargain to be had than pre boom times.

Buying property to develop and sell on for profit is a very ‘hands on approach’. A constant cash flow to pay for materials and labour is essential, not to mention the need for good project and time management skills.

To recap…

Over the past three weeks we’ve covered everything there is to know about how property investment can work for you. We’ve talked you through the reasons why people choose property, the process of starting your portfolio and the options of how to do it full time.

The main thing to remember is property investment is not a get rich quick scheme and there are no guarantees, but the historical evidence proves property is one of the best investments you can ever make.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

The number of tourist arrivals increased to 9.59 million in the first eight months of 2007 up from 9.37 million during the same period of time in 2006. European arrivals grew by 14.3% in the first six months of 2007. East Asian arrivals were down by 3.9% and South Asian increased by 10.5% during the same period last year.

Thailand has been successful in attracting visitors from some new markets. The number of visitors from Russia increased to 139,000 in the first six months, a 51% increase year-on-year. India is now a growing market with about 265,000 visitors in the first six months, an increase of 14% from the same period last year. Middle East arrivals were also up 20% on a year-on-year basis.

There were weaknesses in other markets. Visitors from Malaysia dropped by 12%, Japan by 7%, and China by 18%. China is one of Asia’s fastest growing markets with 37 million Chinese expected to travel overseas this year. In the first six months, Thailand only attracted about 2% of the total Chinese overseas travellers.

“We expect that overall occupancy rates for Bangkok’s four and five star hotels will only be 70% in 2007 compared to 75% in 2006,” said Mr. Navaphol Viriyakunkit, head of Research Services at CB Richard Ellis Thailand. The reasons for low occupancy rates have been political uncertainties, the New Year’s Eve bombings and a weak economy.

The average room rate for four and five star hotels in Bangkok has increased slightly in Baht terms by 2% year-on-year, but the appreciation of Thai Baht against the US dollar has increased the rate in US dollar terms by more than 10% from last year. It is likely that rate will hit $170 per night at the end of 2007 compared to about $158 at present. Some hotel operators are going to change their contract rates from dollars into baht because of the appreciating currency. A typical hotel in the luxury (five to six star) category will have an average daily room rate (ADR) of over THB5,500 a night, while ADRs of first-class (four star) hotels ranged THB4,500-5,500.

CB Richard Ellis projects that more than 2,000 new four and five star hotel rooms will be completed in Bangkok in 2008, raising the supply by 24% from 2007. Major hotel developments that are due next year include Centara Grand at CentralWorld, The Regent Bangkok and Sofitel Sukhumvit Bangkok. Competition is expected to increase throughout 2008.

In Bangkok, serviced apartments are also competing with hotels and many offer daily rates. The total supply of serviced apartments is expected to top 10,000 units at the end of 2007, and exceed 12,000 units in 2008. The increase in supply will mean that more serviced apartments look for daily guests, increasing the competition with hotels.

International hotel operators want to establish their brands in Thailand not only in Bangkok but also in resort locations such as Phuket, Krabi, Phang-nga and Samui. Starwood has announced that they will operate a St. Regis hotel in Bangkok and W hotels in Bangkok and Koh Samui.

CB Richard Ellis believes that growth in international hotel operators will be positive for Thailand by both raising the quality of the total hotel supply, and harnessing the marketing power of the international operators to attract visitors to Thailand.

There will continue to be rising competition in the Asian tourist markets. India and Vietnam are new competitors attracting rising numbers of visitors. Thailand has had continued success in Europe and new markets such as Russia, India and the middle east, but has suffered set backs in the East Asian markets, particularly the fast growing Chinese market.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.

The total area of Miami Dade County is around 2,400 square miles. It is bordered by Broward County to the north, Collier County to the northwest and Monroe County to the south and west. A decade ago the population density was about 1,150 per square mile. In the last few years though the state of affairs has improved much and is expected to get better with time. Real Estate prices have more than double in recent years. Coral Gables, Miami Beach, Coconut Grove, Ventura, Miami Lakes, Hialeah, BAL Harbour, Homestead, Doral are part of Miami Dade County.

Infrastructural facilities in this county are extremely advanced and the proof of this can be had if one looks at the education and transportation systems. In Florida each county also acts as a school district and in the county of Miami-Dade is served by several schools. Higher education is served by various colleges and universities including University of Miami, Miami Dade College, Florida Memorial University and St. Thomas University. In terms of transportation, the number of expressways Miami-Dade County has, very few counties have and this factor leads to heightened connectivity with the other states. Apart from this, a street grid stretches from downtown Miami throughout the country. Since World War I this grid has been there.

Miami Dade County Real Estate in Florida has grown tremendously in the real estate market boom. As an economy, this place is severely dependant on the agricultural sector. Proof to this fact can be found in the massive amounts of traditional and tropical vegetables the county produces along with tropical fruits and other greenhouse products. In the domestic market local produce competes with imports from other countries in Central America, South America and Europe.

With all modern amenities acting to people’s benefit, the county of Miami Dade has a thriving real estate market. Excellent places to live in this county include, Miami, Coral Gables, and Miami Beach. Most of the constructions are extremely picturesque and is one of the reasons why people want to settle here. There are currently 16,185 single family homes and 25,537 condos and townhouses listed in the MLS in Miami Dade County. This record high of homes available for sale is unprecedented and is a clear opportunity to purchase now a home or condo at the right price before this buyer’s market is over in 2008.

“This article is brought to you by Gus Woltmann”.