Cheap Flats London

Investing in real estate has changed in many markets in our country.  If you are like me, you live in a real estate market that has gone soft.  There are still some areas in the country where homes are appreciating nicely, but nothing like it was just a year or two ago.  There were a lot of self-proclaimed real estate gurus that popped up during the boom times telling you how to make HUGE PROFITS in real estate.  Back then, during the up cycle, investing in real estate was so easy.  You could throw money at almost any piece of real estate and be practically guaranteed to make a profit.  It seemed like anyone who had flipped a couple of houses and made a profit was an “expert” investor. 

Times are different now.  Investing in real estate takes a little more effort.  Investors who haven’t weathered down cycles before are struggling because all they know are massively appreciating markets.  All too many of those self-proclaimed gurus lost their shirts when the markets changed.  Those ads that go “I made $256 Million in real estate in 4 weeks with no money down” are a whole lot less believable.  Okay, $256 Million is an exaggeration, but you know what I mean. 

So the question is, “How do we still go about investing in real estate and make profits?”  Can it be done in these soft markets? 

The answer to that question is quite simple.  I can say without question, without hesitation, the answer is:  YES!  ABSOLUTELY! 

I have been investing in real estate for more than 20 years.  I have seen up cycles and I have seen down cycles.  I have made money and been successful in both.  I can tell you several things about down markets that may surprise you. 

First, experienced real estate investors will tell you that more money is made in down markets than in up markets.  It’s true, MORE MONEY is made in DOWN markets than in up markets! 

Second, experienced investors PREFER to do the bulk of their investing in DOWN markets.  There are a number of reasons for this, but the big ones are that there are more motivated sellers in down markets and the competition (other investors) pursuing these motivated sellers is LOWER.  It’s a double bonus. 

Down markets produce more deals and less competition to get those deals.

One of the investing techniques I specialize in is Lease Options.  Lease Options are one of the absolute best techniques for investing in real estate in down markets.  I’ll say it again, because if you are looking for ways to get involved with real estate investing you need to know this, Lease Options are one of the absolute best techniques for investing in real estate in down markets. 

Let’s take a look at why. 

I’ve already said that down markets produce high numbers of motivated sellers.  Right now in Michigan, it’s very common to see a house listed on the market in two ways, both for sale and for rent.  They are listed this way because the sellers KNOW how bad it is and they want someone, anyone, to cover their mortgage payment.  These double listings SCREAM “Motivated Seller!”  Now, not every single one of these is going to be an excellent Lease Option deal.  But you know what?  That’s okay, there are plenty to choose from! 

The critical part in selecting your Lease Option candidates, in an up market or a down market, is creating WIN-WIN-WIN situations.  The seller must be satisfied with the deal, you must be satisfied and the end buyer must be satisfied.  When investing in real estate, this is what makes us successful.  How does this work?  

To create a WIN for someone we must meet their core need.  A motivated seller’s goal is to sell their house.  Eventually they need their mortgage paid off and the deed transferred out of their name.  If they are willing to rent the house as well as sell it, they are telling you that having their mortgage paid each month is more important right now than actually getting the house sold.  If we can find a tenant buyer for them we are satisfying their core need of paying the mortgage each month and eventually selling the home.  This is a WIN for the seller. 

Our end buyer is looking for a home to own. Their current situation prevents them from getting a mortgage immediately but they plan on being able to get a mortgage soon. They want a home now. They don’t want to wait to get their house.  By allowing them to lease and then purchase the house we are meeting their core need. This gives our buyer a WIN. 

Before we talk about what makes a WIN for us as an investor let’s talk a little more about mortgages for our end buyer. There has been a lot of news lately about sub-prime lending woes and how lenders with riskier loans are facing high rates of foreclosure and may be going bankrupt.  As a result it is getting much harder for people with poor credit to obtain a mortgage.  It is also getting harder for ANYONE to obtain a mortgage with 100% financing (i.e. no money out of the buyer’s pocket). This may sound crazy, but this is actually a good thing for us when investing in real estate. 

When investing in real estate by doing Lease Options it is harder for us to find quality tenant buyers when almost anyone who can fog a mirror can get a mortgage. Not only that but because it was so easy to get 100% financing most buyers save nothing and are unable or unwilling to pay much for an option fee.  With the lending companies tightening their belts I expect we will see a growing population of QUALITY tenant buyers who are able to pay HIGHER option fees. 

The flip side of this is that because lenders are tightening their belts your tenant buyers will need to work harder to restore their credit.  It may take as much as 2 to 3 years for some tenant buyers to be able to qualify for mortgages instead of just 1 year as we had seen before. 

The bottom line is when investing in real estate by using Lease Options the difficulties of the mortgage lenders are just another reason why this down market is a GREAT time for us investors. 

Now let’s look at the last part of our WIN-WIN-WIN equation — the WIN for us, the investor. For us to WIN we need to make a profit. The profit comes both from the equity spread between your option price to the seller and the buyer’s option price to you as well as any monthly cash flow in the rental payments.  With Lease Options it pays to be creative. You’ll find a lot more deals and be a lot more successful investing in real estate if you practice creativity in your structuring. 

The most common motivated seller we encounter is the one who has little to no equity in his home.  Too many real estate investors get calls from sellers that only care about “What’s it worth?” and “What do you owe?”  If the numbers are too close together, they say, “Sorry I can’t help you.”  Click. 

What if you pursue it a little further with a creative mind?  A good question to always ask is “What are your monthly payments?”  If the payments are lower than rental rates you may be able to make some monthly cash flow.  

Another good question to ask is, “How soon do you need to sell the house?”  You may want to ask this question a couple of times while you are talking to them.  You could be surprised to find that the number grows longer each time you ask.  There aren’t too many markets I can think of that stay down forever.  Eventually the house should start appreciating again.  If your option period to the seller is long enough you can capture appreciation to make your profit. 

What about this – “Are you willing to bring money to closing to sell your house?” And if their monthly payment is higher than what you can rent the house for, “Are you willing to pay the difference between the rental amount and your monthly payment?”  These two questions may seem brazen, but ask yourself, what have you got to lose?  If the seller is fully leveraged on the house or their payment is higher than the rental rate you have nothing to lose, because if they aren’t willing to make concessions then you can’t help them!  Certainly some of us feel awkward in asking these questions, but trust me, if you ask this question 30 times, no matter how embarrassed you might feel at the beginning, you will start to feel much more comfortable by the end.

These are just a few creative questions you might come up with to try to find terms that will allow you, as the investor, to make a profit, a WIN for you.  When you add all of three of these together, meeting the seller’s need, meeting the buyer’s need and you making a profit, you have created a WIN-WIN-WIN.  This is what you MUST do to be successful when investing in real estate with Lease Options.

Do you see how much BETTER it can be to find deals in down markets?  Motivated Sellers are EVERYWHERE and there are FEWER investors competing with you.  Combining these two factors allows you to choose your deals with greater care. Always “Cherry Pick” your deals in a soft market.  This is why experienced investors, who have been in both up markets and down markets, prefer the down markets.  Soft markets can provide some of the best deals when investing in real estate.

To find out more about this topic, visit my website at www.WendyPatton.com. My website offers free articles, my national speaking schedule and my new books, Rent-to-Sell, (published late February 2009) and Rent-to-Buy (coming out Summer 2009). You may also be interested in my other books, Making Hard Cash in a Soft Real Estate Market and Investing in Real Estate With Lease Options and “Subject To” Deals. These are books for sellers, buyers, investors and the real estate agents that serve them.

Reprints available with permission only.  Contact: Info@wendypatton.com

Ronaldo, Kaka and Benzema

A friend of mine managed to hire a car from Alicante Airport last season and drove to Madrid to watch the ´Galacticos´ in action, only to see them draw 2-2 with Espanyol. Reflecting on the drab performance, he commented: “I should have taken a swift turn north at Alicante and gone to the Nou Camp, Barcelona instead.”

The slaying of the Galacticos

As a Liverpool fan, I am in a good position to gloat about our slaying of the ´Galacticos´ on two, yes two, occasions during the Champions League stages in 2009. As our Spanish cleaner commented after the 4-1 second leg defeat at Anfield, Liverpool: “Mi hijo, Pablo, esta llorando.” – “My son, Pablo, is crying.” “How old is he?” I tentatively asked. “23” she replied! Those Real Madrid fans sure are passionate. (Or big cry babies, depending how you look at it). I still can´t decide whether beating Real Madrid twice was quite as satisfying as beating Manchester Utd home and away in the same season. It was a close run thing but both were massive highlights of the 2008/2009 season.

Real Madrid and John Lennon Airport Car hire Liverpool

Thousands of Real Madrid fans travelled to Liverpool, only to arrive at John Lennon Airport, and realise there were no cars left to hire. Any serious football fan, should realise that car hire and car rentals always need to be pre-booked before arriving in Madrid, Liverpool, London or Barcelona Airports. If we had relied on public transport when we travelled to Istanbul for the incredible European final in 2005, half the Liverpool fans would never have arrived at the Ataturk Stadium on time.

Car hire Madrid and Barcelona Airport

If you want to visit the Bernabeu Stadium, Madrid, as part of a driving tour round Spain, you can pre-book and hire a car from Malaga Airport, Madrid Airport, Alicante Airport or Barcelona Airport with carhire4airports. If you are planning to go to Madrid for one of the big ´La Liga´ matches, such as Real Madrid v Barcelona, make sure you book your car hire in plenty of time.

Ronaldo and Kaka lighting up the Bernabeu Stadium

As opposed to Real Madrid fans crying after a 6-2 defeat by bitter rivals, Barcelona, last season, Pablo and his mates must now be crying with joy at the prospect of Ronaldo and Kaka lighting up the Bernabeu Stadium with their trickery and skills. I for one think the Ronaldo circus will soon grind to a halt when expectation exceeds results, and Real Madrid will fail to win anything next season. Just for the record, I don´t expect Manchester City to win anything next season either. Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez were integral cogs of a superb Manchester United team. As good as they are individually, I think it will take time for them to gel at Madrid and at Manchester City respectively, and that instant success is highly unlikely. Whether you are looking to pick up public airport transport or hire a car in Manchester, Liverpool, Alicante or Madrid, look no further than carhire4airports. Our car hire deals are unbeatable.

Ronaldo and Kaka signed over dinner

According to several reports, deals were struck over dinner, to bring Ronaldo and Kaka to Real Madrid for a total of €136 million. Now either that was a damn fine Rioja you were drinking gentlemen, or somebody slipped some ´silly drugs´ into your sangria. One by one, Manchester United, AC Milan and Lyon continued to deny Ronaldo, Kaka and Benzema were leaving their clubs, Real Madrid, it seems, only had to flash their chequebook for the directors to change their minds. And let´s face it, most of us would sell our own flesh and blood for €80 million! (mine could actually go for quite a bit less). So all these record-breaking deals have been completed over dinner? All I can say is the food must be a lot better in Madrid than it is in Andalusia. Here you would be lucky to persuade Accrington Stanley´s reserve keeper to sign on, if you were using the local paella as a bargaining tool.

How times have changed in world football

Chatting with a former Anfield legend earlier this year, he commented that when he moved to Liverpool in the 1980s from Holland, he was met by an old bloke at the airport wearing a flat cap and raincoat. Long before the days of cheap car hire at the airport, the player thought the man was a steward or groundsman, sent by Liverpool to meet him. It was in fact, Joe Fagan, Liverpool manager. On arriving at the club, the young player was taken for something to eat, and he asked the waitress for a menu. “A menu?” snorted Fagan. “Who do you think you are? George bloody Best?.” “You´ll have egg and chips the same as me!” How times have changed! And not always for the best!

Hire a car in Liverpool Airport and visit Anfield

If you have had enough of the Real Madrid hype, forget the diving, preening Ronaldo and overhyped Kaka next season, and come see the real ´Galacticos´ at Anfield. After all, we have as many Spaniards playing in our team as Real Madrid, and the unflappable Rafa Benitez, will be guiding the team to their first premiership title in 21 years. It´s a good time to be a Liverpool fan, and if you can get a ticket, there is no better place than Anfield to watch a premiership match. With cheap flights available from most Spanish cities, including Madrid, Barcelona, Alicante and Malaga to Liverpool, you can pre-book a hire car from John Lennon Airport and be at Anfield within 30 minutes. Whether you want to visit the Bernabeu Stadium, Madrid, Old Trafford, Manchester, the Nou Camp , Barcelona or Anfield, Liverpool, check out our web site  for cheap car hire. 

Like many first home buyers you are probably wondering about the First home owners grant for investing in real estate. Am I eligible and how much will I get? Due to the current financial crisis there have been some changes to the grant for investing in real estate that are very beneficial for anyone who is thinking of making their first real estate investment. In fact the government has just doubled the grant for investing in real estate. The $7,000 grant has risen to $14,000 whilst the $14,000 grant has been increased to $21,000. Let’s have a look at the different types of grants for investing in real estate and the history of the first home owners grant and real estate investing.
The Grant for investing in real estate (first home owners grant/scheme) was first introduced in 2000 in an attempt to help first home buyers make their first real estate investments or buy their first home. In reality the grant simply offset the taxes that home buyers need to pay when buying a property. In its original form the grant for investing in real estate was set at $7,000 – how things have changed of late.How Much Will I Get?
Currently all first home buyers who are purchasing an already existing property will be entitled to a grant of $14,000. If you are purchasing a newly built home or build your own property you will be entitled to $21,000. For the first time in the history of the first home owners grant the new home owners may be able to use some of the grant money to pay for their property rather than just use it to pay for the taxes.Am I Eligible?
The eligibility criteria of the grant for investing in real estate is pretty straight forward. You (and your partner) must not have received an Australian home buyer’s grant before. You (and your partner) must not have owned residential property prior to 1st of July 2000 in Australia. You (at least one person) must be an Australian citizen. You must be a real person eg. Not a company. Finally you (at least one person) must occupy the house for a minimum of 6 months commencing within the first 12 months of purchase.
This last criterion is the most important if you are thinking about claiming the grant for investing in real estate for an investment property. This definitely doesn’t mean that you can’t get it you just need to be smart about it. Many property investment courses say you can’t use it for an investment property but this is simply not true. One of the best property investment tips I ever received was to use the first home owners grant for an investment property that needed some small renovations. I went to a property investment course that taught me about the best ways to renovate for capital gains and then used the grant for investing in real estate to pay my mortgage for 6 months whilst I renovated the property. It was the perfect way (and still is) to get into the investing property world.

The Life And Death Of Joe Rowley. The funny thing is, I didn’t know Joe that well.He was only an acquaintance really, a drinking acquaintance, not a close friend of mine by any stretch of the imagination. A ship that passed in the drink and drug soaked long dark night of my soul. So why was it that when I heard of his death, six thousand miles away, and more than a sober year or two after our last contact, that I was moved to tears? I cannot find a full explanation yet, it remains a teasing and tantalizing will o’ the wisp, dancing on the peripheral fringes of my consciousness. Perhaps in writing this and recounting the facts of the matter, I will be able to find some resolution, as I still get teary, some thirty years later, when I think of Joe, and the manner of his end. I had moved from London, our English capital city, to Brighton, a small seaside holiday town about sixty miles South, with it’s more provincial ambience. Also, as a holiday resort, it possessed a subclass that derived much of it’s income from the periodic influx of tourists. These people ranged from those who provided legitimate services, such as board and lodging, a well known genera including such sub-species as seaside landladies and hotel workers, to the more exploitative, such as bargirls, and the downright predatory, such as pick-pockets and pimps. Graham Green in his novel Brighton Rock, gives his grim, gray, grainy portrait of these under classes, with their admixture of petty criminality, that populate this underside of Brighton society; and the sordid parabolas of fungal doom that constitute the nightblooming of their lives. Probably not so different from many towns whose income is in some large part derived from similar sources. Joe, earning his living as a beach photographer, was mid-range in his grubby occupation. A bit exploitative of the visitors, with his persistent persuasive importunings, as he prevailed upon tourists to purchase his services, hawked on the promenade and lower beachfront, without going as far as to actually insert his hand into their pocket. Myself, drinking within bar patios on the lower beachfront level, had plenty of opportunity to observe Joe ply his trade. Manipulating vacationers with what I now realize was an underlying, but ever present, driving desperation. Joe would be a clown for people, mock himself, present himself in any way he thought would ingratiate. He uttered his smoothly flowing conman patter, it poured out of his mouth without seeming effort, as he at times literally capered in front of a prospect whose path he had blocked. Joe had the gift of the gab. For me, this was observed mainly during the daytime, on sunny public holidays or weekends, which attracted me to the vicinity of his beat. Lucrative times for Joe, but he was probably similarly engaged most other days too, unless it was raining, or too cold and windy, or all three, on that coast of frequent hurtling squalls. God knows how he got by in some of the savage months of Winter.Now and again Joe would take a break, and join the company for a beer, camera slung around his neck, like some disreputable reporter from the holiday beachhead, before resuming his endeavors. Conversing and joking around, always active and animated, bouncy with a cheerful ready wit, nut-brown from the regular exposure to the sun that he absorbed as the condition of his line of work, he was an entertaining companion. Perhaps a bit of a rough diamond, with his short crew cut hair lending an oafish look to his short and stocky build, part soldier, part gangster thug. Though he hardly stood out in this seafront assembly of drinkers, daylight ladies of the evening, hustlers, midday drunken tourists, misfits and ne’er do wells of every stripe. You understand, the usual potpourri of riff raff to be found in such places. For all his chunky masculinity, I never saw Joe with a woman. It’s not that he gave any indication that he was gay. He just seemed more at ease and more often at home in the company of men. Though in all conscience, he was seemingly as relaxed when my then wife was present drinking with me, passing the time of day with her in amiable chit chat and superficial banter. Joe gave no indication of superior education or culture either. His language was commonplace, salty and vulgar on occasion as it might be. He never infringed on a topic of any meaning, all was pitched on a mundane everyday level. Only the quickness of his sharp wit at times revealed there might be more intelligence to Joe than was normally allowed to be visible. Of course, even in those quarters, as elsewhere, rapid wit and skills at repartee gain their owner respect, so Joe probable felt it safe to show them. One late sunny Sunday morning, Joe entered the seafront bar I happened to be patronizing. After buying his first drink, he began pitching me his service. Making me a “mark”, a “John”, a breach of ethics really, you don’t con your own tribe. But I was not a close member, a hippy, with long hair, a full beard, unusual for that time and place. I had financial status too, owner of a car and a three-bedroom house, host of noisy weekend revels to the town’s gallimaufry of colorful characters. But his likeability was disarming, the amount of money was small to me, and I enjoyed the pitter of his patter and the easy grace with which he propositioned me, taking it all in with detached amusement while knowing exactly what he was doing. I also knew, he would take something back from whatever I gave him, at the special cut rate that he was using to tempt me, (after all we were friends weren’t we, so he was offering me a good deal on that basis). I just knew he would screw me somehow. My intuition was vindicated later when he gave me the roll of film he took, leaving me to pay for the cost of developing it, with some barefaced shameless flim-flam explanation of why he was doing so. I just laughed. Now I see the covert desperation was his driving need for money to drink. Perhaps on some inner level I knew and sympathized, feeling more fortunate, as my need for drink and drugs was just as driving, but my means were more equal to my needs.I would also see Joe in another bar, or a pub as they are also termed in England, a mostly weekend evening hangout, where I often sat in with the musicians. This was one of the several pubs we frequented that sold British apple wine. Because it was home produced and carried no import tax on it’s alcohol content, it was comparatively pretty cheap, as strong as sherry, relatively palatable, and with the well-deserved reputation for creating a crazed drunkenness. This of course only added to the popularity of Merrydown, as it was named with a touch of drollery. Several times, early in the evening, which perhaps accounts for the fact that I was conscious enough to retain the memory, Joe would join me at the bar. This was in fact where he returned the undeveloped roll of film to me on one occasion. He would order a glass of Merrydown, which arrived in a capacious tumbler, full to the brim, and leave it on the bar. He would ignore his drink, chatting casually, as if it were of no interest, as if he had half forgotten it. After a few minutes or so, as if catching sight of it, as if vaguely remembering what he was engaged in, “Oh yes, I have a drink somewhere don’t I?”, he would pick it up with a smooth rapidity, raising his glass as he tilted his head back, and drain the entire contents in one set of swift gulping swallows. Then swinging the glass down in a wide arc to crash it on the bar, he would look at me and state rhetorically, “We’re such bastards Brian, aren’t we? Such bastards!” And then order another, and another, and another, each accompanied by a repeat performance. The dissembler with beads of sweat on his forehead. That were not created by the warm evening. Now I realize how badly Joe needed those drinks, he had reached the stage of physically addicted alcoholism, and I was close on his heels. So why the charade? What was he hiding from whom? Not wanting to admit his “weakness”, I guess he wanted to keep some shred of self-respect, some façade that hid reality as much from himself, as from others. Pretending he wasn’t so desperately in need of the drink that in actuality he was so desperately in need of. Now if the party, i.e. the drunken debauch, was not at my house, mostly we would congregate at Grace and Gordon’s basement flat, and Joe would infrequently show up there too, late into the night. Grace was known even among us as an as an outrageous alcoholic. Arising around noon, she would spend two hours putting on her makeup with shaking hands, while consuming large glasses of Merrydown, or anything alcoholic that had been donated by a guest the night before. Or lacking a commercial product, resorting to her still cloudy homebrewed wine, that had barely finished fermenting. Ugh! Every morning, without fail. By nightfall she was roaring drunk and ready to party. Gordon was a fabulous, almost mythic figure. Sporting a military moustache, a relic of his service in the army, which he detested, the thinning hair was drawn back into an incongruent silky blondish ponytail, barely concealing his balding crown. Again an even more unusual deviant appearance considering his age, at this time and in this place. Gordon loved his drink too, was highly enamored of pot, and took far more amphetamines than he let on. Grace smoked weed if it was around, as did most on this scene, but booze was her first true love without any question. Both of them were some ten years senior to myself, at that time in my early thirties. Grace latterly was taking pills for the flashes of light across her vision, and the sudden pains shooting down her face. It was so obvious her drinking caused them, except to her Doctor of course, to whom she probably lied anyway. After I left I heard she was admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of some kind of “nerve problem.” Ha! I’ll say. From Grace and Gordon I think I remember half hearing in some dim hallucinatory state, the story that Joe had once owned a nightclub in South London, but had had it taken from him by the coercion of some brutal gangsters. That would account for his air of toughness. And then, during his descent, his wife had deserted him. You might think this was Joe’s tragedy, but I now see it was so much more than only that. One night, around one or two am, Joe shows up at Grace and Gordon’s. He is as stoned as we are, and sits slumped in silence, almost collapsed, in an armchair. The music is turned down low, and the conversation sluggish and intermittent, all of those present being in their own sunken state of chemical torpor. All of a sudden, during a pause, a moment of silence, Joe begins to speak. To recite actually. Joe is reciting a lengthy poem.. from memory. And not only that, he is expressing himself with a phenomenal artistry. Every nuance of feeling, every scintilla of meaning, Joe is wringing it out of the poem, displaying the delicate, sensitive, subtle sensibilities of a truly poetic soul. His eyes are dull with a distant look. It is almost as if he is semi-conscious, and some other inhabitant of his inner world is speaking through him. Some deeply buried part of him has sprung to life, and Joe himself seems almost unaware of what he is doing. In the doom ridden besotted gloom we are entranced, enthralled, held spellbound by his words and their meaning, in one of those rare jeweled moments of timeless eternity that are occasionally found set amongst the dregs of drugged and drunken time warps. Who could of known Joe had this in him? I cannot even recall the poem at all, but I know it had greatness, a loveliness that Joe crystallized out of his own being. I only recall the feelings of sacred awe at witnessing the beauty of Joe’s hugeness, and the quality of his intellect and sensitivity, that could penetrate and encompass on every level, each and every nook and cranny of his poem. For all I know, he wrote it himself. So the real tragedy of Joe Rowley was one of this more significant loss. The prostitution of his talents, wasting himself to survive. That sadness in some place inside breeding such guilt, remorse and self-hatred, “We’re such bastards Brian, aren’t we? Such bastards!” As he was forced to abandon and betray himself over and over again. Never knowing that his addiction to alcohol was relentlessly consuming his life and being, completely out of any control by who he thought he was. The victim of a state of mind and body of which he had no comprehension. Never knowing of his own goodness. Never cognizant of his own great heart and the sweetness of his shining spirit, which stood so briefly revealed in those phantasmagoric moments, when the curtain of his lesser being was drawn aside. Driven down to ever-lower depths of self-degradation and self-destruction by the scourge of his alcoholism. Till he reached that inevitable terminal nadir, that deep pit, so deep that the only escape from it is through the still deeper bottom that is death. The news I received, later and so far away, was that Joe had choked on his own vomit, while unconscious from a combination of alcohol and sleeping pills, like so many before and since. This was his swansong.And my sorrow for Joe.. perhaps is not only for him.. perhaps this is the explanation for that fleeting recurrent source of tears. I see so much of me and my life reflected in Joe and his life.. so much of what was true of him has been true of me. And then there are the myriad matching marching cohorts, past present and future.. treading some such path to some such similar an end. I never had that film Joe took of me developed.. I lost it some time ago… somewhere along the way.Brian Green. c. 2007. http://www.mindmagic123.com

Decide to Sell

Deciding to sell your home is a big decision. The first step in this process should be to understand your motivations, expectations, financial considerations, goals and what you plan to do upon the sale of your home. Many people begin the sale process with unrealistic expectations or unclear goals. It then becomes difficult to meet their goals because these goals have never been clearly defined. You must begin to view your house, no longer as your home, but as an investment property that you want to market.Setting the Price

Of course one of your most difficult questions is the listing price of your house. What price should you ask? This is an important part of the sales process. If you set the asking price too high, you may scare away buyers. Agents who feel that your house would not be a good investment may not even show the house. After the house sits on the market for a while, people begin to feel that there is something wrong with it because it hasn’t sold. Even if you could sell your house for an inflated price, many times a lender won’t approve a loan on a house that doesn’t appraise for that amount and the sale might fall through at the last minute. If you under price the home, you won’t realize the maximum potential of your investment.Marketing Plan

Decide on incentives that to be offered to buyers, determine the best places to advertise, and determine how to show the home. Remember that that goal is to sell the home for the highest price, in the least time, with the fewest hassles.Prepare the Home for Showing

There are two important ways that you can have an impact in making your house attractive to buyers: property condition and listing price. After deciding on a listing price, setup an appointment with a decorating company. They will give you some suggestions for making your house look its best. This process is called “staging.” The suggestions might be simple such as clearing cluttered counter tops. Or they might be more involved such as painting front doors or repairing obvious defects.

The staging company will look at your house from room to room and will offer advice on how to make each room show great. They will also look at the exterior street appeal, backyard and garage. They have a lot of tips that can make your house shine. After this meeting, you will have a list of what you should do to prepare your house for sale. Following these suggestions in a timely manner will ensure your home shows at its best.

Remember that “staging” addresses the appearance of the house and not necessarily other problems, which might become evident during an inspection. An inspection will uncover most defects that eventually may have to be repaired. In this way you can have the repairs done before a potential buyer’s inspection uncovers a defect that might cause a buyer to either change his mind or to want a substantial repair allowance deducted from the price. It is a signal to buyers that you are a responsible, reputable seller. It also allows you to have plenty of time to schedule any work that might need to be done.

Offer a residential service contract to buyers. This guarantees the major appliances in your home as well as other systems and structures. You can also include coverage for your house while it is on the market so you don’t have to pay for any unexpected repairs.Marketing the Home

Now the fun begins. Here are some ideas that can be used to promote your home.

It is important for you to keep your house in perfect condition everyday because buyers or agents might come by at any time. Keep the kitchen clean, make your bed every morning and keep clutter out of sight. It is especially important to keep pets and pet odors under control. Some wonderful added touches are fresh flowers and potpourri or freshly baked cookies.

As agents and potential buyers begin visiting your home either virtually on the Internet or in person, try to obtain feedback from the buyers. Make changes to the showing state, condition, and price as feedback deems necessary.The Offer and Negotiation

You have an offer, now what? Sometimes the buyer will offer you the asking price and have no special requests. In this case, you sign that you accept the offer. Sometimes, the buyer’s offer is a lower price and might have other requests. You should consider what is best for you and make a counter offer. Consider carefully your response because if you counter offer, there is no guarantee that the buyer will respond again. Also remember that, once agreed upon and signed by all parties, an offer becomes a legally binding contract. Never get involved in oral offers and negotiation. If you verbally accept an offer, a buyer has no legal obligation to buy the house and may want to continue to bargain with you to see how low a price you will accept.

No matter how well you have prepared your house and how fairly you have priced it, there is always the possibility of receiving a low offer. It could be a limit to the buyer’s ability to purchase. Don’t take it personally and react angrily. This is business, it’s not personal. You can either reject the offer or make a counter-offer. Try to find out as much as you can as to why the offer was low. Certainly if other offers come in very low or if your home is not being shown or not receiving any offers consider adjusting the pricing.

Once the buyer and seller agree on the terms, the buyer will have the home inspected. If there are any problems that are found during this time period then the buyer can withdraw from the contract. The buyer might request that you complete certain repairs before closing or that you contribute a certain sum of money at closing to cover these repairs. If this happens, try not to let contract fall through. After the limited time period is up, the buyer is legally bound to buy your house unless they are denied financing. In the event of cancellation, the buyer would lose any earnest money. One exception to this is in the case of the buyer not receiving funding from the lenders. In that case then the buyer is not held responsible. For this reason, always ask the buyer’s agent for a letter showing that the potential buyer has been prequalified for a loan and, once a contract is signed, ask the buyer’s agent to keep you informed of the buyer’s loan application progress.Closing

The exciting day is finally here! Verify in advance that all of the paperwork is in order. Request a copy of the HUD1 statement sheet so that you can read over it before closing. Feel free to ask any questions either before the closing or during the closing itself. Typically this is when you relinquish possession of the house so take the keys to give to the new owner.

The title of Mission’s first chapter is Michael. Here is how it starts …

Enter Michael, dishevelled and panting. His movements are hurried, agitated and anxious. The kitchen door creaks on its hinges after his disinterested push. It does not close and it swings ajar behind him. In an instant, Michael has crossed the room as if out of a desire to distance himself from some pursuer, but now he is cornered. He stops, thinks for a moment and, realising the futility of trying to run away, returns to the door. He pauses there and, with his head cocked on one side, listens intently, trying to discern the frantic sounds of a shouted argument taking place outside. The sounds are dulled and muffled by echoes, but he stays where he is, afraid to approach them. There are several voices: at least five are shouting in apparent opposition without any one gaining the ascendancy. Thus all blend to form a single, incoherent and meaningless noise. Trying to listen is pointless and so, with a rueful shake of the head, he advances into the room again, but this time he moves more slowly, with greater resignation, beneath some weight.

He decides to sit but cannot relax. Perched on the very edge of the settee, he leans forward with his head bowed and his hands resting on his knees. He seems poised to act but is powerless. He can do nothing, now. It is too late. Still without success he tries again to make………

The second chapter, entitled Mulonzya, deals primarily with the local member of parliament, James Mulonzya. But his father, Abel, and son, Charles play significant roles, as does an idealistic administrator, John Mwangangi, recently returned from a successful legal career in London. James and Charles are having dinner with John …

“So the idea is this,” John continued. “The Father has been told he can use the school bus from Mutune once a week for nothing. All he will do is provide the petrol. The nuns have been very generous to us. Without the vehicle we could do nothing. Near Nairobi there is a group of Europeans who are researching into agricultural techniques for some agricultural research agency. Their farm is very productive but is subsidised, so it does not need to make a profit. Michael has persuaded them to sell us their maize and beans at a cheap rate. We will then bring it to Migwani, Mwingi, Mutonguni or wherever in the lorry and then sell off some of it to people who can afford it until we have covered costs and raised enough money for the next trip and then we will distribute the rest free to people who have nothing.”

“That is illegal,” said Charles curtly. “You need a licence to trade grain.”

“Ah, but we are not trading, Charles…”

“You are selling some of it so surely the law would rule that you are trading.”

“But that’s only to get us started. If we can get enough reasonably well-off people to give a hundred shillings each – and regularly – we will be able to carry on without having to sell any of the food. It could then never be argued that we were affecting the traders’ business because we would be supplying only those people who had absolutely no money to buy food for themselves.”

“And how would you identify such people? On whose word do you judge whether a particular family can or cannot afford to feed itself?”

“Priests, Chiefs, District Officers, Members of Parliament….”

The argument had suddenly become very serious. “This food… It will only go to Catholics, then?” asked Mulonzya, as usual firmly grasping quite the wrong end of the other’s meaning.

“Oh no. To anyone who is in need of it.”

Charles spoke again. His voice spoke the words of a mind already made up. “What you propose is illegal. You need a licence to trade grain. Your school bus is licensed to carry children, not merchandise. Mutune is a government-funded school. I am sure that the Ministry of Education would not like to think that their property is being misused in this way. It is definitely illegal.”

“You forget that I am trained in law. I would certainly be prepared to test what you say in the courts. Anyway, the whole project would be done in the name of the Church. Would you like to be seen to bring about a case against the Roman Catholic Church?”

“If it is illegal we would oppose it,” said Charles. “It would certainly be against our interests. We would have to consult with our legal advisers, of course, but I have no doubt in my mind when I say that, whoever started such a scheme, we would seek to stop it through the courts.”

James Mulonzya almost interrupted his son. “Would you, Mr Mwangangi, a magistrate and civil servant openly break the law?” There was some sincere as well as calculated shock in his voice.

“If the law were to stand in the way of a simple, non-profit-making humanitarian scheme such as this, especially in an area racked with famine, then the law must be changed.” There was a hint of the beginning of anger in John’s voice. “If there must be a test case then so be it. Meanwhile people who would have gone hungry will be fed.”

Charles and James Mulonzya began to laugh as he spoke. There was no disrespect, however, only familiarity. Both father and son knew that they had trod this ground far more regularly and successfully than their potential adversary. “Ah John, but now you are talking politics.”

The third chapter, called Janet, is set mainly in London, thirty years on from the other four. When she left college, Janet worked in Migwani’s school and was Father Michael’s neighbour for two years. For two years after she returned from Africa, she corresponded with Michael, during a period of personal crisis, but she had not met him until unannounced he reappeared in her life.

Turning back into the hall, the pause having done no more than shortened her next step, she looked down to see the long Kashmiri runner reveal herringboned terracotta tiles at its edges abutting the now stripped skirts and Janet Smythe, née Rowlandson, felt a sudden and unexpected twinge of nerves, a slight tightening of the breath alongside the slightest tingle of the spine, the kind of shiver she thought she used to feel when her first boyfriend arrived at the family home to pick her up. Now more than thirty years beyond such nonsense, the unexpected nervous trill forced a pause, a mere shortening of the rhythm of her step, just as she passed the second door on her left, which looked into the front room, beyond the closed folding doors. There, presenting the back of his large head above the back of a voluminous easy chair that faced into the room, was David, her husband, precisely where she expected to find him, holding the double spread of his broadsheet high up to catch the brighter light of the hallway behind him, absorbed in a minor piece at the foot of page seven, his head gently nodding to the regularity of the Bach fugues that Janet could just hear scratching from within foam pads of his headphones.

“I’ll get it,” she said ritualistically, as she passed the open door, knowing full well he couldn’t hear. Thus she did not even check for a response which even at best would be a minor noise, not quite a grunt and definitely not a word, if, indeed, such a reference to the obvious might merit any recognition.

And so Janet reached the door, a large, wide and heavy hardwood structure, white within and black to the street, hinged on the right, solid panelled in the lower half, but admitting two decorative stained glass panels above, their uneven frosting not allowing any view of those waiting outside, who invariably presented only fuzzed silhouettes against the scattered back-light of the streetlamps. As she turned the latch, Janet’s memory momentarily recreated childhood, prompted by the beautiful symmetry of the diffused street lights and thus reminding her of those same shapes her infancy called ‘angels’ in the frosted glass door of her parents’ suburban semi. Swinging the door open, she smiled at the two priests waiting in the cold and dark of a November evening.

Boniface, the fourth chapter, describes the difficult life of a young teacher in a town near to Migwani. He is chosen by Father Michael to manage one of the Church’s projects, but his chapter is primarily concerned with his family relations.

A violent crash shook Boniface out of his dream. He had seen it coming for almost a minute, but had not prepared himself for the shock. The car had laboured to the summit of a shallow rise to reveal a view of the road ahead. In a broad curve it swept across a wide valley, at the bottom of which a grey and narrow concrete bridge contrasted with the brown unedged earth of the rest of their route. On the down slope, Michael pressed his foot to the floor and the car quickly picked up speed. Boniface knew that at the bottom of the valley, where the road crossed a river bed, the junction between the murram of the road and the concrete of the bridge had worn badly, leaving a vertical step between the two surfaces, several inches high in parts. Everyone who travelled the main road knew the spot. Even the more irresponsible bus drivers would slow to a crawl here to negotiate the bump, but could still not prevent the flow of abuse from the rear seats when their vehicles lurched as they crossed onto the bridge and threw the most vulnerable passengers momentarily into the air. There was simply no way of avoiding it.

By the time Michael’s car hit the ramp, it was doing fifty miles per hour, but of those inside the car only Josephine, Boniface’s wife, seemed concerned by the looming danger. Not until the wheels hit the step and lifted the entire car into the air did either of the men in front of her show any reaction. A split second before impact, she tried to utter a warning shout, but it was already too late. The car hit the ridge, flew into the air and came down with what seemed like a gigantic crash, flinging her from her seat and transforming her intended shout into a long high-pitched scream.

Boniface simply held on. Michael’s previously vacant expression disappeared, transformed by the widening of his eyes to one of undiluted shock and surprise. After only a short skid, which the priest quickly and easily controlled, the car sped on without either a word or glance shared. Some moments later, Boniface did turn to face his wife who was bent low over the child in her lap and holding the top of her head which had bumped hard against the roof. He offered a short comforting smile to ease her discomfort and said, “Don’t worry, Josephine. Father always drives like this.”

The final chapter introduces Munyasya, an ex-army officer who, late in life, has become destitute. It is his mission, however, which endures, despite being revealed as misguided. He is apparently possessed by the spirit of his long-dead step-father.

In the bottle is my madness, the spirit which haunts me, exhausts me, taunts me, entraps me. I, the hunter, the warrior, am caged like a monkey. Let me free! Let me free to live my own life and die my own death. You hold the key, not I. I would break the lock but I can’t find the door. Another drink. Another drink to bring me closer to you, to hold you near until you let me go. Do you hear? You? Nzoka? Do you hear?

He had been ignored until then. Hundreds of people had passed him by, but even those whom he had befriended in the past offered neither greeting nor any sign of recognition. People had met and stood in conversation less than spitting distance from where he lay without even acknowledging his presence. It was as if he had become a part of the tree beneath which he sat, merely an exposed root to be stepped over and avoided lest one should trip. His constant, almost silent murmuring remained always inaudible amongst the daily bustle of the market place, especially on market day, itself, when this flat triangle of hardened, bare, red earth rang with the noise and commotion of trade and humanity.

These last words which he said, however, this oft-repeated question, habitually delivered with the air of a command, these words were never a whisper. Every muscle in him strained and shook to throw out the sound. His entire skeleton of a body stiffened and convulsed, the words grumbling forth from deep within his squelching chest. Thrown out as if spewed in rejection, the sound bellowed like thunder, chased by its own echo. It demanded attention, and received it, albeit begrudgingly and obliquely. It forced people to react, to look his way and thus acknowledge his presence. At such moments, all conversation, all business stopped for a moment as heads turned towards Munyasya’s tree. Those with no direct view craned their necks to see, would jostle for position for just a glimpse, but no-one would want to go too close. No-one would ever answer. No-one would ever intervene.

As you may hear more and more about investing in real estate the buying and holding method of gaining wealth with real estate is ideal. If you are just starting out, flipping a house may be an ideal way to get started as you will increase your opportunity for more capital to invest in real estate through the buy and hold method.
There are three ways that you can flip a house. Each one has its own advantages, disadvantages, motivation, and type of property. The first method is known as “Retailing.” This is when you buy a house in bad shape, do the repairs to fix it up, then turn around and sell it. There tons of houses in need of repairs, and several ways that you can quickly flip a house to net profit. All you need to know are the techniques that will get you the most money in the least amount of time.
The second way you can make money by flipping a house is though “Wholesaling.” Wholesaling involves finding a house for sale then flipping it to a real estate investor for a fast profit. In order to do this effectively, you need to network with and know the real estate investors in your area and the types of properties the real estate investors want to buy. If you live in a big area or a city, you will find that using the wholesaling method of flipping houses is actually easier to accomplish.
The third way to flip a house is by “Assigning the purchase.” Using this method, you will sign a contract to purchase the house with “and/or assigns” after your name. Instead of closing the deal yourself, you will assign it to a real estate investor – for a small fee. The investor will take the contract over and close the purchase themselves. This can be very profitable, especially if you invest in the right home.
If you are looking to invest in real estate and create wealth, you will need to learn about flipping houses. Flipping houses is very profitable, especially once you have learned the basics. Finding homes that are in pre-foreclosure is a great lead source to find homes with sellers that want out.
Flipping houses can be profitable, especially as you learn which properties are best to flip and which properties are best to hold and gain long term wealth.

Introduction:

Server Colocation is a concept for the ones who own server hardware and wants to have complete control over the configuration of server. The Colocation specialists provide connectivity to user’s server through a fast internet connection, usually in a secure datacenter, with complete support round the clock.

There are several aspects to look for while selecting a Colocation provider. It is important to select a provider that either has their own data center or has a presence in one of the leading “data hotels.” Class datacenters are located in major industrial cities like New York, London, and Frankfurt. The reason behind location of these datacenters in big cities is that they get the advantage of the convergence of high capacity network connectivity that occurs in a major commercial centre.

It is important to note that all internet connections are not equal. It is essential to check if one’s Colocation specialist is “multihomed” i.e. the one using the BGP protocol by having at least two connections to Tier One providers. Tier One providers are those who have very large ISP’s or Telco’s who operate their own fibre links and networks without having to operate traffic (or transit) over another ISP’s network. An example of a Tier One provider would be Level3 communications.

In addition to Tier One connections, the Colocation specialist should have peering arrangements at major exchange points such as LINX. They are working on the concept of cutting down the middleman, thus not only improves idleness but also reduces also latency; people will be able to access the websites and content hosted on one’s collocated server much faster if one colo host is peered well.

It is often seen that a web host or Colocation ISP use to negotiate many peering arrangements with other ISP’s with whom they are exchanging large traffic. This not only provides them with more resilience, rather it also helps in reducing their own transit costs with the Tier One providers enabling them to offer more competitive data transfer prices.

Choice of Hardware

It is a fact that server hosting abroad would be expensive say in London or New York. Thus one’s hardware needs to be “rack optimized.” The pricing of Colocation is usually done “per U.” A “U” is 1.75 inches or 4.44 centimeters. Thus rack servers, unlike desktop machines are long and flat. For taking care Data Canters also employ different types of Rack Cabinets which are normally 42U in height, and are capable to house at least 42 1U servers with some space for switches and cables. It is quite often that still some space left and that space is usually for allowing efficient air distribution in the cabinet.

One should always talk with his/her colo specialists for the physical hardware he/she requires and in addition should talk for case and rack mounting. This is important as the Colocation specialist knows better which brands work best in their racks.

Now after finalizing for hardware next important thing to consider is how to ship one’s server to the remote Colocation data centre. It’s really quite quick to deliver the server hundreds of miles away as flights are good every where and so one must consider all the technical aspects before sending the machine out.

Check the operating system if it reboots

All Collocated dedicated servers run without the use of a keyboard or monitor. Thus, it is important to ensure that the servers gets past the BIOS screen and boots the desired kernel without requiring pressing any keys. It is often possible to set the BIOS on one’s dedicated server to stop on “no errors.”

In case one is running on Linux, the kernel that one requires is to ensure that the correct kernel is booted without any hurdle. Now this is ascertained by the configuration on /etc/grub.conf, in case the GRUB boot loader is used, or /etc/lilo.conf if the LILO boots loader is used. The user must keep in mind to run “/sbin/lilo -v” after making any changes to LILO configuration and should also check that there are no errors. This is must to have no trouble afterwards.

In addition to above one must also check that the kernel “works” properly with the hardware.

Check if the server “Auto Powers” is on

Often many Colocation facilities provide an auto power cycler from a web interface but this can fail to work if the machine does not auto have power back up. Usually server BIOS’s are equipped with either “OFF”, “LAST STATE” or “ALWAYS ON”. The user must ensure to check that the server BIOS’s are “ALWAYS ON.” The user must note that it’s always easy and cheaper to hack cheaper ATX motherboards to be “ALWAYS ON” but in real way it is much better to consider a more expensive motherboard.

Configuration of network

One must make sure that the network addresses, DNS server and gateways are properly configured before the delivery of the dedicated server. All these informations are provided in advance by the Colocation provider. In addition one must also see if there is any provision to get back into the server remotely by having the SSHD daemon running.

With main Linux distributions, open SSH is always shipped. It is quite possible that user wants to consider configuring SSH to work with Protocol2 only, disable root logins and to turn off X11 forwarding as this all is not at all required on a production server.

There are many servers having multiple Ethernet connectors that are helpful if one is not using the second interface to either mask it off with tape or label the correct Ethernet device. One must also set up a Serial Console.

Sometimes a Colocation provider will have a serial terminal on site. It is basically a server itself but with loads of serial port which enables one to connect to his/her server if the network has failed to one’s server for any reason.

Cooling arrangements

It is a true fact that servers run well mainly due to modern processors even in a fully air conditioned environment. For a user it looks like it is an effect of cooling but in reality it is rack density. Thus one must consider a rack optimized server, as the air cooling in a Collocated environment should have been taken into consideration. One should also familiarize with the chipset architecture of his/her motherboard and should consider setting up “sensors.” One can monitor the temperature of his/her CPU and motherboard and graph it using MRTG.

Additional things

In addition to above one may wish to consider disc or hard drive redundancy. Although the “MTF” or Mean Time to Failure” quoted by hard drive manufacturers is impressive, hard drive failure, especially IDE failure happens depressingly often. With arrival of S-ATA drives there is really no excuse, especially if one is on a budget. One should consider cheap S-ATA drives with Linux software RAID. Now-a-days modern Linux distributions come with tools to administer and monitor the performance of software RAID arrays.

Thus, if all the above things are considered and if all the main power lights are working, it is really a help for technicians. The power light, hard drive activity light and network light can be very useful. Last but not the least; the server should be correctly labeled at the front with its hostname and IP address in order to identify it immediately.

Investing in real estate is just like doing any other business. The main goal is to earn money. By buying and selling properties or even renting it out you are creating wealth. The aim is to create a regular positive cash flow.
The trick here is to use as less of your own money as possible. Pay only the down payment when buying a property. Take a long-term loan with the least amount of interest. Once you have purchased a property, then you can put it up on rent. Now your cash flow begins. Once you deduct your maintenance charges, your taxes and the interest payments on your loan and your other running costs from the rentals you have received, you can reach a conclusion as to exactly how much you are earning. If the earning is substantial, then you have made a good decision and you can now replicate it again. This is wealth being created and multiplied.
Once you have started receiving regular income from your property, then you could also think about getting a re-finance on it. This will give you an additional loan to purchase a new property and put it again on rent. This method will also be helpful in avoiding any payment of capital gains tax since you have not sold any property.
When you decide to buy any property, you should also conduct proper research before buying it. Consult an experienced real estate broker if you are new in this field. His experience and contacts can be useful in getting a wide range of properties to choose from. Also hire the services of a good real estate attorney who can read between the lines before signing up any documents. All these services cost money but these are necessary expenses, which will help you stay out of trouble and save you even more money in the future. Also, learn to identify properties, which have good potential and sellers who are serious about doing business with you. This can save a lot of time and effort while hunting for a good deal.
You could also go in for an interest only loan, where the loan period is only between 5 to 10 years. In this type of loan you only have to pay interest, but you will have to sell the property after the loan period or re-finance it. This is also a good way to build up wealth in a short period. Anyway, in theory, your property would also have appreciated within the loan period. The important thing to remember is that some activity should be taken up once you have purchased a property. If it is lying idle, then it is not creating wealth. If you are not getting good rental offers, then it is better to sell it or re-finance it and move elsewhere. A cash flow has to be maintained for wealth to be created.
It is these dim times of foreclosures, which are ideal for you to jump in and make some good real estate investments. You can get properties at very low prices, and by using the above tips you could start creating real wealth in real estate.

Overseas property investment can bring a lot of excitement and later on profit if you do all the steps correctly and if you have some experience and people who can advise you correctly in this field. If you decide to invest in real estate overseas, you should know something about the legislation of that country; you should know something about the lawful process of purchasing the property; you should coordinate your methods with local real estate agencies and what is more important you should hire a good translator in order to understand what all the people around you are talking about.

First, before making any overseas property investment, you should be very careful with the legislation of that country you decided to purchase the property in. The legislation is different in every country even if there is some tangency among all world legislations. You should ask a local lawyer about all the details regarding real estate legislation. Do not hesitate to ask about the tax regulations. The tax problems should be solved because this might cause losing with your capital or might have a negative impact on your investment. All the time plan your expenses with an extra 10% more. These expenses include generally taxes, conveniences, lawyers fees, agents fees, VAT, and some other expenses, they might be much higher than in your own country, that is why an extra sum for expenses are required.

You should take care and invest in a place that is well known and appreciated by locals and is also visited by tourists. Incase you make a wrong choice you should consider an emergency way out from your investment. There might come a day when you will like to sell your property and you will like to have the largest promising potential market. Preferably, your investment property should be attractive for the investors who might come from a different country. Your property can serve as a potential home for a local resident. Your property will be far more attractive if it will be in the neighborhood of adequate shops, restaurants, and other facilities. People who use their homes as holiday homes will purchase a house or an apartment which is situated near such places. If there is an airport or public transport near your property, this will add some points to your property. People like comfort, and they are ready to pay for it, so the more facilities they get, the more they are available to pay.

Before you invest in real estate, you should take into account the property off-season. It is very unpleasant to know that the area in summer is so nice and looks perfect for purchasing, with comfortable restaurants and pleasant bars, with terraces, but in winter, the region might turn into a ghost area, without tourists and with closed shops and restaurants working on certain days. So this is far from a pleasant situation. Another thing to take care of is a nice view for the rooms of your real estate. The view is one of the most important criteria from both the rental and the resale point of view. The majority of the buyers prefer the sea view. However, a mountain view can also be as stunning as a sea view. That is why you should be careful about the choice of your investment for later on the potential clients might demand a good view. The best way to get the attention and respect of your clients is to know some basic expressions in the language of the local people. Some basic phrases plus a good sense of humor and seriousness can make you a great property owner.