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Posts Tagged ‘Real Estate’

Sale by Owner Option – Selling your Own Home

March 7th, 2010 CheapFlatsLondon No comments

The majority of those who successfully sell their own property are the property owners who live in highly populated metropolitan market areas where property sales are more common. In a buyer’s market or in rural areas it is much harder for properties that are for sale by owner (FSBO) to successfully sell.

A buyer’s market is when there are more home sellers than there are people to buy homes. This creates a situation where the home buyers are exposed to a large range of property to choose from making it a more competitive market for the sellers. Homeowner’s should opt for the FSBO option only where the local economy is doing well and it is a seller’s market.

To be considered a seller’s market there needs to be more buyers then properties for sale. In a seller’s market the buyers are left with fewer properties available to them. This often creates a situation where the sellers are much more selective on the buyer and also get a higher selling price for their property.

There are other economic issues that play a role in the real estate such as home mortgage interest rates, local employment, and consumer confidence. Unfortunately we can’t control the economy and some are forced to sell their homes or buy homes in times that are unfavorable financially to them.

There are a few things people who succeed at selling their homes do to increase their odd of winning at FSBO. They need to be able to have the financial support that it takes to keep their property exposed to those who are purchasing homes for the entire period it takes to sale a home. This advertising period is at least 90 days and includes personal signage, advertising, repair costs of the home, and professional legal advice. You also should have a little bit of spare money to back you up financially if there are any marketing mistakes.

You should also have basic business knowledge about important marketing, personal selling, as well as enough technical information on real estate principals and practices. This will prevent you from making informed decisions that can cost you a lot of money and stress.

Anyone who wants to list the property FSBO must be disciplined with marketing goals and objectives with set time frames for the process and finalization of those goals and objections. You need to be able to be very organized and able to pay close attention to details.

There are a lot of stressful moments when selling something as expensive as your own home so you need to be able to keep a business perspective on all decisions. When selling you own home always avoid guesswork and replace it with concrete analysis. Making informed decisions is much less stressful then guessing.

If you want to sale you own home successfully you need to be a wise negotiator and be able to effectively deal with the different personalities in your potential home buyers. Be ready to and well equipped to sell your home and plan to use a lot of time devoted to selling your home.

For Sale By Owner Real Estate Tips

March 7th, 2010 CheapFlatsLondon No comments

Anyone can sell their home themselves and make a better profit than if they would have used a Real Estate agent.  However, often times your worst enemy is yourself.  Humans have a natural instinct to sabotage our own work and this is true in the for sale by owner game also. Here are some tips on how to be successful at selling your house.

1.       Keep A Positive Mind – If you’ve done your homework, priced your home right, learned everything you have to do at closing you are ready to sell your home yourself.  Be confident it that.

 Now is the time when negative individuals are sure to come to you with horror stories about themselves or people they know whose sale by owner attempts were a disaster.  They may try and convince you that it’s too hard to sell your house yourself or that you’re not ready. Don’t buy into it. If the stories they tell seem true bear in mind that those people obviously did not properly prepare to sell their home and that you are prepared.

 It is a little scary the first time you sell a house yourself but you must remain confident, and appear to be professional to all interested buyers. If you’re not confident the at least act as thought you are. One of the key steps to selling your home yourself is to stay in control of the situation.  Showing a lack of confidence or nervousness now will open the door for a buyer or his agent to take control of the situation. You can’t allow that.

 

 2.       Talk Like A Pro – One of the keys to a good sales person is to continually put the focus on the buyer. You do not want to talk about what you did in the house but rather what they can do. “You will love the pool”. “Here is where you can do your laundry”. Help them see themselves as the home owners.

 Listen very closely to the questions they ask, and try and figure out what it is the really want to know before answering. If they ask you if there is a park nearby, find out if they have kids or grandkids first. You may assume that they are hoping for a park, but in reality may not want to live near a park for fear of the noise. Once you know what they’re looking for you can answer accordingly. “Yes, there is but the children in this neighborhood are very well behaved and you can barely hear the park.”

 

3.     Look Like a Pro – When doing a sale by owner, or FSBO, property sale you do not want to show up to sell your home in your sweatpants and a dirty T-shirt.  Buyers may already be a little concerned buying directly from the owner, if they stop by to see the home and you have to stop mowing the lawn to show the property and are covered in sweat, you’ll make it worse.

This also goes back to them not seeing you as the home owner but as the person that is here to help them buy the property.  Dress nice but not like a high dollar trial lawyer.

 

 4.       Think Like a Pro – If you’ve done your research, you should know all the correct steps for selling real estate. Use that knowledge to think like a pro. Get yourself geared up before each showing. Remember that you know the house better than anyone else, you can answer any questions they have and that you are here to sell your house and that they are ready to buy it. And if they choose not to buy it then someone else will. Keep that confident thinking throughout the process.

 

5.       Act Like A Pro – A professional real estate agent is helpful, provides guidance to the buyer and never does the hard sell. Always greet your buyers with a handshake, get their first names and you their first names often in your conversations. An old trick to getting prospective buyers to find you relaxing.

  When they are looking at your home start them off in by doing an initial walkthrough to the key features of the house but quickly allow them the freedom to explore the home unsupervised so that they can talk freely.  During your initial walk ask a few questions about them, like where they are living now etc, items you can make small talk about.  Let them know where you will be if they have any questions.

 Make sure they leave will any printed information that you have about the house, especially where they can reach you if they have any questions. Always be polite and never be defensive about any flaws they find in the home. It’s not personal, don’t react like it is, it is simply part of the buying process.

Vist this site for some tips  how to close the For Sale By Owner Real Estate deal.

Turkish Property Investment FAQs

March 6th, 2010 CheapFlatsLondon No comments

As Turkey continues to progress as one of the most sought after emerging markets for property investing, several questions repeatedly arise from potential buyers considering the location. Below is a compilation of ten of the most frequently asked questions about Turkey as a property investment location.

1. What makes Turkey an interesting investment market?

Currently Turkish real estate is one of the strongest emerging international market growth sectors, showing excellent potential for continued demand and expansion. Capital growth for mid to long term investments, along with good rental yield potential are attracting investors to the country’s property sector.

Coupled with the country’s domestic market, demand for property currently exceeds supply, resulting in fast increasing real estate prices. Growth within the tourism sector and interest to re-locate are also areas creating further demand and a strong growth market.

The country features a youthful demographic with a highly skilled workforce with intentions to enter the real estate market, placing demands on supply and improvements to the mortgage financing sector. This market represents strength in the future re-sale and letting markets.

Turkey’s steadily expanding economy and government integration for bringing the country in line with EU accession requirements allow for strong future growth prospects.

Along with the excellent investment opportunities presented in the Turkish real estate sector, the possibility of gaining admission to the EU in the coming years is further fuelling demand. The pre-EU entry prices offer a competitive position within the European market.

2. Are there any restrictions for foreign buyers?

Most nationalities are freely able to purchase real estate in Turkey, although restrictions apply to some nationalities. Those who fall into a restricted category will require a legal ‘Letter of Invitation to Purchase’ prior to entering the country. If unsure, details can be obtained from an embassy or consulate.

Other restrictions relating to all foreign buyers are real estate purchases within restricted areas, such as military zones, along with restrictions relating to property over 30,000m2 without obtaining a special permit.

3. What are the associated purchasing costs?

Purchasing costs will amount to approximately 5% of the property sale price. Registration and Notary fees are between 0.1% and 1%, while Stamp Duty fees are 0.75%. Title Deed fees have temporarily been reduced from 1.5% to 1% to assist the housing market during the current economic climate.

4. What are the legal fees?

Legal fees are around 2% of the purchase price, with prices varying between different legal firms. Half of the legal fees may be required when signing the purchasing contract and the remainder on completion.

5. What are the taxes I can expect?

If opting to sell the property prior to completing 5 years ownership, capital gains taxes will be charged at 20%. Following 5 years ownership the property is free from capital gains. VAT at 1% is required on real estate with a surface area greater than 150m2. Other taxes include residential real estate tax is 0.1% of the property value, and rental income tax where different payment method options are available to suit the owner’s preferences.

Rental income is charged at between 15.6% and 24.8% payable by a ‘deduction method’ exempting expenses such as utilities, insurance and administrative costs, or the ‘lump sum method’ deducting 25% of the gross income.

6. Will I be able to arrange a mortgage?

The growth of the real estate market has opened up mortgage financing on Turkish property to foreign buyers in recent years. Both fixed and variable rates can be arranged, with financing available for both re-sale and off-plan properties.

7. What is the military clearance requirement?

Military clearance is arranged by the buyer’s solicitor prior to completing the property purchase. The documents are required to ensure the property is not located within a restricted zone including military land, or other land protected for cultural, historical or ecological purposes.

8. What is a typical payment schedule?

While payment schedules may vary between different developments or agent’s requirements, a typical payment schedule will require a holding deposit, reservation payment and reminder on completion. Holding deposits are often approximately €3,000 or £3,000, while reservation payments may vary between approximately 10% and 40% of the purchase price.

It is also possible that a development may have staged payment requirements throughout the construction process. Re-sale properties are likely to have different payment procedures to off-plan investments, with the full price payable on transfer of the title, minus the holding deposit.

9. What is the time zone and currency conversion rate?

The time zone of Turkey is GMT +2. The local currency is the Turkish Lira (TRY). As the currency rate changes, the following conversions should only be used as a general guide:

1 EUR = 2 TRY / 1 GBP = 2.4 TRY / 1 USD = 2.5 TRY

10. Do I need a visa to visit Turkey?

Depending upon nationality and intended duration of the visit to Turkey, a visa may be required. Contacting an embassy or consulate prior to arranging travel plans is advisable for details of full requirements. This will ensure complete and up to date information to avoid unpleasant surprises.

Things to Know About Short Sales

March 6th, 2010 CheapFlatsLondon No comments

In today’s real estate world, foreclosures are common-place.  Everyone probably knows someone who has had to go through the ordeal of having a home foreclosed.  However unpleasant this aspect of real estate may be, there is something that can be done so that you do not lose out completely.

In essence, what happens is that the home is sold for an amount that’s less than the mortgage or property sale value and the remaining balance is exonerated or forgiven by the lender.  If this is accepted by the lender, and you really have to work with your lender so that this can happen, you will avoid foreclosure.  The term is commonly known as a short sale because the proceeds fall short of what is owed on the property.  To some lenders, it is better to sell a property at a modest loss than to continue trying to get the current debtor to pay the mortgage or to foreclose on the property and have it sit unsold for an undetermined period of time.

You must be aware of what’s involved in short sales.  Even though you avoid having your home foreclosed on by the lender, there are negative consequences for the bank, which loses out on money that it had hoped to recover, and for the property owner who must sell a home at less than favorable conditions and then deal with a poorer credit report.

A short sale comes about due to economic and/or financial hardship that has fallen upon the debtor.  The owner or borrower has a problem paying the mortgage, falls in arrears and the bank has to collect the money that is owed to it.  There are no favors being done by either party.  What is actually taking place is that the lender and the borrower have found the best solution to the greater losses that would be incurred by both parties if there were a foreclosure.  The financial institution loses less money than it would in a foreclosure, and the borrower takes a lesser hit on his/her credit history and lessens the debt load.

Among the steps you should take is to talk to your lender.  After all, nothing can be done unless you and your lender agree to the short sale of the property.  Even though there is consent, it may change at any moment and negotiations between the bank and the debtor may continue even whe4n the short sale is already on the real estate market.  This is where it differs from a foreclosure in which the borrower’s property is forcefully sold or repossessed after the borrower has failed to comply with the terms of the mortgage

Something that you must be well aware of is that the agreement will include a contingency where the lending institution must approve the sale.  This becomes even more complicated if there is more than one mortgage on the property.  Another thing to keep in mind is that a short sale will stay on your credit report for seven years, like all entries.  However, it is usually possible to get another mortgage 1 to 3 years after a short sale.

All in all, if you have to choose between foreclosure and a short sale, it might be a good thing to consider the latter, especially after you have consulted with professionals in the field.

Can You Afford Good Country Property?

March 5th, 2010 CheapFlatsLondon No comments

There can be few places to live as beautiful and relaxing as the UK countryside.
Find the right village or rural location and you can benefit from a hugely enjoyable quality of life compared to life in the city.
There are huge benefits to owning a country property. You will typically have a larger amount of space, which can translate into a bigger house and garden. It’s easier to get a character property in rural areas, including impressive feature buildings such as a converted windmill or barn. And the sometimes relaxing nature of life outside large towns and cities can’t be over stressed.
Yes there are downsides as well, such as the lack of amenities on your doorstep, the need to drive everywhere, fewer school choices, and typically poor public transport links. But for many country dwellers, these are more than offset by the benefits.
But can you afford the right country property for you and your family? Prices in the countryside tend to hold well, with period properties especially holding their value. If you do want to move to the country, there could be good news on the way.
A survey of house values in the country property market in the last quarter of 2007 showed that prices went down slightly, although only by 0.04 per cent.
And that’s the first drop since June 2003, according to estate agent group Knight Frank. It said the market for rural homes was as affected by the credit crunch as the rest of the UK’s property markets.
It’s worked out that annual house price inflation for country property now stands at 7.9 per cent.
The group’s research broke the market down into three types of property, which all performed differently in 2007.
Prices for the most expensive manor houses increased by 10.5% over the year. That compares to growth of just 8.4% for farm houses and 4.9% for country cottages.
But different research from another estate agency shows that the price of the very top country homes has been falling recently.
Hamptons has just predicted a drop of 1.5% in the upper end of the country property market, and is confident there will be no growth in 2008.
It believes the sudden downturn marks a huge reversal in the country house boom, which has been powered by City whizzkids spending huge bonuses buying property, and entrepreneurs investing their cash into bricks and mortar.
Research shows that sellers of homes in the country are having to be more aggressive with their marketing, and be more patient for a sale. The average time a property is on the market seems to be increasing, which can be frustrating for keen sellers.
The drops predicted for the countryside reflect general price trends experts think we will see across the UK in 2008. Your Mortgage magazine has done research which suggests the average house price will drop 3.5% this year.
The good news is, its research anticipates a return to positive growth in 2009. And that will start strong growth in the next few years, leading up to the 2012 Olympics. It’s likely that country house prices will be part of this growth.
So if you are planning to buy country property, don’t leave it too long.
You could also lose out to wealthy investors from other countries. The Knight Frank research reveals foreign investors are becoming more and more interested in rural property in the UK.
Overseas buyers were behind 9% of sales in 2007. And they were funding a huge 28% of property sales worth £5 million or more. Both those figures were up from 2006.

Dubai Properties Targets High Net-worth Indian Investors at Mumbai Extravaganza 2008

January 24th, 2010 CheapFlatsLondon No comments

Mumbai Extravaganza offered a unique platform for international real estate institutions as well as developers to launch and promote new products. Apart from high net worth individuals, the high life show also attracted professional advisors such as lawyers, bankers, brokers, top management and decision makers of Mumbai´s leading corporations, successful entrepreneurs and celebrities.

Mohamed Binbrek, CEO of Dubai Properties, said: “We were pleased with our presence at Mumbai Extravaganza. The event gave us an opportunity to present investors with instant information on the latest developments from Dubai Properties, as well as introduce our latest project launches to a new market.

“Indian nationals are amongst the top investors within the booming real estate market in Dubai. The geographical proximity of India makes it an increasingly attractive sector for property developers in the UAE to contemplate. India itself is an emerging and credible market that boasts many international conglomerates and high-net worth investors with whom we are keen to meet and conduct business with.”

In 2007, Indian Nationals spent AED 4 billion on real estate in Dubai, and over the past 10 years, Indian Nationals have spent a total of AED 6.5 Billion on the Dubai Real Estate sector. While the majority of these buyers were Indians living within the UAE, 10% of them were living in India or otherwise, proving the existence of a substantial demand for Dubai real estate from outside the UAE.*

Dubai Properties was presented in the luxury event by Shorex Ltd. the award-winning London-based wealth management event specialist.

Prime Central London Property Prices Continue To Fall

January 23rd, 2010 CheapFlatsLondon No comments

Research reveals that values of prime residential property in central London continued to fall in the third quarter of 2008. Across the prime markets, values fell by 3.7 per cent in the quarter, to bring annual falls to 12.1 per cent.
“The London market has been quick to react to the prospect of falls in City employment and earnings, and the sectors of the market most reliant on demand from the financial and business services continue to be those most severely affected,” says Lucian Cook, director, Savills Research. “These falls are in line with our central forecast that values will fall by 15 percent over the course of the year.”
Where old money and international demand are more prevalent, the falls have been far less severe. This is reflected in the fact that values in the core of prime central London, such as Knightsbridge, Mayfair, Chelsea and Belgravia, have fallen by just 7.1 percent in the year to date, compared to 16.1 percent in Kensington – traditionally a destination of choice for senior City and financial employees.”
In line with past downturns, the market for flats (with the exception of the most exclusive end of the market) in prime central London has been more affected than the market for houses. In the areas of south west London favoured by City employees – the likes of Barnes, Fulham, Wandsworth and Clapham – values fell by 16.5 per cent over the course of the past year. Here, supply and demand is a key factor and vendors, many with large equity buffers, have quickly accepted that values have fallen.
In contrast with the rest of the UK, rental values in prime central London have recorded the first quarterly fall since the second quarter of 2003, down 1.4 percent, again reflecting the weakened employment outlook in the City.
Renting has become the favoured option for many house movers, but the resulting increased demand has been insufficient to make up for the combined impact of reduced demand from the City and increased supply from those forced to let houses as selling has become more difficult.
The imbalance between supply and demand has been most acute in the rental markets to the east of the City, where rents are now 4.6 percent lower than at the same time last year.
In the period to the end of June, the super prime markets dominated by multimillionaires, where average prices are in the order of 5m pounds, showed far greater resilience than the merely prime and held value. At the same time, in the ultra prime market, where values average 15m pounds and where demand comes from the international billionaire community, growth continued.
That picture of resilience is beginning to show some very early cracks. In the third quarter, the falls in the super prime market were contained at 1.8 percent. In contrast, the ultra prime property held value, showing marginal growth at 0.6 percent, albeit well down from 4.2 percent seen in the equivalent quarter of last year.
Lucian Cook says: “We expect this market to be more resilient going forward, as it is driven by a growing number of global billionaires. Market conditions will undoubtedly be tougher than at the height of the market in 2006 and 2007, but we still do not anticipate big falls in value.”
“Evidence from previous downturns is that the very top of the market does eventually soften,” says Jonathan Hewlett, director of Savills London. “However, to a large extent we are dealing with the unknown. The very top end of the market is more global than ever before, and it is currently holding up better than expected, although we are just beginning to see signs of the market slowing.
Having said that, this is a rarefied marketplace and while we don’t expect many records to be smashed in the coming months, we will most certainly not see any distressed sellers either.”

London and Monaco are Europe’s Most Expensive Cities for Residential Property Buyers

January 23rd, 2010 CheapFlatsLondon No comments

London and Monaco are Europe’s most expensive cities for residential property buyers. Prices in the Baltics have risen to the same level as capitals such as Copenhagen, Berlin, Munich, Stockholm, Vienna, and Frankfurt.

High rewards await property investors in some parts of Europe, according to the Global Property Guide, a residential real estate research organization (www.globalpropertyguide.com). Rental yields for apartments in several Eastern European capitals are above 10%.

Rental apartments in Moldova’s capital city Chisinau can be expected to yield annual rental returns of around 14.13%; in Poland’s capital Warsaw, 13.28%; in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia, 10.56%; and in Slovakia’s capital Bratislava, 10.06%. The higher risks of Eastern Europe may be a factor in these returns (corruption, political instability, etc).

But risks are not the only factor. The Global Property Guide believes that the relatively recent arrival of the market economy, high interest rates, and relatively undeveloped mortgage markets, largely explain the low prices in the east. To illustrate, it would surely be hard to label the historic city of Bratislava, Slovakia, as a high-risk location, yet the rental income returns are excellent.

Western Europe generally suffers from another, different disadvantage: High taxation. There are high rental income returns to be earned in Amsterdam and Paris (8.25% in both), in Munich (7.80%) and Brussels (7.53%). But all four cities are high tax environments (but so too is Poland).

Property in Prime Central London returns surprisingly high rental yields, at 7.13%. Note that this “Prime” category encompasses relatively a narrow group of super-luxury apartments in absolutely prime areas (Belgravia, Chelsea, and Knightsbridge). The high returns in these select super-central locations contrast with the significantly lower rental yields (5.79%) available in Central London’s other luxury areas (Kensington, Bayswater, Notting Hill Gate, St Johns Wood, Highgate, Islington, Highbury, and Primrose Hill). Europe’s most expensive cities

The tiny principality of Monaco is the most expensive location to buy an apartment in Europe at around €24,900 per square metre (sq. m.).

Closely on its tail is Prime Central London, where 120 sq. m. super-luxury apartments can cost £1,170,000 (€1,742,656) or £9,750 (€14,522) per sq. m. Apartments of 120 sq. m. in other luxury areas of Central London are likely to cost £580,000 or £4,833 per sq. m. (€863,880 or €7,199). The large difference is explained by London’s highly segmented top-end market, with super-luxury apartments in absolutely prime areas commanding considerable premiums.

Paris and Amsterdam follow London. A 120 sq. m. apartment in either of these cities has an average purchase price of €800,000 (€6,667 per sq. m.).

Moscow is Europe’s sixth most expensive capital for buyers of residential property. And though apartments in Moscow can be rather rewarding for buyers in terms of rental income returns, investors should be aware of the high risks (purchases are cash-based, and the authorities can suddenly turn hostile).

Dublin makes an appearance among Europe’s most expensive cities in 10th place, with a high end 120 sq. m. apartment on average costing around €600,000.

The Baltics, till recently Europe’s hottest residential investment destination, are now expensive. A high-end apartment in Central Vilnius, Lithuania will cost on average around €3,792 per sq. m (€455,000 for 120 sq. m.).

Latvia follows closely with high-end apartments in Central Riga costing an average of €3,020 pr sq. m. Rental yields in the Baltics have also dropped to very low levels.

There are still some very inexpensive capitals in Europe. Berlin, in particular (€3,167 per sq. m.), is now experiencing inflows of foreign money in response to its relatively low prices.

Even less expensive are:

Slovakia’s Bratislava (€1,292 per sq. m.)

Poland’s Warsaw (€1,175 per sq. m.)

Macedonia’s Skopje (€1,125 per sq. m.)

Moldova’s Chisinau (€917 per sq. m.) Rental returns cannot fall forever

As 2007 dawns, rental returns are lower in most locations than they have been for 20 or more years.

Nowhere in Europe are rents keeping pace with the continued strong rise in property prices. Residential real estate prices are at historical peaks in almost all countries in Europe, except Germany and Switzerland.

This is cause for concern. At the Global Property Guide, we informally consider a danger signal to be rental returns of around 4% or below.

Several European capitals offer rental income yields around or below this 4% level. In example is Madrid, where rental returns are now at only 3.15%. Rental yields in Monaco are the lowest in Europe at around 2.43%. See tables at:http://globalpropertyguide.com//articleread.php?article_id=82&cid=

London property rental prices remain stable

January 21st, 2010 CheapFlatsLondon No comments

James Davis, founder of online property rental site, www.upad.co.uk, disagrees with reports that London property rental prices have decreased by 15 percent over the last year.

Davis comments: “Over recent months, the city has seen a vast increase in the number of accidental landlords, due to the fact that they have been unable to sell their property. And the rules of supply and demand apply, meaning that property rental prices have levelled off. Overall I do not believe they are falling – there remains plenty of potential for many to make long-term gains.

Davis considers that the UK (primarily London) is already seeing a shift towards a more European model of renting. As recently published in the English Housing 2007-8 report, 32% of people under 30 were buying with a mortgage against 45% who were renting. In 2001, those figures were 40% who purchased with a mortgage and who 33% rented.

Davis comments: “For Landlords wishing to increase portfolio, they should note that yields are much higher today than they were 12 months ago.

“Interest rates are at an all time low, which presents a real opportunity for residential property investors. They just need to get their proposition right, and to target the market effectively. However, it is important to remember that property is a long-term investment game – don’t go into it expecting to get rich quick.”

-Ends-

Notes to editors

upad’s website deploys bespoke state-of-the-art technology to overcome issues identified by renters such as out-of-date information and poor online experiences.  In particular upad enables online searches that are interactive and intuitive to produce relevant properties.

With over 82,000 rental properties available in London, upad will continue to add to this portfolio in order to offer the largest choice of homes to rent in the capital.  The service will be rolled out across other major UK cities in the next few months.

Free to renters, upad costs landlords £59 per listing.

For further information and interviews, please contact:

Katrina Suppiah/Kate Alexander, Publicité

Tel: + 44 (0)20 8543 6582/+44 (0)20 8543 8481/+44 (0)7809 028711

Email: k.suppiah@publicite.co.uk/k.alexander@publicite.co.uk

North Carolina is a Great Place to Live and Invest in Real Estate

December 17th, 2009 CheapFlatsLondon No comments

If you are looking for a great place to live and invest in real estate, then maybe now is time you took a good look at one of the best kept secrets in the U.S. real estate market. North Carolina is not just a great place to get a great deal on a home, but it is also a great place to live and raise a family. If you are currently living in any one of the popular urban or suburban areas of the U.S. and have reaped the benefits of the boom in real estate values over the last ten years, then perhaps you have noticed that prices have began to taper off and in some cases values have been declining.

The south has always been a great deal and it still is, not just in real estate prices but in the everyday cost of living. You will be amazed at how much further your money will go in a place like North Carolina and if you haven’t been getting out in the evenings as much as you would like where you are currently living due to the high cost of dining out, then you will be surprised to learn that stepping out to enjoy a nice restaurant dinner is a part of Southern tradition that is still alive and affordable.

The Southern climate is fantastic and winter in the south can be easily compared to spring time in Southern California. Golf and all varieties of outdoor sports go on all year long and you will quickly realize how the South earned the reputation as a sportsmen’s paradise. There is a lot to be said about the Southern way of life and it is something that everyone should experience some time in their life. They even still have country clubs in North Carolina and in all areas of the south for that matter and memberships are surprisingly reasonable. If you are looking not just for a place that is a great bargain, but also a great place to live, look to North Carolina.