Deals on Real Estate Software, Books & E-Books

Most Expensive Real Estate Markets In 2009

No surprise – Monte Carlo is No 1 in the Global Property Guideâ??s list of Worldâ??s Most Expensive Residential Real Estate Markets 2009, more than twice as expensive, at US$45,000 per square metre, as the runner up. [www.globalpropertyguide.com]

Battling for the number 2 position are prime central Moscow and London. Prime central Moscowâ??s US$20,853 per square metre price tag slightly outpaces core Prime Londonâ??s US$20,756 per square metre, though it is fairer to say the two cities are neck-and-neck.

London residential property prices have fallen for much of 2008, while Moscow property price declines only started in the last quarter, allowing Moscow to catch up with London. Both countries have experienced strong currency declines.

Tokyo and Hong Kong come in fourth and fifth, respectively. New York, the only US city included in the survey , is 6th, with an average price of US$15,000 per sq. m.

Completing the top ten most expensive real estate markets are two European cities (Paris at 7th and Rome at 9th) and two other Asian cities (Singapore at 8th and Mumbai at 10th). Average prices range from US$9,000 per sq. m. to US$12,000 per sq. m.

The figures are based on the average price of a 120 sq. m., good-condition high-end used apartment in the city centres of more than 110 cities around the world, typically the economic centres where most foreigners are likely to buy. Data were collected during 2008. The US dollar exchange rate used is that of January 27, 2009.

Bargain huntersâ?? dream
For global bargain hunters, there are several places where property prices are relatively cheap, for example parts of the Middle East, Latin America and Asia.

Cairo, Egypt is one of the cheapest cities in the world, with prime city centre prices at around US$600 per sq. m. Another Middle Eastern capital in the bottom 10 is Amman, Jordan, with average city centre prices at US$1,150 per sq. m.

Three Asian cities are included in the 10 cheapest, all located in rapidly growing and heavily populated countries, Bangalore in India, Chengdu in China and Jakarta in Indonesia.

Chengdu, damaged during the magnitude 8.0 earthquake in 2008, remains a vital economic, transportation and communication hub in the heartland of China.

Indonesia was the last country to recover from the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. However, the economic reforms implemented by the Yudhoyono administration are setting the stage for steady economic growth.

Five Latin American cities complete the list of 10 cheapest cities for property buyers – Concepcion and Santiago in Chile, Quito in Ecuador, Managua in Ecuador, and Lima in Peru.

The same countries also tend to earn good rental yields.

Overvalued

Rental yields are generally below 5% in most European cities, suggesting that property is still overvalued.

Rental yields are generally below four percent in the following cities: Munich, Barcelona, Vilnius, Helsinki, Madrid, Rome, and Nicosia. Rental yields in Europe are lowest on Andorra at 2.2% and Athens at 2.7%.

Rental yields are between 4% and 5% in major cities such as Brussels, Tokyo, Berlin, Moscow, Copenhagen, Warsaw, New York, Shanghai, Paris, London and Geneva.

Returns from rental investments are also relatively low in key Asian cities such as Singapore and Hong Kong and in almost all Indian cities (Bangalore, New Delhi, and Mumbai)

Only six cities have rental yields of more than 10%, led by Chisinau with an average gross rental return of 14%. The Moldovan capital is followed by Cairo, Jakarta, Manila, Skopje and Lima.

High returns can also be expected in Latin American cities. Yields range from 8% to 10% in Panama City (Panama), Bogota (Colombia), Managua (Nicaragua), Santiago (Chile), Buenos Aires (Argentina), and Quito (Ecuador).

Rental yields in Kula Lumpur (Malaysia) and Amman (Jordan) are also typically above 9%.

House price movements

The recent house price boom and bust defeats the traditional notion that real estate prices are based primarily on local conditions.
The relatively low cost and ease of moving capital around the world has made it easier for people to invest in real estate markets in several countries. This is complemented by the relatively lower cost of international air transport. Several countries have also removed foreign ownership restrictions, a move encouraged by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Union.

The result of these changes has been a remarkable increase in cross country real estate investments â?? helping make the boom, and the bust, truly global.

——————————–
Description:
The Global Property Guide is an on-line property research house.

Terms of Use:
On-line newspapers, magazines, sites, etc wishing to use material from this press release MUST provide a clickable link to www.globalpropertyguide.com Sites and newspapers found not to be providing a link to us will be removed from our press list.

Requests for Comments:
Requests for comments are best made by telephone to +(63) 917 321 7073. UK-based callers should telephone before lunchtime. Our local time is Hong Kong time, i.e., standard time + 8.00

Economics Team:
Prince Christian Cruz, Senior Economist
Phone: (+632) 750 0560
Email: prince@globalpropertyguide.com

Publisher and Strategist:
Matthew Montagu-Pollock
Phone: (+632) 867 4220
Cell: (+63) 917 321 7073
Email: editor@globalpropertyguide.com

Address:
Global Property Guide
http://www.globalpropertyguide.com
5F Electra House Building
115-117 Esteban Street
Legaspi Village, Makati City
Philippines 1229
info@globalpropertyguide.com

Uncovering Smart Real Estate Investing Solutions for 2009

You can create tremendous wealth in real estate regardless of the current market conditions.  While weâ??re in the midst of an investing climate that hovers somewhere between perilous and challenging (depending upon who you ask), thereâ??s still a ton of money to be made.  To cash in on the profit potential thatâ??s at your doorstep, you need to uncover the right solution.  Itâ??s not as hard as you might think.

When the market was flying high, a real estate investor could do no wrong.  It was almost impossible to mess up a deal, and quite a few novice investors managed to turn a bad deal into a marginal-to-good deal by exercising a little patience and letting rapid-fire property appreciation correct their mistakes.  Those days are gone.  If you make the same mistakes now, youâ??ll feel the reverberations in your bones, and the reminder of your error will be staring you in the face every month when you look at the bottom line and cry yourself to sleep at night.

The real secret to investing success is realizing that successful strategies change with current market conditions.  While a quick fix and flip followed by a trip to the bank and a celebration dinner arenâ??t necessarily out of the question, your most successful strategies for 2009 will be different because market conditions are radically different.  The three most lucrative investing strategies for the coming year will be solution-based:

Wholesaling â?? You can find motivated sellers everywhere you look.  Needing to sell due to job loss, relocation, or possible bankruptcy, they are more willing than ever before to let you craft a workable solution that gets them out of the bind they find themselves in.  You can come to the rescue of desperate homeowners by putting properties under contract for pennies on the dollar and assigning your right to purchase to another investor, keeping a tidy profit for yourself in the process.  You solve the homeownerâ??s problem by creating profit potential for another investor â?? and earn a great pay day for yourself.

Short sales â?? With short sales, you get to play Superman â?? in duplicate.  Not only will you be helping a homeowner to avoid foreclosure, but youâ??ll also be doing their friendly banker a huge favor.  Banks are taking back record numbers of properties and bankers are desperate to get these properties off their books as soon as possible.  Desperation is a quiet breeding ground for great deals, so by negotiating on behalf of the homeowner, you help them to avoid foreclosure while helping the banker avoid yet another REO.  The payoff to you is a good property at a great price.

REOs â?? Once a lender has taken a property back into its inventory in foreclosure, the homeowner is out of the picture, but the property remains.  As banks watch their inventory swell, they want nothing more than to unload properties as quickly as possible.  The reason is simple:  A property in inventory is a massive liability to a lender.  Between carrying costs, lost profits, and vacant properties that are producing no income, lenders are faced with another problem: They canâ??t lend money to other borrowers, which tend to even further restrict their ability to turn a profit.  Your offer looks increasingly appealing the longer they have a property in stock.

These solutions are a recipe for financial success in 2009.  Learn how to capitalize on them today and this could be your best year ever!  If these strategies are outside of your comfort zone, you owe it to yourself and your future to learn how to take advantage of them today at www.reiconferences.com

Make Money With Real Estate

Well, 2009 may be a good year to help you make money with real estate, or lay the ground work for you to do so. Now times are really bad and lots of people have lost their jobs in 2008, especially at the ending period of the year. So this is going to get worse in 2009 because as savings run out, more and more people are going to get into trouble with the banks for not being able to service their loans.

I reckon that when that happens, lots of people are going to do a lot of financial fire fighting. They’ll be selling their cars, houses, watches, and even their jewelries. But what can be done? Survival is the priority isn’t it?

When that happens, you can see a lot of nice houses and apartments for sale. When it really gets bad, people need liquid asset. So selling prices for property is going to plummet lower and lower within the year. This is the time for the few people who are cash rich, to jump out and save the day!

So you say, what about people with no additional capital? These opportunities are only for the ones with extra money to invest isn’t it? WRONG! The good news is, what I’m about to share with you, will work, regardless of whether you have money or not. So listen up and pay attention.

Firstly, you want to hunt for urgent sale. Why urgent sale? This is because, the person who is selling off their property urgently, has a need for instant cash! I believe these will be plenty in 2009. Now, if you don’t have the money to buy, don’t panic. Just get the details of the property, then find out whether it is a good investment or not. Get the fair market value, and remember to bargain low for it. Urgent buyers will sell on emotion and won’t have time to stall you as they need the cash.

When you have the details of the whole deal captured in black and white, go hunt for investors who have extra cash. Some of them might actually be too lazy to go bargain hunt, so they would gladly partner with you by being the investor, and you being the deal hunter.

How do you find such deals? Well, you just search for them as though you are going to buy the house for yourself. Look for signs of urgency. Divorces, family squabble, urgent sale for debt payment, auctions and so on so forth. Remember; always know the fair market value of the property before you go into any negotiations. Casually do counter checks with various real estate agents, what they would be willing to pay for that piece of property you have found. If they don’t seem to be eager for the price you propose, then you haven’t negotiated well enough. You want to make money with real estate and the only way to do so is to buy very low and sell at market price or higher. In cases of divorces, you may sometimes be lucky enough to find properties being thrown away at half price. These deals are not fairy tales and they are really out there for grabs.

So who can you approach pay for the property if you don’t have the extra money to invest? Perhaps ex-employers who have good relationships with you? Maybe make some proposals to a few friends who have extra cash for investments, relatives and so on. Don’t be shy. If you have something that helps them to make money, then you are actually doing them a favor. Remember to work out a commission deal with them to make it worthwhile for the both of you.

The only thing that will really help you to make money with real estate isn’t just the method mentioned above but to get off your chair and start looking! Knowing something will not make you money, doing it will!

New Homes and Real Estate in Sedona

Sedona, Arizona has seen a significant increase in visitors and residents over the past several years. If you have ever visited, you would not be surprised. Sedona offers visitors and residents alike, beautiful scenic views of red rocks and mountain landscapes. The recent growth has attracted new business owners and an increase in the demand for new housing communities.

Homes for sale in Sedona are attractively priced, and amongst state-of-the-art fixtures and energy efficient appliances, many new homes in Sedona currently offer buyers exceptional value for their money. Be it an existing home or a new home, making a home investment in this city is sure to bring in its rewards in terms of built-up equity value in the coming years. Given today’s housing market situation, this is particularly true. Home sales have slowed somewhat over the past several months, which has resulted in buyers having more options to choose from. Many industry experts predict home values to significantly increase as we move closer towards the latter part of 2009.

There are currently plenty of choices for potential Sedona new home buyers such as single-family homes, condominiums, modular homes, builder move-in ready homes, townhouses and much more. Prospective homebuyers in the Sedona area should research a good real estate agency in the area to aid them with their new homes purchase.

When hiring a real estate agent it is recommended for buyers to seek out the services of a buyer’s agent. This will ensure that your interests are protected in every aspect of the home buying transaction. A buyer’s agent works to appease the buyer and will, more than likely, always disclose all information available on the particular property under consideration. Unlike seller’s agents who are often more interested in getting through with the deal; which causes them to focus more so on only the positive aspects of each property.

Another important issue that many new home buyers will overlook is to have a home inspection done on the property that they are seriously considering purchasing. It is a common misconception that new homes are not without minor repair issues. Be sure to have a home inspection conducted on your potential new property, even if the home is a new build as new homes are often without minor repairs. If the seller or the builder refuses to acknowledge the existence of a problem condition specified in the home inspection report, or refuses to help, then the buyer should beware. A good real estate agent will bring this to their client’s attention.

If you are building a custom home in Sedona, a local real estate agent will be able to suggest several reputable home builders. Many builders offer a unique look and design to their homes and pre-existing floor plans; you can also have your own architect design your perfect home and have a local Sedona homebuilder build it for you.

Real Estate Investing Training: My Quest for the Best Part 1

This past year I have been on a quest to find the best real estate investing training at the lowest price available. I’ve been successful in tax lien investing, but now I want to use my profits from tax lien investing and put my money into real estate deals. Real estate investing is something that I have wanted to do for a long time. I just found it easier to invest in tax liens.

I believe that 2009 is the opportune time, both to get involved with tax lien or tax deed investing, if you’ve been sitting on the fence and to purchase investment real estate. The problem that I have found in learning how to invest in real estate without getting burnt is, that there are tons of programs out there. How do you know which one is right for you? And most of the trainings, boot camps, and home study courses cost an arm and a leg. Instead of putting $10,000 down on your first property, it’s not uncommon to spend that on training – I know I did. And where did it get me? We’ll it didn’t make me a millionaire. It didn’t even get me my first deal.

My husband and I got our first deal at an auction. And then we were shocked to find out that we needed to put 20% down in order to get the financing for this deal. We only had 30 days till closing and the contract was not contingent on getting the financing. Fortunately we had financing lined up and had just enough money to put down 20% instead of the 10% that we were expecting to need. Now we knew that if we were going to do any more real estate deals we would have to use other methods to find and buy properties: Methods that required little or no money down.

The good news is that now I have found a couple of real estate experts that I can honestly say offer an excellent value for the price of their training. I will be working with these 2 women this year to maximize my efforts in real estate investing. That’s right, these 2 experts that I have found are women, in a field that is dominated by men. And these 2 women are more successful at real estate investing than most of the men out there.

One of them has been in the business for over 20 years – since she was 21, she is an extremely successful real estate investor. She even became a real estate broker and runs 3 successful real estate offices. And she travels the country giving very successful real estate trainings and boot camps. The other expert started her real estate investing business less than 10 years ago, and she has built one of the most successful internet marketing businesses as well as several successful real estate training programs and a very successful real estate business.

Join me on my Tax Lien Lady Recommends blog at www.TaxLienLadyRecommends.com in 2009 as I review the coaching and training programs from these 2 incredible ladies and keep you updated on my progress. Stay tuned for the next article in this series to find out who these ladies are and how you can have access to them.

Panama Real Estate and Panama Growth in 2009

Investment in real estate in Panama will benefit from Panamaâ??s strong economic growth. Both the World Bank and the United Nationâ??s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean predict that Panama will not only weather the current economic crisis better than almost all other Latin American nations but that its economy will grow in 2009.

 

Panama Real Estate in the Current Crisis

 

As we have stated in our February real estate update, â??The world economic crisis has of course affected Panama. The biggest affect we are seeing is that there are an increasing number of buyers (especially speculators) who can no longer close on pre-construction properties due to their personal situation. Generally, they have a 30% deposit already paid, so they are keen to recoup all or some of their deposits if nothing else. Many of the buildings coming online now have almost doubled in price, resulting is some very good deals from people who are unable to close. This is particularly true of the high end condo buildings in Panama City, especially around the Bay.â?

 

Where the Deals are in Real Estate in Panama

 

Real estate may be location, location, location but not all Panama real estate is the same.

 

Real estate in Panama City, especially large condo projects, is where much of the speculation occurred and where there are â??distressedâ? properties available. This is where the scenario we describe above occurred. If you are looking for a bargain on a condo on the Bay of Panama this is the year.

 

High end individual properties throughout Panama have been affected by the economic crisis because there are fewer North American buyers right now so there are also some excellent deals in the city and in the central highlands and on the coasts. Here is where you need the services of a bilingual realtor who does business throughout the country, ABPanama.

 

The middle range of the market has not taken much of a hit because it is populated by locals. Panamaâ??s economic stability keeps folks working here and paying their mortgages.

 

The commercial real estate market might be thought of as being in two parts also. The bank area in Panama City and areas that rent to multinational corporations are doing well as the banks here are stable and multinationals are still moving to Panama.

 

Panamaâ??s small business community is doing well. Rentals to this group are doing well and a source of income for a wise investor.

 

Investment in commercial real estate is best done on more of a case by case basis than the current residential real estate situation.

 

The Future of Panama Real Estate

 

Going back to the beginning Panama is doing well despite the recession. Panama will see a dip in its growth rate this year down to what normal countries see during good times. Panama growth and growth in the Panama real estate market can be expected to return to a â??Panama normal rateâ? of 9 percent in a year or so.

 

Investment now in Panama real estate will produce a nice appreciation in the next year or so and over the years to come. If you are interested in Panama real estate come to see us at ABPanama. We have over 23 years experience managing real estate portfolios.