289 Real Estate Site

Last year, to be a successful real estate agent all you had to do was get any listing. Underpriced? Never mind, multiple offers will fix that. Overpriced? Never mind, we’ll get there in a week or two. Anyone who could fog a mirror could be a real estate pro.

This year, it’s going to be a slightly bumpier ride, so make sure the Realtor you list your home with has enough experience to handle the current market conditions. Last January, the Greater Phoenix area had just above 3000 listings; this January the number is over 33,000, which is a much more normal level and will restore balance to the market. The key to success in the real estate market is often said to be listings. That is partly true. The real key is “saleable” listings which means the price has to be right. Yesterday, a lender remarked to me that many appraisals, of late, have been coming in over price. That is to be expected because the superheated market of last fall, which has cooled considerably, is still recent enough to be used as comparables.

And therein lies the rub.

An inexperienced agent will use those comps to justify a high listing price which will placate an owner temporarily, but won’t get the house sold. I have had supposedly experienced agents attempt to justify their high, in my opinion, listing prices by stating “similar homes in the area are for sale at the same price”. Right, and they’re not selling either.

A good Realtor should persuade an owner of the benefits of not overpricing, in order to list and sell a property promptly for the best price. The only thing that fixes everything wrong with a home is price.

In order to survive a species has to adapt; the same can be said of Realtors and, of course, sellers.

Gary Kiernan is a licensed Broker in both Arizona and California, who practices real estate in Arizona with his wife who is a licensed sales associatie also in both states. They specialize in the Greater Phoenix area concentrating on Cave Creek, Carefree, Scottsdale, Phoenix including Desert Hills, Anthem, Paradise Valley, Gilbert, Mesa, and Chandler. To learn more about Gary and Shannon and Cave Creek, Arizona and the surrounding communities please visit their website at http://www.garizonaproperties.com or you may email them at skiernanc21@yahoo.com

In the North American school system students seeking to be the best strive for an ‘A’ grade. However, the school system is not the end of the drive to be the best and earn an ‘A’ grade. Letter grades are used by rating agencies to rank communities in terms of investment risk.

Ostrava, in recent times, received an ‘A3′ grade from Moody’s Investors Service.

What does this mean to you as a potential investor? What are the other indicators which would point to the health and prospects of Ostrava’s property market?

What does this rating actually mean?

There are 25 rankings from Moodys in the investor services, an ‘A3′ is seventh from the top and is defined as an upper-medium grade. A similar grading company, Standard and Poors, also gave Ostrava an ‘A’ ranking based on their grading system.

What will that mean for the city?

Some investors will only look at cities with ‘A’ ratings. It is an indicator of the financial and fiscal health of the community.

Since the restructuring of the industry in the 1990s, the economic platform of the city has changed substantially. In fact, most of its incomes are no longer dependant on local economic conditions.

Ostrava, in receiving this rating, achieved the identical level of rating as other mid-sized cities in Central Europe. Brno, for example, also received an ‘A3′ rating (for a complete discussion of Brno property and economic developments visit our feature on Brno property.)

Let’s go through some other indicators as to the investment potential for this Northern Moravian city.

Area: 214 km2
Population (latest data April, 2004): 315 000

Road Distance from important European and Czech cities:

City / kms

Brno / 170
Olomouc / 93
Prague / 360
Vienna / 310

Bratislava / 300

Warsaw / 300
Budapest / 389

Berlin / 540
Paris / 1 500

With the completion of the D-47 highway the infrastructure capacity will greatly increase as well as the ease of travel. Travel time to the Czech capital, Prague, will be shortened to a little over three hours.

Air Transportation:

Ostrava – Mosnov International Airport is located 25 km from the city centre. It is the biggest regional airport in the Czech Republic with a capacity of more than one million passengers per year (current actual figures are just over 200 000 per year and expected to triple next year) and a runway 3500m in length and 63m wide, allowing it to accommodate the world’s largest airplanes. Currently it caters to both domestic and international flights.

Although there are currently not any well-known low cost carriers flying into Ostrava we expect it will only be a matter of time.

Average monthly salary for Ostrava region (2004): 18 966 CZK

Average monthly salary for Czech Republic (2004): 18 582 CZK
Average monthly salary for Czech Republic (2005 2nd Q): 18 763 CZK

Education: 16.3% of residents in Ostrava have University level education compared to 9.4% Czech wide.

Average temperature in January: – 2

Are you considering putting your house up for sale, but not sure where to start? Afraid it will take too long to sell, or that you won’t get the price you want? Think about “staging” your home, or in other words, setting the scene for immediate buyer interest in your property.

To be really effective, you need to look at both the outside and the inside of your home. Here are 3 tips to get you started with the inside of your home:

1. De-clutter. This is one of the most important things you can do. It might be easier to think of de-cluttering like this – you’re moving anyway, so why not start packing now?

Pack up everything you don’t need and store the boxes out of sight in the garage (or consider temporarily renting a small storage locker).

2. Organize your closets – put similar colors together, pants together, skirts together, shirts together etc. Why? Because it will make the closets look bigger. (Really.) An organized closet appears bigger, and you want your closets to look as spacious as possible.

3. Make your home look like a model. You want to de-personalize as much as possible so potential buyers can imagine themselves and their own belongings occupying the space in your house. That means minimizing – putting away everything you don’t need or use. Clear off kitchen counters as much as possible – stash all those appliances you don’t use, and put miscellaneous small clutter in a few attractive baskets or boxes

And the biggest tip of all? Imagine yourself as a potential buyer looking at your property for the very first time. What impressions are you getting? Would YOU buy your house? What would you like to see changed before you put an offer on your house?

And don’t worry about spending several thousand dollars to get your house ready to sell – you’ll get it all back when your house sells. Proper staging helps you sell your house in a shorter time and at the price you want.

~~~
Kathleen Yamauchi is a long-time realtor located in Prescott, Arizona. For more free tips and resources on buying and selling your home and other real estate advice, visit her web site at http://www.kathleeny.com.

Stratification in civil engineering refers to the ability to create multi-layer construction, like high-rise building. Stratatization in real estate refers to the ability to create freehold strata lots, as in condominiums and apartments. Stratification and stratatization are the center-point of attention in many municipal planning departments, as vertical construction (also known as elevation construction) takes strong precedent not only in North America but, in fact, all over the world.

One paramount tenet of today’s core urban elevation construction is the requirement that developers provide, at their sole expenses, public amenities that citizens and urban dwellers want. These are public parks, street and off-street illumination, walkways, sidewalks, waterfront, piers etc. etc. The trick to a model urban elevation development is to establish equilibrium between the overall cost of the amenities vis-

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you’ve probably either dabbled in real estate yourself, or at the very least, know someone who has. So, how does someone that’s brand new to real estate start flipping homes? (And let’s clear the air right now IT IS NOT TOO LATE to start investing in real estate).

Follow these 7 tips to start investing in real estate today:

1. Look In Your Own Backyard
The grass is always greener in the other neighborhood, and it’s easy to keep looking for the “right” area. The bottom line is that any area is the “right” area. In order to be effective in the steps 2 through 7, you’ve got to get over the idea that real estate deals only exist in other areas. It sounds clich

You might say their owners love them, but since this article is
about advertising, that’s not the answer.

The truth is, both houses that need new owners and dogs who
need new homes share the “boring ad syndrome.”

Think about it. Most house ads don’t tell you a thing that
creates desire or excitement to see the house. Dog adoption
ads are the same.

House ad: “3 br, 2 ba, 5 A. family room, deck, 1800 s.f.”

Dog ad: “6 mo. Shep X male.”

Both ads are “supposed” to make readers pick up the phone
and ask for more information. But what is there about those
ads to even provoke curiosity? Not much.

If you’re advertising on the internet or in a flyer you
produce, there’s no excuse for this brevity. You have the
opportunity to paint as many word pictures as there are
features to describe.

Your house ad can begin with something enticing such as
“River rock fireplace dominates the family room…” and then
go on to describe the cathedral ceilings, plush carpeting,
redwood decks, etc. in terms that paint pictures in your
reader’s minds.

Your dog ad can do the same. How about: “Buster loves to
cuddle cats and chase frisbees! Only 6 months old, he already
knows “sit and come” and is housebroken.” Then go on with
his other fine features. You can even pull some heart-strings
by telling how he came to be up for adoption.

But what if you must advertise in the classifieds and thus
have very little space?

Describe the most desirable feature and let potential buyers
call to learn about the vital statistics. Perhaps it’s the
fireplace, or the many windows that bring the outdoors in.
Maybe it’s a huge deck overlooking the river. It could be
a luxurious master suite. Whatever it is, stress it. And
don’t worry if that feature won’t appeal to everyone. You
only need one buyer!

In the case of our fictional dog, describe his best personality
trait. Let people picture themselves enjoying that dog.

Houses and dogs aren’t the only items for sale that suffer
from boring ads. And now that I’ve mentioned it, I’ll bet
you’ll see plenty of them every time you pick up a newspaper.

Make sure the ads YOU write don’t suffer from the same
affliction. Next time you write an ad – for a car, a couch,
a cat, or a kid’s snowsuit – start by painting a mental
picture that makes people want to know more.

Get tips and marketing info weekly. Sign up for my free real estate marketing ezine: Real Estate Help. Just send a blank e-mail to realestatehelp@getresponse.com and as soon as you confirm your subscription you’ll have instant access to my special report on ad writing.

And I’d love to help you succeed. Call me at 208-448-1479 or write:
writer@marte-cliff.com

Yours for success,

Marte Cliff
www.marte-cliff.com

Marte Cliff is a Freelance Copywriter with many more tips to share. Visit her at http:\marte-cliff.com and sign up for a free monthly advertising ezine. Marte also offers a no-obligation critique of your present advertising.

If you are buying or selling a home, the chances are good you struggle with the meaning of descriptive real estate terms. Here are explanations and definitions for more terms.

“Shed Dormers”

These are often seen in Dutch colonial style houses and are flat roofed dormers. Sometimes these dormers are single windows, but often they are two or three windows side by side with one flat roof.

“Blind Dormer Window”

Sometimes builders construct fake dormer windows to add architectural interest to new houses. They are at attic level but can’t be seen from the attic because the roof of the house covers access to them.

“Oversize Garage”

Ads often say how many cars a garage will hold. Then they add the word “oversize” as in “oversize 2-car garage.” What is usually meant is that there is room for storage, or a work bench in addition to space for the cars. Occasionally it simply means you can open a car door wide enough to actually get out with both cars in the garage!

“Gourmet Kitchen”

This phrase is intended to convey the idea that a very good cook can happily work here. That may or may not be the case, but it does usually mean that the kitchen is fairly large and attractive.

“Great Room”

I’ve seen this used in two distinctly different ways. The first is to describe a living room, dining room, and kitchen in a very open floor plan. The area typically has a high ceiling. The second way I’ve seen it used is when what we’d normally call a family room has a high, often coffered, ceiling, a fireplace with a dramatically massive mantle, and perhaps an upstairs balcony overlooking it. I think this may stem from the idea of a “great hall” in old English houses.

If you can get the verbiage down, you’ll be way ahead in the real estate game. Look for future articles on this subject or visit our site to read more terms.

Raynor James is with the FSBO site -http://www.fsboamerica.org – FSBO homes for sale by owner. Visit our home buying page – http://www.fsboamerica.org/buyer.cfm – to view and buy homes, houses, condos, land and real estate.

A recent front page article in The New York Times noted that “the devastation from Gulf Coast hurricanes is serving as a strong reminder that possible disasters could lay waste to cities and states across the country.” Fortunately, environmental hazards are not uniformly distributed across America; many attractive locales are relatively safe.

Warren R. Bland, professor of geography at California State University, Northridge and author of Retire in Style: 60 Outstanding Places Across the USA and Canada, has prepared a list of ten U.S. places that are unusually safe in terms of potential exposure to five major environmental hazards. He considered degree of potential exposure to flooding due to hurricanes and tsunamis, as well as threats to life and property from earthquakes, tornadoes, radon gas, and air pollution. All ten places have a zero chance
of catastrophic flooding from hurricanes and tsunamis, and in all ten the dangers from earthquakes, tornadoes and air pollution are in the zero to low threat range. Only radon gas, an often overlooked threat to health, is so widespread across America that it poses a significant risk, if unabated, in five of the ten environmentally safest cities and towns.

Dr. Bland’s top ten environmentally safe places are: Austin, Texas; Fredericksburg-Kerrville, Texas; Pinehurst-Southern Pines, North Carolina; Prescott, Arizona; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Eugene, Oregon; Ithaca, New York; Portland, Oregon; San Antonio, Texas; and Tucson, Arizona.

Barbara Kimmel is an award-winning book publisher, publishing consultant and publicist. She is the publisher of Warren Bland’s book, Retire in Style 60 Outstanding Places Across the USA and Canada. Books are available through all major bookstores, at Amazon.com or direct from the publisher at http://www.nextdecade.com

Spring is the season to start planting seeds for the future. For me, the ultimate Magic Garden would be planted using the Feng Shui bagua as a guideline for the boundaries of the plot and incorporate flowers herbs and plants that correspond to each signifigant direction..

The first thing I would suggest, is to mark off your garden(or balcony full of pots) as a square (or as close to a square as you can get it) and determine the directions — north, south, east and west. Then use the rough guideline below, taking into account your climate and seasons to know what to plant where to bring you health, wealth, peace, guidance, happiness and protection. You don

Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with real estate investment expert Russ Whitney and talk about the importance of developing strong sales and negotiation skills. Whitney is the bestselling author of several books, including The Millionaire Real Estate Mindset. Here’s what he had to say:

Jordan Taylor: If knowing how to identify good deals is what’s really important about investing in real estate, why do investors need to worry about their sales and negotiation skills?

Russ Whitney: Knowing how to identify good deals is certainly a critical part of real estate investing, but it’s not the only part. Your investment may be an inanimate object, but in the process of making that investment, you have to deal with people. If you take a look at anyone who has made a lot of money–regardless of the circumstances or the vehicle they used–you’ll find they have at least one trait in common: They have top-notch selling skills.

JT: What do you say to someone who wants to invest in real estate but doesn’t want to be a salesperson?

RW: First, get rid of any preconceived notions you may have about what being a salesperson is all about. It’s not about making a slick, fast-talking presentation or tricking someone into buying something they don’t want, won’t use, and can’t afford. Selling is about solving problems. It’s about creating win-win situations. It’s about honesty, integrity, knowledge, and building relationships that serve everyone.

Second, understand that you can use sales skills in just about every aspect of your business and personal life. Think about it: buying a house for no money down, getting a loan at a bank, convincing your spouse to support your dreams, even persuading your toddler to eat his vegetables–it’s all selling. Once you realize this and work on developing your sales skills, you’ll find it much easier to reach your financial goals–and in fact, you’ll find just about everything in your life is easier.
Too many people think that in any negotiation, you must have a winner and a loser. That’s just not true. You want people to come away from a deal with you feeling good, and that’s why you work on reaching a win-win resolution. Communicate clearly enough and consider all your options so you can come up with a plan that benefits everyone involved. That’s successful selling.

JT: But isn’t it fair to say that not everyone is cut out to be a salesperson?

RW: Not at all. The techniques of positive communications–which is what selling basically is–are techniques anyone can learn and develop. There is no such thing as a “born salesperson.” Learning the techniques may be easier for some than others, but everyone can learn them.

JT: So how can someone learn effective sales techniques?

RW: Read books on sales. Go to seminars. Invest in some education. I have discussed this topic in all of my books. I write very specifically about sales techniques and how to use them when negotiating real estate investments. I also explain how you can use sales and negotiation skills in other areas of your life.

JT: What do you think is the most important thing for someone to know about developing selling skills?

RW: Always operate with truth, honesty, and integrity. Your reputation is the most valuable asset you’ll ever have; guard it well.

Jordan Taylor is the editor of Millionaire Mentor