Important Rules In The Credit Card Payment Agreement
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Credit card companies put those agreements to make the user aware of the features offered by the card and consequences which they may have to face if they miss to make the payments on time. So you must know all the details of the credit card payment agreement form, before you sign it. On this form, you can find many clauses, which are extremely important.
The terms and conditions in the credit card payment agreement may have a substantial change and the credit companies send out notices when they increase the annual or yearly percentage rates which they charge on the outstanding balances. Hence, it’s important to go through those notices too in order to avoid unpleasant surprises at the end.
The credit card payment agreement forms include information about fees, interest rate, credit limit, grace period and so on. It provides you with the perspective of a situation which can happen if you do not pay on time. So it is important to keep a constant eye on the credit card payment agreement form. In this kind of situation, it is good to transfer the amount in a card which has low APR to the one that has high APR, if you have multiple credit cards. Many credit card companies use tricks of raising the fees and intimating clients with a notice. You may sign the contract by trusting the words in the agreement but later you realize that you need to pay more than what you expected.
Recently many companies are charging transaction fees charged on advance cash from the card. So, do not be in the impression that all the credit cards charge you the same fees and interests. You must go through the clauses that explain the charges before signing any credit card payment agreement form. You must have knowledge on the updated interest charges which are levied on the cash by the companies. These rates always change according to the APR charged by the company. Sometimes companies do not charge anything extra, but they may include some surprising new clauses which were not included before.
Having such a card can be really helpful when you are for example shopping and you do not have enough cash. However, if not used with care, these cards can build up a debt and you may end up paying all your earnings to settle your bills.
Many credit card companies put the client into trouble with the changes in the terms and conditions of the credit card payment agreement form. They sometimes make very little alterations, which can get you into a big trouble. You must ensure that you notice every possible change in the agreement.
Real Estate Investment Loan - Invest Through Low Cost Funds
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Investment in real estate is turning into a huge profit generating business. Real estate business though requires lot of thinking and commercial wisdom for earning a sizeable profit. The loan aspect is crucial to generating continuous business for the investor. Keeping this purpose in consideration, lenders have designed especially real estate investment loan that makes investment in real estate a lot more attractive for even first timer.
Taking a real estate investment loan means you are utilizing the finance for investing in a commercial property. So before you settle for making real estate investment loan deal, make sure that you have carefully selected the property from the loan availing point of view. Note that lenders prefer a sound income generating property for considering real estate investment loan. Lenders wish to ascertain that the property is a good profit prospect. This assures in turn the lender of safe and timely return of the loan. Though real estate investment loan is a secured loan still lender would like to escape the costly repossession route and prefer instead the safe payback of the loan.
Real estate investment loan is a secured loan. Lenders secure the loan against the very property the borrower intends to make investment in. deal papers of the property are taken in possession by the lender for securing the loan and are return to the borrower on complete pay off of the loan. This is one reason the borrowed amount under real estate investment loan depends on the type of property. If the lender values the real estate more as possible income generator or is already giving good income, greater loan can be pocketed. Usually real estate investment loan is offered in the range of £100000 to £3000000.
For the convenient pay off real estate investment loan, lenders give you larger duration. They can offer you repayment duration of 10 to 30 years. The investor can wisely spread the loan in larger repayment duration for reduction in monthly outgo towards installments. A lot of portion of the loan is thus saved for other utilizations. Real estate investment loan is a lower interest rate loan because it is fully secured and risks for the lender are remote.
Since there are negligible risks involved, lenders do not think twice in considering real estate investment loan for bad credit people. In case of payment default, lender can still recover the loaned amount by selling the property of the borrower.
There are some requirements from the lenders of real estate investment loan providers. Lenders may ask for the property documents to ensure the intended investment is for genuine purpose. Lenders may demand tax records of the property the borrower intends to invest the loan in. so keep such and documents ready.
Investors can search for real estate investment loan providers on internet. Number of the loan providers have showcased real estate investment loan in their websites. Study them for each aspect and compare interest rates and terms-conditions. After settling for a suitable lender, apply online to him for faster approval of the loan.
Investment in real estate is a hurdle free experience when the investor opts for real estate investment loan. Make the loan deal after careful comparison of various loan packages on offer. Also ensure for timely repayment of the loan installment for avoiding debts.
Scottsdale Real Estate Schools
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Phoenix has been experiencing a rapidly growing real estate market and the prices of properties here have soared in recent months. Investors are flocking to Phoenix to view listings, shortlist properties, negotiate prices and buy condos and luxury waterfront property. Golfers want to retire in Phoenix. Baby boomers are booking properties for spending their retirement days. This flurry of activity has motivated a number of people to seek careers as real estate brokers and agents. They are granted their licenses to work in the profession from various real estate schools.
One of the leading real estate schools in Phoenix, Scottsdale Real Estate School offers real estate courses online and on CD-ROM. It's never been so convenient to pass your real estate exams and achieve a license. The real estate courses offered include: real estate license, sales associate and broker?s pre-license, post license continuing education, and prep courses for students to prepare for real estate exams and state exams. They offer fully accredited real estate courses that meet the license qualification and continuing education requirements for real estate professionals in Phoenix. These courses can be done from anywhere around the world. Scottsdale Real Estate School is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They believe in serving the student around the clock to better meet their needs.
Scottsdale Real Estate School has introduced the most convenient way available to fulfill the professional license educational requirement. Their CD-ROM and online real estate classes allows the aspirant to begin courses at any time. Upon passing the online exams, they receive a certificate of completion and full course credits. Additionally they offer a new and exciting way to obtain the required real estate education credits. They noticed that many students simply don't have the time or desire to attend a class. For them, an online training course has been created.
There are a few criterions that need to be fulfilled before applying for a real estate broker license. It is required for the applicant to be at least 18 years of age when applying for a real estate license. Additionally he may not have had a real estate license denied within one year, or revoked within two years immediately before applying. Scottsdale Real Estate School helps the applicants with the license procedure and makes it as easy as it can be.
Optionfair Rebates Or Ezbinary Rebates – Which Is The Better Deal?
Both OptionFair and EZBinary offer the same rebate amounts and cover the same major categories of asset types. This already puts the two brokers on par for a large part of the possible factors for comparison.
Maximum Gain
The first main difference between the two appears when you compare the maximum gain with each broker. With OptionFair, you can have a maximum gain of up to 350%, whereas with EZBinary, the maximum gain varies greatly with the type of trading that you choose to do. The EZBinary platform features different kinds of trading, and your maximum gain with their Digital trading is only 85% but for their Touch trading, that soars to a maximum gain of 400%.
Which of these is the better choice for you depends largely on the type of trading that you prefer to do. If you have traded before and prefer straightforward trading, then perhaps OptionFair is the better choice for you in this regard because it does not have the different platforms that EZBinary has. With EZBinary, you will be better rewarded if you are willing to take the time and effort to learn about their different trading platforms and take advantage of the high maximum gain offered by their Touch trading.
Assets
Although both brokers feature assets across the same major categories, EZBinary offers over 200 different assets that you can trade on, whereas OptionFair offers only 40 different underlying assets. This is a big difference, and on the surface it seems that EZBinary should be the clear choice. However, you need to understand your own trading preferences before you make a decision based on this factor. OptionFair offers the major underlying assets, which would in fact be more than adequate for most casual traders. It is only the more sophisticated traders who are ready to start diversifying their financial holdings widely who would require the larger range of underlying assets offered by EZBinary. If you are such a trader, however, then EZBinary is the clear choice in this case.
Extras
Finally, EZBinary also offers a great many extras, whereas OptionFair offers a much more no-frills experience with mostly no extras. The extras offered by EZBinary mostly involve the provision of information and alerts through email, which can be useful for the conscientious trader who makes use of all the information at hand before deciding on a trade.
Making A Choice
While the ultimate decision rests with you and should be determined by the broker that you feel most comfortable with, OptionFair seems to be the better choice for beginner traders who need a straightforward and easy-to-understand trading platform while EZBinary is the better choice for more experienced traders. With OptionFair rebates and EZBinary rebates when you sign up through the right website, however, you should be well set to trade no matter which broker you eventually sign up with.
Sailing through History - Cruising in Turkey by Gulet
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Rain was smacking against the window. It was icy cold. Sitting in the dark depths of a British University's library in 1994, I was gazing out dreaming of somewhere warm and exotic. Turkey was the place that lit up my imagination.
Three great things embody this country. Just four hours flight away from international London, it has a culture which is profoundly different, distinctly unfamilar. A land on the very cusp of Europe and Asia, with two heads simultaneously facing both east and west, it embodies the magic and mysticism of the orient. Once nomads from Central Asia, the Turks were for centuries the middlemen of the world, famed merchants uniting three continents - Europe, Africa, and Asia, as far east as China. Today, its people are famed for their warmth and hospitality, a gift of their nomadic ancestry and Islam's code of respect for strangers in a strange land.
The second great thing about Turkey is its age. The place is steeped in history. It's the site of some of the very earliest cities, like Çatal Hoyuk, stretching back 10,000 years. Ever after it was a veritable crossroads of civilisations. When archaeologists dig in Turkey they are confronted by layers upon layers of peoples and cultures, from Hittite fortifications to Byzantine churches. Before I'd even set foot there, Turkey conjured up images of all the things that I longed to see, great sun-burnt plains on which ancient battles were fought, theatres where Greek philosophers declaimed, and the marble clad ruins of Rome's imperial ambitions.
It's widely said that Turkey has more and better preserved Greek and Roman archaeological sites than Greece and Italy combined. The landscape is simply riddled with ruins, many of which are virtually untouched. You can literally stroll through an olive grove and stumble upon a Greek temple still standing proud, and have the place all to yourself. Many people say part of Turkey's charm is that it is like Greece was thirty years ago.
The third fantastic thing about Turkey is the landscape. About three and a half times the size of Britain, it has almost the same population, leaving vast areas wide, empty, and pretty much as nature intended. Add to that soaring mountain ranges, brillant white sunlight, and a vast coastline stretching along three seas, the Black Sea, the Aegean, and the Mediterranean, and you have a truly marvellous holiday destination.
I first went to Turkey eleven years ago, on a 2,000 mile walking adventure, to retrace Alexander the Great's footsteps from Troy to the battlefield of Issus, where the epic warrior defeated the Persians for a second time. A five month journey took me down the western Aegean coast past some of the giant cities of classical history, like Ephesus, Priene, and Miletus; deep into the interior through tiny farming villages where I was feted as an honoured guest; and south through the peaks and valleys of the Taurus mountains, where donkeys are still a favoured mode of transport.
A decade later and my love affair with Turkey still beats strong. While it was walking that brought me to Turkey, today I prefer a very different way of travelling: sailing. With some 5,178 miles of coastline, Turkey is a paradise for cruising. Its south and west coasts offer perhaps the most spectacular sailing in the Mediterranean, full of craggy coves and sleepy fishing villages, bustling harbours and deserted bays shaped like giant theatres with breathtaking vistas. Littered with antiquities, protected by law, large sections of it have remained undeveloped, still lapped by the clear waters on which the giants of ancient history sailed: Achilles, Cleopatra, Julius Caesar...
In places, mountains of limestone drop sheer into the sea, elsewhere pine forested peninsulas stretch out like sinuous fingers hiding a cornucopia of golden beaches, deep gulfs, and tiny offshore islands. With such a stunning everchanging backdrop, I can't think of a better way to see Turkey, to explore its culture, discover such rich ruins, and drink in the landscape, than to set sail on a gulet. Spared the need to constantly pack, unpack, and change hotels, instead one travels in luxurious style. Perhaps the key thing for me is that it's travel the way the ancients usually did. It makes thinking about the past altogether easier. Out on the waves, time can literally dissolve in the water, two millennia can disappear from the mind.
A mad keen sailor, Peter Ustinov once wrote: "The sea not only sharpens a sense of beauty and of alarm, but also a sense of history. You are confronted with precisely the sight which met Caesar's eyes, and Hannibal's, without having to strain the imagination by subtracting television aerials from the skyline and filling in the gaps in the Collosseum...off the magical coast of Turkey you rediscover what the world was like when it was empty...and when pleasures were as simple as getting up in the morning...and every day is a journey of discovery."
Gulets are really the vessel of choice for exploring the Turkish coast. Handbuilt from wood, usually pine from local forests, they're often as much as 80 feet long and sleep between six and 16 guests in attractive double or twin cabins. They tend to have three or four capable and helpful crew members, captain, cook, and one or two mates, who do all the work allowing passengers to relax. Most gulets have a spacious main saloon, a large rear deck where meals are served, and sun loungers on the roof at the front. The majority operate for the most part under motor, but some are also designed for proper sailing. When the sails go up, and the engine turns silent, you have the same soundtrack as Odysseus on Homer's "wine dark sea", the slapping of water on the side of the ship, and the wind rushing through the canopy.
Aboard a gulet, one travels in the footsteps of ancient Greek pilgrims en route to an oracular temple like Didyma, or in the wake of Byzantine merchants carrying a cargo of glass, like the Serce Limani shipwreck now in Bodrum museum, or like Roman tourists on their way to see the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, one of the seven ancient wonders of the world.
I remember the first time I visited the ancient city of Knidos, a sensational site for maritime trade perched at the very tip of the Datca peninsula, between Bodrum and Marmaris. We sailed and moored up in the city's old commercial harbour, just as merchants from Athens, Rhodes, and cities right across the Mediterranean would have done over 2,000 years ago. My fellow travellers and I gawped in wonder, as we eased into the ancient port, and its monuments took shape: the small theatre, the rows of houses, the miles of fortifications climbing up a steep ridge. We anchored where countless vessels had previously - large cargo ships, local fishing boats, perhaps even some fighting triremes. Even today the ancient mooring stones where they tied up are still visible, projecting out from the harbour walls.
One of the defining characteristics of a gulet trip is the back to nature appreciation of the simple things: the clean fresh air, the canopy of stars at night, the time to lounge about and read. Swimming in the crystal waters of the celebrated turquoise coast is of course one of the frequent highlights, and there are usually windsurfers, kayaks, and snorkelling gear available for the slightly more adventurous.
Alongside the archaeology and the relaxed atmosphere, one of the greatest delights is the food. Turkish food is justly famed, often ranked as one of the three pre-eminent cuisines in the world alongside French and Chinese. The focus is all about simple but incredibly fresh local ingredients, often grown organically or raised free range. You only have to taste a tomato in Turkey to see the difference. It's surprising how even on the smallest gulets, out of the tiniest of galleys, the boat's cook can produce such a variety of fresh local delicacies.
A Turkish breakfast typically consists of bread, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, cheese, eggs, yoghurt and honey. Lunch and dinner are usually one or two main courses, accompanied by salads and mezes, Turkey's speciality starters, including cacik (a garlic and cucumber yoghurt), biber dolma (stuffed peppers), and sigara borek (white cheese and herbs in a cigarette shaped filo pastry wrap). Fruit is a mainstay item, and ranges through the seasons from cherries and strawberries, to melon and figs.
But with so many miles of coast where do you choose to sail? Three areas are particular favourites of mine. First is the ancient region of Lycia, a giant bulge into the Mediterranean on Turkey's underbelly. Situated between Fethiye and Antalya, it's an area oozing with myths and brimming with archaeology. Here, behind the soaring Taurus mountains, an extraordinary culture and a fiercely independent people developed. Their funerary architecture, unlike anything else in the world, still litters their once prosperous ports.
This was the fabled land of the Chimaera, a dreaded monster from Greek mythology, described as early as Homer: "She was of divine race, not of men, in the fore part a lion, at the rear a serpent, and in the middle a goat, breathing forth in terrible manner the force of blazing fire."
The legend probably owes its origins to an extraordinary site high up in the hills. Sacred since time immemorial, it was the main sanctuary of the port city of Olympus. Here flames leap out of the ground, a phenomenon arising from a subterranean pocket of natural gas which spontaneously ignites on contact with the outside air.
Not only is a gulet cruise the best way to explore such an essentially maritime civilisation, sometimes it's the only way. Even now, there are tiny coastal villages which are accessible only by sea. One favourite is the sleepy hamlet of Kale, on the southern tip of Lycia. Above a few piers where small fishing boats jostle, rises a ramshackle series of houses made from ancient stones. Dominating the entire scene is a mighty Ottoman fortress built 550 years ago to overpower the Christian knights of Rhodes and secure the all important sea lanes between Constantinople and Jerusalem. The castle, however, was a latecomer. 1,800 years before, a small town called Simena was perched here. Its small Greek style theatre sits slap in the middle of the Ottoman castle, and all through the village are tombs hewn into the rock, and sarcophagi standing ten feet tall.
A second great area for sailing is west of Lycia, the ancient region of Caria, between Bodrum and Fethiye. This was the ancient realm of Mausolus, a powerful dynast 2,400 years ago. A strategically vital region, densely pack in antiquity with rich cities, it was jealously guarded and sought after. Alexander the Great liberated it from Persia, Rhodes sought to annexe it into her own empire, and the legacy of Crusader castles still speaks of the epic battle that raged along this coast between rival religions, Christianity and Islam. Today, there remains a wonderful blend of architectural and historic marvels. The exquisite temple tombs of Caunos, carved into a cliff face by masons dangling from ropes; the monumental city of Knidos, famed for Praxiteles' infamous statue of Aphrodite, the first female nude in history; and Halicarnassus itself, site of the fabled mausoleum and the mighty fortress of St. Peter.
A third glorious area for cruising, is ancient Ionia, to the north of Bodrum. Along this stretch of coast developed a civilisation of quite exceptional brilliance. In the centuries before Alexander the Great, the dynamic cities of Ionia helped lay the foundations of Greek literature, science, and philosophy, nevermind architecture.
Under Rome, these cities became ever more rich, prosperous, and beautiful - full of the finest temples, theatres and markets that money could buy. The highlights are plentiful: from the pretty little harbour of Myndos, where Cassius fled after murdering Julius Caesar; to the marvellously preserved Hellenistic city of Priene, where the houses, streets, and public buildings are laid out across a hillside in a perfect grid; and of course, Ephesus, capital of Roman Asia. This was one of the very first cities in the world to have street lighting. The site is magnificent, a cornucopia of colonnaded streets, agoras, baths, private villas, a theatre for 28,000, and an extraordinary library.
If you fancy exploring some of the world's finest ancient wonders, spring or autumn is the best time to go. April and early May sees Turkey decked out with a stunning display of wild flowers. From the end of May through the start of June the sea becomes swimmable before the summer heat scorches, while September through October is perfect for leisurely bathing.
Things You Must Not Do When Applying For A Job Online
Monday, November 25, 2013
1. You look as if you were a job hopper.
Everything you put in your application letter reflects who you are as a person and an employee. If you have on your past jobs list those positions you held for just a month or two, you will be in trouble. Of course, no company will be confident in hiring someone who can’t seem to stay long in his job.
What you can do is to delete all the jobs in your profile that lasted below three months. If you think you have a less impressive work history, you can make use of the “Tell Us About Yourself” section to give a brief explanation of why you were not able to stay in a job for a long time.
2. You don’t act like you are interested in the job.
As a job seeker, there is no excuse for you not to return the calls of prospective employers. Keep in mind that employers don’t wait for a particular job applicant to respond to them as there are many others out there just waiting for their call. Once you get a message from the human resources department of an interested employer, it is so wrong to think that they may call you once again. Make sure they will feel that you really like the job and will do everything to get it.
3. You seem too weird.
Although you may have all the skills and experience required to get a particular job, these will be of no use if you start to freak out the hiring manager. When posting an online profile, make sure that the email address you will use sounds formal and see to it also that the photo you are going to post looks professional. Of course you don’t have to pretend to be someone else, but it is really improper for you to show off all your tattoos on your profile picture.
4. You are careless.
You may not know this, but many employers simply dump job applications that are full of typos. You need not be a spelling champ, but the simple spelling or typing mistakes that will appear in your application letter can definitely give employers the impression that you are careless. When you write your online profile and your job application letter, try to have someone else read it. This way, it will be easier for to come up with a flawless and impressive profile and application.
Commercial Real Estate Brokers
Remember that buying or selling commercial real estate is significantly different from buying residential real estate. That is why you need the help of licensed commercial real estate brokers to get the best deals.
What commercial real estate brokers can do for you
Licensed commercial real estate brokers are trained to assist you to market your commercial real estate property to the right audience. Your retail, office, industrial or multi-family property will receive publicity that will attract only the best buyers and investors.
Most commercial real estate brokers make use of multiple listing service and extensive multimedia networks to make sure that your property reaches interested buyers. When you leave everything in the hands of commercial real estate brokers, your property will find it is way to newspapers and relevant Internet sites in no time.
What to look for in commercial real estate brokers
More often than not, experience differentiates a good commercial real estate broker from a mediocre one. Choose brokers that have at least 5 years experience successfully selling commercial real estate properties. Such experienced professionals can bring a lot to the table - market intuition, thorough knowledge in research and development of real estate pitches and marketing ideas. Good commercial real estate brokers will not only help you sell your commercial real estate property, they will help you maximize the value of your asset before the sale, so that you can increase profit.
You should look for commercial real estate brokers who are available to assist you anytime, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Some brokerage companies have very efficient web-based project management technologies that let you access your project whenever you want. Some also have round-the-clock phone support.
The Dangers of the New Media Landscape
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Much of the media is going through tough financial times. The danger here, particularly when it comes to hard news and investigative reporting, is if real news continues to lose ground to sensationalism and entertainment. Taking the lead of sensationalistic blogs and reality TV, the mainstream media seems to be responding with a "give the audience what they want" approach. That might be well and good as a way to generate revenue, but news and true journalism has never been about giving people what they want. Its primary objective was and is to educate, and inform. Once we start replacing investigative journalism with celebrity scandals and reality TV train wrecks, we are in a very real sense giving away the keys to an informed public and a strong democracy.
The knee jerk reaction is understandable, because these are tough times for the media. According to The State of the News Media, in 2009, newspapers, including online, saw ad revenue fall 26% during the year, which brings the total loss over the last three years to 41%. Local television ad revenue fell 24% in the same time frame. Radio dropped 18%. And ad pages dropped 19%, network TV 7% (and news alone probably more). Online ad revenue over all fell about 5%, and revenue to news sites most likely also fared much worse. Only cable news among the commercial news sectors did not suffer declining revenue last year.
Panicking media outlets are changing the rules of the game. Of course it's important to entertain. It's essential. But offering entertainment 24/7 will result in a numbed and uninformed public. Americans don't want to be uninformed, but they don't know what they don't know. Unless there is true quality journalism that is bringing stories of corruption and malfeasance to light, they will never know these stories exist.
We are replacing news with controversy and entertainment. Learning that a sports star had a number of affairs is not news its sensationalism. More outlets is not the answer if it only results in more of the same. According to the Pew Research Center, their analysis of more than a million blogs and social media sites, finds that 80% of the links are to U.S. legacy media. The only old media sector with growing audience numbers is cable, a place where the lion's share of resources is spent on opinionated hosts.
There are some encouraging and exciting things happening in the online media world, from former journalists creating specialty news sites and community sites, to citizen journalists covering neighborhoods, local blogs and social media. In 2009, Twitter and other social media showed how they could disseminate information, as well as how they could mobilize people to act and react. The collective power of these sites was able to evade the censors in Iran and communicate from Haiti after the devastating earthquake.
Still, that is no substitute for the traditional work of the mainstream media. Media's challenge now is to make a profit and deliver news. But, it is not media's challenge alone. It is ours. If, due to economic constraints the media fails to uncover stories of corruption both in government and the private sector, we become the biggest losers.
Copyright © Anthony Mora 2010
Commercial Business Funding And Alternative Financing In Canada
Friday, November 22, 2013
Naturally after a firm develops some solid estimates around capital and growth needs the question then becomes 'How much of this funding should be borrowed via debt?'Contrary to what management and financial mangers understand, debt is actually the cheapest for long term financing, supplemented of course by the fact that the interest on the debt is tax deductible.
So should the business owner or financial executive take on all that debt? Clearly too much debt will restrict and potentially damage the firm, and perhaps even exposing the company to failure. Having said all that the business owner still then has a legitimate right to ask "What is the appropriate amount of debt for my company then?"The answer is that a company has to plan towards finding a target debt ratio, or capacity that reflects their business and industry, as well as the concerns of any of the owners, re: guarantees, etc.
The essence of the business owner's analysis is the ability to understand the company cash flows which will pay down, or service that debt. Most business owners don't do enough planning in this area, and their analysis needs to be much more formalized.Company owners quickly understand that because there is a limit to how much debt a company can take on, there has potentially to be an influx of owner or equity capital. Business owners and equity investors at that time have to have a strong sense of the value of the company both currently and on a longer term basis.
Practically speaking entrepreneurs and business people in all business sectors and in companies of all sizes are never going to be always eligible for either Venture capital or traditional financing, most commonly associated with Canadian chartered bank finance.It sounds almost too simple but the famous 3 C's of business credit (actually its personal credit also) can help the business owner /financial manager determine if they are eligible for the full amount of the funding they might need. (In many cases they will be eligible, but not for the full amount of borrowing they require to run/grow).So those C's?
They are the world famous (to finance people at least) character, capacity and capital. Traditional financiers are of course risk adverse so when debt is high, or your growth is rampant that's when alternative financing must and should be considered.Some examples of alternative financial solutions include:
Factoring/Receivable Finance
Inventory /PO / Contract funding
Sale leaseback and bridge loans
Royalty finance
Private equity loans
Asset based non bank lines of credit
Business owners must be totally focused in the current environment of understanding the current realities of loan and debt negotiation. It is here an experienced advisor can become invaluable.
Quality of the lending partner becomes key here. Most business owners eventually realize that all the banks have, give or take the same rates. They don't have the same people though! Therefore quality of service and commitment from the lender becomes ultra important.In summary, business owners need to constantly assess their needs for debt or equity capital.
Those needs are immediate, intermediate, or over the longer term. Cash flow and owner philosophy on borrowing will dictate how much capital, and as we have seen, from where it comes. Owners that plan and understand the borrowing market will be more successful than those that do not. Seek out and speak to a trusted, credible and experienced Canadian business financing advisor who can assist you with your business funding needs.
Pros and Cons of Taking an Online Real Estate Course
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Are you interested in making money through real estate investments? If you are, you may have heard of online real estate courses before. Have you? If so, you may be interested in taking one. The only question is should you? When it comes to taking an online real estate course, there are a number of pros and cons to doing so; pros and cons which may impact your course taking decision.
Perhaps, the biggest pro or plus side to taking an online real estate course is the information that you will walk away with. Although real estate investments are a great way to make money, it isn't for everyone. By taking an online real estate course, particularly one that has a focus on investment properties, you should be able to learn the ins and outs of making money with real estate properties. In addition to outlining exactly what real estate investing is, an online real estate course should also give you plenty of tips; tips that may help you get rich.
Another pro or plus side to taking an online real estate course, especially one with a focus on real estate investing, is that it is easy to do so. Since the real estate investment business can be considered a tricky one, you may not want to put all of your eggs in one basket. This means that if you are currently working, you may continue to do so or keep on searching for other ways to make money, while still taking a real estate course. This is where the internet can offer you assistance. Many online real estate courses allow participants, like you, to work at their own pace, whenever they have time to do so. Essentially, this means that whether you would like to learn about real estate investing in steps or all at once, you should be able to do with an online real estate course.
Another pro or plus side to taking an online real estate course, especially one that has a focus on real estate investing, is the choices that you will have. There are a number of online learning centers that offer real estate investing courses for you to take. When choosing an online real estate course, you are advised to thoroughly examine all of the course information given to you. Examine the points or topics that will be discussed, as they may give you insight into whether or not a particular an online real estate course can offer you assistance.
Although there are a number of pros or plus sides to taking online real estate courses that teach you about real estate investing, there are also a number of cons or downsides as well. One of those cons is the cost. Real estate investment courses can sometimes be considered high priced. With that in mind, however, you are advised to remember that there are a number of online real estate courses for you to choose from. So, even if you are on a budget, you should still be able to find at least one affordably priced real estate course that could offer you assistance.
The above mentioned online real estate course pros and cons are just a few of the many that exist. To determine whether or not you can benefit from taking an online real estate course, you will want to make your own in-depth list and compare your findings.
Eight Tips For Launching Your Real Estate Investing Career
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Eight Tips for Getting Started in Real Estate Investing
Introduction
This article is just the basics for getting started in real estate investing. This is not a how to article but an article that gives you some information about things to do to get started. Everything in this article is tools that can be applied to helping anyone get started in real estate investing. I am going to give you my eight keys to getting started. Nothing is right or wrong but reflects the point of view of the author. Laws and legal practices vary from state to state, and laws can change over time. The author does not vouch for the legality of his opinions, nor is there any intent to supply legal advice. The author strongly encourages the reader to consult with professionals and an attorney prior to entering in any real estate transaction or contract. The author is not a writer but he is a real estate investor. There will be grammar mistakes and errors, so don't be too critical of the grammar but focus your energy on what is being said. With that said prepare yourself to think a little differently and expand your mind. Let's get started on an amazing adventure.
The Eight Tips are as follows
1. Desire
2. Goal Setting
3. Learning What To Do
4. Attending a Real Estate Investing Seminar
5. The Billings Montana Market
6. Finding a Mentor
7. Your Real Estate Team
8. Just Do IT
1. Desire
Before we get in to the bolts and nails of real estate investing in I want to talk to you about desire. If you are going to be successful at anything in life including real estate investing you have to have the desire to do it. Desire is defined as longing or craving, as for something that brings satisfaction or enjoyment. Desire stresses the strength of feeling and often implies strong intention or aim. In real estate investing if you don't have a desire to learn and grow as a human being and really get satisfaction out of it, then real estate investing is going to be hard to do. When I go out and look at a property it brings me a lot of enjoyment. Every aspect brings me joy from talking to home owners, figuring out how I can make a deal work, to buying the house and to finding a good homeowner or tenant for the house. Real estate investing may not be for everyone but real estate investing can offer anyone the financial freedom we all crave for. If you do not have the desire for real estate investing that is ok, it can still help you to live your dreams and help you to get where you want to go in the future.
Why is real estate investing an amazing avenue for anyone to live out all of their dreams? Let me ask you a few questions. Do you have enough money to do anything you want? Do you have everything you want? No debt? A nice house? Great Marriage? The freedom to do anything regardless of how much it costs and the time it takes? If you have all of these things then you are one of the few people in America who does. Most people may be working fifty hours a week and making just enough to pay their bills. In today's day and age most people are living pay check to pay check never really knowing if they will make enough to pay the bills that just keep piling up. If you cannot keep up with your monthly bills how are you going to plan for retirement or send your kids to college or have time to enjoy life. The answer to all of these questions is becoming financially free. Now it's not going to be easy everyone will have to get off the couch and out of their comfort zone. Real estate is proven to be one of the fastest ways to get your out of the rat race of the nine to five and begin living the life you deserve to live. Everyone wants something different out of their life. Some dream of traveling the world, spending more time with family, volunteering, golfing, laying on a beach, giving back to the community, or anything that will make them happy. There are thousands of things that make people happy.
Making it in real estate takes a person who has a strong desire to change their lives for the better and think big. Anyone can become a great real estate investor. It is going to take a lot of work and can be a struggle at times but in the end it will be the most amazing feeling ever. The people that make it in real estate investing all have a few things in common. First they run their real estate investing business like any other business out there. Second they get out there and network with anyone and everyone. Some people might be like me and have a hard time talking to other people. If you are that is ok, anyone can learn how to become a people person, it just takes hard daily work. You have to push yourself past your comfort zone. The third thing is that you cannot be afraid to fail. Everyone has failed at something but the most successful people out their learn from their failures. The fourth thing is that you have to put a good team together. I will go into putting a team together in a later chapter. The concept of putting a team together is so that when you don't know something you have team members that know what to do and can help you with questions. The can also make sure that you are not working yourself to death. You do not want to be the person doing everything in your business. Doing everything is a receipt for failure. You have to put together good people who you can trust and rely on. The fifth thing is that you need a mentor. Sixth and final is the desire to do it. No one can become successful at something if they don't want to do it and don't get satisfaction out of what they are doing.
2. Setting Goals
Having goals is one of the most important aspects of achieving what you want in life. You don't want to just have your goals up in your head you want to write them down and past what you have wrote on the wall somewhere or in the bathroom mirror. You want to review your goals daily and read them out loud to yourself. This way you remind yourself everyday why you are building your business.
How should you start to write down you goals? First off you should think big, and by big I mean HUGE. If your goals are too small you will easily achieve them and have nothing else to look forward too. You should start off by asking yourself the question if I had all the money and time in the world what would I do, what would I buy, how would I spend my time, and how would I spend my energy. Are you starting to write these down? Well you should be. Think about what you want, spending time with family, traveling the world, the best cars, a castle, owning a small country, running for president, having the biggest real estate investing business in your area or in the country. Whatever your dreams and what you want out of your life, write it down. Some of my goals are becoming free, traveling the world, having a Ferrari, having 10 vacation homes all over the world. Right now I am just trying to get you out of your comfort zone of thinking and let your imagination run.
There are several ways to set goals. I have learned a lot of ways you can set you goals and there is no right or wrong way. The best ways that I have found to set your goals is to break them up into two categories. First your short term goals. This should be goals from a month out to around a year. The second is your long term goals these goals are you think big goals and what you see for your future.
For year one I like to first make a list of what I want to achieve this year and I will give you an example of how to do that. For year one you want to be very specific first you want to list what you want your income to be at the end of the year, next how much cash in the bank you want (this is money in your checking account, not assets). Next you want to list how much you are going to give. Giving is a very important, this can be giving to charity, giving of gifts to friends and family, giving to your school or anything you can dream of. As long as what you give brings joy to others who need it more than you. Next list what bad habits you have that you want to eliminate. Weather is be quitting smoking, spending too much on junk, drinking too much, working too much, not spending enough time with family, too much TV, not exercising and many more. We all have bad habits that need to be changed in order for use to grow as human beings. Under each of these bad habits list out some steps that you can take in order to quit them. If you bad habit is being lazy and not exercising enough what can you do to change that. Well you can get a gym membership or a home work out program. Commit yourself you following through with a plan to work out 3-5 days a week. For you to change these bad habits you have to be totally committed and follow through with a detailed plan you set for yourself. After you have your plans in place you should start listing several things you want to achieve or do in the next year. This can be start a successful business, spend time with family, travel to 2-5 places and so on. Now under each of these you should also write a detailed plan on what you need and what you need to do in order to achieve these goals. Finally you should take all of this information you have a write on page on what you see your life being over the next year. Doing this is a great exercise to really see what you want out of life.
Goals Year One
This is what I am going To Do This Year
Income: $500,000
Cash: $100,000
Give: $20,000
Bad Habits that will be changes:
Over Sleeping 1. Go to bed at 11 p.m. 2. Use a timer and set it for 8 hours 3. Set the timer on the other side of the room
Buying things that you don't need: 1. Going out shopping less 2. If you have the urge to buy something think to yourself is thing item going to help me to achieve my goals of becoming financially free? 3. Tell friends what you are doing, so they can help to stop you.
What I want to Achieve:
Start a successful Real Estate Investing Business: (you should write a detailed step by step plan of everything you need in order to achieve your goal)
Travel: Where do I want to visit? 1. Gators football game (what I need to do it, money, etc)
And last your own page about what you want to achieve using words like I will and only positive words.
For long term goals you don't need to be as specific right now, but you should list them and under them list a few steps or smaller goals that need to be achieved before you are able to achieve them. With the long term goals always think big. Another good exercise for long term goals is to make a collage of you goals. Put pictures of the house you want on it, places you want to travel, a picture of your family, a number of what income you want in or anything you can think of.
3. Learn
Knowledge builds confidence and destroys fear. If you are starting any kind of business you need to learn the ins and outs of that business. The best way I have found to learn about real estate investing is to read all about it. But once you know it you have to apply what you have learned. Learning and reading is just one step to take. There are thousands of books on the market about real estate investing and everyone has something you can learn from. You don't just want to read real estate investing books though. You also want to fill yourself with motivational and leadership books. Every successful person that I know if a reader and they all spend at least thirty minutes a day reading something that will teach them about improving their business or helping themselves to become a better person. Some of the best books that I would recommend reading are listed below.
1. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki (read this first and also ready everything in the rick dad poor dad series, great books to start with and will expand you mind)
2. Be a Real Estate Millionaire by Dean Graziosi
3. Flip your way to financial freedom by Preston Ely (this is an E-Book)
4. Four hour work week by Timothy Ferriss
5. The Attractor Factor
6. Short Sale Pre-foreclosure Investing by Dwan Bent-twyford and Sharon Sestrepo
7. Keys to success, by Napoleon Hill
8. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
9. How to win friends and influence people
10. Any Book by John C. Maxwell (he has tons of amazing leadership books)
11. Getting Started in Real Estate Day Trading by Larry Goins
12. The E Myth by Michael Gerber
13. How to be a quick turn real estate millionaire by Ron Legrand
14. The Power of Full Engagement
15. The It Factor
16. Anything by Anthony Robins
There are tons more you can read but these will give you a great start. You should also read books on negotiating, sales, motivation, and biographies on American business people.
I hope this list gives you the knowledge it has given me. If you learn and apply what you have learned from these books there is no reason that you should not become very successful.
4. Attend a Real Estate Investing Seminar
Attending a Real Estate Investing Seminar can be one of the best places to learn about real estate investing from some very well known experts. There are several seminars going on all over the country every weekend. If you live in a big city it will be very easy to find one. If you live in a town like Billings Montana you might need to travel a little ways to find one. Now most of the best meeting cost money to attend them. Some range from five hundred dollars for three days and some can be up to $20,000. There are a few that I would recommend. Than Merrill is a great speaker to go hear. I have learned a ton from him. You can find his company online by Google searching him. Also rich dad poor dad has seminars all over the country. I attended one of their seminars in Billings Montana for only $500 dollars and learned a ton from it. There is also Preston Ely, Larry Goins, and hundreds of speakers out there. If you find a great book that you really enjoyed, then just simple search for that person online and see if they are speaking somewhere or offer a seminar close to you.
Another reason I recommend going to a seminar is because they get you pumped up and motivated. I have not yet found anything else that just gets you feeling like you can do anything. When you get back from one of these seminars you will have tons of energy and knowledge. Every time I get back from one all I want to do is going out and do a deal or ten.
These seminars will also provide you with several opportunities to purchase amazing real estate investing tools, software or learning material at a fraction of the cost. Believe me when I tell you all of the low priced seminars try to sell you something. But a lot of times what they are trying to sell is some really good stuff.
Another reason to attend a seminar is to network with other investors and build relationships with them. You can meet other investors who you can partner with on a deal, sell a deal too, people who will provide you with deals and so on. You should have hundreds of business cards made up and try to give them all out. You never know how much one business card you hand out can make you.
5. Learn About the real estate market in your area
Most real estate investors start their career off my investing around where they live. This is why I do my real estate investing in Billings Montana. You can venture out when you have more experience. The reason behind this is because we feel more comfortable with the areas and know the areas better. It is also easier to get local real estate information that we need. Investing in your local market is also cheaper to start out, there is less travel costs, you can see what you are buying and it may give you a feeling a comfort.
First you have to decide which part of town is the best place to invest in. This can be determined by what kind of real estate investing you choose to do. I have not gone over the types of real estate investing but some include rehabbing (fixing up and selling), wholesaling (finding deals and selling them to other investors), buying to rent, and there are a few others. These are the real estate strategies that I use for the most part. When looking at the market you need to see where other investors are buying their houses. Most of the best deals will be found in low to middle class neighbors hoods. By low I don't mean drug infested war zones, what I mean is blue collar safe neighbor hoods that might have somewhat older houses and houses that are not on the higher end price side. Now you can find deals in the higher priced neighbor hoods but most will be in the low to middle income neighborhoods. When looking where others are buying ask local realtors, other investors or appraisers.
When talking with investors ask them several questions such as what neighborhoods they prefer, what type of houses they buy (3 bed 2 bath), and what they do (rehab, rent, wholesale). You should not look at other investors as competition but try and work with them.
There are different types of markets such as appreciating markets, flat markets, and deprecating markets. Appreciating markets are markets that there is no enough houses or a very high demand for houses which causes the price of houses to go up. The reason there is a high demand for housing can be because of job growth, a very appealing area, or several reason. Flat markets are markets that have no or very little growth. This means that there is not a lot of demand; buy just enough to fill every ones needs. Depreciating markets are where there is a lot more houses than people to fill those house. This causes house prices to start going down. This can be because of a large employer leaving the area, a natural disaster or just over building. There is an old saying buy in a bust and sell in a boom. In depreciating markets you can pick up several deals, while in appreciating the house prices are going to be much higher and harder to find great deals. The deal will still be out there you just have to know where to find them.
Learning your market is another key to becoming successful. Real estate Brokers and experts in your area can be the best source of information for you. Learn to use them to find out what kind of market you are in. If you are in Billings Montana we are in a pretty stable market. Billings Montana has not seen the ups and downs that other markets have experienced. I will have to say that I have been noticing a little bit of a downward trend but not much. Once the first time home buyer credit is over with we might see a little more decline. Every market can vary by neighborhood, so make sure you know you market well. I have seen the same houses just one mile apart selling for totally different prices.
6. Find a Mentor
Having a mentor to help you can be your biggest learning experience. Mentors can help you with any questions you may have, walk you step by step through the investing process, give you moral support, you learn from their proven system, and also network you with others in the business. Every successful real estate investor that I know says they owe a lot of their success to the mentors they have and had in their lives. I have had one of the best mentors around, my father. He is teaching me something new every day and pushing me to become successful.
When trying to find a mentor I would suggest network with the investors at your local real estate investors club meeting. There is a real estate investing club in Billings Montana that meets once a month. You can find information about real estate investing clubs in your area by searching for REA or real estate investors club then your area in Google. When you go to the meetings ask around who the biggest investors are. Then ask if you could get together with them sometime and discuss real estate investing. Ask them if they would consider working with you to get their career going. Offer your services as a bird dog. Bird dogs are people who go out find deals or leads about deals and give them to other investors. A bird dog gets from $500 to $3000 dollars depending on the deal. Make sure that you have a bird dog contract signed with the investors saying that if you find them and deal and they buy it that you get paid a certain amount of money. Being a bird dog helps you to build credibility with the investor and they are more likely to mentor you if you have something to offer them. If you would like to contact me with a question go to my web site Big Sky Property Solutions LLC.
7. Your Real Estate Team
Building an effective team can make your life as a real estate investor a lot easier. You are only one person and cannot do everything or be an expert in every aspect of real estate investing. Going at a project alone can become one of the most frustrating experiences you will ever encounter. Many people have become frustrated and quite real estate investing because they try and juggle too many things. Make sure that when putting a team together you provide everyone with win-win opportunities. When someone knows that working with you is going to make them money they will put you as a higher priority on their list. But you have to prove it to them that you are the real deal.
People to have on your real estate investing team include
o Real Estate Agents ( find the top agent for volume of sales in your area and other agents who work with real estate investors)
o Real Estate appraisers (find an appraiser that has done a few hundred jobs or more and make sure they carry errors and omissions insurance)
o Real estate contractors (good rehab crews that can get the job done in a timely manner, have 3-5 crews and on every deal get 3 estimates done. Ask for referrals from them and make sure they are licensed)
o Real estate attorneys (every investor needs an attorney, they can help to protect your assets, make sure you find one that works with investors)
o A property management company (can manage your properties and will give you leads on property they are managing that might come up for sale)
o Title companies (take care of the legal process and make sure there are no liens against the property you are buying, choose one that does hundreds of closings a year)
o Home inspectors(charge about $400 but will give you a great inspection and could save you thousands in the long run)
o And your Mentor
All of these people can help you in various aspects of real estate investing. You might find that there are a couple others that are keys to your business but this is just a list of a few.
8. Just Do it
There is no better phrase out there then JUST DO IT! Once you have learned all you can networked with investors in Billings and learned real estate investing strategies there is nothing left to do but get your feet wet. There is no better learning tool out there then doing a deal. Once you have completed that first deal you will know what to expect and find out that it is not as hard as you thought it would be. You will have learned what you did right and what was frustrating. Take that experience and ask yourself what would have made it run smoother. Apply that to your next deal. Then the next deal will be easier and it keeps getting easier as you go. I will say that every deal is different from the last but that what makes this business fun. You have to be creative and always keep on learning and growing with your business.
The average person never uses what they learn. Don't be average apply your knowledge. When going out and doing your first deal act like you have done 1000's of deals. The fastest way to change a habit is to act like it is true.
Five keys for success
1. Specialized Knowledge
2. Tools of a professional
3. Have the mindset of a winner
4. Mentors
5. Money and the knowledge of leveraging it (you don't have to have millions to invest in real estate, there are many strategies out there to use other people's money, or no money at all)
This is going to conclude this article about getting started in real estate investing. I hope this gave you some ideas about how you can get started. I didn't give you any strategies at this point but look for some in upcoming articles. These are simple steps you can use to get started. If you read this article thank you for listening.
Everybody Is Looking Forward To Tron Legacy
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Tron Legacy is a type of movie that has become famous even before its release and almost everyone wants to go and watch such kind of movies with their friends and family members. Everyone in the city is talking about this movie and waiting for its release on 17th Dec 2010 - it will be released in Canada and US both. It will be a blockbuster since it is a science fiction movie and will surely capture the hearts of sci-fi fans.
It is a sequel to the movie, Tron - it was a famous movie, which was released in 1982 and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. Tron Legacy is a movie that runs about Sam Flynn, whose father has disappeared mysteriously and no-one knows about his exact location. Then he gets some signals from the Arcade of Flynn and after some time he realizes that these signals were sent by his father. And thus starts a new adventure for Sam, as he encounters strange landscapes, weapons, and vehicles on a 'life or death' voyage.
Tron Legacy is undoubtedly going to be a thriller movie that will keep you at the edge of your seats. Since the theaters would be packed tight at that time, so you should think of getting advance booking if you would like to go and watch this movie on the first day first show. A lot of people who are sci-fi fans are eagerly waiting for the release of this movie so that they can go and watch this movie. All fans are waiting for the thrilling special effects of this movie. This movie would certainly a complete entertainment for you and you will not get upset at all.
This movie has everything that you want and it will be the right movie for you if you are waiting for some good movie these winters. In case you want to go out with your friends in December, it is far better to go watch Tron Legacy, rather than doing anything else.
There are various people who have already planned their schedule well ahead of time to spare some time during December, so that they can watch this movie. Have you created any plan for watching any movie? There are only some movies which create such a big name like this one has made. You must read the reviews of its first part, Tron, if you want to know more about it. Once you read more about it, I'm sure you wouldn't be able to wait for this film.
Debt Consolidation Loans With Bad Credit: How They Can Rescue Your Financial Future
Monday, November 18, 2013
Everyone with financial problems wants to find the most manageable and cost-effective way of clearing existing debts. But the task can be complicated by very low credit ratings, which can affect the chance to secure the funds that can make a real impact.
But thankfully, a debt consolidation loan exists purely for the purpose of clearing debts, so the issue of credit scores is much less significant. But to be effective, the right terms need to be secured, and that is why there are certain factors that need to be considered before agreeing any loan deal.
Why Consolidation Works
Before looking at specific terms when seeking a debt consolidation loan with bad credit, it is important to understand how a consolidation loan actually works. Basically, it is a single loan that replaces a number of individual loans by buying out the remaining balances of each.
The key advantage of this option is that the monthly repayments fall dramatically, thus easing the financial pressure. This is accomplished by the fact that a single interest rate on the principal sum costs less than 4 or 5 different rates paid through the individual loans.
By clearing existing debts in one go, the credit score is also automatically improved, thus helping to improve your credit reputation too. But securing the right terms is essential for the debt consolidation loan to be effective.
The Terms To Seek
The key terms to look for when getting a debt consolidation loan with bad credit relate to keeping the size of the monthly repayments as low as possible. This means that the lifetime of the loan needs to be as long as possible, thus reducing the share of the principal repaid in each month.
The interest rate is important too, of course, but the impact that it makes is less significant. With 5 individual loans, the interest rates might vary between 4% and 7%, depending on the individual loan terms. But replacing them with a single rate of 5% means money is saved each month.
If the term is long enough, then this is actually the cheapest way of clearing existing debts. For example, repaying a $75,000 debt consolidation loan over 10 years may cost $675 per month. But over 20 years, it would cost as $330. Terms of 30 years are available.
Finding the Best Deal
So, where is the best place to apply for a debt consolidation loan with bad credit? It will come as no surprise that the Internet is the best resource for finding the best loan deals, as online lenders consistently offer better terms to bad credit borrowers.
Using a comparison site when searching online is an effective way of finding deals that offer specific terms that the applicant might want. But it is also important that any prospective lender is checked out properly. After all, clearing existing debts efficiently is the idea, and an unscrupulous lender can ruin that.
So, spend some time checking out the range of debt consolidation loan offers, and find out the lender reputation on the Better Business Bureau website. Only do business with an A+ grade lender.
An Education In Real Estate Investing Can Be Your Best Investment
There are many people that are venturing out and searching for additional ways to make additional income. That is to be expected when it comes to real estate. Real estate has been a popular investment for many years. Many millionaires made their first million dollars in real estate. So it should come as no surprise that Real Estate Investing is being glamorized by celebrities like Donald Trump and various television shows that depict real estate investing as a big money maker.
Real Estate Investing can be all that celebrities and television program make it out to be, but it is not as easy as it looks. Real Estate Investing requires knowledge of different techniques that can be used when trying to buy, sell, negotiate or repair a house. Without this type of specialized knowledge real estate investing can be a monumental disaster.
Having laser specific knowledge can mean the difference between success or failure. Knowledge is what separates those that invest in real estate and those that talk about investing in real estate. The knowledge that is required is not difficult to master. In fact, just about anyone can be a successful real estate investor. I have seen people from all walks of life and educational backgrounds go on to be successful real estate investors. One man that I know and admire very well became a successful real investor despite the fact that he first had to learn how to read. It is possible for anyone to learn how to invest in real estate.
Who should learn more about real estate investing? Anyone that is considering buying property as an investment should become educated before doing so. Rentals, foreclosures, rehabs, lease options and various other techniques are tried everyday by real estate investors. In most cases however, only the investors who have taken the time to educate themselves will be successful.
Also, anyone that is considering buying or selling houses on their own (without a realtor) is at considerable risk of financial loss if they don't get an education before venturing out into unchartered waters.
There are many different types of educational opportunities. One can always purchase books from the local bookstore to get some advice. There is also a large number of websites that cater to real estate investing. Some of these sites will sell home study courses that, in some cases, give a thorough, explanation, training and education on various real estate investing topics. One may also find coaching and mentoring online to help those that don't believe they are quite comfortable enough yet to do real estate deals on their own. Some colleges and Universities have also started to teach real estate investing.
It is never too early to start the educational process. Real Estate Investing can be a very lucrative business. It can also bankrupt those that are not ready to invest or that do not understand how to minimize the risks that come with the real estate investing territory. In the end every one that invests in real estate is doing so at their own risk. A proper education in real estate investing is a great way to minimize that risk and start one on a path of financial freedom.
Hartford CT Historic Homes: Day-Taylor House
Saturday, November 16, 2013
The Day-Taylor House was built in 1857 in a beautiful Italian Villa style architecture at the same time that Samuel Colt, the creator of the Colt Revolver built his Armsmear estate directly across the street. Located at the center of the Colt Architectural legacy at 81 Wethersfield Avenue, it has been a residence of several prominent Hartford, Connecticut families.
The Day-Taylor House was built by Hirim Billel, the highly esteemed Hartford builder who also built Connecticut's State Capitol and the Memorial Arch in Bushnell Park. It was influenced by the ideas of Andrew Jackson Downing who wrote treatises on landscape design and architecture that were widely popular at the time. It is an example of a style that Downing called "Italianate" based on Italian farmhouses that were also being depicted in popular landscape paintings of the period.
The three story red brick masonry and white trimmed building has an asymmetrical facade dominated by floor-to-ceiling arched windows at every level, balconies, cast-iron lintels and a flat-roofed cupola. The brackets lining the low-pitched roof and cupola are particularly detailed and ornate. The three-part veranda of the front facade is supported by elaborate Corinthian columns. The front facade has remained unchanged since its original construction.
The first owner and resident was Albert F. Day, a descendant of Robert Day who was one of the original colonial settlers of Hartford. The house was later occupied by his father, a Connecticut Attorney General. Later owners included Mary Borden Munsill of the Borden Milk company and Edwin Taylor. In 1928 the house was bought by the Fraternal Order of Eagles who used it as a meeting house, and headquarters. In 1974 it was bought by the Hartford Redevelopment Agency.
The Day-Taylor House is also significant located in Hartford's Colt architectural legacy which stretches along both sides of Wethersfield Avenue for two blocks. The area has become designated as the Coltsville Historical District.
The Day-Taylor House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. It had a significant restoration in 1979 and the building now serves as offices. The combination of it being built by one of Hartford's most distinguished builders Hirim Billel, that it was built the same year and directly across the street from the Samuel Colt Home and the Armsmear Estate Park, and that it has been owned and occupied by so many notable Hartford residents makes it one of Hartford, Connecticut's most important historical homes.
Income Protection Insurance- Do You Need It?
So what is income protection insurance?
Income protection insurance is a type of policy that will pay you up to 70% of your monthly income if you cannot work because of accident or illness. This means you do not have to rely on state benefits or your savings if you are out of work for a long period of time.
How does it work?
If you are unable to work because you get ill or are involved in an accident, income protection will begin to pay out a monthly sum, which is tax free. Income protection policies can be designed to pay out for just 12 months, or up until retirement age if needed.
How can I use the money?
You can use the money however you wish, but most people choose to meet the costs of their mortgage repayments or other debts, to prevent losing their house or other possessions. The money can also be used in the same way you use your income- to pay for food, car insurance or school fees for example.
How much does income protection cost?
The cost of a policy will vary hugely depending on each individual person. If you choose to cover a large portion of your income your premiums may be higher, and if you want your policy to be able to pay out until retirement you may pay more than a short term policy. In addition your age, whether you smoke and even your occupation can all have an effect on the price.
What about cover for redundancy?
There are policies called accident, sickness and unemployment insurance which are designed to cover you against redundancy as well as falling ill. These policies will only pay out for a maximum of 12 months even if you cannot go back to work or have not found another job in this time. Redundancy insurance can also be bought as a separate policy altogether, but this is often a more expensive option.
Are there exclusions?
As with all insurance your income protection policy will have exclusions on it. Typical examples include dangerous sports and occupations, conditions due to drug or alcohol abuse, and deliberate self-injury.
In addition, your policy will probably exclude any pre-existing medical conditions you have suffered from. This is to prevent people taking out a policy simply to claim on it straight away.
Could I take out a policy?
To be eligible for income protection insurance you usually have to be over the age of 18, having a job for a minimum number of months, and employed more than 16 hours a week in permanent employment.
You can see that income protection insurance can be an excellent investment, but as with most types of insurance it is better to take out a policy BEFORE you need it, as a safeguard for the future. So insure your money making machine now!
What to Look For In a Los Angeles Real Estate Company
Friday, November 15, 2013
Each year, a large number of American homeowners decide to sell their homes. If you are one of those homeowners, have you already sold your home? If not, what method of selling do you plan on selecting? Many homeowners are under the misconception that selling their home without professional assistance will return a higher profit.
If you live in or around the Los Angeles area, you may want to consider seeking professional assistance from a Los Angeles real estate company. Real estate companies are usually a collection of agents who specialize in offering assistance to homeowner's who are looking to sell their home. If you are interested in seeking assistance from a Los Angeles real estate company, you have a number of ways to find the perfect company.
If you live in the Los Angeles area, you can use your local phone book to find a number of local real estate companies. To find the perfect Los Angeles real estate company, it is advised that you speak to a number of real estate agents. This means that you should contact multiple real estate companies. In your local phone book, these companies should be listed under the heading of real estate.
In addition to using your local phone book, you can also use the internet to find the contact information of multiple real estate companies in or around the Los Angeles area. There are a large number of online business directories and online phone books. You can easily use these resources to find a number of local real estate agents.
It is also possible that you could find a local real estate company's online website. These online websites can most easily be found by performing a standard internet search. You can search for a specific real estate company or you search for companies located specifically in the Los Angeles area. Whichever online search method you choose, you should be provided with a large number of results.
Before deciding on a particular Los Angeles real estate company, you are encouraged to meet the agent or agents that you will be working with. When meeting these individuals, you are encouraged to examine their customer service skills, along with their training and experience selling real estate. An agent's customer service skills and real estate training is vital to the successful sale of your home.
When examining a particular real estate company or agent, you will also need to determine their method of payment. Most real estate companies will receive their fees based on a preset commission percentage. The exact dollar amount of this percentage will be determined after your home has sold. With the proper amount of research, it is possible to find a Los Angeles real estate company that only requests a one percent commission.
Taking the time to find and examine a number of real estate companies in the Los Angeles area is the best way to ensure you are getting what you pay for. Why settle for second best, especially when with a little bit of time and research you can find the best real estate company in the Los Angeles area?
How Debt Consolidation Loans With Bad Credit Can Solve Credit Card Debt
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
For millions of Americans, the pressures created by credit card usage can be extremely high. Consolidation is seen as the most proactive way to set about dealing with the debt, and getting back on financial track. But securing consolidation loan approval despite having bad credit scores does depend on satisfying certain conditions.
The big question, however, is whether or not taking out a debt consolidation loan can really make any difference to the pressure created by credit card debt. Thankfully, the answer is that it can.
How Consolidation Clears Credit Card Debt
Unfortunately, it does not take long for the minimum repayments due on a credit card bill to become too much to handle. With the interest rates as high as 21%, just 2 or 3 missed payments can almost triple the size of the minimum payment. But even when seeking debt consolidation loans with bad credit, the benefits are clear.
Consolidation involves combining all of the credit card balances into one sum, then taking out a single loan to repay the amount in one go. It means that, not only is only one debt to be repaid, but that only one interest rate is charged, thereby reducing the overall cost of the debt and making repayments much more affordable.
Securing consolidation loan approval with bad credit requires some effort, but the effort is certainly worth it. After all, with credit card balances paid off, credit scores are increased. This then means any future loan and credit card application is more likely to be approved with good terms. But how can a debt consolidation loan be secured with bad credit?
Why Bad Credit Does Not Matter
Many people think that applying for a debt consolidation loan with bad credit is doomed to failure. After all, the size of the loan is often quite big – perhaps $10,000 – and the chances of success seem to be minimal.
But the fact is that low credit scores are actually not very important at all. Lenders are much more interested in other issues, such as affordability. They know that a credit score is only a reflection of past actions, but reveals nothing regarding a current ability to repay. Therefore, regardless of a credit rating, securing consolidation loan approval is always possible.
In terms of proving affordability, issues like employment status and income are important, as is the state of the debt-to-income ratio that the applicant might have. Of course, since a debt consolidation loan is designed to clear debt, lenders are more open to approving those applications.
Finding The Best Lender
The task of finding the right lender is a little complicated when attempting to secure a debt consolidation loan with bad credit. While the low credit score does not prevent approval, the terms of the loan might not be so good. So, finding a lender that offers good terms is important.
Online lenders tend to offer the best deals usually, and because they specialize in bad credit lending, securing consolidation loan approval is not difficult with them anyway. Their terms usually mean a lower interest rate and, most importantly, a longer repayment term. That way the monthly repayments are kept low, ensuring the debt consolidation loan is the most affordable possible.
The Mysterious Markawazi Stone Forest
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Known as a place existing outside of the boundaries of time, the mysterious Markawasi Stone Forest rises majestically 12,800 feet above the world on the western Andean ridge; lying at its base along the Pacific coastline is the city of Lima, Peru. Punctuating the ancient landscape of this three-mile long, tabletop mountain are massive carved effigies, including curious replicas of unknown human races and long-extinct animals. Among the effigies may be found mind-boggling images of winged sphinxes, elephants, camels, and animals which are unknown to this age and continent. With its sixteen carved faces of the Races of Man, the massive Monument to Humanity stands out as the most spectacular and prominent structure, dominating the landscape.
Who were the builders of this phenomenal site?
Scholars of ancient Andean mysteries believe the sculpted Peruvian plateau predates the Pre-ceramic Period of Peru and the great dynastic periods of Egypt, yet holds a direct link to the Isis Mysteries. How is this possible? With its mysterious and stunning monuments emulating, among other things, Egyptian deities, and with its claims of spontaneous healings, plus recorded testimony of ultra-dimensional visitors, the mysterious plateau is believed to be the remnant of a proto-historical culture previous to the Great Flood. Cocooned in oblivion for eons, and sculpted into the ancient landscape by a mysterious lost humanity, the Markawasi Stone Forest has reawakened at this pivotal moment in history.
Markawasi details the true account of an ancient, lost humanity of mysterious origin, whose hidden legacy carved gigantic, towering, stone monuments, pointing to a message with predictions for the future. First discovered by Daniel Ruzo in 1952, who excitedly pronounced it the most important sculptured work existing on the earth today, and soaring high above the Pacific coast on the western-most ridge of the Peruvian Andes, directly above Lima, Peru, Markawasi was virtually unknown to the English-speaking world a decade ago. Readers will undertake a journey through the pages of Markawasi, connecting the clues and evidence of a technologically and culturally-advanced civilization that held the keys to all human knowledge.
Want to be a Full Time Real Estate Investor-Don't Give Up Your Day Job til You Follow These Steps
It simply isn't good enough to just want to be a full time real estate investor. The most important element is knowing actually how to be a full time real estate investor. If you don't know how to do it you will not succeed and quickly find yourself back at square one. With just more than 38,000 full time real estate investors in Australia it goes to show that it isn't a common profession so the odds are against you if you don't have what it takes to succeed. real estate however is the basis of every business and has the potential to provide you with the very wealth you need to make it as a full time real estate investor.
As a full time real estate investor you need to have talent and be dedicated to the real estate investment market. To make it in the real estate investor's world you firstly need to be a good student so that you know what is happening in the real estate world. This will allow to properly analyze market indicators. You need to be knowledgeable about all of the information regarding real estate investment including updated information on building trends, union activities; Reserve Bank of Australia decisions and the list goes on. You need to be a good reader and dedicate yourself to reading as much about the subject as you can.
If you are considering taking the leap as a full time real estate investor it is wise to sit down and write a list of the negative and positive forces which can affect the real estate market. There are more than you think so take your time. After this you can enter the research phase of your new career. You need to be able to understand what will happen if housing purchases are down one month and the effect that this will have on interest rates and even as far fetched as the effect upon building supply prices. The real estate investment arena is a complex and interwoven labyrinth and you need to be able to speculate what is going to occur from one day to the next.
Don't think you can give up your day job just yet though you need to develop the technical skills to interpret all of this information so that you can make cash flow positive decisions. You don't want to start your career as a full time real estate investor when all of your assets are creating a negative cash flow scenario. You need to be able to stay on top of your finances and identify cash flow trends so that you can plan your future activities.
If you don't stay on top of your finances and make wise decisions from the trends that are appearing you are nearing financial ruin. Finances is the most important aspect of a full time real estate investor because you do not have the security of a full time wage and all of your income is dependent upon market conditions and choices you have made in the past. When you come to the heart of the matter - becoming a full time real estate investor requires four key characteristics:
1. Business Skills
2. Management Skills
3. Financial Skills
4. Ethical Skills
These four skills are the basis for your success as a full time real estate investor. And are discussed briefly so that you can identify whether or not you can gain the skills required or whether you should simply choose another career path. If you cannot adapt to these critical skills then you will not be successful in the real estate investment arena and it is better to find out now rather than later. Otherwise you will have risked everything and gained nothing.
Business Skills
o An understanding of real estate and investing
o A historical appreciation of real estate investment trends and real estate cycles and the ability to interpret future trends
o Ability to identify long term prospects of the housing market
o Ability to fiercely negotiate
Management Skills
o Ability to deal with people and conflict
o Ability to communicate effectively with professionals, trades people and tenants
o Ability to display charisma and get people to think the way you do
o Ability to manage effective records
Financial Skills
o Ability to calculate the real return on investment
o Ability to increase profits and equity
o Ability to Balance your financial books and keep track of expenditure
o Ability to calculate the true value of your investments
o Ability to forecast cash flow and debt
Ethical Skills
o Ability to maintain true and correct records
o Ability to meet the needs of your tenants
o Ability to openly and honestly communicate with all those who you deal with as a full time real estate investor
o Ability to be honest with yourself and make honest decisions
As you can see there is more to becoming a full time real estate investor than merely just wanting to become one. To take this on as a full time career you need to devote your life to the real estate market and also maintain basic business principles which will help you to succeed even when times get a little bit rocky. Once you gain the understanding that you need you will realize it is not a tricky business to be in, just one that requires time and devotion. People always dream of becoming a full time real estate investor but few ever do. If you meet these skill levels and have a strong desire to succeed then perhaps it is time for you to take the plunge.
real estate investing is the way to true wealth. If you remain cautious and rationale there is no reason why you can't succeed. Don't just jump in at the deep end though take your time. Start with some investment properties while you are still in full time employment. As you see the cash flow increasing to at least the same level as your wage then start reducing your previous working activities. It is always wise to try before you buy and make sure that this is truly the life that you want to live. Remember there will be some scary times ahead wondering if you will be able to continue but if you have taken all the precautions and show the necessary skills you should be fine.
Private Student Loan Consolidation: Slashing Repayments For An Easier Life
Monday, November 11, 2013
There is no doubt that the weight of debt can be quite heavy for students, with research showing that college graduates enter the jobs market with debts of $30,000 on average. This means that properly managing college debt is an essential part of the early part of working life.
This is where a consolidation program can be of great benefit, clearing the outstanding balances on student loans and replacing them with one, more affordable debt. However, there are some issues that need to be considered before choosing the program most suitable.
Consolidation Explained
Typically, students take out at least 5 loans while in college, often to cover living expenses as well as pay their tuition fees. But none of them are cleared before taking out another, creating a complicated web of loans, repayments and interest rates. A private student loan consolidation program simplifies matters.
All of the debts are grouped together and cleared with a single loan. And because it is a single loan, a single interest rate is applied. This invariably means the overall cost of the best is lowered. And because the loan term is lengthened to as much as 25 years, the monthly repayments are kept low.
So, managing college debt in this way ensures it is fully repaid and replaced with a more affordable debt that places less pressure on the shoulders of the graduate. But there are conditions to consider when clearing student loans.
Conditions to Consider
First and foremost is the type of loans taken out when in college. The two types are private and federal loans, but these do not mix well in one consolidation program. This is why there are private student loan consolidation programs and federal consolidation programs, and the terms of each are very different.
Federal loans are typically better in their terms than private loans because the support of federal government removes risk and lowers the interest rate charged. A private loan typically charges higher interest so is more expensive. And because of the greater expense, managing college debt from private loans is usually a priority.
Also, private consolidation programs accommodate a wider range of loans, while approval is open to practically anyone who wants to make repaying their student loans more affordable. Federal programs are exclusive to students in dire financial situations who need assistance.
Other Factors To Consider
A private student loan consolidation program offers plenty of benefits to students and graduates looking to clear their debts. Most are already mentioned, but others include the long-term benefit of improving the credit rating. This is due to the clearance of the individual loans, which are marked down in the credit record as fully repaid, but it is important to maintain repayment of the consolidation loan too.
These programs are available to students still in college as well as graduates. And the fact they can be granted 25-year terms means managing college debt becomes very affordable. Graduates, meanwhile, can get terms of up to 30 years.
However, keep in mind that it takes time for the application to be processed, with many lenders taking about 6 weeks to confirm approval or not. And, while awaiting approval, it is essential that the usual monthly repayments on the student loans are made.
Golfing Orlando
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Orlando's incredible weather and beautiful landscaping has made this city one of the hottest spots to golf. Championship courses designed by golf professionals with serene settings and challenging course play are some of the reasons golfing Orlando is so popular.
Championship Courses
Central Florida is home to many champion designed golf courses. Professional golfers have a unique insight of the game, golf challenges and what makes great links. It makes perfect sense to have these professionals design the courses everyone wants to play. These championship courses often feature lush amenities and elegant resorts turning a round of golf into a golf vacation.
The newest professionally designed courses shooting par in Orlando are at The Reunion Resort and Club of Orlando. These courses have been designed by some of the best golfers ever! Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson have each designed an 18-hole course making instant classics of this resort's 54 holes. Both Palmer's Legacy and Watson's Independence courses are currently open, while Nicklaus' Tradition course is set to open in late 2005.
Arnold Palmer's Legacy is a breath taking golfing experience with an inspired landscape of natural preserve woods, water and palm trees. You'll have to play wise and use the course's wide fairways and well placed bunkers to come out on top of this one.
The Independence is five-time British Open winner Tom Watson's first-ever designed course. Watson has used his 25 years of golf experience to create an amazingly inviting and challenging round of golf. Demanding yet satisfying, this course will command your best game.
Professionally designed courses and ultra posh amenities make staying at The Reunion Resort and Club of Orlando a luxurious choice for an Orlando golf vacation.
Champions Gate Golf Resort is the home of Greg Norman's International and National golf courses. These 36-holes are guaranteed to test you and your game. David Leadbetter, instructor to the pros, has also chosen to open his headquarters for David Leadbetter Golf Academies at Champions Gate. The 4 Diamond luxury Omni Resort at Champions Gate opened in September of 2004 providing on-site accommodations sure to please even the most discriminating traveler.
Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill offers golfers the rare opportunity to play one of the world's most highly acclaimed layouts. The course is also is the site of the Bay Hill Invitational, a popular PGA Tour® event hosted by Arnold Palmer himself.
Orlando's Grand Cypress Golf Resort consists of one 18-hole course and three 9-hole courses that can be combined to form several distinctively different 18-hole rounds. All of the Grand Cypress courses have been designed by famed golfer, Jack Nicklaus. The ability to switch up courses gives Grand Cypress extended playability with each round challenging different abilities.
The Magical World of Golfing
Walt Disney World® Resorts is a great place to golf in Orlando with six courses including PGA TOUR® courses for you to choose from. Disney's magic is not lost as these courses feature pristine greens, hazardous obstacles and breathtaking landscaping. Add GPS enabled golf carts and you have cutting edge golf at its best.
Eagle Pines is a popular Disney course with rolling fairways and hazardous surrounding wetlands. This par 72 course has received a 4 ½ out of 5 star rating from Golf Digest. This Pete Dye design runs 6,772 yards and boasts many water hazards.
Serene surroundings and incredible landscaping make Osprey Ridge a Disney favorite and one of Florida's finest. Thomas Fazio architected this curvy Disney course with a USGA rating of 74.4 and 7,101 yards of play.
Famed golf designer Joe Lee worked his magic when creating the Lake Buena Vista course. Teeing off next to boats and canals in a South Carolina inspired setting makes, this course's links worth playing through.
The most challenging course however, might be the pairing of Disney's Palm and Magnolia courses with both courses hosting rounds of the PGA TOUR® FUNAI Classic each year. The Palm is both challenging and astatically rewarding. One of the toughest courses Disney has to offer, the Palm is a great course for the intermediate to advanced player. The Magnolia is home to the final rounds of the PGA TOUR® FUNAI Classic, this course means business. Immaculately manicured links, elevated trees, and spacious greens make even the water hazards tranquil. Championship golf at it's finest.
Although many of Disney's courses are designed for accomplished players, families can also get in on the action with Disney's Oak Trail walking nine-hole course. Walk the course with your family as you all enjoy a day outside and a great golfing experience.
Traditional Courses
Highlands Reserve Golf Club offers challenging yet affordable golfing with amazing scenery and spacious Scottish inspired greens. A Floridian favorite, Highlands Reserves is traditional golfing at its finest. Stay at the Regal Palms Resort at Highlands Reserve and make a vacation out of golfing Highlands Reserve.
Rosen Shingle Creek Golf Course is a David Harman designed par 72 championship golf course with swelling fairways and interconnected waterways. Shingle Creek Golf Club is located along the historic Shingle Creek and is bordered by dense oaks and pines. Located near Orlando's airport, the Orange County Convention Center, SeaWorld® and International Drive hotels, this course's own Shingle Creek Resort is scheduled to open Fall 2006.
You don't have to look far in Orlando to find great golfing. Luxurious golf resorts make golfing Orlando a vacation in its own. Lush surroundings, challenging course play and immaculate courses are every golfers dream and Orlando's courses offer all of the above.