Posts Tagged ‘credit crunch’

With the recent credit crunch and issues with sterling falling against other currencies, many overseas owners are thinking of selling rather than buying a property abroad. However, there is little advice and help out there to know how to do this successfully.

The Five Key Issues when Selling a Property Abroad: Selling a home abroad is very different to selling a property in the UK. We often complain about the ‘slow’ process here, but in fact versus other countries we are:

1. Quite quick at selling property
2. Our estate agents charge less than MOST others in the rest of the world

One: It may take two years or more to sell your property. If you are in rural France, people don’t move very often and most property is passed down from one to another generation. As a result, it can take years rather than months or even weeks to sell a home, so before you decide to sell, make sure you understand how long it will take so you can plan ahead.

Two: The legals: It’s important to be sure that all the legal paperwork is in place for you to sell the home and that you understand how property is transferred from you to another party successfully. You need to know who to involve and be around for any paperwork that needs to be signed.

Three: Who should you sell through and who should you sell too? With the internet offering to ‘sell your property for free’ it’s easy to be drawn into these services in the belief they will do the job for you. This might work if your property is likely to be bought by another Brit, but unlikely to work if you could sell to the local market.

Typically a local agent, and/or an agent that is established locally but also has an international arm such as Savills or Hamptons allows you take advantage of both markets and will help you value the property correctly too. You may have to pay up to 10% to an agent to sell a property, but if they do it you still bank 90% of the money, which may be a lot better than banking £0 because you advertise somewhere that costs nothing too.

Four: Currency Exchange Issues With current market uncertainty, currency fluctuations are rife. The £1 against the $1 for example has fluctuated from £1 to $1.96 in January 2007 and in September 2009, was £1 to $1.68 but at one time went even lower! Of course a falling pound against a foreign currency might be good for you if you selling the property and own it in a foreign currency.

So it is essential before you decide to sell, visit sites such as Forecasts.org and talk to a currency exchange specialist to make sure you receive the best advice and if you need to fix an exchange rate you can.  However, do not go to your bank for this service, they will charge a lot more than a specialist will!

Five: Tax When you come to sell the property it’s likely that you will owe tax in the country that you sell the property in (in their currency) and then you may well have to pay tax in the UK too. It’s important to consult a specialist property tax advisor to make sure that you pay what you owe and have professional advice on how to mitigate your tax bill.

I am one of the UK’s top property experts being regularly quoted in the press including the Telegraph, Independent, Times, Daily Mail and Express and have appeared on BBC2, featured on BBC Radio 4, Channel 4 and a number of local BBC Radio stations. I have been a consultant to the property sector for a number of years and renovating properties for over 20 years. I have also written a number of books, including four for Which? – Buy, Sell, Move House, Renting and Letting, Develop your Property and the Property Investment Handbook.

For answers to all your property questions, contact me at Designs on Property on 0845 838 1763 or visit our website and blog using the links below:

http://www.designsonproperty.co.uk/
http://factsnotheadlines.blogspot.com/

Author: Kate Faulkner
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Benefits of electric pressure cooker

Perhaps it’s something to do with all the money troubles, not to mention weather troubles, here in the UK. But more of us are looking into investing in a new second home that they can rent out and can use for cheaper holidays. A lot of people have indeed managed to escape the UK and jet off to sunnier climates by buying overseas property.

No matter what your reason for leaving or age group you fall into, it’s become even easier to escape the UK and choose to live abroad, however, just like the UK, you will still need to protect your new property. Finding a company that will give cost effective cover for second home insurance and overseas property insurance isn’t as easy and can often be more costly than you might imagine.

Finding a suitable insurance company that you trust can be a hard job, especially when you consider the costs and amount of companies out there. It is generally because insurance companies know that your second home will be left empty for long periods of time and can be due to damage, especially during Winter where the weather can do harm to your property. Even if you overcome those hurdles, there’s also the concern about damage by or to any guests that may occupy the property.

If you do obtain cover you will probably find that most holiday home or buy to let insurance policies have restrictions in the small print. By not complying with every single requirement, you can end up with a whole load of problems by finding your insurance is not valid when it comes to claiming. There are some providers who understand that most holiday home and second home owners only use their property occasionally.  

To accommodate that reality, they have tailored second home insurance policies that have no exclusions or restrictions hidden in the small print (like shutting down the electrics and turning off the water and draining down the heating system every week). If you choose to let out your new second property, with those same policies, you can get some extra advantages such as £5m public liability insurance and contents protection.

If you´re on the lookout for a reliable and effective way to earn money, you might want to check out how to make money flipping real estate. Flipping real estate is the hottest way to make money in the real estate business these days.

Especially with the current credit crunch, if you have the capital, there are plenty of cheap real estate deals since there are more foreclosures and seized real estate auctions available.

There are many ways with which you can profit with real estate. You can let others do the work, or skip renovations entirely and still sell the house as is, or put the newly fixed house up for lease, not rent. The most popular strategy, however, is the “fix and flip,” which is basically buying property and selling it quickly.

If you know how to do things right, the “fix and flip” is as easy as it sounds. First you buy land with a run-down house. You can check out some of the foreclosure listings or seized real estate in your local classified ads.

Another way is to go online and research some of the online seized real estate auctions. You can get a pretty good idea of the current market value of the homes in the area you plan to buy and sell.

Afterwards you make the necessary developments, including fixing the house. Then you sell the entire property. You can gain a huge amount of profit if you buy the house for a cheap price, pay for reasonable renovating expenses, and sell the property for or above its market value.

Your profit will depend on a lot of factors. These include your ability to get a bargain for the real estate you´re interested in, a good estimate of the cost and period of repairs and renovation, and employment of a real estate agent to help you sell the finished product.

Like other businesses, to make money flipping real estate also takes good advertising and right timing.

Click here and learn how to make money flipping real estate. Learn the secrets of making money selling real estate.

The credit crunch has not really had an impact on Brazil and as a matter of fact the middle-class is constantly growth and as such the demand for quality local real estate is also growing.

It is a fact that the number of residents in Brazil that have regular jobs and enough income to qualify for mortgages is around 120 million enabling them to buy there own homes.

This is having a positive effect on the property market as investors are levels of demand and capital growth.

Currently the Brazil property market is seeing more and more people from overseas looking for and buying properties not only for the high financial returns predicted and also for enjoyment. The northeast and especially Rio Grande do Norte and the city of Natal is seeing the most activity and is defiantly a hotspot area for a number of reasons including:

The year round sunny climate means rental income opportunities all year also.

A modern and improving infrastructure

The northeast is the only tropical region in the world free of terrorism, hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes

Excellent medical facilities

The cost of living is much cheaper than in the UK and Europe

There are more airlines flying to the northeast and Natal and offering lower and more affordable airfares

A very well established and constantly growing tourism industry

These factors are having a very positive effect on the real estate market in the northeast of Brazil and because of this an increasing amount of companies both domestic and international are purchasing land for sale in Brazil to develop property to satisfy and benefit from the growing demand.

Who wouldn’t love to take a fun family vacation and enjoy recreational activities that can be done either with others or alone? Unfortunately, vacations end all-too-quickly and you’re back to familiar settings before you know it. However, what if you were able to at least consider something as wild as purchasing a second home near an international golf course – would that extend your stay?

The Polaris golf resort brand is headlined by its flagship community in Murcia, Spain. The compound offers nine golf courses, all designed by Jack Nicklaus, spread out over a 15.5 mile radius and nestled amongst 35,000 vacation and retirement homes. It’s a golfer’s paradise.

Because it’s in Spain, the prices are still reasonable, but will they go up in value? Or will your property value go south? Is it worth it to buy in a foreign country? Will the cost of flights impede the practicality of owning a vacation and golf home in Spain? To learn the answers to these questions and about whether buying a Polaris home is right for you, read on.

No UK Competition

Like the US, the UK has seen a recent decline in its lending and a subsequent credit crunch. That means buyers are having a hard time finding banks and lenders willing to finance a property purchase in a foreign country. Because of that, the number of UK buyers is decreasing, meaning so are the prices on these incredible properties.

Slow Sales Equals Bad Business

And while a reduction in sales could mean a decline in prices, it could also mean a overall market drop. Though Polaris seems solid financially, the recent mortgage and financial crisis has seen several other Spanish builders go under – meaning the buyers are left to purchase their homes off-plan. This can be a potential risk for certain buyers.

Upcoming Polaris Resorts and Courses

On top of the current development, Polaris is currently developing three more golf communities and resorts in Spain.

The biggest is the Condado de Alhama, which will have three 18-hole courses right on the development and houses that start as low as $70,000. For a home that close to a world class golf resort, it’s an incredible deal that’s hard to pass up.

Property Values Should Go Up

The regional government wants all future courses to be public so only hotels – not residential development – will be permitted. That means that when the market does pick up, golf property will be an endangered species.

So after these current builds are finished, no other developers will be able to build private homes on private golf courses. What does that mean for a prospective buyer? The likely result will be that property is soon going to be a hot commodity.

So, if you’re considering purchasing property at a Polaris golf resort in Spain – remember that there are opportunities for high returns, but there are also risks, especially for foreign buyers. Before you invest, consult with a local lawyer and experienced real estate agent.