All posts in Property

How To Refurbish A Property In France Without Going Insane In The Process!

By blogger on

Well, I tell you, I never thought that I was ever the sort of person who could be pushed to absolute and total wits end. I never thought I could be the one to drop off the edge brandishing a crowbar on foreign soil and waving it around over my head like a crazy person!! Oh, dont judge too quickly. Not until you yourself buy house in France and try to do it up!

Im not crazy; Im quite normal and probably not all that dissimilar to you. But enough was enough and I wanted those lazy, incompetent and far too expensive moron workers off of my property before they completely wrecked it. You know, paying an extra 75% in tax to a French tradesman is one thing (I did it reluctantly), but I do then rather expect that youre going to be VERY, VERY good at your job in that case. I mean, provide some real value for money here Im paying for it.

Do you know that I had to have my brand-new complete kitchen fitted/corrected not twice but three times! The first time they forgot to put some of the waste pipes and services in. The second time, the ones they did forget and now fitted leaked all over the floor.

Do you know that the bathroom I had installed wasnt the one I ordered? Maybe I wouldnt have noticed save for the fact that it was also a completely different colour! The suite would have matched perfectly if only I was colour blind or tripping wildly on hallucinogenics. Neither of these scenarios is applicable to me.

Do you know that I paid over 10,000 Euros to have the exterior of the property re-rendered in the same, utterly awful finish as to what was on there in the first place? The very reason that I instructed the workers to take off the old render was because the finish was uneven and abysmally textured. I didnt like it. The look I wanted was uniformly flat and smooth. They removed it and gave me in its place the exact same thing! Instead of original awful I got renewed awful.

So, yes, at the end of my tether those lazy, over-paid, incompetent fools were abruptly chased out of my property and bon dbarras! to them all.

I do want to pay my greatest of respects to two companies that came to my aid, all the way from England. One was Pudelko Construction, who handled all of my internal works; and the other specialist firm was DuraRend, who handled my exterior rendering. I so wish Id thought of hiring firms like this before but I simply assumed that no one would want to travel all the way to France. But these guys do right down to South France, near the Spanish border!

My advice to anyone with a property in France: Bring your workforce with you!

Links:

htt://www.durarend.co.uk/

Property Investment Vs Property Speculation

By blogger on

Most people get Real Estate wrong for two simple reasons.:

1. They don’t understand the difference between an asset and a liability
2. They don’t understand the difference between investing and speculating

The broke majority live under the misguided belief that their family home is an asset. An asset by definition is Something valuable that an entity owns, benefits from or has use of, in generating income. The key is the words generating income. By that definition your home is not an asset, it is a liability. It does not generate income, it costs you money.

The broke majority will borrow as much as they possibly can, to buy the most expensive home they can afford, in the mistaken belief that this is a good investment. In fact they are are burdening themselves with the worst kind of debt. Long term, expensive, non-deductible debt that produces no income in return. The same kind of debt that lead to the housing collapse in the USA.

Successful investors understand this crucial point. Your home is not an investment.

The Business Dictionary defines an investment as Money committed or property acquired for future income. Now some will argue that an investment doesn’t have to produce an income and cite as an example gold bullion, collectibles or share futures contracts. By definition, none of these are investments, they are items of speculation. They can go up in value or, just as easily, go down. You are speculating on the future trade-able value, not investing in the inherent value of the income an asset represents. Tens of thousands of homeowners around the world discovered in 2009 that home values can fall and can fall dramatically and disastrously.

If you buy a house to live in with no income return expected from it, but in the hope it will increase in value, you are speculating not Investing.

If you buy a house to rent out, you are investing. The Australian government has long recognised the difference and that is why they allow you to claim the expenses relating to a rental property, including interest payments, as a tax deduction but do not allow any deductions for expenses incurred in buying a house to live in. In other words, the government is willing to share the risk of investing in income generating real estate because the risks are lower than tying up your money in your home.

Smart investors have a small or no mortgage on their own home and the majority of their borrowings are for rental property because that is the lowest risk strategy. They also get the best advice they can on quickly reducing the mortgage on their home.

James Andrews to communicate in at IPTI Business Property Value Conference

By blogger on

Wayne Andrews is to communicate on a panel at the Global Property Tax Institute??s Commercial Home Valuation Seminar in Montego Fresh, Jamaica, on May possibly 3 as well as 4, Next year. This year??s IPTI conference about commercial property will include a number of discussions including Valuation Concepts, Land Management as well as Administration, Legal Valuation, Hazards in the Valuation Process, and Valuation associated with Leisure Qualities. Mr. Andrews would be to speak with a panel discussion regarding accommodations, golf courses along with leisure qualities.

Caribbean Appraisers

James Andrews will be Managing Director involving Integra Realty Means – Carribbean, a general apply property appraisal and talking to operation within the greater Caribbean Region. Their professional skills include: ?Appraisal Initiate, Member (MAI) ?Royal Commence of Chartered Surveyors, New member (MRICS) ?Royal Institute regarding Chartered Surveyors, Fellow (FRICS) Mr. Andrews has evaluated a variety of home types including, but not limited by: hotels, holiday resort properties, marinas, golf courses, retail attributes, office buildings, multi-family components, industrial buildings, mixed use developments and also vacant territory. His existing specialty is actually hospitality along with resort qualities in the Caribbean, Grand Cayman, Bahamas, Virgin mobile Islands, Turks as well as Caicos and others. With well over 60 IRR places of work in the USA, South america and the Caribbean, IRR is the greatest independent professional property appraisal firm in North America.

Please visit our new website at www.caribbeanappraisers.net for more information.

Hike in Collector rates – Property market in Zirakpur suffers

By blogger on

Hike in Collector rates – Property market in Zirakpur suffers Owning a property in chandigarh has become a costly affair as the collector rate and the fee for getting building plan approved has been hiked by the authorities. A common man who is thinking of owning a small residential house in this region is hit badly by the hiked collector rates. Imagine, before April 1st, 2011, owning a small six Marla (150 sq yards) plot could be accomplished with the payment of Rs 75,000 (as collector rates) as compared to Rs 1,35,000 today for the same. The buyer will have to also pay Rs 45,000 for getting approval for building plan. The information about the hike is drafted on the basis of categories focused on location, for example the location of the property in concern is on the main road, on the link road, their placement in the municipal limit of Zirakpur etc. Registration rates for the land on the main road have been increased from Rs 1 cr to Rs 3.5 cr per acre. Similarly, the land rates have been fixed at Rs 1.5-2 cr per acre for the inner parts of property in zirakpur. Collector Rates Zirakpur Property LocationsPrevious NEW Main Road ( Per acre)Rs 1 cr3.5 cr Agricultural Land in Inner parts ( per acre)Rs 1.5 crRs 1.5-2 cr Commercial Property ( per sq yard)Rs 9,000Rs 18,000 Residential plots in named colony ( per sq yard) Rs 5,000Rs 9,000 Independent residential plots ( per sq yard)Rs 4,500Rs 8,000 Building Map Fees Residential Plot SizePreviousNEW 50-125 sq yardsRs 80Rs 323 flat rate for all sizes 250 sq yardsRs 213 Commercial plots All sizes Rs 350RS 2,815

For commercial properties the rates have been increased from Rs 9000 to Rs 18,000 per sq yard. The rates in approved residential colonies have been increased to Rs 9000 from Rs 5000 and for residential sites without any name of the colony; the rate has been fixed at Rs 8,000 per sq yard.

Hiking and fixing a same cost for building map approval fees for all sizes of plots will have direct impact on the property owner of small residential houses as it was Rs 80 instead of Rs 323 per sq yard now. For commercial property, there is a substantial hike in the rates; it has been increased from Rs 350 per sq yard to Rs 2,815 per sq yard. According to property consultants, -an end customer / buyer in the region would opt for flats in developments instead of plots due to hike in collector rates and building map approval fees-.

South Delhi The Most Happening Residential Place In Delhi Property Market

By blogger on

South Delhi is the most happening residential place in Delhi property market. The major residential localities in South Delhi include: Ashram, Amrit Puri, Alakananda, Anand Lok, Amar Colony, Bijwasan, Bhogal, Bikaji Cama Place, C.R. Park, Defence Colony, Central Market, Delhi Cantt, Dilshad Garden, East Of Kailash, Deoli Village, Freedom Fighter Colony, Ghitorni, Friends Colony, Gautam Nagar, Golf Link, Hauz Khas, Green Park, Greater Kailash, Gulmohar Park, Jasola Vihar, Kailash Colony, Jungpura, Jasola Vihar, Jamia Nagar, Kailash Colony, Lajpat Nagar, Kalkaji, Khan Market, Nehru Place, Munirka, Mahipalpur, Mehrauli, Malviya Nagar, Malviya Nagar, Netaji Nagar, Okhla, New Friends Colony, Nizamuddin, Okhla Industrial Area, Niti Bagh, Safdarjung Enclave, R K Puram, Panchsheel Park, South Extn., Sudarshan Nagar, Sheikh Sarai, Saket, Sangam Vihar, Sarojini Nagar, Sarita Vihar, Sarvpriya Vihar, Vasant Vihar, Sunder Nagar, Vasant Kunj, etc. Being the most prominent residential parts of Delhi, the real estate market in these locations of South Delhi is vibrant with talks, deals and transactions.

South Delhi has been rated to be the most preferred residential place of most of the people who look for a hassle-free accommodation. Be it businessmen, corporate executives, government servants or public sector employees, South Delhi is their first choice when residential property matter is concerned. This has made property market in this location very much vibrant and active. Hotel Leela Ventures Ltd. alone has invested recently Rs.611 crore in this region primarily because of the popularity of this place. It was through a highly competitive bid the Leela group acquired the property. The group outbid other players such as Emaar-MGF, Indian Hotels, Uppal Builders, ITC, Park Hotel, Positive Builders, etc. to grab a 3-acre estate in the heart of Delhi by paying a hefty sum of Rs.611 crore against a reserve price of Rs.300 crore. Reportedly, this high priced plot is to be changed into deluxe apartments and other residential complexes.

There are reasons for the upward trend in South Delhi residential property market. A high-paying corporate sector, Central and State Governments’ salary hike, presence of world class property developers building trendy residential units, etc. have lent a fillip to the real estate market in the region. Estimably, property values are to go up in the coming years as there is a mismatch in the demand-supply matrix. The national capital of India, a leading industrial centre, the primary educational centre, etc. are factors which trigger migration to Delhi and this in turn has augmented the demand for residential property in South Delhi. However, a number of mega residential unit projects of the major infrastructure development companies are going on at different locations in the city.