Month: April 2018

Are There Health Benefits To Living On Ocean Front Property

You are probably well aware of some of the major benefits of living on ocean property; the value of your investment is guaranteed to increase, for example, and you also have easy access to some of the best recreation available to mankind. And then of course, theres the view…

What many people dont realize about oceanfront property is that it may actually help to increase your health overall, in certain ways. Lets take a look at some theories on why it is about living on oceanfront property that might help to up your standard of healthy living.

Reducing stress

There is no doubt about it, easy access to the ocean and all that goes with it is a proven way to decrease the amount of stress in your life. Just think about the stereotypical relaxation tapes you might have come across or even used; one of the most popular, features the sound of waves crashing against the shore, the occasional call of sea birds in the air. The sounds of the ocean are some of the most relaxing that can be thought of, and with ocean front property they are all around you!

More opportunity for exercise

Oceanfront property means a world of recreational opportunities right outside your front door. You can go for long walks along the beach, climb over the ocean rocks and explore, swim or surf in the water. Long stretches of beach are ideal for jogging; they even help to burn extra calories without the shock on the knees that a treadmill or other hard surface running will bring.

Minimal air pollutants

Finally, the wind blowing off the ocean will always mean that the air above your property, and all around you, will be cleaner than that further inland, even if you live in a pretty clean area. Theres just not enough opportunity for smog or smoke to hang around before it gets blown inland!

If you are fortunate enough to own and live on oceanfront property, you are holding title to what is truly a dream living condition. Great potential for more value, recreational opportunities galore, an incredible view, and even health benefits are all a part of the package with oceanfront living!

Is There A Slump In Gurgaon Property Market Now

Reportedly, there is a little slump in the Grugaon properties market now, though its magnitude is not alarming. Going by the industry assessments and reports, the nascent recession in the economy and its all-pervading sway is still keeping a thin pall of gloom in the residential as well as commercial segments of Gurgaon real estate market. In fact, the world economic meltdown started from the largest economy of the world, the US, and it has spread as shock wave across the global spectrum cutting across national and continental economic regions. As an inevitable corollary and consequence of this malady, the Indian economy has not been able to remain immune and has been affected to some extent. This has crystallized in to the economic matrix of the Gurgaon property market and market has been in jittery for long. However, now along with the recuperating national economy, Gurgaon property sector is back in the saddle, a little hang over notwithstanding.

It is an estimated fact that there is a little slump prevailing in the Gurgaon property market now. Let mathematics speak. Before the onset of the recession, property for sale in Gurgaon fetched an annual average appreciation of 15% to 20% in the prime residential locations of DLF Phase1, DLF Phase 2, DLF Phase 3, Sector 15, Sector 16 and sector 18. However, right now properties of the same description in the same locality do not show any considerable appreciation over what they could fetch before the incidence of the recession. In order to appreciate the real appreciation value, the analysis should be in the light of the escalating inflation. In fact, the prices went down during the recession. If the current rates are compared with the immediately preceding trend during the recession, there is an increase in prices from10% to 20% per cent now. But when we compare it with the prices before the recession, the current prices are a little less and that is indicative of a slight slump.

The little slump in the Properties in Gurgaon market is estimated to be of a transient phenomenon and the market will enter a growth trajectory in the immediate future. International investment analysts concur that the coming years the Indian property sector as a whole will show an appreciable growth. This speculation is in resonance with the finding of the World Bank that in a scene where the major world economies show a retrograde trend, in the coming years India along with China will show considerable growth in national income and gross national product. This growth in the national income will directly push up the real estate sector. Hopefully, Gurgaon property market will register considerable appreciation in the coming years.

Miami Beach Luxury Real Estate

Miami Beach is famous for its glittering night life, sun drenched days, shopping, cuisine, entertainment and culture, beautiful beaches, recreational opportunities and many other great reasons. It is among the most visited areas in the state, and due to this number of folk select to take a position in Miami Beach luxury property, either as a first residence, 2nd home or rental property. Even in the present day’s wavering markets, Miami Beach property is flourishing. Plenty of the area’s old, superseded and disfavored hostels are being replaced with big and sumptuous condominiums. Many of those buildings provide resort-style living year round to their inhabitants, and the comforts typically include connoisseur cafes, professionally staffed spas, hi-tech gymnasiums and fitness rooms, concierge and housekeeping services and valet parking, amongst others.

It is no wonder that so many folk are making a choice to purchase such properties before they’re even built, but homes are also another favored choice in Miami Beach property. Water and beachfront locations as well as immediate access to all the area has to supply make home possession in Miami Beach property a smart and lucrative call. The town itself pours millions of tax greenbacks into improving environment and services throughout the whole Miami Beach area, which will only add to the all prepared high cost of Miami Beach luxury real-estate.

Miami Beach started as a plantation tract for coconuts when 2 entrepreneurs Henry and Charles Lum acquired 160 acres of what is now South Beach. Their small rural scheme nonetheless, failed and the land passed on to the hands of John Collins, the New Jersey Quaker who planted the 1st grooves in Florida. Today, the cypress swamps and alligator plagued waters of Florida are prohibited to the Everglades nationwide Park, but back in the nineteenth century, a lot of the land was a marshy waste. First the regiment Co of Engineers then idealists like Carl Fischer dredged the thick mangroves to form the South’s tropical wonder – Miami Beach. With the town of Miami across the Biscayne Bay already busy with life, many entrepreneurs recognised the possibilities of Miami Beach as a home boomtown.

In the year 1912, the Lumnus bros found the Sea Beach Property Company in Miami Beach and the 1st wave of construction started. The following years saw quick development on Miami Beach with the “longest van bridge in the world” – the Collins Bridge being built and the opening of varied cafes on the oceanfront, which included the famous Joe’s Stone Crab. The first hotel in Miami Beach, the W. J. Brown, opened its doors to consumers in 1914 and with it Miami Beach has conclusively arrived on the traveling scene in the U. S. .

In the 1996, the city of Miami Beach celebrated 100 years of existence as an independent, self-sustaining tropical nirvana. It its existence, the town saw 2 world wars, the sophistication and lavishness of the countries golden period – the 1920’s, and the crisis of the Great Industrial Depression. Places like the Art Deco State Historical District, the Cauley Square Hamlet and the St Bernard de Clairvaux Church are simply a few reminder of its rich and sundry heritage. The genuine history of Miami Beach is filled in the souls of its folks.

Menorca Real Estate Prices Set For A Price Crash

A sunshine Spanish Mediterranean holiday home for many Europeans, but especially the British, has been an aspiration achieved by many since the early 1980’s, when the UK allowed the free flow of capital, and property price gains allowed many to sell up in Britain and move to Spain and her islands – Menorca for example.

A slow down of Brits buying abroad happened in the early 90’s when recession hit the country, but overall the pace of number of people buying a home and often buying a business too has been relentless.

And with a growing number of British moving abroad, the UK’s financial infrastructure followed them, with British banks setting up branches in Spain and the Spanish islands like Menorca (ironically some of the British banks have now been taken over by Spanish ones), mortgage companies tailoring products for overseas home purchase,low cost airlines providing flights to Menorca and insurance companies offering building and contents cover.

For many of the British buying in Spain, it was like Britain with sunshine.

But times have changed, Spain is flooded with unsold brand new and re-sale properties, and property prices have crashed. In Britian property prices have dropped and are expected to fall further for the next year or more.

Confidence is low – unemployment in the UK is expected to hit 3 million before it peaks, and people with some money who might ordinarily have considered buying a property abroad are often keeping it in assets where the money is easily accessible – something it’s not when tied up in a property during a recession.

And of course the financial infrastructure that supported the British buying homes and businesses in Spain and her islands is in full retreat. The banks who were lending money readily to Brits moving abroad aren’t lending much, and many of them have been bailed out with taxpayers’ money – overall a dismal picture of a once flourishing overseas property market.

So, is now a good time to buy in Spain and her islands? If you’ve always fancied an apartment or villa in glorious Menorca – is this the time to take the plunge?

Part of that answer depends upon your individual financial circumstances, but if you need to borrow to buy a second home, and if you need income from holiday rentals to sustain your new Menorca property…halve the figure you think you might achieve and re-calculate to get closer to what you might realistically get from renting out to those taking Menorca holidays in today’s market.

But if you have a surplus of cash and are ready to buy a property in Menorca – is now a good time to buy?

There’s a property glut in Spain. If property was water, Spain and her islands would be renamed Atlantis. Developers and private owners alike are more than keen to sell, and anyone who is a cash buyer won’t have to wait long before they see a bargain. But don’t necessarily buy the first property you like that seems good value.

Draw up a list of say three or four apartments or villas you have viewed and liked and put in an offer of around sixty per cent of the already discounted price, starting with your favourite one, telling the owners that the offer remains good for two weeks, and at that time you will look elsewhere. Within a couple of months you, perhaps even weeks, you could have the property you want at an amazing price, even if the owners come back with a counter offer.

One bit of advice from UK based Tribune Properties is to avoid buying a brand new property.

‘Only buy a new property in Menorca if you’re absolutely certain that the developer has the funds to finish off a development and the promised infrastructure that goes with the new development…and even then only spend what you can afford to lose. Guarantees are often useless if a developer goes bust. And just don’t buy a property under construction – the development could be mothballed for years to come – along with any deposits and staged payments already paid by a buyer.’

Their final bit of advice is not good news for Menorca property developers either, or for private re-sales.

‘If you can hold on a few months, you might find even better bargains than there are now in the autumn when the same owners who are selling now have failed to find a buyer, and at the end of the holidays season owners might be prepared to listen to offers in the hope of finally selling their Menorca property.’

Foreign Condominium Ownership In Thailand And Sale-able Floor Area

Foreigners are not allowed to own land in Thailand in their own name but foreigners are allowed to own and buy condos in Thailand freehold in their own name. Buying a condominium in Thailand is a popular real estate investment for foreigners but foreign ownership is limited to a quota. Foreign ownership in a condominium or condominium development project is limited to 49% of the sale-able total floor area within that condominium. The remaining 51% of the floor area in the condominium must be owned by Thais.

An important aspect of a condominium purchase is the fact that the unit falls within the 49% foreign ownership quota within such condominium.

With sale-able floor area is referred to the floor area of the condo, and not the common areas within a condominium. The floor area of a condominium unit is stated in the condominium unit title deed, which again relates to the voting rights in the condominium juristic person and co-ownership in the common areas.

Condominium projects in Thailand are often sold during the construction and prior to completion of the building and issuance of the official government issued ‘condominium unit title deed’. The foreigners buying a condominium under construction in Thailand will find in the sale and purchase agreement that the purchase price is based on the square meters of such unit to be built or completed. The purchase price usually contains the condition that the purchase price will be adjusted based on the final floor area as will be measured by the Thailand land office surveyor when the unit is finished. Upon completion of the condominium building in Thailand the final floor area will be stated in the official ownership condominium unit title deed. This size is based on the official survey by the Land Department. It is not uncommon that the final purchase price is adjusted with up to 10% difference from the purchase price in the condominium sale and purchase agreement. It is important to be aware of this aspect.

The final floor area is measured by the Land Department and stated in the condominium unit title deed which is administrated and issued by the Land Department. In the Thailand Condominium Act the floor area of a condominium is referred to as private ownership and the wall dividing apartment units shall be joint ownership between the adjoining units.

Common ownership in the condominium is among other the land on which the condominium is situated, the frame structure of a condominium, the office of the condominium juristic person.

When buying a condominium in Thailand it is important to understand the legal procedure and restrictions for ownership in a condominium based on the saleable floor area.

For more information samuiforsale offers free Thailand property related legal information for foreigners.

Condominium Rules Being Changed

Condominium buyers have to abide by fresh lending rules. This has compelled many developers to scrap new projects. They fear many buyers will not be able to buy condominiums.

The Federal Housing Administration has put a limit on the number of buyers who can avail of loans. There are also restrictions on apartments where there are many delinquent owners and tenants too.

The strict lending norms have been designed to safeguard FHAs financial health. It may be noted that around 18 per cent of loans are in foreclosure or delinquent. FHAs cushion reserve has dipped below the minimum level required by FHA. This move has come as a blow to condominium buyers as FHA is the main source of financing.

Rene Oehlerking, marketing director of Garbett Homes, says that the development has had serious implications for the company. Already the company has scrapped a 300-unit condominium project. The complex will be redesigned as standalone homes. Many of the builders homes went to people who had FHA loans.
The condominium project of Garbett had to be cancelled because of FHA regulation that at least 50 per cent of condominium buyers must have FHA loans. In 2011, the number comes down to 30 per cent. There is also another rule that requires 30 per cent of homes in buildings be sold before the agency insures loans. In 2011, the number will rise to 50 per cent. In Florida, where the real estate sector has been ravaged by the effects of the downturn, there has to be a special approval before the loans are made.

David Ledford, senior vice president of National Association of Home Builders observes that the developers are just not interested in the condominium projects. The risk is too much. They fear that they will not be able to sell them to buyers. Government officials are of the opinion that such rules are necessary to protect consumers from being duped. There must be a flexible yet balanced policy that will help to minimize risks to consumers.

Richard Vetstein says that the tough rules would ensure that consumers be protected. Now lenders would be more careful about projects they handle. This will definitely have a good effect as condominiums would then make for better investments. It may be noted that during the boom phase, the FHA was never a big source of condominium loans. The rules governing the condominiums were not even revised after the 90s.