Rotendaokab Articles

When do you start?

As soon as you open your ‘baby blue eyes’ every morning!

“The Easy Part of Property Development is Spending Money” … “Marketing Is What Gets It Back + A Bit More For Profit.”

Anyone can spend money. It takes a good manager to spend it at a predetermined rate in line with a planned ‘cash flow.’

So this topic is very important. People think Development Marketing is all about putting an advert in the paper, designing a brochure and following up the agents … I don’t think so folks!!

Marketing starts before you buy the land.

The location of the land impacts on marketing. Is it a desirable address? Is it in a prestigue location? What market sector of the buying public are you aiming for? Does the site have local prominence? Does the land have quality houses around it?

All of these questions impact on your marketing plan, the home designs you select, the costings and untimate sales prices.

So if marketing starts with the land selection, it logically then goes on to the

design stage. Assuming you don’t want to just copy something you’ve seen another developer has done, you need market knowledge.

You need maket knowledge of the exact standard of product you are competing against in the market now. Remember you won’t be producing yours for another 12 months or so and you’ll want to improve on what is being produced today, so you have a market difference. An ‘Edge.’

Marketing is no more than the presentation of your finished product to the

buying public in the most favourable light, highlighting all the benefits

your home has over the competition.

One kind of marketing style that is a failure as far as I am concerned is the one that is based on the “Numbers Comparison.” I am sure you’ve seen the on site project boards.

Our house has 5 of these, and 6 of those … when that guy’s house only

has 4 of these and 3 of those.

The potential buyer will eventually want to know these things, but “Right Now” they want to know “How They Feel” about living in the place, on your Road, in this neighborhood.

Understand this: People SELL for Money … People BUY with Emotion.

If they don’t feel good in your place, it does not matter if you give then 12 of these and 20 of those … OK?

I have always DEVELOPED and MARKETED on the basis of appealing to the human senses of See – Feel – Touch – Smell & Sound.

I transfer all those into my designs, because I am designing and building for

‘Humans Beings’ and human beings buy with emotions … and if I do my work well, I’ll make a profit.

So as a buyer, if a house looks good when I drive up to inspect it, I am favouable disposed to buy before I open the garden gate.

When my feet touch the pathway/ entrance foyer and see the lovely landscaping my desire to buy is enhanced.

As I enter the house and feel the ambience of the house envelop me I

respond in a positive way to buy, if I feel emotionally comfortable in the space.

When I smell all the new house smells, it translates into ‘fresh’ ‘clean’ ‘new’ and who doesn’t want to buy fresh new things.

When I close the door of the house I enjoy hearing the sound of silence, which is conducive to rest and recuperation after a hard days work.

Think about how you respond to each house you inspect as you go about gaining market knowledge. Do you see, it does not matter how many ‘bibs & bobs’ the place has … if they don’t feel emotionally comfortable in the place, they won’t BUY!

Can you see why this is my number one topic?

So naturally I write about it a great deal in Residential Developmemnt

Made Easy.

So now you have some idea why marketing starts as soon as you open your ‘baby blue eyes’ every morning … marketing is a direct reflection of who you are and how you expresss yourself in creating beautiful livable space FOR HUMAN BEINGS.

The ‘by-product’ happens to be ‘money.’ And if you do it very well,
it happens to be ‘Lots of Money.

Colm Dillon author of “Residential Development Made Easy” the only ‘How To’ Become a Developer eBook, selling in 38 Countries, has developed $1.2 Billion worth of real estate – read more on his web site: http://realestatedevelopmentcoach.com/realestatedevelopment.html

For your development project to be successful every element must be planned carefully.

Buying land for development is just one integral part of that planning process; however it tends to be the focus of most start-up developers.

Before starting the process of selecting and buying land for development, you need to decide who or what legal entity is going to buy the land. For instance is it going to be in your personal name, in you and your partner’s names or a company name.

Answering that question is important because you need decide who or what entity is going to borrow the money to purchase of the land,

but also borrow the money for the total development.

Each individuals personal circumstances are different. Add to that the different States or Countries in which we live, and and you can see that they are many permutations to be determined before you can answer that question.

These decisions are fundamental to your work as a developer. After all we are developing to make money and setting up your structure correctly ensures that the money you make is tax advantageous.

My best advise is to investigate and engage a good property accountant, a good property lawyer and a good property finance broker.

Notice I have bolded the word property against these three

professionals. Please understand that in any profession, there is the need to specialize.

I mean you would not get the best advice from a lawyer who mainly did family law, now would you. What’s the answer? Before appointing anybody … interview them … after all you are about to base your future on their advise.

Have your personal and or company financial details clearly set out and in particular have your ‘wealth plan’ defined so you can brief each of these professionals.

Don’t do you thinking in front of them. It wastes time; is unprofessional and costs you money. The better the quality of your preparation … the better the brief you will leave with them.

Except for the Finance Broker, they all charge by the hour.

Please – please – please; if your best friend or Aunt Mary’s next door neighbour is a lawyer, accountant, broker – don’t engage them! Or if you want to go in that direction, interview them and ensure they have the correct property background.

Residential Development Made Easy goes into more detail as to how you proceed with these professionals and determine which entity actually buys the land; borrows the money; develops it from the greatest tax advantage to you and protects you legally

Let’s Get Control of That Development Land

So your plan is progressing. We know who or what entity is going to buy the land. The next point to consider is what ‘tool’ are we going use to gain control of the land.

You’ll see as you progress through the development process, you need to build in as much flexibility ‘for you’ as you can.

We haven’t got there yet, but eventually you’ll need to made an application to the local authority in order that you can build what you want i.e. 4/6 townhouses, apartments etc. What happens if the

authority says ‘no.’

Do you still want to buy the land? I don’t think so!

So in this part of Residential Development Made Easy I talk about the various strategies you can adopt to gain control of the land the correct way.

Time To Find That Development Land

One of the things you’ll discover in my eBook, is that you can do several

development activities at the same time.

One of the ‘Activities’ I tell you to do “well before” any of the above action steps is to do your market research … yes, I tell you how to go about it!

Is it important? … Multi million dollar corporations spend ‘millons’ on market research … if it’s good enough fore them to do it, I think it’s more than good enough for you as well. It’s professional … it’s necessary … and it’s in your financial interests.

You can do this kind of research before you spend a ‘dollar’ of your own money … you can do it in fun way … but with a method behind it … all explained in Residential Development Made Easy.

From that data base you’ll know what type and size of accommodation product you want to develop. You’ll finally also determine what is the total ‘make-up’ of your development.

OK, every authority has different development rules. You should go to the

Authority’s offices and find out ‘the rules’ for the type of land you want to buy.

Architects know these rules … ask them to explain to you the quick ‘easy’ way to determine a development site’s capacity!

I give an easy example in my eBook … how to assess the number of residential accommodation ‘units’ you can develop on a particular land site … from the front seat of your car. All this impacts on your development costs.

Buy land for $100,000 and put eight units – houses, whatever, on it the land cost per unit is $12,500 per unit. If you local authority says No and only allow you to put four units on the land … that looks like double your costs to $25,000.

Development Land Negotiation

Only you know if you can ‘Do It Yourself!’

Well, Can you negotiate directly with the Seller of the land? It’s the one I use myself … but is it for you?

It’s you choice … if you go my way, my eBook gives you a ‘word for word’ script. Even if you don’t do it yourself, you need my information to be able to manage the person who does it for you.

Plus other options.

The Contract to Buy The Land

In Residential Development Made Easy I address this subject in great detail.

You need to know the detail of Contracts for the Sales & Purchase of property.

In two sections of my eBook I give a ‘blow by blow’ detailed explanation of how to ensure your contract is prepared correctly for what you want to achieve.

To emphasise how important your understanding of the Contract is, let me just say this to you.

After you have completed all your market research, talked to your accountant, lawyer, finance broker, many real estate agents, found the property and successfully negotiated the purchase … you then have to design your project and make application to the Authority for permission to develop.

This is the point: (read that last para again)

After all that work, time and money spent, the only thing that connects you back to the land you want to develop is a ‘bunch of paper’ called a Contract.

The words on the Contract should ensure that, if you get your approval to develop, that the Seller can’t change his/her mind and not sell you the land.

Got It?

By that time you’ve invested a lot of time & money … by getting an approval to take a property from its current position, say one house, to four townhouses, you have increased its value Substantially.

If your contract is not correctly worded and the vendor can ‘get out’ of the contract, then the value increase you have created passes to him/her.

This is not a Happy Experience … read Residential Development

Made Easy and be aware of what to do.

Oh Yes, I almost forgot. If you decide to negotiate the purchase of the property yourself, I take you through a special session on Contract Presentation to the Seller …

By definition, there’s a ‘right way’ and there’s a ‘wrong way.’

Life is full on these decisions …

‘turn right and you’re successful,’ or ‘turn left and you’re on your way to trouble’… ‘learn the right way and be successful,’ or ‘keep flying blind

and learn from the school of hard knocks.

Colm Dillon author of “Residential Development Made Easy,” the only ‘How To’ Become a Developer eBook, selling in 38 Countries; he has developed $1.2 Billion worth of real estate – read more on his web site: http://realestatedevelopmentcoach.com/realestatedevelopment.html

Homebuyers are a curious lot. They routinely ask thought-provoking questions. A common question is, “If I get a home inspection, should I still get a home warranty?” Then there’s always this question, “If I get a home warranty, do I still need a home inspection?”

The choice between having a home inspection and purchasing a home warranty is a question that I frankly do not understand. Each is intended to serve a separate purpose and ideally work together to protect and reduce the risk of homeownership.

Maybe an analogy will make the matter clear. An individual has just had a complete and through physical exam. The results of the exam and all associated lab tests are that the individual appears to free of all disease or illness. They are presently the picture of health!

Would it be prudent or responsible for the doctor then to recommend to the patient, due to their fine physical condition, that it is a waste of money to continue to pay for health insurance? Of course not!

None among us would consider the doctor even sane, let alone responsible to make such a recommendation. But, is that not the same situation to someone feeling that they need not purchase a home warranty because they just had a home inspection?

And let’s view this same scenario from the opposite direction. Would we expect that our life insurance carrier would recommend to us that we forego the expense of regular physical exams, because, after all, we now have life insurance! Insanity!

The life insurance companies, in fact, feel so strongly that a physical exam is such an important part of risk reduction that a physical exam is often required to secure a life insurance policy, or at least has an effect on the insurance rate.

If insurance companies want to have you “inspected” prior to assuming the risk of your passing, it certainly makes sense for the homebuyer to have the home inspected prior to purchase. Doesn’t it, therefore, make similar sense to warrant unforeseen failure with the home warranty?

When buyers fully understand risk and the cost-effectiveness of risk reduction tools, they almost always want all of the risk reduction tools available. It is in everyone’s best interest to reduce risk by every cost effective means possible. Buyers love to be educated about understanding and reducing risk, and everyone loves a happy homebuyer!

Copyright Florida HomePro, Inc. and Wallace J. Conway. All rights in all media reserved.

About the Author: Wally Conway is President of Florida HomePro Inspections, and is featured regularly on HGTV’s “House Detective”. As a speaker, writer, instructor, and host of The Happy Home Inspector radio show every Saturday at 3 PM on WOKV 690, Wally blends the right amount of up-to-date information with just the right amount of humor, insight, motivation, and real-world application. Visit http://www.wallyconway.com and http://www.gohomepro.com for more information!

As sure as the spring flows at The Fountain of Youth, home inspecting provides a stream of knowledge to wash away the fears of home buyers. But fear may be replaced by frustration if the wrong inspector is chosen! Some pointers on selecting your next home inspector will go a long way toward making the process a happy one.

• Be sure to ask how long the inspector has been in the inspection business. Longevity gives comfort that the company will be with you in the future as new needs and issues arise.
• How many inspections has the inspector personally performed? This is important! An inspector may have been in business for 5 years but inspected less than a dozen homes. Your home buying decision is far too important to be a practice place for a part-time inspector.
• Confirm that your inspector has experience in homes similar to the home you are having inspected. All homes have some systems and features in common, but new home in Eagle Harbor has risks and issues that differ from an historic beauty in St. Augustine. Only someone who has walked the walk and crawled the crawl numerous times in similar homes can sleuth out those important items.
• Did the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) certify the inspector? In Florida, the business of home inspection is unregulated. This makes it especially important to verify professional credentials and experiences before making a selection.
• Ask when the report will be delivered. Often the buying decision is time critical, you want to be sure you will receive your completed report in time to read, review, and respond. The best companies can deliver the report to you right at the home as the inspection is completed.
• Does the completed report include photographs? Often the report will contain descriptions of damage or defect in locations of the home that only the inspector was able to access, like rooftops or crawl spaces. You will want pictures of these areas to make your understanding of the scope and location of the damage clear. It also makes repairs simpler to get estimated when a photograph is available.

Lastly, be sure to attend the home inspection, watch the process, and ask lots of questions – the history of your home will unfold before your very eyes! St. Johns County, as well as the rest of our beautiful area, is rich in homes and heritage, and your home inspector can help you to know the past and enjoy the future in your new home.

Copyright Florida HomePro, Inc. and Wallace J. Conway. All rights in all media reserved.

About the Author: Wally Conway is President of Florida HomePro Inspections, and is featured regularly on HGTV’s “House Detective”. As a speaker, writer, instructor, and host of The Happy Home Inspector radio show every Saturday at 5 PM on WOKV 690, Wally blends the right amount of up-to-date information with just the right amount of humor, insight, motivation, and real-world application. Visit http://www.wallyconway.com and http://www.gohomepro.com for more information!

I’m going to focus on the Seller of a hypothetical property you have found and the offer that you are going to make. You want to write it so it has a reasonable chance of being accepted.

I explain in detail how to make an offer on this type of property in my book. It is one of the easiest ways to purchase property with nothing down and no credit check.

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If you haven’t checked out Joe Crump’s “$0 Down Real Estate Investing With Bad Credit And No Job!” yet, go to his web site for full details.

http://www.realrealestateexperts.com

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Not Your Typical Vacation Home

What could be more perfect that owning a luxury vacation home at a landmark resort and receiving rent revenue whenever youre not using it? Condo hotels are the newest trend in vacation home ownership. Live in it when youre there; rent it when youre not.

So how do condo hotels differ from owning a traditional vacation apartment or condominium? These are not your typical second homes. They are fabulously-furnished condominium suites in some of the most famous hotels and resorts around the country. The properties are usually large, high-rise, luxury hotels operated by a big name like Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, Sonesta, Starwood or Hilton. Prices range from $200,000 to over $1 million for prime properties.

Generate Revenue to Defray Mortgage Costs

How do condo hotel owners find renters? This is what makes the program so appealing. When owners are not using their unit, it is put into the rental program of the hotel. By capitalizing on a hotels name recognition, advertising, national affiliations, centralized reservation system and management expertise, unit owners typically receive a higher level of rental income than they would from a traditional vacation home. Plus the hotel takes care of dealing with the renters, as well as all housekeeping and maintenance of the condo hotel units. Talk about hassle-free!

The Real Appeal of Condo Hotels Is Appreciation

While its nice to receive rental revenue on your vacation home, the more important factor from an investment standpoint is its appreciation. Condo hotel units have been appreciating at a far faster rate than single family homes and condos in the same areas.

Most condo hotels are purchased directly from the developer. With limited inventory, condo hotel units have been moving at lightning speed. In fact, almost all condo hotels sell out in pre-construction, long before even a single spade of dirt has been overturned. And as is the case in any situation where supply is greatly outpaced by demand, condo hotel owners have been seeing tremendous appreciation in their units.

World-Famous Resorts Attract International Attention

Most condo hotels are located in seasonal resort areas. South Florida, particularly Miami Beach and Ft. Lauderdale, is one of the countrys hottest markets with world-famous properties like the Fontainbleau, Canyon Ranch Living and Trump International leading the way. Las Vegas and some of the Caribbean Islands are also popular condo hotel destinations.

Whos buying? The answer, in a nutshell, is everyone. That is, investors and vacationers who recognize the appreciation potential of a revenue-generating vacation home. That appeal isnt limited to U.S. buyers. The concept of condo hotels has had international appeal with buyers from Latin America and Europe competing with Americans for the best properties.

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Learn More About Condo Hotels

Condo hotels have tremendous investment appeal in todays market because of low interest rates and a tumultuous stock market that has investors looking for safer alternatives. Investors who take the condo hotel plunge can enjoy all the amenities of vacationing in a first-class resort while watching their units appreciate exponentially.

For more information on condo hotels including listings of available properties, visit http://www.condohotelcenter.com.

Joel Greene is the President of Condo Hotel Center located in Miami Florida, which specializes in the sale of condo hotels. Visit his information-packed web site, http://www.condohotelcenter.com., for more on condo hotels and to see condo hotel listings, photos and prices. You can also sign up for his free Property Alert newsletter to be notified when new properties come on the market.

Condo hotels are one of the hottest products in todays real estate market. New properties are cropping up in different parts of the country and new buyers are entering the market daily. Things have been moving so quickly in terms of condo hotels, but sometimes it’s worth taking a moment to step back and look at the big picture.

Condo Hotels In General: There is a spreading enthusiasm about the condo hotel concept. More people are recognizing its potential and therefore creating demand for more inventory.

Condo Hotel Buyers: The average buyer is 35-50 years old. Buyers for Florida properties, where condo hotels are most prevalent, come from all over the U.S. On the international front, most foreign buyers interested in U.S. property are from South America and Europe.

The vast majority of buyers want condo hotel units primarily as investments and are focused on the potential for appreciation with the side benefit of hassle-free ownership. They see the ability to actually use their condo hotel unit as a vacation home as important but secondary to their goal of investment diversification.

Condo Hotel Market: Virtually every single property that has come on the market to date has sold out in pre-construction. Most of these properties are mega high-rise buildings with on average 200-500 units, and with some in excess of 1,000 units.

The speed with which these properties sell out is often as surprising to buyers as it is to the developers themselves. For example, the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, a 576-unit condo hotel, was expected to sell out in two years. It sold out in two months! The Platinum, a 255-unit property in Las Vegas, also sold out in just a matter of a couple months.

Hot Areas: South Florida continues to be an extremely popular area and one that has shown strong and steady appreciation. As already mentioned, the condo hotel trend which began in South Florida has now spread out west. Las Vegas is leading the pack with many new condo and condo hotel developments in all price ranges being built.

Growth in Florida: Looking at South Florida, it’s easy to see what is happening. Miami Beach, the hottest area, is all built up. There just isn’t any undeveloped land. That’s causing a couple of things to happen. Developers are heading to the northern end of Miami Beach (North Beach) and areas still further north such as to Sunny Isles and Ft. Lauderdale.

A new trend is developers buying existing structures in Miami Beach and either upgrading them, as in the case of The Mimosa which was the former Brazil Motel, or knocking them down and starting over, as in the case of One Bal Harbour in which a multi-family, high-rise building (Harbour House) was demolished and a five-star condo hotel built in its place.

Finally, some properties are beginning to crop up inland. These condo hotels may not have oceanfront views; however, they’re within a few short blocks of a beach. Because they’re not on the ocean, these properties tend to be priced more economically.

Properties: The most popular properties continue to be those with a franchise name, one that brings a reputation for four- to five-star quality or a name that is already well-known. A prime example is Canyon Ranch Living in Miami Beach. People recognize the Canyon Ranch name and feel confident that this property will be of the same five-star caliber as its Arizona counterpart. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that this property will have a 60,000 sq. ft. rooftop spa and fitness center.

The Selling Process: A lot of properties take reservations of more than half the total project long before they’ve even prepared their purchase contracts. This means that many of the best units are reserved months before any money changes hands and often before even the first spade of ground has been turned over. Those early investors are seeing some amazing appreciation on their investments.

Prices: Like anything for which there is more demand than supply, prices keep going up, up, up. Developers often raise their prices 3-5 times from when they start selling until they sell out.

Developers are no longer discounting prices at the beginning of the selling process when they are anxious to get a few sales under their belt. This used to be common practice; it is no more because demand is so great.

There are sometimes, however, some price adjustments made at the very tail end of the sellout phase when developers want to close out their property and move on to their next project. Generally speaking, with regard to price, the best time to get in is usually early on in the first pre-construction offering.

Quality: Most condo hotels being built are of four- to five-star quality. The reason is two-fold: 1) There is demand for the types of services provided by four- and five-star properties, and 2) Oceanfront land is so costly that it makes more sense for the developer to put in a luxury property with units that he can sell at a premium price rather than lower priced units.

Financing: It’s getting a little easier to get condo hotel financing. There was a time when most banks and mortgage companies weren’t even familiar with the term condo hotels. They now know it and also recognize the viability of these properties. They are more accommodating in expediting these loans.

Contracts: Contracts that allow assignability have become rare. In the past, at some properties buyers could place a deposit on a unit in the pre-construction phase and then flip their unit prior to when they had to close. Developers now want to be sure that they don’t compete to sell their last few units with investors who purchased early at pre-construction prices and are now re-selling them at below the developers current prices.

Resales: Some condo hotel unit resales come on the market. Of course, this is to be expected. Some of the earliest buyers now want to move on to something or somewhere else. However, the resale market is still relatively small, and it’s hard to find a bargain.

Advice to New Buyers: How can buyers choose a condo hotel unit that will be a good investment? Its best if they can work with a real estate broker who specializes in condo hotels and can make them aware of all products on the market. Aside from that, they should look for the following elements:

Location: Real estate is all about location. Beachfront properties in South Florida have done exceptionally well in recent years. Their appreciation has been significant. If you prefer a property that is not on the ocean, it’s a good idea to select one in an area where you can expect to have business driven to your property, such as near a major convention center or in Downtown Miami near the financial district.

Franchise: It’s always safest to go with a major company, well-known internationally. Four Seasons, Hilton, Starwood, Rosewood, Setai and Trump are excellent examples. Ask yourself, would you likely stay in a Holiday Inn for $69 or the independent hotel across the street for $62? Many investors or hotel guests will pay a little more for the comfort level they get with a well-known, well-respected franchise.

Management Company: Compare the management companies and their rental sharing program. You will likely feel more comfortable investing your money in a condo hotel with an experienced, top-notch management company vs. an independent operator. Also, it’s worth noting that an established management company does worldwide marketing and likely has a state-of-the-art reservation system that will help ensure your unit is rented as much as possible.

For more information on condo hotels including listings of available properties, visit http://www.condohotelcenter.com.

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Joel Greene is the President of Condo Hotel Center located in Miami Florida, which specializes in the sale of condo hotels. Visit his information-packed web site, http://www.condohotelcenter.com., for more on condo hotels and to see condo hotel listings, photos and prices. You can also sign up for his free Property Alert newsletter to be notified when new properties come on the market.

A New Way to Own a Vacation Home – For the Select Few: Fractional ownership of vacation homes, also called private residence clubs, is a relatively new concept that allows you to enjoy four to 12 weeks of home ownership privileges per year at an upscale, luxury resort but at a fraction of the cost of whole ownership.

If you want to own an impressive second home complete with personalized services and located in an expensive resort area but cant quite justify the expense because youll only be using it a few weeks or months of the year, this type of real estate arrangement may appeal to you.

Amenities Galore

Most private residence clubs offer extensive amenities. These may include an extravagant clubhouse and spa, plus five-star hotel services, the kind you couldnt expect to have in a wholly-owned vacation home, high-end condo or timeshare.

Imagine this: You are going on vacation and you call ahead to the staff at your private residence club home. At your request, the staff shops for your groceries, dry-cleans your clothing, makes your restaurant reservations, heats your private splash pool, and places knick-knacks and favorite pictures of family members around your residence. You are met at the airport by a staff person who shuttles you to your home where a just-detailed Jaguar is sitting in your parking space for use at your disposal.

Get the picture? Private residence clubs are NOT your ordinary second home.

Outstanding Locations

Fractionals or residence clubs have sprung up in exclusive, world-class resort destinations worldwide. St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, Puerta Vallarta and Mexico are popular locations.

In the U.S., the first fractionals were in major ski areas out west, particularly Colorado where real estate was so costly that wholly-owned second homes were out of the question for most people. Eventually they spread to northeastern ski areas. Since then fractionals have begun appearing in golf-oriented communities like Hilton Head Island, South Carolina and popular beach states like Florida.

Some of the most popular fractionals can be found in Jupiter, FL; Aspen Highlands, Bachelor Gulch, and Aspen Snowmass, CO; Lake Tahoe, CA; and Whistler, British Columbia. Fractionals located in the U.S. usually offer good access to major airports that allows for easy transportation arrangements.

Management by Five-Star Companies

The key to the success of fractionals is their professional management. Most are operated by well-respected hospitality companies known worldwide for their world-class resorts. Among them are Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons, Starwood, Intrawest and Millennium, brands known for their five-star services and amenities.

Hassle-free Ownership

Part of the appeal of fractionals is that they are completely hassle free. In addition to having a staff for personalized service at your disposal, at a private residence club you never have to worry about repairs, maintenance or housekeeping. Everything is included in the price and annual fees and taken care of by the professional management company.

Appreciation Potential

To date there have been very few fractional resort developments. The demand is high. As a result, it is likely there will be substantial appreciation, rather than the depreciation that usually occurs with timeshares.

Real estate experts say that the outlook for investment appreciation appears excellent. You can expect at the very least an appreciation parity against other real estate in the resort area in which the fractional is located.

Prices

To buy a fractional, you pay a one-time purchase price and then a yearly upkeep fee that covers all of the expenses associated with property ownership and its use and services.

What do fractionals cost? Prices vary based on the size, amenities and location of the individual property. But most are in the $100,000-$500,000 range. Keep in mind that these are truly top-of-the-line homes that would cost you two to five times as much if purchased outright as wholly-owned vacation homes.

Comparison of Fractionals to Timeshares

How do fractionals compare with timeshares? They really dont. Fractionals are far more exclusive and include many more luxury amenities and services than timeshares. They tend to be larger homes, usually three to five bedrooms. Timeshares usually allow you use for just one to two weeks per year. Fractionals offer from two to 13 weeks, and those don’t necessarily have to be consecutive weeks. Pick the weeks you want.

With regard to financing, obtaining a bank or mortgage company loan on a timeshare is difficult. Rates are high, regardless of how good your credit. That’s because its a well-known fact that most timeshares depreciate over time. Conversely, banks and mortgage firms consider fractionals to be appreciating assets and will often treat them like any other second-home purchase.

Why do fractionals tend to appreciate while timeshares usually depreciate? There are a couple of reasons. With fractionals, more of the buyer’s dollar goes to high quality finishes and “bricks and mortar” vs. sales commissions which can be as high as 40%-50% with timeshares.

Furthermore, timeshare values have historically been poor because of the large number of resales on the market, not to mention a continuous stream of new developments. The fact is the secondary market for timeshares has never really developed.

Conversely, there are a limited number of fractionals on the market. Most likely, that number will stay small because fractionals are built in only the very best, most highly desirable locations. Therefore, demand outpaces supply and results in property appreciation.

Comparison of Fractionals to Condo Hotels

Fractionals (private residence clubs) differ from condo hotels in that you have a set amount of time when you can use your vacation home. Condo hotels are in fact, condos located within hotels. You can use your unit whenever you want, and place it in the rental program when not using it. Fractionals do not offer rental program participation.

Fractionals tend to be larger than most condo hotel units. Most fractionals offer three to five bedrooms, while most condo hotel units are studios, one bedrooms or two bedrooms. Currently, most condo hotels are located in Miami and other surrounding cities in South Florida. Fractionals are most prevalent on the West Coast, particularly in ski areas. However, both types of real estate are rapidly gaining popularity and soon there will likely be more of a supply across the country to meet the growing demand.

For more information on fractional ownership in private residence clubs and on condo hotels, including listings and photos of available properties, visit http://www.condohotelcenter.com.

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Joel Greene is the President of Condo Hotel Center located in Miami Florida which specializes in the sale of condo hotels and private residence clubs. Visit his information-packed web site, http://www.condohotelcenter.com, for more details on these unique real estate products and to see listings, photos and prices for condo hotels and private residence clubs. You can also sign up for his free Property Alert newsletter to be notified when new properties come on the market.

When you purchased your home, you most likely got a fixed interest rate mortgage with a 15 or 30 year term. These are the most popular mortgages in the industry. Even in the summer of 2004, when the interest-only or simple interest mortgage loans became popular, the average American stuck to the fixed rate. You see, the fixed rate offers security to conservative people, and the average American home buyer and home owner is a very conservative person.

Today, it’s time to ignore that conservative nature and throw out that fixed rate mortgage. If you have a home, no matter when you purchased or refinanced your mortgage, you now need to refinance your fixed interest rate mortgage to an adjustable rate mortgage.

Now, before you begin to panic and start calling me all kinds of unsavory names, read on, and you’ll see why an ARM is actually a cash goldmine, and you need to start panning for this gold immediately.

When I was originating loans fulltime, I could barely get the word ARM out of my mouth, before the customer would say, Oh no! I dont want an adjustable mortgage. Ive heard how the rates change and your payment skyrockets, and some people actually lose their homes. No, no, I dont want my rate to change. Of course, once I illustrated the thousands of dollars they would save in just a few years and quashed all of those myths about loan payments blowing up, most of them decided the ARM was not the devil loan its made out to be.

But why risk an adjustment of your rate, you may ask, when you can have it fixed for the life of the loan? The answer is twofold and quite simple. The first part is the most important, and that is the average American either sells or refinances his or her home in four to seven years. So, if the chances are that youll sell or refinance in five years, why fix your rate for 30 years at a higher interest than you can get on an ARM?

The second reason to get an Adjustable Rate Mortgage is because the interest rates are so much lower than fixed rates. And since these great rates are fixed for a particular period, five years on a 5-year ARM and three years on a 3-year ARM, there really is no risk, at all. Again, in most adjustable rate mortgage programs, the interest rate does not adjust monthly or yearly

(although programs with these types of adjustment periods do exist at much lower rates).

For example, as of publication of this article in 2004, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage was going for around 5.75%, and a 5-year Adjustable Rate Mortgage was going for about 4%. Suppose youre financing $100,000. The 30-year fixed rate of 5.75% would give you a monthly payment of $583.57 (not including your taxes and insurance, which vary from state to state and county to county). The same $100,000 financed at 4.0% interest yields a monthly payment of $477.42. The difference in these two payments is $106.15. This is $1,273.80 each year, and $6,369.00 for five years. I can hear you saying, Wow, thats hard to believe, but these are real numbers and real savings. You may be saying, Sure, but the rates change. This is true, but the difference in the fixed rate mortgages and the ARMs is almost always the same, regardless of what rates the market bears, so youll always save a ton of money in the difference in these two payments.

The numbers are even more staggering if you finance $150,000. The fixed rate payment is $875.36 and the 5-year ARM payment is $716.12 a monthly savings of $159.24 and over $9,500 for five years. If you buy or refinance a home and finance $200,000 or more, youll save between $13,000 and $15,000 over five years, with the 4% rate as opposed to the fixed rate of 5.75%.

Bank that money and you can buy a decent car for cash, or pay for a year of college, or take a European vacation. Pretty powerful stuff, huh? Now, if youre one of those people who is really into cutting into the term of your mortgage, and you can afford the higher fixed-rate payment, simply apply the difference back to the principal loan amount. Youll build equity in your home very quickly, and you’ll always have the option of paying the lower payment.

So, get your adjustable rate mortgage today, and start using your own personal goldmine.

Check out more great loan information now at Direct Lending Solutions

Here to stay and firmly established in the U.S. mortgage market, biweekly mortgage payments are gaining momentum. First introduced into the U.S. in the early 1980’s by several small Northeastern Banks, the idea of biweekly mortgages has its origins in Canada.

This concept soon became the popular choice nationally within less than a decade after it’s arrival placing the biweekly payment plan in the forefront of Canada’s mortgage industry around 1972 for several good reasons. Consider the following:

1. Most people are paid weekly or biweekly, therefore, it is reasonable to have as an option “biweekly mortgage payments”.

2. On a biweekly mortgage payment schedule, one half of a loan’s monthly payment is made and credited to the account holder every two weeks. This is equivalent to making 13 monthly payments instead of the usual 12 monthly payments reducing the loan’s payoff time.

3. Faster accumulation of equity build up of up to 300%, plus a reduction in interest owed on the loan due to your prepayment is the result of using a biweekly payment schedule; that’s without any increase to your monthly output. In other words, you’ll get more value per dollar and save thousands as well; as much as 25% to 30% in interest over the life of the loan.

Combine the benefits of a biweekly payment schedule with a union between an Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) mode of account servicing that is governed by Regulation “E” of the Federal Reserve to a plug into the internet and you will find a super-efficient, safe, consumer-friendly method of paying a monthly obligation that won’t take a huge bite from one paycheck. It doesn’t take nuclear physicists to understand why this type of arrangement is frequently referred to as the “Common Sense Mortgage”.

Now that there’s breathing room because money has been “freed-up” and also saved by using a service such as this, go on an excursion for some sunshine, sand and surf, have dinner at a five-star restaurant, or better still, invest in your financial future. It’s your money. Once you’ve tried this equity acceleration program (EAP) for yourself, you’ll realize its value.

With more available choices, creating enjoyable lifestyles and looking out for your family’s financial well being is easier today than it ever has been. The bad news is that time is not on you side with a standard monthly mortgage payment on a 30 year loan. As a matter of fact, you are not getting the most for your money. The good news is that help is here; the technology does exists giving consumers unparalleled conveniences plus an advantaged boost.

Better Business Bureau (BBB) member, Bridgeco Central (BCC) is a distributor and national service provider in the U.S. of the on-line resource the Mortgage Manager Hi-Tech Mortgage Payment Service. To obtain an application to apply for the biweekly payment service at no cost visit http://www.eMortgageManager.net. A password-protected mortgage-auditing program is also included at no cost to the consumer after 6 months of using the service.

Welcome to the 21st Century.

For the latest free reprint articles by B.F. Boggan email articles@eMortgageManager.net.