Archive for the 'Real Estate + More' Category

Great Advice when Purchasing Property in Spain

Saturday, September 19th, 2009

Many UK and North European citizens are finding the idea of buying abroad more attractive and achievable. Because these properties offer a good level of capital growth, lower airfares and low European interest rates have made buying in countries like Spain more attractive. You will enjoy lots of sunshine and it’s just a short trip to Spain. purchasing in Spain may have gotten some bad press recently, but it can be safe if you follow some basic rules. The following is a fundamental guide for those interested in purchasing real estate in Spain:


  • A good rule of thumb is to make sure to have your finances arranged first when purchasing real estate in Spain.
    Use an expert in Spanish mortgages to help you. Your Spanish Mortgage are a good example

  • Seek out legal advice before signing any documents.

  • Set yourself a maximum budget and stick to it
  • Be ready in case deadlines are stretched.
  • Until you have the required funding, do not sign a contract to purchase anything.
  • Be prepared for the Spanish purchase process, which is different in Spain than in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.
  • Make sure you completely comprehend how taxes are incurred depending on the type of ownership status you choose If you don?t seek expertadvice

Before making any purchases in Spain, it would be advisable to first approach your lawyer with a series of questions to be answered. There have been many instances where international buyers have been unable to get the results they seek because they didn’t know what questions to ask. Before you sign on any dotted line, then, you should consider the following questions



  • Is the land that the purchase sits on registered as urbanized or rustic? What complications can come from purchasing land that is rustic.

  • What costs will have to be accounted for, including standard legal costs and tax costs?

  • Are licenses already in place, for instance property contracts or first liens of residency?

  • Is there be a ten year warranty on the building, if the building was constructed less than ten years ago?

  • Is this a result of a foreclosure or direct sale?

  • Will there be any under declaration in this purchase?

  • Be sure to ask what extra costs you might be liable for, such as taxes on capital gains, inheritance taxes or income tax.

  • Are there any unforeseen deposits to pay? At which stage of the transaction are they deemed nonrefundable?

  • What lawyer costs and other legal fees will need to be paid?

How to Choose Your Man and Van

Friday, July 17th, 2009

Finding the right man and van company can be very complicated and time wasting, the easiest way I found to do it (as many things are now days) was by using the internet. I used to walk down the street and see vans with man and van scribbled on the side and a phone number, but these are not the only type of man and van companies, there are professional and really trustworthy man and van companies with easy to use websites. The companies you’ll find on the internet are a world apart from the scruffy looking vans you’ll see on the streets of London, and will often be cheaper than hiring a removal company as they will provide you with more than one man, and you therefore pay for the extra labour charges. If your concerned about using a one man band don’t be, most people work better in isolated environments and it’s the same with men from man and van services, I found that he worked as hard as anyone else and cleared out my whole house in just a day, I was very happy with the level of service and will be using man and vans in the future.

Many Good Tips for Rebuilding Your Bathroom

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Here’s a couple of tips for remodeling a small bathroom. In my next article I’ll be talking about some kitchen remodeling.

It’s hard to work around a large sink and large vanity so you will likely want to avoid them. Because you don’t have a lot of space to deal with, you’ll want a little vanity. A different thought for the vanity is to try and get one that will fit in the corner of the bathroom. You can also find a pedestal sink which could free up even more such space.

A circle shower or a corner shower is my second thought. Many stand up showers will take up a lot of space, so getting a circle or corner shower will save space for a small bathroom remodeling. Some Other idea is to get a corner shower that is clear, not solid because this will bring the deception of delivering a big bathroom.

The third suggestion is to selecting the right colours and fashion. The main colors of the room should be easy colors but for the accents, you can go with darker colors. You should also keep to a more modern look for the fixtures and any furniture that you might need for your bathroom. Another great idea is to use mirrors because they add to the illusion of a larger space.

It is very difficult to remodel a small bathroom but hopefully these ideas have helped you.

Bryan Ellis’ thoughts on The Virtualization Of The Real Estate Industry

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

A newcomer to the world of investments in the notion of “Virtual Real Estate Investing“. There are many variations on what this term means, encompassing everything from using the internet to aid in real estate investing efforts to participating in online games such as SecondLife.

To find out the real story, I had a conversation with Bryan Ellis of BryanEllis.com, widely considered to be one of the originators of the concept of Virtual Real Estate Investing.

Ellis says he adopted the term “virtual real estate investing” sometime before Y2K after he realized that making money online is conceptually very similar to making money with physical real estate.

Bryan Ellis cites the similar strategies one can employe to make money from “virtual property” and “physical property” as a primary parallel of the two markets. “There’s a huge difference between a website and a piece of real estate, but the ways you can profit from them are similar: ‘flipping’, rental/leasing, advertising sales, etc…all of these apply to both markets” he states.

The similarities really are obvious. After all, if you own a valuable piece of real estate, it’s “valuable” because other people are interested in that specific piece of property. Similarly, ownership of a desirable domain name is valuable for the same reasons. So it doesn’t matter if you own physical real estate or virtual real estate – you’ll likely use similar strategies to turn them into money in your pocket.

In our next installment of this series on virtual real estate investing, Bryan Ellis will share the internet analogies to the physical concept of real estate development.

The PropertyIndex.com Company — the Intra National Real Estate Web Site

Friday, September 26th, 2008

Despite the fact that Property Index is seen as a young organization, they were incorporated only in March of 2007, they have quickly become experts. In actuality they are a very incomplex organization fully concentrated on catering to anyone who is contemplating to sell property across the world. What they affirm is to help you out uncover bang-on what’s desired very quickly and, to boot, unproblematically.

Property can be purchased in most parts of the world at present, one of the swankiest areas being estate you can purchase in Italy. It should really be dead easy to list some of the terrific real estate on the market in Italy, one argument for choosing properties here being a combination of the houses and apartments for sale and the tremendous chance to live right amid this enthusiastic and bubbly populace. It is one of the most fashionable areas at present, and considering the lovely landscape and sunshine surrounding you, how could you ever go wrong? Property in Italy is immersed in culture, art and history, this area of the world is and has always been home to a number of sophisticated nations.

Property Index is an online platform that gives buyers access to thousands of properties www.propertyindex.com. Property in Italy is currently booming so browse the range on offer at Property Index.

Only 25-30 years back you’d find a mere trickle of Englishmen who are looking for real estate in Italy. Just ask any one single person who has emigrated to Italy and they’ll confirm it. Quite a few people would descry it as a craze and others descry it as a near to an obsession… People that are keen on repairing to this region generally range from yuppies in search of an exciting challenge to seniors meaning to loosen up and enjoy themselves. Note that you may hit on a few predicaments when acquiring real estate abroad — there’s hundreds of differentiated, often conflicting, actions when strategising, visiting or signing up. If you only miss a single step it could easily give rise to wide-ranging predicaments and, preeminently, financial damage.

As can be assumed with this sought after area, real estate can be dear in this place and that is plainly owing to the great buyer demand. In spite of this the real estate buyer is pretty much spoiled in a part of the world so rich in pleasant countryside. Indeed it can offer the whole enchilada a buyer could crave and lots more.

Real Estate Investing: Family Feud with an Auction Deadline – Adventures in Probate/ Estate Purchase

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

One of our investor students told us of an interesting probate deal or “adventure” they’re working on now and while it’s a good story, it also illustrates lots of the ins and out of probate or estate issues and purchases.

The Seller (we’ll call him Scott) co-owned this house with his mom, and he co-signed on the loan with mom. Mom has been deceased for 3 years now.

Scott says his sister lives there and is not making the payments, so the mortgage is behind 6 months in payments, and he’s ready to sell the house. He said Mom left no will for her estate, but there are 6 other siblings. If that’s not enough of an investing adventure for you yetScott then tells us that the bank is threatening foreclosure.

They’re not just threatening….we discover that the house is scheduled to go to the courthouse steps in 3 weeks. Why would anyone even try to purchase a mess like this with a short timeframe? Well, Scott owes $33,000 + $5000 in back payments on a cosmetic, light fix-up $10k rehab house that’s worth about $140,000 when it’s all fixed up. So let’s do a little math to see if there’s just a wee bit of profit in it.

ARV $140k minus Rehab $10k minus BuySellHold $21k minus Profit $25k equals MAO $84k

So the max we could afford to offer on this house is $84k, and he has to have $38k to cover the mortgage and the back payments, say another $35k so that each Scott and every other sibling/heir gets $5k profit too. That’s a total of $73k, still leaving $11k EXTRA profit for the investor!! There IS big money to be made if you understand issues like these!

Now, how do we work through the estate stuff. Well first we (or Scott) would have to negotiate this price with all the siblings to reach agreement on their share. Next they’d all have to verify that “mom didn’t leave a will”. If so, Scott could petition the probate court to appoint him as Administrator of the estate and he’d have to run a notification of the estate ad, and get all the siblings to sign document agreeing to his being made Administrator. Now Scott could sign the Purchase Contract as “Scott, Administrator of the Estate of Momma”.

If the siblings said “no, Mom DID have a will”….then we’d spank Scott for fibbing, and see who was appointed as Executor of the estate in her will. That person would then have the court probate the will, and run an ad. Then the Executor would have to sign the Purchase contract as “[Name], Executor of the Estate of Momma”, and sell the house and distribute the profit to the sibling/heirs as described in mom’s will.

In the meantime, don’t forget the upcoming foreclosure auction either. It’s a race between the probating and the foreclosure to see who will hit the ‘finish line’ first. So the investor (she can say she’s a friend of Scott, just helping out) will need to talk to the lender or their foreclosing attorney, in order to stall the auction.

She’ll need to get a ’statement of account’ to find out what the loan balance is, and also what the back payments, penalties and attorney fees add up to. These additional fees could be paid by the investor as preparation for a subject-to purchase. The risk is that if there is no will AND the sibling/heirs couldn’t reach a quick agreement on price, she’d have to keep making monthly payments to the lender to prevent foreclosure but she wouldn’t yet own it until (hopefully) the siblings reach agreement and appoint Scott as Administrator.

I can hear you saying “but the investor could try for a short sale purchase direct from the lender, and not worry about all these siblings and probate issues”….problem is she can’t get all the borrowers (momma’s deceased) to sign all the short sale paperwork, and she doesn’t yet have the property successfully probated to have a new legal Adminstrator/Executor that could sign either.

So no one can yet legally sell, nor sign short sale paperwork until either estate is probated or the lender forecloses and takes back ownership of the property….the clock is ticking…we shall see.

Best of success & abundance,

Lou Castillo

Lou Castillo - EzineArticles Expert Author

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