How to find the best home your money can buy?

There are many conclusive decisions that we all need to make in our lives. If you ask for my opinion, I think that buying a home is probably the most important of them all. For real estate investors, buying homes might become like a habit. However, for people who buy a home only once in a life time, they should make sure that they get the best home they can afford. If you are serious about finding a good home, then here are some tips to help you do so:

1- How are you going to pay?

In order for you to make sure that nothing exceeds your expectation, you definitely need to decide which method you're going to follow to pay for the house. Because I know that there will be only one option for most people (which is getting a housing loan), I won't actually talk about the ones who have the luxury of buying their homes from their own cash because I know that most of you will eventually go the housing loan route.

2- What's suitable for you?

In order for you to find the most suitable home for you, there are some considerations that you need to think of first. If you happen to have a family, then these considerations will grow bigger and bigger. Because you're the one responsible for your kids’ life quality, you need to make sure that you provide the healthiest environment you could afford to them. So if you have a family, the most appropriate question will actually be "what's suitable for them?"

3- Do your inspections:

Your only way to making sure that you get the best home for you and your family is by making sure that there is nothing seriously wrong with the property. My advice to you is hiring a professional home inspector who will check everything within the house to make sure that you get the best deal ever. When you make sure that you're not going to spend a fortune on fixes once you get the house, you can proceed with the sale safely.

4- Be a good negotiator:

Some people don't even bother thinking of this, but if you know what a house is really worth, you can bargain with the home seller to get it for the best price possible. You may already know this, but many home sellers increase their home value when they put it in the listing in order to land on a good price when negotiating with you. If you bring a good negotiator with you, you're going to make sure that you get the real value out of your future house.

Based on the article by Stephanie Moss.

Wellesly Residences (WR) Contruction Status as at 23/12/11

This is the very first image of the construction site where the preparation for the building works has commenced.

OVR Construction Status as at 23/12/11

These are the latest set of images taken from the outside of the building.

And for the first time, images showing the progress on the facilities floor.

Finally, images from the top of the building - the Sky Garden.

The view is breathtaking as well.

Improving the Real Estate Value of Your Home

Selling your home is a bittersweet affair. While you may be excited about moving to a new residence, your current abode has served as a place where many nice memories were made. You look back fondly on the days you threw parties, witnessed small children engage in food fights and a host of other events.

Over time you may have slackened off in maintaining your home, while Mother Nature subjected it to many harsh weathers. Physically, your home has changed and so has its real estate value. Now that you plan on selling it, it's time to spruce it up in order to attract a buyer as well as allow you to command a good price.

Here are several suggestions you can follow:

• Inspect each room for cracks, leaks and similar defects. Their severity will impact your home's real estate value, so document everything that you see on a notepad.

• Write down a solution for each defect. Does it need just a quick coat of paint? Is new plumbing the only answer? You won't be able to justify a high price tag if your home's defects require lots of professional intervention.

• Do minor repairs you can easily handle. If you have tools available at home, you should have no trouble performing repairs that don't require a professional's attention. Some examples are fixing leaky faucets, replacing light bulbs, and repainting your child's bubble gum pink bedroom wall into a neutral shade that's easier on the eyes, like beige or pale yellow. These little changes can still do wonders for real estate value.

• Organize your daily living staples into one or two cabinets. Then, keep the rest of the closets and cabinets in your home empty for potential buyers to inspect. When trying to sell your home, expect prospects to snoop around a bit to see how organized and well-maintained the house is. Chances are they will check every nook and cranny, down to the hinges. Giving them empty cabinets and closets to inspect will allow them to see the quality of your home while imagining how their own things would look stored inside them.

• Keep your refrigerator clean and presentable. You wouldn't want a prospect to catch a whiff of week-old Chinese takeaway or that unsealed tub of Caesar salad dressing sitting in your fridge as you open the door to proffer him a soda. There are people who judge others based on the cleanliness and contents of this particular appliance. Never give them the impression that you're a slacker.

Based on the article by Arvin Cubil Mejillano

Things to look for in a Profitable Rental Property

Are you planning to diversify your assets by taking advantage of the current dip in the prices of real estate properties? While rental property ownership is by no means a passive investment, it can actually provide you with an additional source of income but also profitable tax benefits. However, buying a property that you can rent out is the tricky part. A small mistake in this important stage might make you end up paying more than you initially intended. Here are a few tips that can help you make a sound buying decision.

The first step to investing in a rental property is to make sure that the property you bought can help you withstand fluctuations in its value. Whether you are working solo or with a real estate agent, you have to understand what the value price of a property constitutes. While you can try making low-ball offers until you finally get the deal you want, the best way to find great bargains is to act quickly once a potential target is in sight. To get a feel for the demand, you can also try to benchmark the rental price of comparable properties in the area.

In most communities, rental properties are usually treated as businesses rather than areas of residence. Usually, towns calculate occupancy by measuring the square footage of the unit so properties you consider four-bedroom homes may turn out to be only a two-bedroom home when rented. If you were asked to renovate the property you purchased, you should also remember that township-enforced renovations could be quite expensive. It is best to make sure that the property you purchased is in accordance with rental regulations in your area before trying to earn any income from it.

When investing in rental properties, you should also remember that it is more practical to buy those that are located near your primary residence. Absentee landlords usually resolve maintenance problems less quickly so they end up paying for bigger expenses. Even municipalities are not too fond of landlords who do not live close to properties they rent out so they usually face high fines and citations. It is best to buy a property that is no more than twenty minutes away from your primary residence so that you can remain available to local officials and tenants at all times.

The size of your property will greatly affect the rates of your tax so buying a land that is bigger than an acre is not really a wise move. Aside from the extra taxes it will cost you, you will also need to worry about bigger expenses when it comes to keeping it well maintained. Unless you are planning to build another rentable structure on the lot of your property, investing in a huge rental property will not be in your best interests. Remember, the value of rental homes is not directly proportional to its size in square footage.

These are only some of the most important things that you should keep in mind when buying a rental property. Once you have found a property that meets the aforementioned criteria, you can be sure that you will be earning lots of money from it for many years to come.

Based on the article by Shawn M Mac Gavin