Umazon Blog

A newcomer to the world of investments in the notion of “Virtual Real Estate Investing“. Everything from using the internet as an avenue to make more money in real estate to online games such as SecondLife seem to be included in the popular definition of this term.

To get the facts, I sought out the man generally considered to be the father of virtual real estate investing: Bryan Ellis of BryanEllis.com.

When I began using the term virtual real estate investing in the late 1990s, I did so because I saw clear parallels between the strategies used for profiting from physical real estate and those that would create income in the online world, said Ellis.

An example of the similar nature of “virtual” and “physical” real estate Bryan Ellis likes to point out is the methods of making a profit from domain names compared to physical real estate. He points out that control of a domain name or even a specific web page is much like controlling a real estate property ” those assets can be monetized in similar ways: By selling them for a profit, by leasing them, by offering advertising, etc.

I must admit: Its easy to see the parallels. Consider this: If you own a piece of real estate in a desirable neighborhood, your real estate has value because other people are interested in that location. Likewise, if you own a desirable domain name, others will find value in it because it serves their purposes. 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.

No I’m not going to tell you to have coffee boiling away and bread a-baking in that homely oven, and soothing music drifting through the house. House buyers are not fooled by such things, they have come to carefully inspect your home, and if there are coffee fumes floating about or soothing music in their ears it isn’t going to make a hoot of difference. But some things might, things like these:

Firstly, pets must go! And I don’t just mean on the day of the viewing, I mean period, and the longer before the viewings begin the better. Dogs smell, cats smell, almost all pets smell, and just because you as the owner don’t notice it, you can take it from me the buyer will. The agent will too, and if they are worth their money they will tell you about it. Nothing puts off eager buyers more than the rancid smell of dead dog. This is a huge turnoff. So get ‘em out.

Secondly, de-clutter. You have probably heard this one a thousands times, but so many sellers don’t pay any heed to this sensible advice. Take a mantelpiece over the fireplace for example. Many sellers have the shelf weighed down with countless artefacts and ornaments of every kind, so much so that the viewer can’t see the wood for the trees. Get rid of them all, except perhaps your three best pieces and arrange them tastefully so they are shown off to their finest. The viewer can then see them and appreciate them, and indeed imagine their own fine things in that exact same space.

Three: ask a realistic price. If an identical or even better home is on the market up the road for 200,000, then why waste everyone’s time by trying to sell yours for 225,000? Yet many people do, and then harass the agent when they don’t make a quick sale. Could you sell Ford cars for 10% more than Ford does? Probably not, so why are the poor old Real Estate guys and gals expected to do precisely that? If you really want to sell your property, you have to compete, and that includes competing on price.

Fourth, sort out the yard or garden, the outside of your property. You will be amazed at how many people spend fortunes on the inside of their homes but hopelessly neglect the outside. Spend a few hundred on it if you have to, but smarten it up. Do some painting, cut the grass, buy some tubs and shrubs, make it look inviting, it will cost you so little to do, yet this outside improvement produces results time and time again. It really does. Trust me. The viewers will notice and you might well hook them. First impressions count for a heck of a lot.

Fifth and last, and this one might surprise you. Don’t be there! What? You heard me, don’t be there when the prospective buyer comes round. Why? Because the buyer can have a good mooch around accompanied by the Real Estate guys of course, but they will feel more relaxed if an over zealous owner isn’t there peering over their shoulder at every turn. The buyer will spend much longer in the property if you are not there, believe me, and they are more likely to ask the agent for more information, which is a very good sign that they are really interested.

When you go and look at property yourself, don’t you feel better if you can scout around without the owners there? Of course you do, and so does everyone else. Lock your best things away if you have any doubts about security, remove them from the house if need be, but get out of there on viewing day. Make the estate agent earn their fees, you pay them enough moolah after all, so have them earn their keep by conducting accompanied viewings themselves. And there is another reason to not be there too. What might that be? If you are in attendance, the buyer can ask you difficult questions face to face. Putting you on the spot, tricky ones too, such as, are the neighbours noisy? If they are, and you say “no”, in front of a witness, and they buy the house, and the neighbours really are noisy, (it could even be the main reason for you wanting to move out!), the new buyers could have a legal case against you for misrepresentation.

But if you are honest and say “yes”, the chances are that the prospective buyer will grin politely, and once outside walk away at a rate of knots, you won’t see them for dust. There are many other tricky questions the potential buyer might ask you too, but they can’t do that if you are not there. Selling a house can be a complicated business and the lawyers and agents should be handling these tricky questions, not inexperienced house sellers such as you might be. So take my advice, and get out of there on viewings day, and you will certainly improve your chances of selling your house faster.

Best of luck to you anyway in your quest to find that buyer, and remember, as my friend Michael is fond of saying, “there is a butt for every seat”, and if you act on these suggestions you will improve the chances of finding your perfect buyer, and perhaps sooner than you might think.

David Carter’s latest published work is SPLAM! Successful Property Letting And Management. Splam! Contains over 240 pages of hints and tips on how to start your own property business on a limited budget, and how to successfully let residential property. You can view actual extracts from the book at http://www.splam.co.uk and order a download or a hard copy at this site, or you can go direct to the publishers at http://www.lulu.com/dc. He also runs a holiday cottage website where you can access over 7,000 holiday cottages, apartments and villas worldwide at http://www.pebblebeachmedia.co.uk. Don’t you deserve a holiday? Well of course you do! You can contact David on any matter any time at supalife@aol.com

Ever dreamed of running away to live in the sun? Whereas people used to aspire to a second home in a seaside resort, thousands are now looking further afield to find their dream lifestyle.

It’s a seductive image - sunny weather, relatively cheap property, and with low-cost flights running several direct flights a day from the UK and easy to get to. You may want to retire to the Med, or you may want a holiday home with sunshine virtually guaranteed. Either way, the market in overseas property has gone ballistic in recent years and there are now dedicated companies to help you find your own Spanish casa.

Where To Go

The most popular destinations for Brits are in the south of Spain - the climate and easy access to the beach are great attractions, and many people have fallen in love with the Costas while on holiday. But there’s a lot more to Spain than the south - which some people might find too crowded or too hot in the summer months.

While the Atlantic coast is colder, you may want to consider the Balearic Islands or the Canaries. Some online estate agents specialise in a particular region. You should think about what you want when considering the location - town or country, how close to the coast you want, transport for getting to and from the property, whether there’s enough of an entertainment scene for you. If you are intending to retire to the property, will you want a city flat with nightclubs nearby, or a peaceful hideaway with no neighbours?

What To Look For

You have several choices - everything from buying a finca (a plot of land or a property with land in a rural location outside town, usually inland), to an ‘Urbanizacione’ - a housing estate, often with beach frontage. Buying a home to renovate is a popular dream, although it may actually be cheaper to have a new home built than to fix up an old one.

There’s been such a demand for property in Spain that in some areas people are buying houses ‘off-plan’ - or before they have been built. You can see plans or a show home, choose your location and have a say in the design of the house. This is often a cheaper way to buy, paying in instalments with an initial deposit. Villas are detached houses, built especially for holidaymakers. These are usually more expensive than other houses.

Over the last few years, many people squeezed into new homes
using adjustable rate mortgages. With interest rates going up,
you now need a new interest rate strategy

Adjustable Rate Mortgages - ARMs

Adjustable rate mortgages carry a bit of a gamble for home
owners. Essentially, you trade smaller interest rates and lower
initial payments on the gamble rates will not increase over
time. If rates stay low, you make out like a bandit. If rates
increase, you need to consider your options to avoid getting
stuck with a high interest rate loan and resulting cash flow
problems from increased monthly mortgage payments.

For the last three or four years, adjustable rate mortgages have
been offered with incredibly low interest rates. Many people
used these low, low, low rates to buy homes that would otherwise
be beyond their means. Starting in 2004, Federal Reserve
Chairman Alan Greenspan started making noises about increasing
money borrowing rates. He has followed through on these hints.
Although mortgage rates aren’t tied directly to the Federal
Reserve Bank, they are heavily influenced by it. As a result,
many people are now facing tight finances.

Avoid Rising Rates

There are really only two solutions for avoiding the increase in
interest rates on adjustable rate mortgages. The first strategy
is to immediately convert to a fixed rate mortgage product.
Fixed rates are still at historic lows when compared to rates
offered over the last 50 years. By flipping to a fixed rate, you
will be able to solidify your budget and finances since you will
know exactly what you have to pay each month. If rates decrease
in the future, you can always try to flip back to an adjustable
mortgage loan.

Unfortunately, some home owners are simply going to have to face
the fact they lost one the interest rate gamble. Typically, this
will occur when you realize you simply can’t afford to make the
monthly payments required by getting a fixed rate loan. In such
a situation, you are going to have to sell your home and
downsize. In most situations, it is better to do this now since
you’ve probably built up a sizeable chunk of equity over the
last few years and want to avoid a loss of that equity as the
market cools down. While this may sound like a disaster, it
really isn’t. Yes, you have to downsize, but you should still
have built up a chunk of equity.

Interest rates are going up whether you want to acknowledge it
or not. The time to deal with your adjustable rate mortgage is
now, not when you straining to make payments.