Archive for July, 2011

The Perils Of Buying A Holiday Home

Buying a holiday home at the time seemed like a good idea; Lots of sun good food cheap flights and best of all no Christmas with the motherinlaw. We spent several months on the internet researching the market and narrowing down which part of the world we wanted our dream holiday home in. Pretty quickly all of the family agreed that it had to be Florida but not a typical rental home that we usually stayed in.

Two weeks later we had booked flights to Florida and we decided to make the holiday home search a holiday as well. We were armed with a list of houses and communities that we wanted to look at in and around the Orlando area. Orlando was the preferred choice due to it having good weather all year round a large international airport and all of the Theme Parks.

The Theme Parks were essential as they would always provide visitor numbers to Orlando and in theory keep up the price of the properties. The kids thought that they were essential for the rides!

We based ourselves south of Orlando in a rental home in a small gated community. It was maybe a little too far out but our enthusiasm for the task ahead quickly solved that problem. Armed with our dream wish list and the list of communities that we had already selected from the internet we began our holiday home search.

The first problem that we encountered was that all of the homes that we were looking at looked and felt the same. It was soon obvious that there were plenty of houses to choose from but they were all ‘much of a much’ feeling. We soon realized that a standard house with swimming pool would be great for a few weeks but that after a while the kids would get bored and then the moaning and bickering would start. We then altered our priorities and put a holiday home in a community lived in by Americans as our top priority.

The boys are keen golfers and they wanted a house on a golf course. My youngest daughter wanted plenty of swimming pools and slides and my wife wanted good restaurants. I wanted peace and quiet both from a surrounding point of view and also a non feuding family point of view!

We were then quickly able to eliminate most of the properties from our wish list and were left with only more place to look it. The place in question was called Reunion. It was thirty minutes away from Orlando International Airport a few minutes away form Disney and all the other theme parks and just off the I4. So far so good as it ticked all of the first lot of boxes.

When we drove into the site we had to enter through a manned gate house with a beautiful landscaped area around it with amazing flowers. Yet another box ticked as this would provide security for the children and give us peace of mind that the property would be safe when we were back in the U.K.

We soon discovered that the community had two golf courses and that a third one was nearing completion. This totally swung it for the boys who were immediately hooked. Mike the sales guy then took us up to the Water Park that was nearing completion. That was my daughter hooked and when he said that they would soon be opening a riding stables she was totally adamant that this was the place for her.

My wife loved the Club House and the beautiful swimming pool at Seven Eagles. It was now Mike’s turn to convince me and he did not let me down. The first house that Mike showed us we all fell in love with. It had five bedrooms balcony and its own swimming pool. Forty five minutes later I had filled in all of the paper work and left a deposit.

We then returned to the U.K and transferred the funds over completing on the house in a matter of weeks. Job done. Everybody happy. It went like clockwork and the best advice that I can give to anybody considering buying a holiday home abroad is to do all of your research before you go there and do not compromise.

About the writer:  Andrew Gibson is MD of Direct Holiday Bookings. It is one of the fastest growing on line travel websites. To see an example of why Direct Holiday Bookings is growing so rapidly have a look at Holiday Villas

The Panoramic Sicamous Real Estate

There may not be a more ideal location for retirement or vacationing than the Shuswap Lake region and Sicamous Real Estate has some of the most beautiful townhouses in the region.
The Monashee Mountains majestically cradle the Shuswap Lakes of Western British Columbia and perched at the tip of two of the finest lakes sits the township of Sicamous and fine Sicamous Real Estate. Each beautiful townhouse boasts easy access to two of the Shuswap Lakes including the township’s houseboats for which Sicamous Real Estate has become famous. Aside from that obvious tourist attraction water sports and boating on the lakes attract many tourists and retirees to Sicamous Real Estate.
Due to the desirable climate including distinct seasons and year round activities recent years have seen the economy of Sicamous thrive in the tourist industry and although the township barely passes 3000 full time residents the summer tourist season boosts the population to upwards of 15000. Sicamous Real Estate appeals the most to outdoor enthusiasts who may ply the lakes during the summer sled during the winter and explore the wild Monashee mountains any time during the year.
Even though the Sicamous township appeals to the tourist population the revenues of that very tourist trade means that Sicamous Real Estate maintains all the benefits of a fully functional city including basic services like water sewer education healthcare as well as effective police and fire protection. In fact Sicamous Real Estate is a gem desirable to many.
As one of the smaller townships and because its prosperity is fairly recent Sicamous Real Estate still sells at lower prices than most of the surrounding townships. In fact it’s only a matter of time before this market tightens up like real estate in other townships like this one along the Shuswap Lake Region.

About the writer:  To know more about Sicamous Real Estate in the Shuswap and Mara lakes region please visit Shuswapvillas.com.

The Onam Effect On Kochi Real Estate

The festive season of August to October sees maximum real estate activity in India. Kerala sets the trend with Onam and Diwali is usually the peak across the North and the West. In a year of slowing down of property markets across the country largely due to rising interest rates and escalating values the market was watching the Kerala Onam season with bated breath to see if the festive season would actually bring cheer to the real estate industry as well.

Take the case of Kochi Real Estate. A port town with huge unmet real estate requirement demand exceeds availability at the prime locations. As in all Indian cities Kochi too is witnessing suburban development towards Kakkanad in the eastern end of the city. Capital values for residential apartments have shown a rise of about Rs 300/ sq ft over the last couple of months. Plot values currently hover at about Rs 7100/Sq.Yard Source: MagicBricks. However even more significant than the marginal rise in values is the fact that a very large number of transactions took place during the festive period.

Kochi broker George revealed that “Kakkanad a hilly village is fast becoming a new city hub mostsoughtafter location in Kochi… The Onam festival being a period of considered auspicious by the people saw a large number of transactions”. This has led developers and brokers to expect that people are looking forward to invest in real estate big time. Another Kochi broker Srinivasan analyses the trend further. “Similar to Diwali Onam also brings in special offers and schemes like discounts and easy home loans for the buyers”. The special schemes lure the customers to invest in the property and also “since the period is considered propitious people generally prefer to buy during this period”.

The commercial as well as residential properties in Kochi are witnessing immense real estate activity. There are two ways of deciding on your real estate purchases in Kochi the yield on your investment or the affordability of premium property. The yield is slightly higher in the commercial sector and in the residential sector waterfront properties sell well and command premium prices. The Onam cheer is clearly being extended in Kochi real estate the property market continues its northward march.

About the writer:  George Gonigal provides you the best and latest info on India Real Estate. If you want to Buy Apartment in Kochi george gonigal suggest you that you visit magicbricks.com