A New House Or Character House
A number of people like to think about buying a brand new house as their new home and some folks like to think of buying an older periodic character homes. Other than the character of a residence, have you considered the pros and cons of buying new against older properties.
When buying a new home it comes with a ten year NHBC certificate so there is more peace of mind. Where as an older property you have to be more careful if there are any faults. When buying an older place you will want to ensure that the structure of the Barbados Property is in good condition and is as expected for its age. When buying period houses, a specialist survey is best carried out by a good surveyor. This way you can determine what repairs may need doing before you move into the house. Another consideration is if you can move in while work is being done.
A Character home can be very rewarding to live in once finished, Some modern touches can be added to these types of homes to make them rather modern, whilst keeping their original features.
Brand new homes offer you the 10 year guarantee to cover any defects, although there are other factors to consider when buying a new home. The problem with the new houses is they may seem to lack in some character. Some of the modern properties tend to be smaller in dimensions to period properties and may feel a little claustrophobic. You may find the new build homes do not offer the same amount of build quality and finish as the period houses so beware of what you are getting before you part with your cash.
Problems can still arise even though you are covered by the NHBC guarantee and these can still prove to be an inconvenience. With any Deals You may not have a garden, TV or phone lines installed or even an aerial unless you have negotiated any of these with your developer.
You can see that there are pros and cons for each type of home you are looking to buy but one will suit you more than the other.
Discovering A Luxury Home In Belize
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Ever dream of owning an Island or a gorgeous Caribbean home? Belize may be the place you are looking for. Situated on the coast of the Caribbean, this little country has a rich culture, tropical climate and offers stunningly beautiful Belize real estate.
Ideal for United States citizens, since their official language is English, you can visit, buy a permanent or retirement retreat. Until 1981, Belize was a colony under the control of the British Empire, when the country became independent and joined the Commonwealth of Nations. Check out cardiff estate agents.
Buying Belize real estate is quite easy for foreigners. Especially since their laws are quite similar to the United States, and real estate laws are based on English law. The process is quite the same, find a piece of Belize real estate you desire, then, hire a real estate agent and a lawyer to execute the necessary paperwork, the same as in the United States.
Of course, maybe you are interested in more than just a piece of Belize real estate, Would an Island interest you? There are more than a few islands available for sale off the coast. One island found just off the coast of Belize is nearly 19 acres, and resplendent with coconut grooves and magnificent shorelines touching the Caribbean. This piece of elegant Belize real estate will set you back about .5 million US Dollars. If that is outside of your budget, another smaller island is also on the Belize real estate market at a mere 0,000 US dollars. Go to cardiff estate agents.
After you have found your dream island or home you can cruise over to one of Belize’s major national attractions, the Great Blue Hole, an underwater sinkhole located just off the coast. This natural wonder attracts thousands of tourists each year. Brought to national fame in 1971 by Jacques Coustea, it has become a Mecca for scuba divers and spelunkers the world over. Surrounding the Great Blue Hole is an amazing reef stretching for miles along the coast, approximately half of all tourists to Belize come to the Great Blue hole as their primary reason for visiting the country. Because it is part of the National Park, there are no Belize real estate parcels in close proximity.
The diverse culture of Belize includes Mayan settlers as early as the first millenium, the 1800s saw many Mexican and Spanish settlers arrive, veterans of the US Civil War came here in the late 1860s, while Asian descendents arrived in the early 1900s Central American immigrants (from the mid 1900s) and presently, peoples from all over the world come looking for a piece of Belize real estate. The country has become, ‘the Melting Pot’ of central America, as practically every ethnicity is represented there. Click for cardiff estate agency.
New Ideas For Creative Real Estate Investing
Years ago I watched a late-night television infomercial selling some course on creative real estate investing. As I recall, the author of the course suggested - among other things - that you could use your car for a down payment and get sellers to finance everything. You could also split a home into a duplex he said. He really did have a lot of creative ideas for investing, but it wasn’t clear that any of them had ever worked for him or if they were just ideas he had. For this article, then, I want to stick to true stories - creative techniques that have actually been used.
An investor I know used to buy run-down houses, fix them up and sell them for a profit. He was always looking for new ways to buy for less or add more value to a home. In a competitive market with many investors looking at the same properties he had to take creative real estate investing very seriously to find the opportunities.
One project that I helped him with was a bi-level home with two bedrooms. Like many homes of this type, the lower level was unfinished, a basement of sorts, but with larger windows than you normally get on a basement. Other investors had passed on the property because there wasn’t enough profit to be made cleaning it up and reselling it. My friend saw the potential of that lower level.
He chose a corner with a window and had two walls built. An outlet, a ten-by-ten-foot piece of carpeting, and a door completed the bedroom. Total cost: $1,500 or so (this was more than fifteen years ago). Now it was a three bedroom home. He made repairs and improved the landscaping, but that bedroom alone probably added $10,000 to the value of the house. Few investors at the time were thinking about adding bedrooms to homes, because they assumed that doing so was a $10,000 project. They didn’t notice that the corners of basements already had two walls, a floor and ceiling - most of a bedroom.
This same investor met his match with a small house that had no place to park a car. When he bought the property he assumed the city would approve paving what little front yard there was. They refused. Between the house and the neighbors fence there was about six feet of space. My friend tried to buy five feet of the neighbors property (promising to pay the cost of moving the fence as well) to create enough space for a narrow driveway. The neighbor refused. A home without a place to park in a town where it was illegal to park on the street at night was a tough sell. He managed to make a couple thousand dollars anyhow after cleaning up the house and wholesaling it to another investor.
The other investor found the solution. A month later I rode by and saw that he had actually removed the living room wall and moved it in four feet. Higher up it angled back out to the roof line. Sure enough, there was a car parked in the space created below. I’m not sure what the engineering challenges or costs were for this, but I do know that he sold the home for more than twice what he paid. That’s a great example of creative real estate investing.
Creativity At Every Step
Many books and articles on creative real estate investing focus on financing. That does seem to be the biggest challenge for many investors, but don’t limit your creativity to how to borrow. As the examples above show, you can also get creative in adding value to the investments you make. In fact, look for creative alternatives at every step.
For example, to save money selling a small piece of land, I skipped using a real estate agent in favor of just offering good terms. I got a higher price in that way too. And then I closed the deal sitting with the buyers in a restaurant (not recommended these days), to save the cost of a closing company.
A friend bought a home and soon after sold half the trees on it (they were too thick for his tastes) to a lumber company for several thousand dollars. It looked the same to me afterwards. It made me wonder if there were some opportunities around to buy land, sell the resources (another local sold the gravel that made up a hill on his land), and then sell the land for as much or more as the original purchase price.
To find properties you might train your kids to screen listings online for you. To help finance deals you might buy a smaller home to free up equity for investment. Offers can include services or things other than money as part of the down payment. Property uses can be changed to increase value (making a duplex into a single-family home sometimes makes it more valuable - or vice-versa). Creative real estate investing is definitely not limited to finding new financing options.