Property Market Analysis for 2012

As global economy is getting weaker and weaker everyday with tighter mortgage availability, experts have claimed that house prices will drop in the year 2012.

Real estate agencies are predicting a large drop in the property market in 2012. A 5% drop in the UK is anticipated by Knight Frank. On the other hand, Savills and Hampton International think that the price fall across U.K. will be around 2%. They are expecting that price will vary a lot from region to region. No matter what the number is, all agencies have the similar prediction that the price of real estate property will surely drop in 2012.

Due to the fluctuating nature, people are losing faith day by day in the housing business. The number of investors in real estate and homebuyers are decreasing day by day. This has leaded the property experts to believe that the number of houses bought in 2012 will shrink by a good margin. As the housing transaction lessens every month and mortgage finance rules becoming stricter, people will get less and less interested to invest in real estate or to buy more houses. “The key message is that the uncertainty over the economy – U.K. and indeed worldwide – and a poor outlook for jobs will make U.K. and European borrowers more nervous about taking on large debts,” stated Nigel Bedford of Largemortgageloans.com.

The eurozone sovereign debt crisis has put a wrinkle on the forehead of mortgage brokers. After the wholesale three month interbank lending rate increased from 0.83 cent in August to 1.05 cent is December, a lot of lenders increased their mortgage rates.

Experts brokers predict that lenders will keep increasing the lending rates until the euroze debt crisis in solved. They anticipate that mortgage lenders are going to lend less in the upcoming year. Council of Mortgage Lenders has estimated that gross lending will be £133 billion and net lending will be £5 billion in the upcoming year. On contrarily, gross lending was £138 billion and net lending was £9 billion in the year 2011.

The U.K. government has recently announced a new-build mortgage indemnity scheme which has given new homebuyers a tiny ray of hope. The rate of this new scheme is yet to be disclosed. First time buyers will face problems after March 24 because stamp duty on properties with the value of £250,000 or less will come to an end.

Savills predicted a 3% rise in rents in 2012 as private rented housing is expected to increase. They are expecting that 20% households will be renting by the year 2015-2016.  This is almost a 4% increase from the year 2009-2010.

Prime London real estate properties are forecasted to have a slower growth than 2011. Savills is expecting the growth to be 3% in the upcoming year, Knight Frank sees 5% and Hampton believes that the growth is going to be 4%.

The situation of mortgage finance is not going to change much in 2012 for wealthy borrowers as some private banks are planning to lend more than 2011. But borrowers will have to be involved in bigger financial transactions with the bank than ever before.

2012
01/10
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Business
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Sample article: Tips on Increasing Conversion Rate of an eCommerce site

People around the globe are getting more and more tech savvy. These days people prefer shopping from home rather than walking to a store. Having said that, online shopping is yet to reach its full potential. Survey shows that only 10% of the total visitors are intending to buy products from the online stores and only 2% of them are actually buying something.

The big question is – how to increase this conversation rate? Here are some tips to enhance your eCommerce site and to attain more conversions:

1. Make your website easy to understand

Develop the website in a soothing manner. Get right to the point. For instance, if someone wants to buy a cell phone, take him directly to the cell phone page. Check if all your buttons and pages are functional. If a customer finds flaw in the website, no matter how many products you have, they will never come back.

 2. Interact with the customers

Open a live chat in your website. Being a little more personal never hurts! When you see a potential customer spending some time looking for a product, knock him and assist him. Having some people with good marketing skills in the chat room section always helps persuading the customers to buy stuff.

 3. Availability

Availability in the chat room is vital. Your sales team needs to be available in the chat line all the time. If you go offline for two minutes, you may be losing five potential customers. So be there for your customers all the time.

4. Order fulfillment

Order fulfillment is one of the most important things in increasing conversion rate. Make sure you deliver the customer’s order in time and without any inconvenience. A hassle free delivery will surely make the conversion rate go higher.

Just make sure that customers’ expectations are fulfilled; they will automatically come back and buy more products.

5. Take your customers’ opinion

Keep a section in the website for customer feedback. Read what they say. It is going to make your website more users friendly. Of course you don’t have to listen to all the suggestions, just pay more attention to the most suggested ones.

Expectation fulfillment is the key. The more you fulfill customers’ expectation, more chances you create for the visitors to come back and buy your products.

2011
08/24
CATEGORY
Marketing
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Sample article: iPhone app review

The First Attempt rules! 

Saving the motherland or the earth for that matter from unexpected risks, terrorists and evil elements is not an option; it is a duty! And if you are a trained officer and mentally determined to flash out all terrorists from this earth, than it’s an obligation. The First Attempt is a game that allows you to counter terrorists and to finish them before they do much harm to our beloved earth.

The game plot is in 2014 and terrorism has struck at several places; ten to be exact. It is now the duty, or you might call it obligation, of the special trained soldier A.K.A ‘Moon’ to tackle the threats. He has to finish all ten missions to completely rout out the threats.

Once you are wearing the shoes or military boots for that matter of Moon, you will be deployed at hostile and antagonistic situations; aim is simple – kill all enemies and save the world! The ten missions offer varied environments covering jungles, buildings, regular warfare, live action in a train and firing while traveling at an aircraft. Sufficient weapons and ammunition is there so that you do not have to worry about little things; just do what you are best at – shoot the enemy before they shoot you!

The game is developed by WISH Studio, which is aTurkeybased prominent firm in the gaming world, fictionalized by co-op of Serkan ÇITAK and Gökhan BEDER in 2005. The firm is broadening its arms in the gaming world – developing games for iPhones and iPads being its recent venture. It uses Unreal Engine development kit for developing its games which makes the end-products amazing in designs; The First Attempt is no exception.

The First Attempt is developed on iOS Universal platform. Game’s size is 266.6 MB; suggesting that it has got a lot of details in every playing conditions. The graphics and textures of the game are quite attractive. If you like first person shooting games, than this is one game you will like to experience. Alongside with awesome graphics and nice textures, animations are also impressive and can be compared with only the best games available for iPhones or iPads.

To realize why the game is named The First Attempt, you need to complete all the missions. Ironically it was the first attempt of the company in developing an iPhone / iPad based game! And as the first attempt, the firm has done justice and the game is worth its price of $2.99. The game is full of entertainment. There are twists in it so gamers who want surprises often will find interesting situations popping up now and than. There is versatility in the missions which makes the gaming experience more interesting. Having said that, there are rooms for improvements – some animations can get more details, enemy A1 can be a little sharper and controls can be a bit better.

In a nutshell – you will not regret the purchase; the game is fun!

Published in OlderMacs

2011
07/15
CATEGORY
iPhone app review
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Sample article: Investing in property – Being Smart and Avoiding Silly Mistakes

There are some things investors need to be aware of before investing in a property. This article illustrates how investors can avoid common mistakes in property investments. Knowledge is a must for anybody involved in the field of investment property.

Here are some tips for you:

  • Purchasing investment property is like a sophisticated chase game or perhaps you can compare this with hardcore mountain climbing. Your moves have to be well thought, cautious and clever. You must explore the deals well before jumping into anything. The bottom line here…all deals deserve thorough research and understanding.
  • The top priority of your caution should be “due diligence”. People ignoring this issue get into trouble. You must also be taking enough time to fully complete your due diligence. If not, you could end up with a disaster when you ignore or show negligence in your due diligence.
  • Once you have done a few deals, sit tight and go back through the mistakes you have made and try to correct them before jumping back on the horse. You must also pay attention to other people’s case. This will save you a lot of future monetary pain.
  • There are a large number of people who realized too late, that they would better arrange an exit before they jumped into this investment gig. Unfortunately, people always get to learn this the tough way. Learning from these mistakes could cost you a fortune so prepare an exit strategy when you still have time. Speaking specific, you must retain special exit strategies for special situations in property investments.

Hope these tips and suggestions help!

Published in Ezine

2011
04/10
CATEGORY
Invesment
Real estate
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Sample article: Is the Environmental Protection Agency unconstitutional?

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is charged with protecting human health and the environment by enforcing environmental policy and regulations. Its primary responsibility is to setup and appraise national standards under a range of environmental laws and identifying hazardous situations. The agency also carries out voluntary pollution preclusion programs and energy conservation efforts for industries and government bodies. The agency has power to enforce fines and sanctions.

Though EPA is not a Cabinet department, its chief administrator enjoys a cabinet rank.

President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of the agency in 1970. After gaining Congressional approval, the EPA started operations in December 1970.

Who Runs the EPA?
The President nominates an administrator who then must be approved by Congress. Currently the agency has 18,000 full-time workers. The staff includes engineers, scientists, environmental protection specialists, legal experts, financial analysts and computer specialists.

Please note that the EPA is helmed by an appointed official, and not an elected official.  This is an important distinction, as the EPA gets away with lawmaking authority.

Is EPA unconstitutional?
The Constitution does not grant the federal government the authority to create laws regarding the environment.  But even if you accept that the authority to do so falls under the umbrella of regulating business, the EPA is not allowed to make its own laws.

EPA is unconstitutional, as the U.S. Constitution does not give agencies any legislative powers. Article I, Section 1 of the constitution states that – all legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of theUnited States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. As formation of the EPA was not initiated by the Congress, the legislative powers of the agency actually are being exercised by a group of unaccountable bureaucrats. The agency nevertheless is practicing legislative power insofar as they can create rules and then fine people and institutions for not adhering to the rules.  Such lawmaking authority is granted only to Congress.  Congress should not be allowed to outsource its lawmaking authority to an agency.

The EPA may soon determine the severity of fuel economy standards for the country’s auto industry, set climate policy, champion green energy, create carbon credits, etc.  Congress alone holds the power to regulate businesses in these ways, not the EPA.

Where in the Constitution

2011
04/08
CATEGORY
Law / constitutional
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Sample article: Investing in Long Island real estate – still a good option

If you are investing in real estate, you have to accept the basic premise that it is a long term investment. The US economy, regardless of the current recession, is the strongest in the world and real estate industry is its backbone. Therefore, one needs not to be a financial expert to realize that things will be better soon. For the people who want to invest in Long Island real estate, equations are even better. Let me tell you why……..

What is in there to smile about?
Many homeowners I come across these days look much stressed. Whenever I tell them, the price they expect by selling their home is not consistent with the price of that area and with other statistics; they start thinking of the worst immediately. For all the worried home owners, let me spell out the good indication – if you are going to sell the house at a lower price, you are going to buy a house at a cheaper price too (unless you are going to rent a house).

Some ground realities regarding Long Island real estate
Everyday, over fifty homes are sold in Long Island. This state means that things are still positive here. Secondly, the value of homes in this area has shown a jump of over 115% in last four years time. You can easily make out that Long Island is a prime real estate area from the fact that the prices of the homes in this area is double than the national average. I hope these three points gave you some hopes.

Most people fret over the 10% equity they are losing on the overall value of their house. But they do not to remember the 80% appreciation that their property has achieved in last 3 years! This gain is too big to be simply ignored, is not it? Families who bought homes last year and now trying to sell because of the financial crunch needs to think over as well. There is one another set of families who are unhappy are the families who took all of their money and used their home as an ATM machine by home equity loans or refinancing. But the thing is, the current economic downturn will eventually fade away and sun will shine again.

Hopes of sunshine……..
Even though the markets have not shown much movement recently and prices have dropped a little; but this is nothing compared to the 115% appreciation that the property price has seen in past few years. So my point is, there is no need to be a pessimist. The US government has already started taking care of the mess, people across the country are working even harder; so there is no doubt that the economy is shine in future. If you consider real estate investment as a long term investment, price of your house will again see a 100% appreciation, if not more, in five years time. So be optimistic.

2009
04/13
CATEGORY
Real estate
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Sample article: Weight lose – Great Taste to Trim Waist!

Who does not want to look good? Probably nobody. Everybody, regardless of age, desires to lose the extra fat from the body and wants to be fit. Actually, we do not need experts to tell us that the secret to a successful diet or a weight lose program is a combination of exercise and eating foods with low calories. But we are only humans – our body craves for bacon and not for tofu!

So, to balance things up, you should add flavor to your dishes without increasing the amount of calories too much. This will help in the cravings and will keep the diet at a tolerable level. Here are few tips for you that allow the presence of healthy menu on the table but keep the calories in check:

From the Fridge
•    Eating “naked” salad without dressing is downright torture. To lighten things up, you should dress it with fat-free buttermilk; this certainly will add flavors to the dish.  If store-bought variety does not bring up the taste you desire, there are a lot of free online recipes available that are just as good. Try it.

•    Do you miss bacon? Trade it in for the fake stuff!  Bacon bits (imitation) are made from vegetable protein, so it is the lesser of two evils.  It has got the much-loved smokey-flavor that you want in bacon.

•    Say goodbye to tartar sauce and say hello to bottled or fresh lemon juice.  Lemon juice will add zing to broiled or grilled fish and it is also a yummy salad topper for bland and boring greens. You will surely love the taste of lemon. The best thing about the lemon is, on one hand, it enriches the taste, and on the other hand, it cuts fat from your body!

•    Have meet butter buds in the menu. This thing is totally fat-free and delicious.  It tastes like real butter! Great for baked potatoes, veggies and even for popcorn. Try it!
In the Pantry
•    Trade in high-fat dressings, bread spreads and sauces for extra virgin olive oil.  EVOO, as Rachael Ray calls it, is the purest and fruitiest among several types of olive oils.  However, EVOO contains heart-healthy fats (14 grams of fat per tablespoon) so watch your servings and do not get carried away.

•    Flavored vinegars almost have zero fat in it so you better stock a lot of these.  These are a great addition to sauces, soup, dressings and other healthy recipes.

•    Not everyone can tolerate chili but some food lovers prefer eating spicy foods. Keep hot pepper sauce or minced hot peppers in the pantry at all times. It will add an extra flavor to the food but no extra calories!

•    Add nuts to everything – to salads, sauces, pasta and even to good old plain low-fat yogurt.  It will add flavor and texture without adding any fat. It is also good for the heart.

•    Use herbs and spices like basil, tarragon, curry, dill and rosemary to flavor and experiment with the recipes. Steer away from fattening enhancers like butter or cheese sauce. It won’t harm your slim diet.

•    Last but not the least, always use non-stick pan. It reduces the use of oil or butter in cooking and keeps the food healthy & fat free.

These tips may not promise 10 lbs off the scale pronto but these are tips on how to live healthy – not just temporary weight loss.  Remember, decreased input and increased output equals to weight loss.  Everybody knows this formula – but easier said than done!  These tips can help make healthy eating more tolerable and livable – eating great tasting and flavorful food while shedding off those unwanted inches.

Good luck!

2009
03/31
CATEGORY
Health (weight lose)
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Sample article: Globalization and the dominance of multinationals

Globalization has been catching eyes of everyone for much of the last 20 years or so though it has a considerable amount of history behind it; the export and investment booms of the 1860s in the US and in the early twentieth century in Europe are just two of many examples.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, there were only a few multinationals; nowadays, there are close to 75,000 of these companies worldwide, and they oversee more than 1,000,000 branches. This clearly means that businesses overcame the disadvantages of distance and the difficulties posed by political, geographic, economic, and cultural differences.

In the past, relations between nations were limited to diplomacy, war or their rulers’ conquests. This however does not focus on globalization. It is the extensive exports and imports in history, which began the stream of globalization.; individuals moving to different cultures, identities, languages and countries for trading purpose started the first steps to be precise. Immigrant workers and merchants are the classic examples of this movement. European era of discovery in the last years of the fifteenth century and advanced maritime navigation at that very time boosted the process.  Both were a result of the outward looking tendencies of Europe as the rulers of the more powerful nations, Spain and Portugal, competed with each other for power and territory; British joined in later. At that very time, Christopher Columbus and other explorers wanted to reach the East for spices, trade and power, and for Christendom to become more dominant than Islam.

By the seventeenth century, the Dutch were the key European nation in promoting trade and beginning the proto-globalization of Europe. The idea of industrialization that may be of particular relevance for today’s scenario began around 1770 that was truly a period of economic expansions. Trading companies, joint-stock companies, public banks, were taking places all around. Private corporations like the French, Dutch, English, and Swedish East India Company played a decisive role in globalization as well.

Adam Smith wrote in the Wealth of Nations about the difficulties faced by nations – “who have attempted to tax the revenue arising from stock may wander about from place to place, according as it can either buy cheap or sell dear.” In short, he focused on political ties. Without political ties, it is difficult if not impossible for businesses to grow in other territories.

The process of globalization is now more associated with new and unprecedented technologies such as international capital markets, supersonic travel, cable news, and the internet and just in time deliveries across a very large distance.  On the eve of World War I, a remarkably integrated global economy had materialized, driven by entrepreneurs and firms of that time. But in the subsequent thirty years, political and economic shocks progressively dismantled this first global economy. Multinationals started to focus more on national markets and they formed cartels as a way of controlling fluctuations. Reconstruction of the global economy began between the 1950s and the 1970s, but this development was slowed by the huge presence of the Communist bloc. By the 1980s, multinationals had become the driving force behind the global integration of capital and commodity markets. And now, two-fifths of world trade is intra-firm.

Over the course of the long history, multinationals have played a critical role in almost every economic endeavor, that is in the global search for raw materials and foodstuffs; in the international diffusion of manufacturing know-how, processes, and products; in the services (trading and shipping companies, banks, and utilities), where they facilitated the expansion of world trade and constructed the infrastructure of the global economy. The process will remain as long as market incentives will be there.

It is now not much to dream that in near future,if not already, multinationals will dominate over people who try to lead the world by sitting in the parliaments, senates and in the Security Council.

-Subhan Choudhury

-August 2007

2008
07/30
CATEGORY
Business
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Sample article: Myanmar – ‘Humanity’ and ‘Business’ are two separate issues


Despite global annoyance over Myanmar’s bloody crackdown on the Buddhist monks and dissents, multinational firms are still competing and racing to grab contracts on the country’s rich natural resources. This move by the multinationals is actually throwing an economic lifeline to the military regime which is otherwise facing a serious threat from the general people.

Multinational firms from the US, France, China, South Korea, Malaysia, India and Thailand are looking to exploit the energy resources of Myanmar. US based energy giant Chevron, French oil group Total and China’s top oil producer, China National Petroleum Corporation are among the companies giving much needed income to the Myanmar’s autocratic government. Currently, France’s Total and Malaysian Petroliam Nasional Bhd, pump gas from fields off Myanmar’s coast through a pipeline to Thailand, which takes 90 % of Myanmar’s total gas output. Recently, Indian Oil Minister Murli Deora was in Yangon, for signing contracts between Indian ONGC Videsh and Myanmar’s military rulers to explore three offshore blocks.

Altogether, nine foreign oil companies are involved in 16 oil and gas blocks of the country. These petroleum corporations offer economic support to the country’s repressive junta, and in some cases are complicit in human rights abuses. According to the US legal director of Earth Rights International, “They are funding the dictatorship”. “The oil and gas companies have been one of the major industries keeping the regime in power”. Co-coordinator of the Alternative ASEAN Network, Debbie Stothard said “All these profits go to the regime”. He added “these companies don’t care about human rights and what is going on in Yangon”.

Japan’s Nippon Oil Corp, South Korea’s Daewoo International, Malaysia’s state-run Petronas and two Indian power giants, Gail India and Oil and Natural Gas Corp, are also racing for new billion-dollar contracts. Japan’s Nippon Oil said, there would be no change in its Myanmar operations following the crackdown on demonstrations. It said that it sees the political situation and energy business as separate matters.

Last week, French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged his country’s businesses, including Total, to freeze their investments in the impoverished nation, which has been ruled by the military since 1962. Total has a 31% stake in Myanmar’s major Yadana project, which would carry gas from fields in the Andaman Sea to power plants in Thailand. Total has not yet made any public announcement on the issue.

One more time, these blood eating multinationals have proved that ‘Humanity’ and ‘Business’ are actually two separate issues.

- Subhan Choudhury

- July 2008

2008
07/30
CATEGORY
Politics
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Sample article: Things one should know about mortgages

Many homes that live up to your personal desire are likely to have a price tag that you cannot afford. However, you still can own the house. How? By obtaining a mortgage. Mortgage is a loan that you take from a lender while submitting a property that you own, as an assurance of repayment. If you repay the loan successfully, you get the property back; otherwise, it is kept by the lender as a form of repayment.

The monthly repayment of the loan usually consists of two major parts – the principal and the interest. The principal is the amount that the borrower takes, will be paid part by part each month and the interest is a charge that the lender takes for letting the borrower use their money. So, basically, the interest is an added cost that a borrower needs to pay to the lender.

Mortgage loans are usually of very high amounts and it is for this reason that the repayment time of the loan is usually quite long, such as fifteen or even thirty years. At the beginning stages of the repayment of the loan, a large portion of the amount usually comprises of interest and of far less principal. However, as the life of the mortgage gradually comes to an end, the interest that needs to be paid keeps decreasing and the amount of principal keeps increasing. This is because the interest is based on the amount pending to be paid back, which gradually decreases as the amount owed to the lender decreases.

However, in most cases, the monthly repayment amount is usually more than just the interest and the principal, it also consist of other amounts that a borrower needs to pay, such as taxes and insurance payment. During the repayment period, if the borrower fails to pay up at least twenty percent of the amount, the lender considers the loan as ‘risky’ and asks the borrower to pay up another amount known as the ‘escrow amount’ which is in turn used to pay for future tax and insurance payment. Hence, in the future, all a borrower needs to pay for is the interest and the principal, thus, making it easier to pay up.

Sometimes, when a borrower fails to pay up twenty percent of the amount, the lender also requires the borrower to pay another mount known as a ‘private insurance’. The amount is included only when the lender considers the loan to have become risky. However, the amount is not paid up all at one. The private insurance amount is divided up and added with principal, interest and other costs to get the total monthly amount that needs to be paid.

It is important to understand pros and cons of mortgage before attempting for one so that the borrowed money does not create a constant headache in the long run!

http://www.abcarticledirectory.com/Category/Mortgages/33

2008
07/30
CATEGORY
Financial
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