Real Estate Real Estate

CNN/Money: Real Estate Web CNN/Money Home News Markets Technology Commentary Personal Finance Autos Real Estate Real Estate MONEY GALLERY Living la bonne vie Buying a home in the French countryside is a dream worth exploring. See 7 homes on the market now. ( more ) Video California housing market UCLA group predicts that real estate will slow, but state won't succumb to recession. CNN's Andy Serwer reports. ( more ) How to buy and build on rural land Dreaming of the perfect country getaway? Here's how to be sure you don't get taken. ( more ) Most overvalued housing markets Latest analysis of 299 markets: See how your hometown ranks. ( more ) When booms go bust... Home prices can and do go down. Here's what declines have looked like in the past. ( more ) Forecast: 100 markets Help with the loan hunt Most profitable renovations Some home improvements can recoup a lot, even all, of their costs. ( more ) MORTGAGE UPDATE 30-year mortgage: lowest in 2 months Dec 29: 11:14a Rates edge lower in the latest week but remain up considerably from a year earlier. ( more ) RATE SEARCH No points only 15 Year Fixed conforming - $165,000 15 Year Fixed jumbo - $385,000 30 Year Fixed conforming - $165,000 30 Year Fixed jumbo - $385,000 1 Year ARM conforming - $165,000 1 Year ARM jumbo - $385,000 3/1 Year ARM conforming - $165,000 3/1 Year ARM jumbo - $385,000 5/1 Year ARM conforming - $165,000 5/1 Year ARM jumbo - $385,000 7/1 Year ARM conforming - $165,000 7/1 Year ARM jumbo - $385,000 Select State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana North Carolina North Dakota Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington DC West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming ESSENTIALS Money 101: Buying a home Top things to know The hunt Are you ready? Closing the deal Lining up cash For sellers only Picking a team Glossary MORE ESSENTIALS: Choosing the best mortgage Take a bite out of closing costs How to make your home sellable MONEY LIST Latest home prices: 147 markets tracked Third quarter numbers are in for nearly 147 markets. How does your home town stack up? ( more ) Market Growth 1. Phoenix, AZ 55.2% 2. Orlando, FL 44.8% 3. Fort Myers, FL 42.5% 4. Tuscon, AZ 34.7% 5. Daytona, FL 33.8% MORE LISTS: Million-dollar markets Most expensive markets CALCULATORS Renovation Wizard Compare cost of living How much house can you afford? Money Magazine -- Try an issue of MONEY FREE! Subscribe and SAVE! REAL ESTATE ARCHIVE Dec 29: 10:46a Home sales fall, inventories jump Dec 28: 7:22a Mortgage applications at 3-1/2 year low Dec 27: 2:04p 1 BR @ Plaza, no park view: $2M Dec 19: 11:59a Is it time to cash out? Dec 22: 12:37p Fastest-growing states Dec 19: 9:22a Neighbors behaving badly Dec 23: 11:58a New home sales tumble 11 percent Dec 21: 6:29a The boom that won't die Dec 20: 2:39p Feds fret over innovative mortgages Dec 14: 3:50p Least affordable rental markets Dec 19: 3:49p Protect your home in 2006 Dec 12: 2:47p Take this home market...and love it Dec 13: 11:15a Double jeopardy for landlords Dec 8: 2:01p There go 800,000 jobs out the door Dec 7: 1:13p Real estate investors bailing out? Dec 9: 3:02p Overvalued housing markets decline Dec 8: 4:37p 'Take this house and shove it' Dec 1: 4:02p Help with the loan hunt Dec 1: 12:34p Home prices rise but pace slows More »» CNN Money contact us | subscribe to Money magazine advertising -- | site map | glossary | RSS | press room OTHER NEWS: CNN | SI | Fortune | Business 2.0 | Time © 2005 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms under which this service is provided to you. privacy policy Reprints of site stories are available.

Land for sale in

Land for Sale - Plots for Sale - Land for Sale UK from PropertySpy Home Land for Sale Land Portfolio Investing in Land TV Adverts Land News About Us Contact Us Land for sale in Saunderton I would like to view details of land for sale in UK TITLE Mr Mrs Ms Miss Dr FIRST NAME SURNAME EMAIL MOBILE HOUSE NO POSTCODE NOTES Are you interested in: Land investment or: Self-build The information is solely for the use of PropertySpy and will not be passed on to any third party. To browse our plots of Land for sale UK, please give your details. We will immediately e-mail you the particulars. If you would rather speak directly to one of our Team please telephone: 0845 1 244 277 Local call rates apply The PropertySpy Plc Group specialises in Land for sale in England. The Group is run by an experienced property team. PropertySpy listens carefully to customer needs and searches England for Land for sale of all types. These Plots of Land are then offered to you. Saunderton NEW! Our site is a few minutes walk from Saunderton Station offering a regular peak time service to London Marylebone and Birmingham Snow Hill. Lacey Green NEW! Lacey Green has largely become a residential village, from which most working members of the population commute to other destinations. We have a wide variety of land to choose from, with over 30 sites in 14 counties . Our sites are in prime locations, next to existing development with good rail and road links, and close to local amenities. For online particulars of the freehold land for sale in our portfolio, please register using the form on the right and we will immediately email you details. Alternatively, if you are looking for a plot for sale in a particular area, then call our Land sales team on 0845 1 244 277. It is widely reported that the price of freehold land for sale in the UK has increased significantly in recent years. Rural land prices rose by 30% in 2004 (RICS) and residential land prices have increased a staggering 8-fold over the past 20 years (Halifax). With these statistics it is hardly surprising plots for sale of greenbelt land are seen as a viable alternative to more traditional investments. Investors are snapping up land for sale that is available. A report from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors recently concluded, "More and more people are being turned on by land as an investment vehicle. These are not just downshifting city slickers but also those looking for a viable investment alternative to bricks and mortar or the stock market." Investing in PropertySpy Land has the advantage that there is currently neither VAT nor Stamp Duty to pay on your investment. In addition there are no rates to pay whilst the land remains undeveloped. There are solid benefits to buying land for sale. Land is a tangible asset - it's real and its supply is limited. The demand for land for sale, particularly in the Southeast, is soaring because of the chronic housing shortage. Large profits can be made from buying greenfield land, which then obtains planning permission. Planning permission, however, cannot be guaranteed on land. But such are the gains from buying this type of land for sale that the Government commissioned Barker Report concluded, "landowners and developers typically make windfall gains as a result of residential planning permission being granted, especially where this is on greenfield sites. These windfall or development gains result from the increase in land values, as land for housing is worth up to 300 times more than agricultural land." Prices of our plots for sale start at just £10,000. Plot sizes vary from an eighth to a quarter of an acre, which is sufficient to build a detached 3 or 4 bedroom family sized home subject to planning permission. So if you are looking for an investment, why not consider buying land for sale? You can contact PropertySpy direct on 0845 1 244 277 to discuss your interest in land. Please note that planning permission cannot be guaranteed. Top of Page - Print this Page - Contact Us - Home © PropertySpy Plc 2000 - 2005 Chaucer House, 4-6 Upper Marlborough Road, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 3UR Telephone: 0845 1 244 277 Free DVD Offer NEW! Land Under £10,000 Flexi Plot Implementing Planning LandSpy Newsletter Value Plus Service Development Gains Land Purchasing Why use a Solicitor Land Buying Department Marking Your Plot Financial Advice Tax Information Land FAQ The greatest pressure on land is in the South East, the very region where help with affordability is most needed and where the average single plot costs 123,000... Evening Standard, 09/12/2005 Planners will be forced to allow the building of a third more new homes every year, with the building taking place in the parts of the country where house prices are the highest, the Government said yesterday... Daily Telegraph, 06/12/2005 The boss of Britain's biggest housebuilder wants 'scruffy' parts of the Green Belt torn up for housebuilding... Evening Standard, 29/11/2005

Investment Property

Investment Property Databank IPD Home About IPD Portfolio Analysis Services Events Indices and Market Information Indices for Derivatives Online Services -- Home Company Overview Directors IPD Measurement Methods Locations Sponsors IPD Links IPD Awards FAQs Press Releases Contact Us Jobs at IPD IPD Frequently Asked Questions Q: Who is IPD? Q: What countries do you cover? Q: What is the company structure? Q: What does IPD do? Q: What services does IPD offer? Q: What is OPD? Q: Who are the IPD's main clients? Q: How do the clients use IPD information? Q: What do you gain from using IPD? Q: How do I join IPD? Q: What type of information is required to join IPD? Q: How do you start a new country service? Q: Who is IPD? A: IPD is an independent research company, who employs over 100 graduates to provide investors, occupiers, advisors and researchers with objective, reliable property benchmarks and indices. back Q: What countries do you cover? A: We cover a growing range of countries. At present we have databanks in the UK, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and USA. back Q: What is the company structure? A: IPD’s Head Office is based in London, UK with subsidiaries in Paris, France (IPD France) , Johannesburg, South Africa (IPD South Africa) and Sweden (IPD Norden). In other countries we work with local partners who are established within their particular country to provide a regional contact in the national language. back Q: What does IPD do? A: IPD produces high quality reports and results which are used around the world by investors, occupiers, advisors, lenders, analysts and researchers. These consist of : • Portfolio analysis on commercial property investment funds. This gives fund managers and investors fair benchmarks for total returns, plus a full evaluation of investment strategy and portfolio quality. • Indices and market information to give the definitive statement for property returns in each country and each city. This provides a consistent basis for comparison with other assets, and for research that informs investment decisions from international portfolio allocation down to individual building selection. Annual indices are free and can be downloaded from this site. Other publications are various prices and come in the from of an annual subscription. Please email marketing@ipdglobal.com" marketing@ipdglobal.com for more information or call +44 (0)20 7643 9246. back Q: What services does IPD offer? A: • Portfolio analysis (PAS) & benchmarking • Market information and publications • D-PAS – (Desktop-PAS). Available for PAS clients this software can be used to analyse the performance and characteristics of the portfolios and benchmarks from your own PC, with exclusive access to figures not available in the report. • IPD Online - Available for PAS clients, this is a secure delivery mechanism giving secure access to report publications. • Research - Publications and custom data. • TICCS - Tenants, Income, Credit Rating & Covenant Strength - adds business information to Dun & Bradstreet on each tenant, to give investors unique benchmarks of portfolio income quality and the covenant strength of individual tenants. • Management Cost Survey - the only source of comprehensive benchmarks for overall costs of portfolio management, the eficiency of in-house management teams and charging rates of external providers. • Remuneration Service – This offers independent design advice to instruct lawyers, help with selection of appropriate benchmarks and targets, ability to model historic or potential out-turn of proposed schemes and authoritative advice on all technical aspects of performance measurement. • IPD Events - These include conferences , training and briefings. back Q: What is OPD? A: IPD Occupiers Property Databank is the market leader in its field of performance measurement for occupiers, with clients from a long list of FTSE 100 and multinational companies. The Databank contains a building-by-building record of complete estates showing total occupational costs, building utilisation, facilities and estate management overheads to give owners a thorough profile and comparative management tool. OPD also runs a Facilities Management benchmarking group, a Workplace Productivity Appraisal and publishes the International Total Occupancy Cost Code. To see OPD's website go to www.opd.co.uk. back Q: Who are IPD's main clients? A: IPD’s clients are mainly Pension and Life Fund companies. IPD has over 300 UK clients, internationally over 200 clients. OPD has approximately 60 clients. back Q: How do the clients use IPD information? A: Property owners need an industry standard yardstick against which they can compare the returns they achieve on their investments and evaluate their performance. The IPD annual database is the most reliable benchmark of direct property performance in the UK. It comprises 11,000 properties (with a total value of over €170bn at December 2004), equivalent to 45% of the total property assets of UK Institutions and listed property companies. back Q: What do you gain from using IPD? A: • An independent audit of investment returns, calculated on an industry standard basis • A benchmarking service which gives owners an objective measure of their performance against relevant yardsticks • Systematic analysis of the sources of above- or below-average performance • A powerful internal management tool to help to set agendas, monitor progress against targets, and to guide strategy, stock selection and active management decisions • Results in electronic form to permit further internal analysis. back Q: How do I join IPD? A: Please contact claire.herd@ipdindex.co.uk or call +44 (0)20 7643 9217 to join or for more information. back Q: What type of information is required to join IPD? A: To participate in the Portfolio Analysis Service you will need to provide: • A series of annual Open Market capital values, carried out to standard RICS Red Book specification, property level rent passing and open market rental value. • A schedule of tenant leases as at the most recent valuation date, including tenant level rent passing and market rental value. • Annual capital expenditure amounts, preferably timed to the month or quarter. • Completion dates of transactions, with gross and net purchase and sale prices. • Property management costs. • Other non-recoverable revenue expenditure (vacant rates, non-recoverable maintenance costs, bad debts etc). back Q: How do you start a new country service? A:IPD systems can be established in any country where property investors are committed to understanding the financial performance of their holdings. This commitment can then ensure that the essential building blocks of the IPD databank are in place: • Valuations: In the property market where transactions are few, appraisals of market value are needed to form the capital basis of the return calculation. If necessary, IPD will work with local bodies to develop valuation standards to performance measurement. • Participation: IPD databases require a critical mass to build adequate samples of properties to cover complex national markets. Typically investors holding at least 20% of the investment market are required to form the core of the new system. • Definitions: Nationally accepted and appropriate data definitions must be agreed to ensure the compatibility between investors while maintaining the application of international principals. How will the system be established? • Promotion: IPD will work within the market, most likely in collaboration with a local partner, to identify and secure the critical mass of participating investor organisations. • Development: The databank will be constructed by IPD in collaboration with participating investors to ensure that market characteristics are reflected and their reporting needs are met. • Data Testing: IPD will analyse the data initially submitted to ensure its quality is sufficient to support the benchmarks and market indices. Improvements will be proposed and verified before full products and services are available. 1 St. John's Lane London EC1M 4BL Tel: +44 (0)20 7336 9200 Fax: +44 (0)20 7336 9399 Privacy Policy | © 2005 IPD Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Home | About IPD | Portfolio Analysis Service | Events | Indices and Market Information | Indices for Derivatives | OPD Designed by Webrepro

Selling Home

MSN Money - 6 reasons your home isn't selling MSN Home Hotmail My MSN Sign In Money S earch MSN Money: Help Home News Banking Investing Planning Taxes My Money Portfolio Loans Insurance Banking Home My Accounts Bill Pay Mortgages/Loans Services Credit Reports Financial Tools Track your bills Resources Decision Centers Home Buying Guide Home Financing Your Credit Rating Financial Privacy Better Banking Credit Card Smarts Bankruptcy Guide Commentary Index Related Links Manage Debt More on Budgeting Print-friendly version Send this to a friend Tap your home for extra cash Mortgage rates in your area Your credit score in seconds Home mortgage FAQs Find It! Article Index Finance Q&A Tools Index Site Map Recent articles by Bankrate.com: • Will I lose my frequent-flier miles? , 10/6/2005 • Should you insure your airline tickets? , 9/26/2005 • 10 after-the-disaster do's and don'ts , 9/21/2005 More... Related Articles Speed your home sale with these fast fix-ups The hidden financial truth about remodeling Smart -- and stupid -- ways to pay for your remodel The Basics 6 reasons your home isn't selling advertisement So, you're in agony because your home has languished on the market week after week. Here are some culprits that may be keeping buyers away in droves. By Bankrate.com Has your lawn grown up around that "For Sale" sign? Have the wasps moved into the lock box on your front door? Did you just receive an invitation to your real estate agent's retirement party? If so, chances are your home sale fizzled. Here are the six most-common reasons why homes don't sell and what you can do about it. Your home is overpriced Optimistic home sellers love to parrot the old adage, "There's a buyer for every home." But they often leave off the qualifier: "at the buyer's price." Find a loan that's right for you at the Loan Center The fact is that buyers, not sellers, ultimately determine the market value of a home. You can ask for the moon and set your listing price well above comparable properties in your neighborhood, but at some point it will be up to you, the seller, to accept what the buyer thinks your home is worth. Overpricing is the most common reason homes don't sell. When you ask an unrealistic price, it sets in motion a process that often works against you. Here's why: Most real estate agents, and hence most qualified buyers, will see your new listing within 30 days. If it is overpriced by as little as 5%, it will be duly noted and interest in your property will wane, especially if you show no intention of coming off your asking price. You likely already priced out buyers who might have qualified for financing at a more reasonable price. Even if you manage to find a buyer at your inflated asking price, the property may not appraise at that figure and the financing will fall apart. Your real estate agent may have approved or even suggested the inflated asking price to secure your listing. Conversely, other agents often use overpriced properties like yours to help sell their own listings. ("Here's what they are asking. Now would you like to take a second look at that first house I showed you?") "If you have a house that really should be priced at $200,000 and you've got it listed at $260,000, you are trying to compete against homes that really are worth close to $300,000 and all of a sudden your home really is not competing well," says Jeri Fisher of Jeri Fisher Real Estate in Missoula, Mont. "You want to compete with what is available out there among homes similar to yours." If your home remains on the market for too long, agents and buyers may begin to wonder if there are other, perhaps more serious reasons why it isn't selling. "It becomes shopworn, the same as a jacket hanging in the store week after week," says Fisher. "People are aware that it has been on the market a long time and agents stop showing it." Your home doesn't 'show' well Your home is competing against shiny new houses in those pristine subdivisions out in the suburbs with their attractive prices, incentives and community amenities. Face it: Even the best old house needs a little makeover if it hopes to attract a qualified buyer. The good news is most of the work will be cosmetic and relatively inexpensive: a new coat of paint, a few attractive window boxes, a thorough cleaning of floors and carpets. Voila! The place may look good enough to reconsider. A good real estate agent can advise you on where your time and money are best spent. "Price and condition are two things that the seller can do something about," says Fisher. "I always give people my 'honey-do' list. I think paint is probably a seller's best friend because it makes things smell fresh and look fresh. If it's time to paint, it's time to paint. It's the best return on investment." You're in a bad location Nothing has a greater effect on your home's value than its location. Your humble abode might be worth a king's ransom were it located in Palm Beach, Aspen or San Francisco. It might even jump thousands in value just two streets over in the next (and far superior) school district. "If you're in one of the higher-ranked schools around here, you're going to add $50,000 to $100,000 to the price of the same house," says Lenn Harley, a broker with Homefinders.com Inc. in Maryland and Virginia. The point is, location rules in real estate. If your home's location is less than desirable, your options are somewhat limited. A good real estate agent will do his best to help you accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative of your circumstances, say by using foliage to screen off offensive adjoining properties or dampen traffic noise. The best way to compensate for a poor location is to reduce your asking price or offer attractive incentives such as seller financing or a lease option with rent credit. You have a lousy listing agent Yep, they exist: Real estate agents who mislead, misfire and misbehave. Their bad advice can cost you plenty in time, money and the sheer hassle of keeping the place show-ready 24/7. The agent from hell will allow you to overprice your home ("Here's what I can get for you if you list with me!"), not market it properly, fail to screen for qualified buyers, be unresponsive to interest from other agents (if they sell their own listing, they don't have to split the commission) and keep you totally in the dark throughout the process. What's more, if your agent is abrasive, arrogant or otherwise difficult to work with, other agents may not want the hassle of showing any of their listings to prospective buyers. You are battling competition or market conditions We've all heard the terms "buyer's market" and "seller's market." In real estate, market conditions are affected by any number of external forces, some of them predictable (the weather, sort of), some of them unpredictable (the local economy, interest rates, public optimism or pessimism). In a "hot" or seller's market, homes go fast. Inventory (homes on the market) may be low, meaning less competition for you. Chances are better that you will get your asking price in a hot market; in fact, it is not uncommon to even be offered more than your listing price. But in a "flat," "cold" or buyer's market, sales slow to a trickle, inventories grow and buyers can find bargains, especially when they know the seller is motivated (i.e., paying on two mortgages). If you're trying to sell in a flat market, you're not only competing against all that vacant new construction, but against rentals as well. In this case, be prepared to settle for less than top dollar, or wait to sell until the pendulum swings once again in your favor. You have ineffective marketing Gone are the days when an agent could simply place your listing with the local multiple listing service, hold a halfhearted open house and wait for another agent to bring forth a buyer. Today's top performers launch a multilevel marketing plan that includes listing tours for area agents, newspaper and even TV ads, weekend open houses, listing fliers and placements in local real estate publications. Computers and the Internet also have changed the face of real estate. According to the National Association of Realtors, today more than one-third of all home buyers use the Internet for house hunting. The best real estate agents are computer-savvy. They have your listing in color on their laptops to show clients and communicate frequently via e-mail, a particular boon when working with out-of-town buyers. Suffice it to say that if your real estate agent isn't listing your home online through the company Web site as well as with the local MLS, you may not be getting the exposure necessary to find a buyer. "There are those who just put the listing in the multiple and pray it will sell and those that put a lot of effort into marketing their listings," says Fisher. "Unfortunately, with this weird system of compensation we have, they all get paid the same, whether they know nothing or have many years of experience." Editors' choice Don't get scammed by your mover Safeguard your Social Security number 5 ways to tap into the onshore drilling boom Your checkbook just became obsolete Turn $1 a day into $67,815 Readers' choice Ratings Top 5 Articles 9.30 Zombie debt collectors dig up your old mistakes 9.24 Keep thieves out of your bank account 9.22 Credit reports now free for entire U.S. 9.19 10 ways to avoid outrageous hospital overcharges 9.17 Tax breaks for Katrina victims -- and all of us View all top rated articles More Resources · E-mail us your comments on this article · Post on the Your Money message board · Get a daily dose of market news S earch MSN Money tips advertisement MSN Money's editorial goal is to provide a forum for personal finance and investment ideas. Our articles, columns, message board posts and other features should not be construed as investment advice, nor does their appearance imply an endorsement by Microsoft of any specific security or trading strategy. 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Property Search

Harris County Clerk's Office -- Welcome ! The Harris County Clerk's office is a State Constitutional office with the duties of County Clerk varying somewhat in each of Texas’ 254 counties. In Harris County, the County Clerk wears three hats. As clerk, she maintains the records of Commissioners' Court, County Probate Courts, and County Civil Courts at Law. As a recorder, she is responsible for real property records including state and federal tax liens; vital statistics records such as marriage licenses; assumed names; and uniform commercial code records. As chief election official for the third largest county in the country, she administers county and state elections and also contracts for election services for political parties and smaller jurisdictions such as the City of Houston. The current County Clerk, Beverly Kaufman, was appointed to the office on March 11, 1994 and was elected to a full four-year term in November 1994 by sixty-one percent (61.3%) and re-elected in 1998 and 2002. She employs 311 regular employees and an additional 400 temporary employees during county election cycles. Her annual budget is approximately $24 million and she collects revenues through fees for numerous services provided such as property record filings, issuing marriage licenses, and processing court documents. The fees are used for a wide array of improvements including record preservation efforts to protect many of the county’s older documents. Mrs. Kaufman is also responsible for registry accounts created by probate and county court orders. Current total registry accounts average $70 million but have been known to reach the $100 million level during peak county condemnation periods for infrastructure expansion. The Harris County Clerk's Main Office is located in the Harris County Administration Building at 1001 Preston, on the 4th floor. Mailing Address BEVERLY KAUFMAN HARRIS COUNTY CLERK P.O. BOX 1525 HOUSTON, TEXAS 77251-1525