Real Estate Update

Nina Seidl asked:




According to a 2007 news story by the CBC, Ottawa’s apartment tenants throw out an astonishing 81 per cent of all materials that could be recycled!

While the routine behind garbage and recycling collection can certainly be different when you’re living in an apartment (compared to living in single-family house), just because you’re in a high-rise doesn’t mean you’re above recycling.

What You Can Recycle

Although the bins might be different sizes and different colours than the ones in single-family homes, the same types of materials can still be recycled when you’re living in an apartment building:

·        Plastic containers with a recycling triangle on the bottom, including all bottles, pails, tubs and jugs

·        Aluminum drink cans

·        Tin food cans

·        Milk and juice cartons

·        Juice boxes

·        Glass jars and bottles (clear and coloured)

·        Newspapers and inserts, flyers and junk mail

·        Magazines, phone books, household paper, shredded paper and envelopes

·        Cardboard egg cartons and paper tubes

·        Flattened cardboard (e.g., cereal, cracker, tissue, laundry, shoe and packing boxes)

All apartment buildings should have onsite recycling containers (and some even have dedicated recycling rooms on each floor, for maximum tenant convenience). If you’re not sure where the recycling bins in your building are located, check with your building manager.

For proper disposal of special waste such as paint, construction materials, appliances, tires, or old mattresses and furniture, talk to the building manager or superintendent of your building – don’t just mindlessly throw it away!

Avoid Recycling Bin Contamination

With so many things capable of being recycled, why then is so much of it thrown away? A leading factor in the amount of recyclables that are tossed out with the trash is the contamination of apartment recycling bins – and it’s an issue that apartment tenants can prevent with just a little bit of effort.

When materials are placed in the wrong recycling bin, nothing can be recycled! The bin is either left behind or the contents must be collected as garbage, as it is too costly and time-consuming to sort through. To avoid this:

·        Don’t put your recyclables in plastic bags. These bags cannot be recycled, and as a result, anything placed inside plastic bags cannot be recycled either. As well, don’t tie your materials together, as processing facilities cannot remove string or wires.

·        Remember, glass, metal and plastic go into one bin. Paper and cardboard go into the other. Don’t put your material into the first recycling bin you see, and don’t toss any sort of garbage into the recycling bin!

·        Not everything is recyclable. Items such as hard plastics (cups and dishes), styrofoam packaging, motor oil bottles, aerosol cans, chip bags and candy wrappers, etc. should not be put in the recycling bins.

Get Paid to Recycle

If, for whatever reason, you need a bigger incentive to recycle than helping the environment, how’s this – recycling can save you money, too! Instead of placing them in your apartment building’s bins, you can always return your empty wine, beer, and spirit container to The Beer Store for a full deposit refund. This includes glass bottles, bag-in-box, Tetra Pak containers, plastic bottles, and aluminum and steel containers on which deposits have been charged.

It’s clear that as apartment tenants, we need to work extra hard to make sure we recycle everything we can. To this end, the City of Ottawa has made a Recycling and Disposal Guide available to all Ottawa residents living in apartment buildings. It can be downloaded at: http://www.ottawa.ca/city_services/recycling_garbage/apartment/index_en.html.

Tom Budniak asked:




Playa Del Carmen is a popular getaway and second home destination for Americans and Europeans. Every year many foreigners lured by the scenic beauty of this beach side area are flocking to Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Naturally, this popularity has resulted in a booming Real Estate market in Playa del Carmen. More and more people are dying to buy Playa del Carmen Real Estate.

Though, real estate in Playa del Carmen is a very lucrative and good long term investment, many factors have to be considered before buying property in Playa del Carmen.

There is a misconception that foreigners cannot buy property in Playa, Puerto Vallarta and Cancun Real Estate in Mexico. This is NOT true! Any foreigner or Mexican National can establish a Fideicomiso (the equivalent of an American beneficial trust) through a Mexican bank to purchase real estate in Playa del Carmen or for that matter anywhere in Mexico, including the Restricted Zone. For practical reasons, even in unrestricted zones, many foreigners, and Mexican Nationals for that matter, prefer to hold their property under a Fideicomiso.

To do so, the buyer requests a Mexican bank of his choice to act as a trustee on his behalf. The bank, as a matter of normal course, obtains the permit from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to acquire the chosen property in trust.

The Fideicomiso can be established for a maximum term of 50 years and can be automatically renewed for another 50-year period. During these periods you have the right to transfer the title to any other party, including a member of your family.

The bank becomes the legal owner of the property for the exclusive use of the buyer/beneficiary, who has all the benefits of a direct owner, including the possibility of leasing or transferring his rights to the property to a third party or pre-appointed heir.

The trustee is responsible to the buyer/beneficiary to ensure precise fulfillment of the trust, according to Mexican law, assuming full technical, legal and administrative supervision in order to protect the interests of the buyer/beneficiary. Fideicomisos are not held by the trustee as an asset of the bank.

Another alternative is to purchase non-residential property through a Mexican corporation, which under certain conditions can be 100% foreign-owned, with a provision in its by-laws that the foreigners accept being subject to Mexican laws and agree not to invoke the laws of their own country. Also, they agree that the real estate acquired be registered with the Foreign Affairs Ministry and be used for non-residential activities. In other words, under these conditions foreigners can directly acquire properties destined for tourist, commercial and industrial use.

Author : Tom Budniak

DAVID TAN asked:




The legal way for a foreigner to own real estate in Thailand is to buy a condominium unit(s) (“Condo Unit”). This was proposed in my last article on foreign land ownership. In Bangkok, Condo Unit purchases are now considered trendy among the younger generation of Thais as Condominiums are conveniently located in the inner city area and it is more economical to commute.

TIP

Whether you are going to buy a Condo Unit to reside or for investment purposes, I would like to walk you through the following due diligence steps:

(1) If you can narrow down your choices of Condo Units to 1 or 2 Condo Units, a physical inspection must be conducted by an expert or civil engineer on the Condo Unit and the condominium building. Are they as according to the promises made by the seller ? Checks should be conducted for water leakage in the Condo Unit, proper and safe electricity supply, adequate car parking spaces allocated, fire exits, correct building materials used.

(2) What is payable by an owner of the Condo Unit for up keeping e.g. common facilities fees, water charges, electricity charges. Who should they be paid to and how much are they? Find these out from the owner of the Condo Unit.

(3) If (1) and (2) above are satisfactory to you, request from the owner of the Condo Unit a copy of the Condo Unit Title Deed. Take this to the local district or Amphur Land Office and counter check with the original Title Deed kept there on: (a) Who is the owner of the Condo Unit ? This owner should be the person whom you are dealing with and signing the contract to sell you the Condo Unit. If the owner is a company limited, who can sign on behalf of this company ? Does the company limited have enough capital to complete building the condominium ? The answers to these questions can be obtained from the incorporation records of the company limited at the Ministry of Commerce; (b) Is the condominium building registered at the Land Office ?; and (c) Does the original Title Deed reveal any registered encumbrances, lease, mortgage or charges ?

(4) Have a lawyer peruse the conditions of the Reservation Contract or To Sell and To Buy Condo Unit Contract prior to signing it. Legally speaking, this Contract does not create any property rights for you yet because the Condo Unit ownership title will transfer to you at a later date. This Contract is binding only on the promises of both the seller and you that ownership title transfer and sale of Condo Unit will take place at the agreed upon later date. However, the risk exposure to you here is that, at the signing of this Contract, you are usually requested to place a deposit with the seller. If the seller does not sell and transfer ownership title of the Condo Unit to you at the agreed date, you will have to claim the seller in court for breach of Contract to get the deposit back. As a result, I do not recommend the signing of this type of Contract. You should make a 1 time payment of the whole purchase price at the sale and upon ownership title transfer of the Condo Unit to you. Alternatively, you could arrange for a neutral escrow agent to hold your money and hold the original Title Deed (Note: Under the new Escrow Business Law, effective on May 19, 2008, an authorized financial institution or commercial bank can provide escrow agent services).

(5) Clarify with the owner who is responsible for the ownership title transfer fee, income tax and specific business tax or stamp duties payable at the Land Office on the day of ownership title transfer. Unless agreed otherwise between the owner and you, you are only legally responsible for 50% of the ownership title transfer fee. Please note that the amounts payable here can be calculated for you by an official at the Land Office.

(6) Make sure that the owner have obtained from the Condominium Juristic Office the following: (a) A letter verifying that foreigners have ownership in condominium units not exceeding 49% of the total space of all units in the condominium building; and (b) A letter verifying that the owner has no outstanding debts owing to the Office.

(7) You have obtained the required bank document to verify that the purchase price for buying the Condo Unit was remitted into Thailand.

** Written by David Tan. David is a Lecturer of Business Law at Asian University and author of the book “A Primer of Thai Business Law (Second Edition)”, available online at www.chulabook.com . In Bangkok, the book is available at all Kinokuniya and Asiabooks bookstores. Any questions or comments should be sent to Business Legal Advisory Services at: blas.inter@yahoo.com

 

Chris Chico asked:




In today’s market, we’re watching the values of properties and portfolios hemorrhaging before our very eyes. We look at the value of the Dow, and then moments later we look at it again, the numbers can be dramatically different. Everything, it seems, is sliding down.

Remember when times were good? You could turn on the TV and it seemed like every channel had at least one or two or ten shows about house flippers who would buy homes, fix them up, and sell them again. But with today’s turbulent economy, is that even possible?

If you are curious about real estate investing, you probably have questions going through your mind like “Can I make money flipping a house in this market?”, “Aren’t housing prices off?”, or, “Won’t it cost way too much to repair?”. In today’s economy, these are valid questions. And the answer is: Flipping a house in this market is possible, house flipping isn’t dead. If done correctly, there are ways that you can grow a successful flipping practice even in an economy that is in meltdown.

In fact, with the right system, it’s possible to make great money even in down markets. That’s because the down market itself is helping you. Here’s how:

In good times, people can sell homes for top dollar so flippers are forced to buy homes at high prices then fix up the home to be even nicer and sell the home again, thus “raising the bar” and making the home a high value home. Let’s use an example of a home selling for $200,000 in a neighborhood of homes going for $180,000 to $220,000. The flipper buys the home for $200K and fixes it up really nice and puts it back on the market for $220K to $250K. Their profit is made in improve the value.

In tight times, many people are facing foreclosure and just want to get out of a bad situation where they cannot afford their home. Perhaps they’ve lost their job, or perhaps their mortgage rate adjusted to a higher price than they could handle. Either way, they may be willing to part with their home at a discount. So, for flippers in tough market conditions, the secret is to get homes at a discount and sell them quickly at a discount to someone else. For example, if a home is valued at $200K, the flipper might be able to buy it at an extreme discount – say $100K – and then turn around and sell it for $120K to someone else with very little work in between.

That’s the secret to flipping a house when the market is down. People facing foreclosure are motivated sellers and willing to sell for massive discounts just to get out of a home they can no longer afford.

Of course, there are many other tips, tricks, and techniques to real estate investing in times when the market seems disastrous, but the bottom line is: flipping is not dead. Good money can be made easily with the right system in place. 

David Jackson asked:




One of the first money making reasons to hold apartment houses and not single family houses is because there is loads of cash flow to be made in apartment investing. Apartments are always in demand – no matter the economy – so if cash flow is important to you then will generate it quickly. When you invest in apartments, your income has no cap. It’s solely based on your expectations and actions.

You can invest in apartment houses part time and eventually quit your job and live better. Serious apartment house investors spend their time finding more profitable deals. Once those deal are found and closed, they employ experienced property management companies who will carry out the day to day activities associated with maintaining an effective business. The purpose of the management company is to free the owner of the apartment building so he or she will have time to do the leisure activities that they enjoy most.

There is less competition in apartment investing verses single family home investing. Only a few investors know how to do it right, and are willing to talk about it. There is little written on the subject of apartment investing and those who do know want to keep it a secret.

There is a lot less risk when buying an apartment building. You don’t lose all of your cash flow if you lose a tenant, as you would with a single family home. Consider this – you can cut your risks by 2 with a duplex and by 4 with a quadplex. So imagine if you have more units under one roof, it will become even easier to absorb tenant turnover.

Apartment investing provides you the benefit of tax-deferred money. Your profits can be tax free (or at least tax deferred) though refinancing. This principle is called 1031 tax-deferred exchange. Performing a 1031 tax deferred exchange basically allows you to defer capital gains taxes on real estate bought and sold for investment purposes.

Economies of scale are realized when investing in apartments. Owning six units in one apartment building is better than owning six single family homes. The cost to maintain them is a lot less. Most importantly, other people pay your mortgage and expenses.

Apartments provide you with a fast price rise in an “up” market cycle and lower price fall in a “down” market cycle. Real estate markets are cyclical meaning it has cycles and phases. Each cycle is different and it depends on the economic environments. Knowing how to buy apartment buildings in each market cycle can lead to tremendous gains as well as avoid long term loss.

Apartment home investing is a ground-floor investing opportunity. Not many people are investing in apartment houses. It’s is a great time to invest in apartments because the economies of affordability of single family housing forces many to rent. The greatest demand for apartment homes is being created by the Baby Boomers children, who are called the Echo Boomers. In addition, lifestyle changes and elderly preferences are swelling the ranks of renters.