Official figures recently released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show the population of Queensland has now hit 4 million. In addition the unemployment rate for Queensland is at 4.8% – lower than the national rate of 5.1%.Queensland’s economic growth rate is well above the national average and we are predicted to overtake Victoria as the 2nd most populous state with our share of the population increasing to 24% in the next 50 years.In keeping with being the Smart State our property taxes are low and therefore encouraging people to invest their property portfolio into Queensland, as well as the perception that we have the best climate and most diverse coastline with the jewel in the crown being The Great Barrier Reef.

What Aussie kid hasn’t dreamt of snorkeling on The Great Barrier Reef. These dreams usually turn into an ambition to own property in Queensland – if not just for holidays but with the intention of lifestyle living.In Port Douglas, this population movement has seen dramatic changes as most of our land is now being sold to owner/occupiers where as 15 years ago 80% of sales were to investors.

Our new “locals” are the ex big smoke residents who have taken an early sea change and not all are in the blue rinse set. Port Douglas is attracting the 35 – 50 year old range group they are jaded by traffic and the city, but surprisingly enthusiastic and energetic enough to want to build homes and businesses in The Douglas Shire. As a result, most of vacant land within a 5 minute drive to the main street of Port, including subdivisions such as Reef Park, Port Gardens, Ferndale Estate, and the more exclusive The Sands is all but SOLD OUT. Port Douglas has a major shortage in supply of vacant residential land. This problem is compounded by The Douglas Shire Council which is doing everything within its power to make sure the population is capped. The local council’s policy is seeing an increase in the asking price of the rapidly diminishing residential land in Port Douglas. It is also encouraging the new “locals” seeking a sea change into the beaches north of Port such as Cooya Beach. Some are even opting for the tree change in areas 35 minutes from Port Douglas including Julatten.

The ever increasing exodus from the rat race and with Sydney now witnessing race riots and tremendous tension ensures those that are escaping are not looking back. The short supply of vacant land not keeping up with demand is benefiting those in the know, who are still acquiring property even as the market slows in most of the big cities. We here at Century 21 Port Douglas are looking forward to 2006 as being another excellent year even though our numbers of land sales may be slightly down, as a result of lack of supply not demand.

The exclusiveness of some of the remaining vacant land in areas 25 mins from Port such as Miallo, is also attracting investors. Take for example, the incredibly unique and irreplaceable property at Somerset Drive, offering 360 views. There is nowhere else in the world you can purchase 40 acres, build your dream home on a site that is 2000sqm, and looks out at the Great Barrier Reef and over to the World Heritage Daintree Rainforest. Trends captured by statistics are all good and well but the reality is life in Port Douglas and surrounds is truly enviable with untapped potential for industry and growth.

Century 21 Port Douglas Real Estate will be celebrating this festive season with a (probably several) BBQ’s on Four Mile Beach and would like to take this opportunity to wish (……you were here…) all readers of our monthly Newsletter a very Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year in 2006.

The job interview is a give and take scenario. You have to discover whether they are alright for you – just as much as they need to find out if you are right for them. You should therefore make sure that you have enough information to make up your mind whether you want the job. Draw up a list of questions you need answering, such as:

• What will I be answerable for?
• What will be my placement within the organisational structure?
• Who will I report to?
• Where does he/she fit in the structure?
• Who are the people that will report to me?
• How experienced will they be?
• What do you think would be reasonable outcomes for me to achieve in the first six months?
• What level of performance do you expect from me?
• ?
• What are the organisation’s plans for development?
• What are the post advancement prospects? When?
• What will be my salary, benefits and bonuses? [Do not bring this up too early in the interview - wait until they are sold on you.]
• How much travelling is needed in this position?
• Will relocation be required now or in the future?
• What kind of training is there?
• When will you decide on the appointment?
• What should be my next step?

For more info on job interview advice

Cognac – World famous yet still a “hidden gem”.

The property mantra of “location, location, location” is well known in the UK/US markets but buyers of French property would also be well advised to follow this golden rule.

You may well have read that house price inflation was slowing in France (12% in 2005). However, with the European housing market in the doldrums, the French property market can still offer a great deal in terms of investment and capital growth.

One of the areas tipped by the experts as a “hot spot” is Poitou-Charente and the market here was indeed active throughout the last 12 months. In particular the area around Cognac in the Charente seems both sensibly priced and, most importantly, is extremely well located for overseas buyers.

Cognac is surrounded by no less than four airports (La Rochelle, Bordeaux, Limoges & Poitiers) as well as being close to both the Motorway network, allowing a four hour drive to St Malo, and TGV service at Angouleme from which it is direct access to Paris & one simple change to London Waterloo.

This all provides a great deal of comfort, as well as convenience, to those who travel to/from the UK. They know that regardless of the fortunes of the low cost airlines they will always have easy access to their holiday homes. Beware those locations that are solely reliant on one of the smaller airports it could prove costly.

Of course ease of travel is not the only aspect of location buyers are looking for. They want decent weather, pretty villages, friendly locals and plenty of property to choose from. The Charente has these characteristics in spades.

It is the second sunniest area of France with warm but not oppressively hot Summers. It also boasts some of the most beautiful villages in France. You will find them dotted alongside the Charente river as it meanders it’s way through the countryside. The towns and villages are surrounded by both sunflowers and of course the vines that produce the grapes for one of the World’s most popular digestifs.

Perhaps the success of the local Cognac, Pineau and wine accounts for why the locals here are renowned throughout the country for their laid back and generous attitudes. No holiday should be taken here without sampling the delights of Remy Martin, Hennessy, Courvoisier, Martell or one of the many smaller Cognac houses dotted around.

All of this means that the region is popular with property buyers throughout Europe & the US – but what do they get for their money.

Property here is predominantly built out of the local stone which is light in colour – take a stroll in any local village at sunset and watch how the houses take on a warm glow. But as well as stone houses & green (it’s common but not obligatory!) shutters there are still excellent bargains to be had.

At the base level a client of ours has just bought two excellent plots of land totalling around 4,500 m2 for 50,000. This land is 15 minutes South of Cognac and comes with existing planning permission and access to all utilities. He plans to build three houses on the land (one for himself, two for letting) and when we visited the local Mairie they couldn’t have been more helpful in advising on architecture, local planning rules and other related issues.

At the cheaper end of the housing market a Suffolk couple have just bought a two bed town house in a good residential area within 5 minutes walk of the beautiful main square in Cognac town centre. The house is in excellent condition with a large sitting room and a small but pretty and well stocked garden. There is a strong demand for this type of well situated property and therefore my clients paid the asking price of around 120,000.

With a slightly larger budget of 175,000 we found a truly beautiful stone house just North of Jarnac (home to the Courvoisier Chateau & birthplace of Francois Mitterand). The house is big, 180m2 of habitable space, with a garden of 1340m2 which is ample for the “pool and space for a kick around” demanded by our clients. The house also came with a small, detached, studio/office and barns ripe for conversion.

Once you hit the 200-300,000 market you see a really strong demand from UK purchasers and supply is slightly more limited – in other words the good houses sell fast. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find the “gems” in this budget range but we have recently found a tremendous Charentaise stone house with five bedrooms and walled garden of 1800m2 for a London client. He wants it as a holiday home and security was obviously one of the important search criteria. While not overlooked the house does have neighbours and access to the walled garden is limited to the iron gates at the entranceway. Allied to the obligatory shutters the house is probably as secure as you could find.

Finally we have had many clients looking with budgets of over 350,000. This is still a healthy sum in the Charente where property has not reached the dizzy heights of Provence the Cote D’Azur or Languedoc Roussillon. Buyers in this category will still be able to purchase a decent family house, in good condition with pool and views out over those World famous vineyards.

In essence buyers at whatever level can look forward to some of the most beautiful and well priced property in France. They will have a variety of routes to choose from and should expect decent weather, a friendly welcome from the locals, great food and of course a choice of drinks to accompany their meals that is simply unrivalled anywhere in the World.

Graham Downie runs a property search agency covering the Cognac region.

He can be contacted on 00 33 6 68 53 12 81 or at graham@cognacproperty.com

Full details of his service are available at www.cognacproperty.com

“We will help every Council Tenant to become Home Owners”
With these historic words Margaret Thatcher initiated an equally historic concept of council right to buy scheme. However, the groundwork for this scheme had been laid much before in the 70s under the reigns of the labour government.

The council right to buy scheme, without being embroiled in any controversy regarding who set off the council right to buy scheme, was indeed momentous. It led many people, who would never have thought (capable would be a more appropriate word to describe their situation) to have their own homes.

So what is council right to buy scheme? Council right to buy scheme is a scheme under which the council tenants are eligible to buy the house in which they have been living.

Therefore, what is that which distinguishes the council right to buy scheme from the other schemes? It is different because the customer would have to pay much lesser than what he would have paid had he bought the house in the open market. This is because the customer is entitled to a discount for the number of years that he was staying in the house as a tenant.

The rate of discount varies with the type of residence and the location of the residence. A person residing in a house will be eligible for a discount of up to 30% with a further discount of 1% for every year lived as a tenant of the house. In cases of flats or maisonettes the rate of discount ranges from 44% to 70%, but not exceeding £38,000. The maximum rate of discount is admissible only in a few localities like the posh London and the Southeast areas of England.

To avail the scheme one must be a council tenant. A council tenant is a secured tenant who has been living since 5 years or more (the limit has been changed from 2 years with effect from 18th January 2005) in any of the following:

• District council

• London borough council

• Non-charitable housing association or other registered social landlord

• Housing action trust.

• County council or another similar body

Numerous lenders who have sensed the importance of the scheme offer mortgages especially designed to facilitate such purchases. These mortgages are called council right to buy mortgage.
A council right to buy mortgage offers to pay the price of the house. This will be an added attraction to the tenants to go for the scheme. The council tenants can pay off to the council from whom the house has been purchased, and then pay to the mortgage provider in easy and affordable installments. In fact, the monthly installment, which the tenant will have to pay, is lesser than the rent he had been paying. Moreover, while the rent is a sunk cost, the monthly installments facilitate you to have your own home.

Getting a council right to buy mortgage is not that easy. One must start the search process right from the day when they get the offer. The approval process normally takes around 3 months. To start the search late would mean getting the mortgage late. This could mean losing on the offer for council right to buy. The council tenant must also undertake a full structural survey of the property.

The customer must be fully aware of the various formalities that need to be met in case of a council right to buy mortgage. The net can provide enough information about the mortgages. Independent financial advisors can provide useful advice about the various intricacies of the mortgage. A solicitor appointed by the council tenant will act on his behalf in all legal formalities. The solicitor will help in the documentation part of the council right to buy which includes forms like RTB1, RTB2, Section 125 notice, etc.

Next, one has to sort out one mortgage provider from the numerous contenders. This is the most basic step and astuteness in this step will decide how the mortgage fares in the long run. The initial screening can be done through the net. The mortgage providers have compiled the information about their operations and the products that they offer on their websites. Careful study of the information will help give a manageable list of 10-20 mortgage lenders. These mortgage lenders can be requested for their no obligation mortgage quotes. Few more mortgage providers are ousted in this stage. The customer then personally meets the remaining mortgage providers. This is the final stage of the selection process.

The last step will be to decide the amount of mortgage to be taken. This will be derived after valuation of the house by the council or housing association and deducting the discounts from the price.

Treading in a step by step manner will be time consuming but will ensure that one does not has to repent later. You would surely cherish the output, which this effort leads to. The output will be your home-your own home, a perfect allurement, for which you will be ready to take any efforts.

James Taylor works for the personal loan web site http://www.chanceforloans.co.uk.To find a Personal Loans, secured Loans,unsecured loans and mortgage that best suits your needs visit http://www.chanceforloans.co.uk.

Do you need to borrow money? Home equity lines may be one source of credit. Home equity credit lines may provide you with large amounts of cash at a low interest rate and they may provide you with certain tax advantages with other loans.

Home equity lines of credit require you to use your home as collateral for the loan. This may put your home at risk if you are late or cannot make your monthly payments. Those loans with a large final (balloon) payment may lead you to borrow more money to pay off this credit line, or they may put your home in jeopardy if you cannot qualify for other refinancing. If you sell your home, most plans require you to pay off your credit line at the time of closing. In addition, because home equity loans give you relatively easy access to cash, you might find you borrow money more often.

Remember too, there are other ways to borrow money from a lender. For example, you may want to explore second mortgage installment loans. Although these plans also place an additional mortgage on your home, second mortgage money usually is loaned in a lump sum, rather than in a series of advances made available by writing checks on debts. Also, second mortgages usually have fixed interest rates and fixed payment amounts.

You also may want to explore borrowing from credit lines that do not use your home as collateral. These credit lines may be a better option for you and your situation. These are available with your credit cards or with unsecured credit lines that let you write checks as you need the money. In addition, you may want to ask about loans for specific items, such as tuition, cars, and those nasty credit cards. Either way, home equity lines can be useful if done the right way.

Starting a home buying process means answering a lot of questions:

Are you ready to buy a home? How much of a mortgage loan can you afford? How’s your credit? What size house do you need? How are your cash reserves?

The more Q&A, research and soul searching you do in advance, the smoother the process will be later on. Let’s look, then, at one of the key questions from this list.

What Can You Afford?

Before house hunting, you should determine how much of a mortgage you can comfortably afford. “Comfortably” means you can pay your mortgage each month and still have money for living expenses, savings, and quality-of-life niceties.

In other words, you don’t want a mortgage payment that forces you to “squeak by” each month. To determine your mortgage comfort-zone, you need three things: a budget, a price and a mortgage calculator. For the price, just start with the cost of a house you think you might be interested in buying.

At first, don’t worry about whether the price is too high — you’ll find that out soon enough when you run the numbers.

Next, run the home price through a mortgage calculator at current interest rates and at a 30-year fixes mortgage. You might choose a different mortgage type later on, but this exercise is just to get a ballpark mortgage payment based on home price. So choose the 30-year fixed option for the sake of simplicity.

Mortgage calculators can easily be found on the Internet. Just type “mortgage calculator” into any major search engine, and you’ll find several. Or, you can use the calculators we provide at HomeBuyingInstitute.com.

Once you’ve obtained an approximate monthly payment for various mortgage sizes, you can more accurately figure the price ranges into your budget. It’s a quick and easy way to see what homes are inside your comfort zone — and to find out exactly what your comfort zone is in the first place.

Copyright 2006, Brandon Cornett. You may republish this article in its entirety, provided you leave the byline, author’s note and website hyperlink intact.

Pre-qualified? What is that?

You have been looking at homes through a Multiple Listing Service (MLS) link or a Homes magazine and you want to start looking at homes. You call your choice of Real Estate Agent and during the conversation the agent says, “Are you pre-qualified?”

Get pre-qualified?

Before you get ready to buy a home you need to see a lender and start the loan application process. If you are not sure who to contact, talk to your real estate professional for recommendations. I personally like my clients to talk to a loan representative that works directly for a Mortgage Company.

Why do You need to get pre-qualified first?

Most Real Estate agents do not try to do the work of a lender. True professionals usually recognize the need to rely on other true professionals to bring your transaction to a successful close. The Real Estate agent does not want to show properties without the buyer completing a tri-merge credit check through a lender. The cost of the credit report is normally under $25. The credit report will show your credit history and include three FICO scores. It is the middle score that is normally used by the lender. You will also need to complete a loan application. With all the loan programs available, it is up to the loan representative to explain the different type of loans that may be available to you. It is at this point that you will know how much home you can purchase. Be sure you get a “good faith estimate” which shows the costs of the loan and your approximate monthly payment from the lender. This will help your agent structure the costs and financing of your Residential Purchase Contract.

If you are in the state of Arizona your lender will also complete the Arizona Association of Realtors form called the “Loan Status Report” (LSR) which must accompany the Residential Purchase Agreement. The Purchase agreement is the most important document, but the LSR is the one item that allows the procedure to continue to an acceptance or a counteroffer. Without the completed LSR it is a total rejection by the Seller. The lender prepares the LSR based on your application and credit report.

I hope you now see the importance of getting pre-qualified before you start looking at properties.

Fishing nets, gloves, weights, lights & additional sportswear kit can come attached with a very high price tag, nevertheless, you don’t have to permit the price of the sports items thwart you from partaking in the sporting activities that you adore. If you are very interested in sport, then there are masses of alternative ways that you can follow to find the products that you need at a wonderful price.

The initial way to save yourself money is to go through tailored online sports merchandise shops as these commonly sell merchandise at exceptionally low cost. In addition, online sportswear websites repeatedly have quite a lot of special weekly auctions and sales for you to profit from. Find superb deals on UK camping equipment.

Yet, sometimes the simplest way to save cash on sporting items is to acquire high quality equipment. As contradictory as that might sound, you will shell out extensively less in the end if you get equipment that will last a long time. You can investigate and save for a main acquisition, and then buy it just when it’s sold on the internet at a budget fee. When you get gear that will last you several years (instead of gear that will pack up in a couple of months) you’re actually saving yourself a significant amount of cash.

You should under no circumstance allow money prevent you from doing something brand new or involving yourself in your favourite hobby. By shopping cautiously, paying close notice to sales or saving up to get high-class equipment, you can save yourself a large amount of money on sportswear merchandise of every kind.

First, lets start with what it is. Curb appeal is quite simply the rate of attractiveness your home projects to viewers from the street. Why is this important? As the definition states, it is the ultimate first impression. You may have an immaculate, luxurious interior but without high curb appeal, few will bother to step inside to see it. This is even more important when selling on your own because you don’t have a realtor to hype the interior as worth a viewing.

Is it worth the trouble to invest, if you don’t have good curb appeal? The payback value on exterior upgrades to your property range from 49% for landscaping improvements to 62% for exterior home improvements, such as painting. Next to the kitchen and bath, these are the highest payback ratios for home improvements and are well worth the initial investment.

In the order of highest payback value, we have provided some tips to help you achieve higher curb appeal for your home:

Exterior Painting

Painting the exterior may appear daunting and not worth the effort, but research shows that it results in the greatest return on time and money for exterior improvements.

As a guideline, when choosing color, a long and low house looks most appealing with colours that emphasize vertical elements such as doors and shutters, while taller more narrow homes should contrast its horizontal elements likes fascias and gutters. Window boxes are a nice touch as well.

If painting is out of the questions, the bare minimum improvements should be to:

Wash the full exterior to clear it from dirt and cobwebs. Renting a high pressure washer is best.
Fix any loose, missing, or damaged shutters.
Clean, paint, or replace mailbox, doorknobs, and street numbers.
Windows

Especially with a freshly painted or washed exterior, dirty windows will stand out like a sore thumb, and will date them past their true age.

Tips for cleaning windows – Do not clean windows while they are in direct sunlight. Your cleaning solution will dry too fast.

Using a 100% cotton cleaning cloth, dip the cloth in cleaning solution and wring out excess before wiping the window to loosen dirt.

Using a squeegee, start each stroke in a dry spot, and squeegee in a pattern from top to bottom or side to side. If you are cleaning the outside and inside of the window, alternate the pattern on each side (i.e. top to bottom on the inside and side to side on the outside). This will make it easier to identify which side any streaks are on.

Keep your squeegee blade dry by wiping it with a cleaning cloth between strokes.

Nicks in the squeegee blade will cause streaks. Replace when needed.
If you do not have a squeegee, newspaper will dry freshly washed windows, whereas papertowel or cotton will leave lint behind.

Cool clear water is the choice of solution by most professional window washers. For very dirty windows, add 2 tablespoons of vinegar per gallon of water.

Landscaping

Homeowners should plant colorful flowers along walkway leading to the door, prune existing trees, shrubs and bushes, and add fresh mulch. Clean out dead plants and weeds from flower beds and refresh with colorful plants and annuals.

Taller plants at the corners of your house will help anchor it with the landscape. Shorter plants near your home’s entry bring attention to your front door. However, this could have a negative impact if the front door is in need of repair (another reason to rethink the exterior improvements noted previously).

Last but most definitely not least and probably most important, ensure your lawn is trimmed and green. If you have a lawn in need of attention, you may want to consult a landscaper for advice before trying to repair on your own.

Overall Appeal

Some further touches that will go along way to increasing the appeal of your home from curbside are:

Outdoor lighting – Exterior lighting in your garden, walkway or entrance area add a warmth and welcome feeling that will make a viewer want to see more.

Indoor lighting – While your house is on the market, leave lamps on in 1 or 2 front rooms. It brings the home to life and, again, provides the same warmth and welcome feeling as the exterior lighting. Exterior lighting alone will not provide the appearance of a well loved, lived in home, like the combination of exterior and interior lighting can.

Furniture – As long as the chairs are well kept and not cluttered looking within the space, two chairs on a front porch provides a tremendous visual appeal from the street. Buyers view the exterior as an extension of the home and will want to view more.

The best advice for creating great curb appeal, is to take a walk through your favourite neighbourhood. Analyze what works really well and what doesn’t. Then determine why and incorporate those items to fit your own exterior. Most of all enjoy the outdoors and don’t get too overwhelmed by the work at hand.

© February, 2004 – Xstream Realty Incorporated

Amie Walton is the president and founder of Xstream Realty Incorporated, a Virtual Agent online real estate service. She has retained her ASP designation in Home Staging and is managing both XstreamRealty.com and XstreamStaging.com as complementary businesses for assisting homeowners to sell their homes quickly and profitably.

With all the Mortgage Refinance lenders available online, choosing the right one can be a daunting task. Picking a reputable loan company can help ensure a good interest rate, a low cost loan, and excellent customer service. So as you compare Mortgage Refinance lenders, look for these three things:

A good reputation

Your online Mortgage Refinance lender should have a solid history of customer service and online lending. Check their reputation with the Better Business Bureau, and make sure the company has been around for at least a few years since bad lenders tend to go out of business quickly. Ask among friends and family, too, and you may find someone else who has used the same online lender.

Reasonable rates and fees

Ask for full disclosure of all rates, fees and extra charges. (Every reputable loan company should be willing to provide a document that lists their fees.) Pay close attention to points, prepayment penalties and additional fees like “document preparation” fees and “credit report” charges. If the extra costs seem unusually high compared to other lenders, you may want to consider choosing a different company.

Strong customer service

A super low rate or a bargain Mortgage Refinance deal won’t matter much if the company provides poor customer service. If the loan officer is “out to lunch” every time you call, or if you believe you’re not receiving the attention you deserve, continue to shop around for lenders. A company with great customer service will answer your questions, try to meet your refinancing needs and provide you with personal attention. You should never feel pressured, and you should be made to believe that your business as a customer is the loan company’s top priority.

Remember to compare many different companies as you look for an online Mortgage Refinance lender. You’re not obligated to stick with any particular lender until you sign the paperwork. Before you commit, take the time to explore other loan companies and banks.

Carrie Reeder is the owner of http://www.abcloanguide.com.

View our Recommended Mortgage Refinance Lenders Online.

Also, view her recommended online Debt Recovery Solutions.