Rates to Go Blog

Well many of my blog visitors knows writing is my hobby & i enjoying this is very much but no one from u knows that I also enjoying reading specially about on interesting place where I want to visit in upcoming future . And of course if you are on my blog, then I have to assume you that you like to read about Travel News & amazing destinations too, Unless you just like to read what I write, no matter the subject.
Anyway I was visiting a new blog today blog.ratestogo.com , and thought it might interest you. And also, I’ve been checking out a few hotels in Las Vegas for our trip there this Jan. It’ll be my first trip to Vegas, and I’m so excited! I don’t have a clue what resort I’m going to stay at, but I do know that I won’t be making a reservation at the most expensive hotel room in Vegas. Talk about having WAY too much money. First of all, Hugh Hefner is one lucky man to begin with, what with all the blonde bunny girlfriends. He’s the idol of millions of men, and quite possibly a few women as well. Reading about his $40,000 a night hotel room at the Palms Hotel made me a little sick. LOL! The blog I found that piece at is full of interesting travel news Blog Address: http://blog.ratestogo.com/
So don’t forget to bookmark this travel news blog J

New Chinese Property Laws and Private Investments

landmark property rights bill giving private and public property equal protections was passed on by the Chinese Parliament. They have also approved a new corporate tax law that abolishes preferential rates for foreign companies.

Despite fierce opposition from the opposition, the bill was passed this time around. The new law, to be effective from October 2007, stipulates, "the property of the state, the collective and the individual is protected by law, and no units or individuals may infringe upon it."

It is a reflection of the Government's recognition of the increasingly important role the private sector plays in China's economy. The private sector now accounts for 65% of the China's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and around 70% tax revenues. The law also addresses the rights of the rising middle class, which has in recent years, pushed China's urban home ownership rate to more than 80%.

The draft law also introduced the concept of differentiated owners of buildings to help clarify rights of every household in a high-rise residential building over their own space, corridors and the greenbelt and carparking of the compound.

This will help resolve increasing disputes between home owners and the realty management agencies as rights and obligations of both parties are clearer than before and their relationship is fixed by law.

The law says all homes in the residential compound belong to the property owners even if they are used by the real estate management agencies. Without previous agreement, the clubs, carparks and greenbelts belong to the property owners as well, unless the construction company can prove that they enjoy ownership. Under the proposed law, residential building can not be altered for other use unless it is agreed upon by all property owners....etc.

Nevertheless, critics and supporters believe that it's real test will lie in it's implementation. China already has several laws governing property rights but the country's poor track record in the implementation of those laws is admitted even by the Government.

Indications of Global Real Estate Slowdown

Spanish Property Sector: Real estate stocks were down in Spain last month and it has affected property markets worldwide. Some believe that Spain's decade old construction boom is finally over. There are some obvious spots that will face the reality soon..

UK's housing market is so far unaffected, but there are signs that higher interest rates and stretched affordability are starting to dent. Recent reports suggest prices being rising at a slower pace. Average price of a home rose by 2.8% in the first 3 months of 2007 compared to 4.2% in the previous quarter, as per Halifax - the mortgage lenders.

US housing slowdown has been dramatic. The writing is on the wall as buyers could no longer afford to buy using traditional financing options. Asurge in arrears, defaults and meltdown in the sub-prime mortgage market - are all signs of things to come. Economists are warning about excess supply caused by a flood of repossessed properties can translate into in house prices.

Dubai, UAE: An estimated 15 to 25% of the world's construction cranes are in Dubai, symbolic of a market in such a hurry to build and oversupply can become a real issue.

Developments are being built at a fraction of the price for a similar property in Europe, and investors who purchased a couple of years ago have already seen their capital grow. In the longer-term, however, it is hard to know if this is sustainable popularity or merely a boom-time feeding frenzy.

Latvia: Knight Frank's recent global house price index is Latvia. Property prices have risen 66% in the past year thanks to a red-hot economy fuelled by booming consumption and easy credit. Since a part of European Union in 2004, Latvia's real estate market is a magnet for investors from Europe.

But there is a growing feeling that the market is an accident waiting to happen. In an attempt to prevent the bubble bursting, the government last month pushed plans to cool down. Measures include taxing profits from the sale of real estate in the first 3 years of ownership, an extension from the current one year rule.

Australia Property Market: Australian real estate prices were doubling between 1996 and 2003. A flurry of interest rate rises took the wind of the market's sails, but the slowdown was remarkably modest by historical standards.

Since then, the market has shown clear signs of strengthening again, clocking up 8.3% growth last year against 2.3% in 2005. Indeed, the recovery has been such that affordability is now considered the worst on record.

Property Market of India: US tycoon Samuel Zell told a gathering of Indian Real Estate Executives last month that it was "mental masturbation" to believe there were endless riches for investors in India's housing market. Coming from a man nicknamed "the grave dancer", the warning was perhaps not that unexpected. For the developers and fund managers who were listening, however, the only question remaining was how far property prices will fall.

Mumbai has become Indian Property Boom's epicenter. Prime residential prices have doubled in just two years. More people are buying homes and real estate is also attracting speculative investors, many of them from abroad. But when half the population is till living in slums, there is a growing feeling that the market is on the brink of a collapse.

The last time a property bubble burst in India - between 1995 and 2001 - prices slumped by up to 70%. This time, a fall of 30 to 40% is on the cards. Investors know what to do!

Source: The Independent, UK

Property Management

One day I am searching for an website on the internet that will help me in finding properties around the country I find many websites on that! but no one can give sufficient quality of information on that but my searching is continued, well ultimately I find an website which provide good information relating to all aspects on property, this site is All Property Management, On the homepage of the site you can find properties by entering the zip code and you can either search for a condo, single home, homeowners association, vacation, warehouse, office and even parking garage. You can search almost everything here. The site has huge database that will surely find the right property for you. This site make way easy for those person don’t find an right property because little skills on internet but with the help of that site u can find a suitable right property according to their needs & budget.

It’s your online portal for property management. Personally I’m overwhelmed on the service they provide on their website. I haven’t seen a website that gave almost everything an individual wants to search and manage a property. You don’t need to hop to another website because they provide everything you’ve wanted. One of the things that I like on the site is you can request for a quote on properties you want to acquire. They also featured different Real Estate Company which makes them unique and very convenient. They will provide you complete details of the different Real Estate Company they have on their database. In last I say one thing more; that this site is an whole solution of your property management. If you have any doubt simply visit the website & check their accuracy in property management for your satisfaction. :-)

JustSayHi.com

Now online dating is incredibly popular with millions around the world. There are tons of online dating sites out there.

Online dating is now an easier, far less expensive alternative to the singles nightclub. Men and women, now find relationships online from the comfort of their home computer. Because of its convenience and distinct advantages there are so many free online dating sites to choose from. But which are really the best? The problem is there are hundreds of dating web sites out there on the Web, so how can one find free dating sites ? At JustSayHi.com, they are totally free dating sites for singles, there's nothing to subscribe to unlike other dating sites, they are 100% free so sign up today for your free personals! You seen with most of the dating sites, you can only take advantage of the FREE trial period after which you got to pay up. But at justsayhi.com u don’t need to have a credit card for any thing because they don’t have any hidden cost, there’s no gimmicks or tricks whatsoever. Why waste your money? Stop paying for online dating sites now. Visit JustSayHi.com and browse online personals from thousands of sexy singles who've discovered the benefits of free online dating and matchmaking.

Live In

It's often said that the trip to work can kill you. But if you live in Houston, what really takes a beating is your wallet.

There, the average commuter spends 20.9% of his annual household costs on getting to work.

He's not alone. Cleveland, Detroit, Tampa, Fla., Kansas City, Mo., and Cincinnati also landed on our list of the country's biggest cities where transportation eats up a fifth or more of household costs, according to a study by the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership (STPP), a nonprofit research firm, which draws on 2003 Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the most recent available. The study looked at annual transit costs such as gas and tolls, and public transit fare, as well as money spent on car payments and maintenance.

Robert Puentes, a metropolitan policy fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., says, "In Houston, the cost of transportation is the No. 1 household expense, above shelter."

But that's in part because Houstonians spend a lower than average proportion of their take-home pay on housing.

And that's the trade-off.

The percent of household income Houstonians spend on transportation may be the highest in the country, but when combined with the amount residents spend on housing expenses, Houston's aggregate cost ranks them 14th, with the composite cost equaling 52% of household income. Transit costs are high because Houston has few policies hindering sprawl, which in turn allows for cheaper housing. In San Francisco, which is much more dense and has more prohibitive zoning laws than Houston, residents rank 22nd in commute costs but fifth in the combination of housing and transportation.

Worst hit by the composite ranking were the residents of Tampa and Miami where housing and transportation costs were the most out of sync with the average household's income levels. Tampa residents spent 57.7%, while Miami denizens spent 57.5% of their take home pay on the two.

Number Crunching
The study also found a very high correlation between cities that had extensive train systems and those in which households spent the least on transportation costs. Four of the five cheapest commutes were rated as having large or extensive rail systems, and of the five most expensive commutes, only Cleveland was rated above having a small or non-existent rail system, according to STPP.

Besides saving commuters money on parking, tolls and gas, rail systems are often seen as a way to manage sprawl as train stations create central and desirable points for living and working.

It's important to understand, though, that the least costly commutes tend to be accompanied by high housing costs. New York and San Francisco were among the cheapest in the country, at two and seven respectively and have some of the highest housing expenses and least affordable housing markets in the nation.

Traffic In Texas
That's what's happening in Dallas. It and Houston have 15% of the country's fastest-growing suburbs between them. Dallas is investing $4.86 billion in expanding its commuter rail system, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), which services area suburbs and neighboring Fort Worth. The job is expected to be completed in 2013 and local economists say the city should reap $8.1 billion in increased economic activity over the life of the project. Houston, on the other hand, has mainly focused on road construction and expansion, which isn't expected to pay off as well.

"To say DART Rail's impact has been substantial for the Dallas region's economy would be an understatement," says Bernard Weinstein an economist at the University of North Texas Center for Economic Development. "It's a trend that's impossible to miss; the local business community certainly hasn't."

Best Places To Buy A Vacation Home

"The main thing motivating a vacation-home buyer is utility," says David Hehman, president of EscapeHomes.com, a San Francisco-based second-home research site. "They want to maximize their purchase around a recreational activity."

Still, whether that includes sitting surfside or skiing down double black-diamonds, no one wants to buy a property that will decrease in value. The safest bets are luxury homes in blue-chip locales. While a Jackson Hole ski lodge or a Martha's Vineyard beach house probably won't explode in short-term value--unless snow stops falling on the Grand Tetons or the Massachusetts shoreline disappears--both are highly desirable, heavily supply constrained areas which have done nothing but appreciate in the last 20 years.

They're also extremely expensive.

Another route is to go for the undiscovered gem. ( In Pictures: Undervalued Vacation-Home Spots.) Here, buy-in prices will be significantly lower than the blue chips. Picking a quality unknown is a way for buyers to build memories and still be able to afford to send the kids to college.

How It's Done
In compiling our list, we picked the five fastest-appreciating regional blue chips, as well as 10 hidden gems nationwide, all of which offer many of the same geographic advantages as the blue chips, without the high price tag.

But calculating appreciation rates for second-home spots can be tricky. That's because many of these destinations, like Tahoe City, Calif., or Sun Valley, Idaho, have a very distinct property-value divide between the housing stock for full-time and part-time residents, the latter set owning primarily luxury vacation homes.

The key is to track values on a granular level. To do that, NeighborhoodScout.com, a Rhode Island-based real estate research site, developed an index designed to pinpoint vacation-home spots. The firm looks for neighborhoods with desirable locations, near beaches, lakes or mountains, for example, and with amenities and services that cater to a vacationing crowd, which, according to its research, are typically high-net-worth renters. Property value spikes within a vacation home area are also examined. The data is then cropped to study which locations had the fastest median home price appreciation over the past five years.

Of the Northeast's most expensive summer destinations, the village of Water Mill, N.Y., in Bridgehampton, appreciated fastest. The median home price there is $1.38 million; it increased in value at an average of 21% a year over the last five years. In the Midwest, Victoria, Minn., which is surrounded by many of the state's trademark lakes, grew an average of 18% a year.

The north end of Key Largo, Fla., has appreciated at 27% a year, on average, according to NeighborhoodScout, making it the fastest-growing vacation spot in the South. Moran, Wyo., situated between Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, has seen 35% average increases in annual value since 2002.

What's Driving Prices Up?
Nationwide home sales are down 4.1% from this time last year. And sales of investment properties, which, unlike second homes, are generally urban properties rented for profit, fell 28.9%, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Investment and Vacation Home Survey.

But vacation buyers aren't sweating. Vacation-home sales were up 4.7% last year to a new record of 1.07 million, according to the NAR.

"We expected the drop in investment sales, because speculators left the market in 2006," says David Lereah, NAR's chief economist. "The rise in vacation-home sales is based on strong demographic and lifestyle factors, with only modest interest in renting their properties."

In other words, if the sun is shining on the shore, or the powder's falling on the slopes, vacation-home buyers don't mind short-term market fluctuations very much.

This makes more sense when you consider that the average vacation-home buyer had a median household income of $102,000 last year, according to NAR, far out-pacing the national average of $44,000; and second-home buyers had a median age of 44, down from 52 a year ago, suggesting that the market has shifted hands to a new generation, one that has time to wait out market volatility.

Money matters, however. And long-term return on investment is important. In that regard, the best bets are blue-chip locales like the Hamptons in New York, or Aspen, Colo., where historical market appreciation has been strong but prices can be prohibitively expensive. Other such spots include Nantucket, Mass., and Jackson Hole, Wyo.

But "finding a top quality home that's still affordable can take a lot of effort," says Andrew Schiller, founder of NeighborhoodScout. "Good places to look are quality places near blue-chip vacation destinations."

Take Kamuela, Hawaii, on the north shore of the Big Island. A bit up the road from Hilo, the median house value is $487,188, modest by Hawaiian standards. Or look to Blue Hill, Maine, up the coast from Kennebunkport, where a four-acre equestrian estate runs just under $300,000. If the Southwest is more your style, the Cochiti lakeshore in Pena Blanca, N.M., outside Santa Fe, has pristine views of the Sandia Mountains--and the median price is only $209,000.

But those hidden gems don't stay secret for long.

"In [December 2006] you could get an ocean-view lot in Captain Cook, Hawaii, south of Kona, for $70,000," says Schiller. "When we called in late March on behalf of a client looking to purchase in Captain Cook, the prices had gone from $70,000 to $150,000."