i.e. Property Scheme

Buying or selling your home isn’t easy. More so, if you are looking for help to finance it. For these reasons, we need a professional/licensed real estate agent to assist on this matter.

Uncle Robert and Aunt Joyce, who are now in California are both happy to have been assisted by the real estate agents. All their three children with the help of these professionals were able to relocate their families as quickly as possible in Point Loma real estate, North Park San Diego real estate and Pacific Beach foreclosures, all in California.

Happy with the result, Uncle Robert and Aunt Joyce are now planning to sell their other properties for as much as the market will bear through the assistance of these professional real estate agents. My relatives have this advice if you want to be happy living in your new found home in California: trust the experts for they know better than us.

My friend and college batchmate, Twyla, recently checked in a posh Berlin hotel to follow up on her MBA applications at the Institute of Management Berlin (IMB). She’s currently eyeing their MBA European-Asian Programme. However, due to her schedule and her tight budget, she might end up taking one of IMB’s MBA Part-time Programmes.

This reminded me… I have also been planning to get an MBA degree with my upcoming promotion as general manager in our company. Although experience in a certain field is enough to give you an authority or a say on your subordinates, having an MBA makes you more credible and respectable. Plus, not only will having an MBA enhance and boost your career, you will be able to serve your company better if you know are equipped with fundamental skills to make you a more strategic thinker.

Anyhow, do take note that most MBA programs require you to have at least two years of work experience and be in the managerial position at your current job. So grab any opportunity to be in that level, and then take an MBA.

Nowadays it is easy to search for rent to own homes or homes for rent via the internet. That is, with the help of real estate directories, you now have the ability to search by price range, location, and even amenities that will suit your need, including pictures of those properties. Here are some tips when doing the “real” home hunt:

• For couples, take your partner when surveying the actual place. What may be a dream house to you may not be so dreamy with your partner.
• For singles, feel free to take a friend with you during the actual survey. He/she might be able to point out some things you may have overlooked. The final decision is yours of course.
• Never bring a parent with you (unless they’re paying of course and they insist on tagging along).
• Be sure to visit the place with an experienced AND friendly real estate agent.
• During house hunting, check first is its “curb appeal” or “the view from the street”. If it doesn’t pass your taste, move on immediately to the next house. Time is gold and you sure wouldn’t want to spend your gold on something that doesn’t even pass your curb appeal.
• Once you see a house that passes your curb appeal, have a quick initial look around to check if it suits your wants and needs in a home. If you don’t like it, move on to the next house.
• When you find a house that you really like, check if there is something wrong or out of place in the house that needs to be fixed and ask yourself these: Is it worth fixing? Can you fix it?
• Once you find a house that passes all those tests, plus your taste, and then go for a second, detailed look at the house.
• When you’re satisfied, you can then start the negotiation of the selling price until you reach a good deal.

Keep in mind that searching for homes online only provides a context for what comes next. Even though your dream rental house is several clicks away, and you can put your inquiries via email or telephone, it is still better to consult real estate agents before making your final decision. After all, their forte is real estate and your hard earned money is at stake.

Lester, my college adviser, is moving to Phoenix, Arizona because he got a great teaching offer in Collins College. Although his salary rate pretty much doubled from his current job, he’s still not sure if he’ll just avail of the school faculty housing or buy a house in Arizona.

He asked one of his future co-faculty from Phoenix about the great places where he could buy a house. She suggested Carefree, Cave Creek, Paradise Valley, Pinnacle Peak, Rio Verde and Scottsdale. I advised him to think about it twice. Just because one’s salary doubled doesn’t mean you ought to splurge at whim. The places his future colleague suggested were more of luxury real estate. I didn’t want him to end up broke with paying off a luxury house should something happen with his future job.

He ended up consulting a dedicated Phoenix real estate agent and realtor who gave him several options and suggested some other places with stylish but not posh houses that will suit his budget. Should this happen to you, I hope you do the same – seek professional advice first.

When I saw the website “National Relocation” I thought it was some government or NGO project, and was on the brink of ignoring it completely until I saw the words “real estate information”.

The website basically offers relocation services such as home inspectors and realtors, and mortgage calculators and tools as well. It also provides insightful information on the schools and neighborhoods of your target relocation area. What’s more is that it has maps which can help you pinpoint how far a school is from your target relocation area plus essential school information such as, address, contact information, enrollment figures, and even the student to teacher ratio.

Anyhow, I haven’t had much time to really go through the website. It sounds promising though. Do visit it if you have time and let me know what you think.

While going over some real estate reviews with my colleagues during brunch, I encountered a fascinating question, “When looking for apartment or homes for rent, what do you do first?” Below are some of their interesting answers:

• “I search Google with the specific keywords of the location where I’m planning to move in and the type of place I’m looking for (e.g. apartment or condo).”
• “I call up some friends who are knowledgeable about the area and ask for recommendation.”
• “I count and recount my budget to know what my limitations will be before hunting for a place.”

Each answer shows what type of person they are and what they value. That is, the first person goes for tangible data, the second goes for other’s opinion, and the third is very prudent.

My point? They are all great answers for a first step. But do make sure that you do all three, plus consult an experienced real estate agent before finalizing your deal in buying or renting a place.

What an exhausting day at the office! On of our servers was hacked with an sq l injection! It really made a mess on some of the processes in the records department. Oh well, it’s what you pay for upgrading to a full IT system.

I still remember the time when this office was still using journals, Pentel pens, and a custom rubber stamp for our logo. Clients used to fall in line at the reception to process their papers. Now it’s all online and we seldom meet the clients unless they specifically request a meeting.

I guess I can say that I miss the old system. We get to meet clients then and eventually make friends with them; and because it was not automated then, employees get to talk with each other often. Now it’s all chat and email. Sometimes I see strangers in the office which turn out to be employed here for a year already. Anyhow, it’s the end of my break and I still have a lot to do. Enough with the reminiscing for now.

I’ll be meeting my Kendo batch mates this coming Sunday afternoon for our mini reunion, and for me to be able to get their home addresses as well so JC (our batch mate currently in Japan) can immediately send out his wedding invitations. …I haven’t seen them in months and I have a feeling that the last time we got together was last 2007.

Anyhow, I won’t be just partying of course. I’ll be using that opportunity as well to discuss my dream website with Ja and Abbie. Ja is a talented photographer with lots of stored pictures I can use, and Abbie is a good designer (just not sure about her graphic design skills). If all goes well, I just might be able to get a lot of much needed help for free! *cross fingers* Now that’s what you call finding and grabbing opportunities. ^_^

My boss recently bought a house in a posh village. I overheard him dictate to his secretary awhile ago to get him application forms for fire and burglar insurance… I was flabbergasted. I didn’t know you can actually have your home fire and burglar proofed with insurance.

Then again, home should be one of the safest places for us. To ensure that we’ll always have that sanctuary for peace and relaxation, getting insurances like that are a very good deal. This prompted me to do some research and to discover a fascinating fact - there is such a thing as combined home insurance. It insures your home against fire, burglary, theft and larceny. Now isn’t that neat?

I’ll recommend that to my boss when I get to talk with him. ^_^

I went to my dermatologist this morning to have the blackheads removed off my pretty nose. It’s my first time to have it done professionally since I usually just go to some spa house for facials. As expected, it was painful; she was squeezing my nose like pulling some juice directly from Blackberry plants. Then again, it takes pain to be beautiful, so what the heck… I just let my tears flow without flinching from the pain.

The outcome was really wonderful. I’ve never seen my nose as clear and smooth as now. What’s great about this is that I only paid for the chemical used on the treatment. In return for her special and excellent treatment, I’ll be making the design and layout for her parents’ golden anniversary souvenir, and editing the powerpoint presentation next Saturday. Now that is what I call equal skill trade. I love it. I wish I could trade my skills with every treatment or service I need. Not only is it cheaper, it is quite fulfilling as well.