Member You - Real Estate

Blogging - Everyone Else Is Doing It - So Why Can't I
The Internet and the software which has been developed to run on it have made it extremely easy for anyone to publish content and have it accessible to millions of people. In effect, consumers have been given a voice to air their views to a massive audience. Something which before the Internet, they could never have done. In recent years one of the biggest examples of this has been the massive growth of weblogs (blogs), wiki’s, podcasts, vlogs and moblogs - together they form what is loosely known as social media; the ability for anyone to publish almost any content without the typical costs and hindrances associated with traditional media. This new publishing freedom has resulted in an explosion of new content. However the term social media, or citizen journalism as it is sometimes called, may be a misnomer as many companies can do it as well!What is Blogging? Blogging is currently the most common form of social media, in fact as

When problem arises the water or electricity or the neighbors, your agent is not going to pay to fix it, rather he will say something like “Gee I’m awfully sorry, I didn’t know about that.” One agent is advertising that they have done ALL of the due diligence on their properties before they list them. If that is the case, I wonder why the property I purchased from that agent doesn’t have any water available when he stated to me that it had water on the property.

How To Find Affordable Long Term Care Insurance in Colorado
Long term care is a diversity of services offered that provides medical and non medical help to those suffering from chronic illnesses or disabilities. Long term health care helps people meet health and personal needs. For the most part long term care is used to assist those with daily activities, such as dressing, bathing, and cleaning. Such services can be provided anywhere, a nursing home, private homes or in the community. Long term care is defined as a continuous stay for thirty days or more in a nursing facility, a home, or Community Based Services.Colorado Eligibility for Long Term Care1. In order to qualify for long term care in Colorado an applicant must be of the following:Elderly- must be 65 years or olderBlind- you have to meet the Social Security’s standards of blindnessDisabled - If you receive Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability Income or have been determined disabled by Disability Determination Services then you can qualify for long te

Thinking about buying real estate in Costa Rica? It could be a great investment or your biggest headache. Read on to learn how to stack the odds in your favor.

Costa Rica does not regulate the real estate business and this leaves you, the buyer, at a huge disadvantage. All real estate agents in Costa Rica are in business for only one reason - to make money. They only make money when they sell a property. All the agent wants is your money. The expression “shark” is a very fitting synonymous for “real estate agent.” However, in my opinion, it is it is a derogatory comment about sharks.

Agents can be great people, best friends and can even be from your home country but do not trust them as the final authority with your investment money. They do not have your best interest at heart.

Here is my personal list of real estate stories (lies?) that I have heard from several agents in Costa Rica.

1. All Ticos (Costa Rican's) are out to screw you! I have found that some are and others are not out to take advantage of you financially. After living here for a year, personally I am more leery of Gringos trying to sell me something than the Ticos. This is because I know what the Tico wants but do not know the Gringo’s true agenda. Anyone who uses such generalizations should be included in the group that they are criticizing.

2. “We don’t mark up property like other agencies...” They may not use the same % of markup (called “Net Listings” which are illegal in the US) but don’t believe them unless they will let you or your attorney talk directly to the seller to verify the asking price. There is one very well known agent in the northern central valley that has previously openly advertised that he doesn’t mark up properties when in reality he does mark up property whenever he thinks he can do so. I forgot the exact words he used but the gist was: Real estate in Costa Rica is unregulated so we can do anything we want.

3. We charge a commission to the buyer because Costa Rican’s don’t pay commission. What a line if I ever heard one! Costa Ricans are not dumb and they know that to sell the property, they probably have to pay someone to find a buyer. Is the agent double dipping? I don’t know but I am willing to bet that nine times out of ten the seller is paying someone to get the property sold and the agent is making money on both sides of the transaction.

4. You or your attorney cannot talk directly to the seller. The excuse often given is that they are afraid your attorney is unscrupulous and may steal the property or something like that. My supposition is that the agent is either marking the property up and/or charging the buyers a commission while the seller is also paying a commission.

5. “We have already done all of the due diligence for you.” When problem arises the water or electricity or the neighbors, your agent is not going to pay to fix it, rather he will say something like “Gee I’m awfully sorry, I didn’t know about that.” One agent is advertising that they have done ALL of the due diligence on their properties before they list them. If that is the case, I wonder why the property I purchased from that agent doesn’t have any water available when he stated to me that it had water on the property.

Congrats You are in Google Sandbox?
A Brief IntroductionThe Google Sandbox is a terminology applied to the phase experienced by new websites that prolongs their inclusion in Search Engine Results of Google. Often new websites find themselves struggling through the Sandbox for Six to Nine months, during this time there’s hardly any visitors to the site. Google Sandbox therefore checks the patience of webmasters and there’s no quick fix for it.But I think we should not take “Sand Box" as a Setback or a frustrating period. In fact the time your website spends in it should be seen as a golden chance to improve and power pack your website. IF YOU ARE INTO SANDBOXMany webmaster feel down when their website is confined to Sandbox and they spend endless hrs for checking their website’s listings in Google results. This not only leads to wastage of precious time but also increases their frustration when they do not find their website. Where as some wiseacre’s sensibly focus their time energy in improving the Sea

as the final authority with your investment money. They do not have your best interest at heart.

Here is my personal list of real estate stories (lies?) that I have heard from several agents in Costa Rica.

When Negotiations Stall, Position the Other Side for Easy Acceptance
When you're negotiating with people who have studied negotiating, and are proud of their ability to negotiate, you can get ridiculously close to agreement, and the entire negotiation will still fall apart on you. When it does, it's probably not the price or terms of the agreement that caused the problem, it's the ego of the other person as a negotiator. When that happens, Power Negotiators use a simple technique that positions the other person for easy acceptance.Let's say that you market advertising specialties, such as rulers, with the company's name on it-or custom printed baseball caps and T-shirts. You have made an appointment to meet with the manager at a local appliance store. What you may not realize is that just before you showed up in his office, the manager said to the owner of the store, "You just watch me negotiate with this advertising specialty representative. I know what I'm doing, and I'll get us a good price."Now he's not doing as well as he hoped in the negotiation and he may

.” They may not use the same % of markup (called “Net Listings” which are illegal in the US) but don’t believe them unless they will let you or your attorney talk directly to the seller to verify the asking price. There is one very well known agent in the northern central valley that has previously openly advertised that he doesn’t mark up properties when in reality he does mark up property whenever he thinks he can do so. I forgot the exact words he used but the gist was: Real estate in Costa Rica is unregulated so we can do anything we want.

The Webmaster's Assistant
There are many tools available to a webmaster to analyse website traffic allowing them to monitor the number of visitors, see what pages have been accessed and even the length of time each visitors spends accessing the website.However, despite the considerable data available what is missing is anything to tell the webmaster what the visitor was thinking. Did they like or dislike the site? Was the layout easy to understand or just plain confusing? Did they find it easy to navigate and maybe the most important thing, did they find the information they wanted?A website may be generating sales but why are some people that visit the website not buying anything?Was it because they didn’t like what was being offered or they couldn’t find what they wanted?Website surveys provide webmasters with an excellent and accurate method of answering these types of questions.Direct feedback from the website visitors cuts to the chase, no need to guess, just ask the visitors themselves how the

know that to sell the property, they probably have to pay someone to find a buyer. Is the agent double dipping? I don’t know but I am willing to bet that nine times out of ten the seller is paying someone to get the property sold and the agent is making money on both sides of the transaction.

Small Business Startup - The 90/10 Rule
Small business startups require a lot of work. You might however, be surprised by what type of work should be taking up the majority of your time. Computer consultants, when they contemplate small business startups, tend to focus on the technical aspects of the business. The rational is that they want to offer a decent service and must have great technical skills before anyone will be willing to pay them.In fact, the 90/10 Rule tells us that during small business startups, 90% of your time should be spent on direct marketing activities and only 10% on building technical skills. The type of small business startup activities to spend 90% of your time on include: prospecting lead generation going out on sales calls preparing proposalsDuring the small business startup phase you must be very attuned to the need for acquiring high quality clients. Every non client hour that does not have to go into administrative or organizational duties should be plowed into prospecting and n

6. Your agent states that he is making a full and truthful disclosure to you. California has one of the toughest disclosure laws in the real estate industry while Costa Rica has none. One agency in the northern central valley is currently promoting a house they are building on speculation by saying Vulcan Poas is not dangerous. In March, 2006, Vulcan Poas roared back to life (it is and has been one of the two most active volcanoes in Costa Rica) and scientists are now concerned because the water temperature of the lake is some 30 degrees hotter than normal. Is this a full and accurate disclosure? Not in my opinion.

7. Your earnest money deposit is not refundable. Some agents use contracts or “letters of intent” that state that deposits are nonrefundable and that the seller receives the deposit immediately! You can and should write a purchase contract where your deposit is held in escrow and is refundable if certain conditions are not met. I strongly advise that you think long and hard about a deal if the agent says you have to make a nonrefundable deposit.

8. The seller can change his mind any time he wants and refuse to sell. Again, some agents do not know how to or do not want to write a correct contract. If you have a purchase option and have it recorded, it will be much more difficult for the seller to back out.

9. You don’t need to use your own attorney. Just read our personal experience with attorneys and you will see why it is imperative that your attorney represent you and only you.

10. You have to pay all of the closing costs. The custom in Costa Rica is to split the closing costs equally between the seller and the buyer. Of course you and the seller can agree on other terms but don’t start off by offering to pay for everything - that just makes the job easier for the agent.

11. You don’t need a new plano. Your plano is a legal survey of the property. Unless you get a new plano you will not know for certain that what you are looking at is really what you are buying. It is a fact that some fences are occasionally moved by the neighbors and a lot of older surveys are flawed.

12. Don’t worry about utilities... The previously mentioned agent and his associates use practically the same story for every lot they show to their clients - “Electricity should cost about $3,000. The road should be about $2,500 and water is right over there.” Just make sure you verify everything with the proper authorities and get real estimates from the people that will be doing the work. Don’t be surprised if you find out that the real costs for installing utilities are up to 10 times as much as the agent stated.

13. The water is safe to drink. Over 90% of the surface water in Costa Rica is polluted with gray water runoff, industrial pollution, farm run-off and human waste. Even the large "municipalidades" have problems with human waste and gas getting into their wells. If you don’t know where the water is coming from get it tested.

14. Gringos are more honest than Ticos. This

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To grow your internet business, you need an ezine. But at the beginning, you might have just 5 subscribers. This article shows you how to build your list by starting with an ecourse.

The Advanta Platinum Business Card MasterCard is for business owners who want to have one credit card for all of their business expenses.

Malpractice insurance companies provide timely, accurate, cost-effective malpractice insurance to their clients. These insurance companies have been licensed by state law. They operate as insurers and sell products to clients who pay for premium policies. The policies of malpractice insurance companies vary with geographical location, organization or company, and specialties being offered. The existence (or lack) of malpractice insurance differs from state to state too. The success of a malpractice insurance company very much depends on the financial market and reasonability of awards from lawsuits.

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