Leo’s Blog

People from all across Europe are discovering the wonderful climate and beautiful locations in Spain and want a small piece of it. This has led to a boom in the Spanish real estate market, especially in the Costa Blanca area.

For the most part those who buy property in Spain use it as a vacation home, staying there part of the year. The rest of the year they may rent it out to those who would like to visit the area as a way to assist in payment of the mortgage on the property.

What to Know as You Consider Purchasing a Spanish Property

Don’t trust this purchase to just anyone. When you search for the right real estate agent to work with, make sure they are reputable, registered, and experienced. Unfortunately there are some dishonest real estate agents out there that are looking for foreigners to take money from in real estate ventures. They hope the person looking to buy does not understand the Spanish real estate laws and that they can take advantage of that. A good way to be able to defend yourself is to speak Spanish so you can understand what is being said in deals and communicate more clearly in the purchasing process.

You should never purchase a property without conferring with a lawyer. The lawyer will go over all the details of a contract and mortgage to make sure everything is in your best interest. You should look for a Spanish lawyer who will also be familiar with Spanish real estate laws.

You should also pick your own lawyer. Many real estate agents will recommend a lawyer they know. But that person may be working for the real estate agents best interests, not yours.

Mortgaging a Property in Spain

Chances are when you decide to make a property purchase in Spain you are going to need a mortgage to pay for the property over time. There are quite a few mortgage types that are available in Spain. You should look through them all to decide which one is the best for your situation.

First is an International Mortgage. This is a mortgage you can take in your home country to buy the property in Spain. You will likely have to look for a larger mortgage company to finance this transaction. Most mortgage companies will allow you to take this kind of mortgage if you already own a home in your country and are purchasing a second home. Normally, the allowance is for 70 percent financing with a 30 percent down payment.

The other mortgage option is a second mortgage. If you have a lot of equity in your first home, this may be the best option for purchasing a vacation home in Spain. In this type of mortgage you will finance your vacation home using your primary home as collateral in the purchase. Before you enter into this type of mortgage you should make sure you will be able to afford the payment on the home and don’t forget about interest and taxes that you will be expected to pay.

Robert Carlton’s informative papers can be found on a large number of online publications with information about property for sale at the costa blanca in spain and buy property in costa blanca. His contributions on property in costa blanca are found on http://www.alicante-spain.com and many different online sites.

The holiday buy to let business can be a very worthwhile investment and can bring in an income that maybe surpasses the earnings of your day time job, that is if you do it the right way. While there are many ways to go about getting holiday buy to let funding most of them should be considered the wrong way unless you are an expert when it comes to financial matters.

While you can get a very good deal when it comes to holiday buy to let funding you just have to know where to look and very few of us do know. If you want to get the cheapest funding for your loan then putting the matter into the hands of a specialist broker is the best way to go. The broker will be able to find the best and lowest rate of interest for you based on the information that you give them.

Holiday buy to let funding is a complex business and there are many differences to the application process when it comes to getting a loan for a holiday buy to let. Perhaps one of the biggest differences is that rather than the loan being based solely on your income the lender will want to know that you will be able to meet about roughly 130% of the loan from your renters. The annual income from renting the holiday let should be somewhere around 8% of the mortgage, you will also have to take into consideration your other monthly outgoings such as replacing furnishings and supplies, insurance cover for yourself and the property and any other expenses that are generally associated with owning and running a business.

With this in mind you should at the very beginning of the venture taken such things into account as the location of the property, the type of tenants that you are going to appeal to, whether you are going to offer long term or short term letting and of course make sure you meet the requirements set out that class the property as a holiday let.

Investing in property for a buy to let business can be a wise choice and it can be a great success but it is imperative that you do your homework well. However when thinking of capitol growth you should think in the long term rather than the short which is a period of around 5 to 15 years, getting off on the right footing is of course essential and choosing to go with a broker for your holiday buy to let funding is the wisest choice you can make.

Sean Horton is a Director of Holiday Home Mortgages, which offers UK residents the finance to buy a UK based holiday home. The site offers a Free Guide to download for Holiday Let Mortgages

Why is it people neglect to acquire home contents insurance and don’t give it a second thought until disaster strikes. Since most of us have something of value in our home that we’d be hard pressed to replace it is a excellent idea to insure it. With this affordable insurance you purchase a guarantee that you’ll be able to repair or replace your belongings if something happens to your home. Remember, your home isn’t just a roof to keep you dry. It also holds all the things you build your life out of.

You can find cheap home contents insurance that is designed to reimburse you for the value of your the contents of your home in the event you suffer a loss of it. Cheap does not mean that you have to settle for inferior coverage, it means affordable. You’ve probably invested a fairly large sum of money into something in your house, whether it’s art, jewelry, rugs, or a nice entertainment system. Valuable items can fill your house. You should protect them with the right home content insurance policy.

It is separate and distinct from the insurance policy you have taken out on the structure of the house. Which covers the outside, but not what’s inside. Be aware that there might be a limit on the value you can claim for some items. There might be a ceiling on the value of a CD collection, piece of jewelry, or other important item. If you can’t get insurance for the whole amount, consider paying more on your premiums to get that privilege, or taking out a policy for that single valuable item alone.

There are things you can do to reduce your premiums while still maintaining good coverage of the items in your home. For instance, many companies will offer a discount if you maintain several insurance policies with them, such as your home contents insurance, life insurance, and car insurance. If you’ve had your policy for a long time without a claim, you may qualify for a cheaper quote. You can negotiate for discounts with the insurer, so that you’ll get the best deal.

You should have no problem finding this type of insurance to protect your property inside the home. In fact a quick search online should reveal a number of insurers for you to choose from. You can compare rates and features of multiple companies easily this way. Keep in mind your current insurer may offer cheaper contents insurance for your items and you should compare a quote from them with what you find online. Do not wait until you experience a loss of some sort to realize the value of the things you own and how difficult it will be to replace them. Take the time to do some research and you should find good cheap home contents insurance that fits your needs and offers you peace of mind.

Get More information on protecting your home and property click here Instant Home Insurance Quote Also go to http://Best-Home-Owners-Insurance.Com where you can get more info on your home insurance options including home owner flood insurance..home contents insurance, AARP home owner insurance and more…

1. They cannot replace all the lights in your house

LED Light bulbs give off directional light. They are poor replacements for bulbs used for lighting large areas - usually called general lighting. They’re better for replacing spot and flood lights used in track lighting, accent lighting, recessed lighting and outdoor security.

2. They give off blue light

Most people think that LED bulbs give off a bluish tint, described as a sci-fi creepy sort of light. This is sometimes true so watch out what color you are buying. The great thing about LED light bulbs is that they now come in different shades of white from warm to cold - but these will range from seller to seller.

The best way to tell the color of a light is to look for the rating in Kelvins (K), also known as the color temperature and find a guide that shows the colors of different temperatures. Searching for “color temperature” in Google should give you many results.

3. They do not take heat well

Heat will drastically reduce the life on an LED light bulb. Make sure your investment isn’t put to waste by letting your bulbs heat up too much, by keeping them away from heat sources.

4. They cannot be used with dimmers

All LED light bulbs currently being sold do not work with typical dimmers. You can find custom-built fixtures using LED’s that come with their own power supplies and dimmer controls. If you’re putting in a drop-in replacement LED light bulb, the dimmer you were using previously with your halogen or incandescent bulb will not work.

5. Lumens output is misleading and often exaggerated

In simple terms lumens is measured by taking a lumen measuring device and taking the average of the lumen rating all around a light source.

An LED light bulb might have the same lumen rating as say a 50W incandescent bulb, but it would only be bright at one spot and would light a room pretty poorly whereas the 50W incandescent would do quite well. Similiarly, it could also have a much lower rating than a 50W incandescent bulb yet put out a very strong spotlight.

A lot of seller’s exaggerate these ratings since there is no standard out right now for measuring the brightness of an LED bulb. The best way to really know what you’re getting is to look at how they compare it to an incandescent or halogen bulb. For example: “This bulb has equivalent light output to a 50W incandescent or 20W halogen.” If they include pictures then even better.

We’ve been in business for over a year selling LED light bulbs all over the US. We specialize in retro-fittable, drop-in replacements for current incandescent and halogen bulbs in all the most common shapes. We provide a superior LED equivalent for most of the common bulbs you’ll see being used at home, office or in a retail store.

Eternaleds - LED Light Bulbs for Your Home, Office or Retail Store

Anyone can buy real estate with no money down. All you have to do is offer a high enough price and make sure the seller gets some cash at closing (but not yours). Do that and someone will say yes to your offer. The problem, of course, is that just getting real estate without spending your own cash isn’t all you want. You also want a deal that makes sense.

This tends to be glossed over by many who promote zero-down ways to buy real estate. If you are buying a home for yourself, so what if you get in with nothing down. You also want to be sure that it makes more sense than the alternatives (renting, waiting, lease-option, etc.). If you are investing in real estate, you want a property that will have cash flow or can be sold for a profit. With those criteria in mind, here are a few ways to do it without your own money.

No Money Down - Starting With Land

One of the easiest types of real estate to buy with nothing down is land or small lots. In many areas of the country it is common for sellers to sell these properties with a small down payment or none at all. Of course, one of the reasons they do this is because it is an easy way to get more for the land. I once bought a piece of land for cash and resold it in weeks for 30% more, because a lot of buyers could afford my terms: $250 down and $100 per month. So be sure that you are not paying too much.

“Too much” doesn’t necessarily mean paying a lot over “market value” however. It is determined by what you will do with the property. For example, if you have no other way to buy a small lot, and as a result of the easy terms offered by the seller you pay $12,000 for a lot worth just $9,000, is that too much? Not if you will later put a modular on it and make a $21,000 profit selling the package.

Now you might notice that many of the lots and parcels of land for sale are not offered with no down payment. Most sellers will at least want something at closing, even if it is only $1,000 down on an $8,000 lot. So how do these become “nothing down” deals? By borrowing for the down payment. In the above example, where you eventually make $21,000, what if you borrowed the down payment on a credit card at 18% interest, and it took a year to do the deal? Then you would make $210 less ($30 cash advance fee and $180 interest), or just $20,790 profit.

Land is also a way to get into a home with no money down. When you buy real estate this way, you can pay for the lot over a few years, and then use it as the equity necessary to get a home loan. many banks will loan you the money for a modular or stick-built home if you already own the land free and clear.

100% Financing

If you have a good credit score, you might still be able to get a 100% mortgage loan. They are getting less common now (late 2007), but I still see an occasional advertisement for them. Alternately, you might find a lender who will loan 90% and still let the seller finance the other 10% on a second mortgage, meaning none of your cash is necessary.

If you are investing in real estate, you might get 100% financing from a “hard money” lender. These lenders charge high fees and high interest, but the idea is that you use them for high -profit deals that make it worth it. Other investors may put up the money for the down payment and repair costs on a fixer upper project, if you find the right deals. This can be at a high interest rate, or for a share of the profits.

Buy Real Estate From Motivated Sellers

If you stick to properties that have highly motivated sellers, there is usually a way to buy with no money down. For example, a seller might sell his $90,000 house to you with only $3,000 down if you offer him $95,000 and a good interest rate. You can borrow the $3,000 of course (or even a little more to cover closing costs, if you want nothing at all into the deal).

Sellers have been known to take cars or other pieces of property as a down payment. They may let you buy with two mortgage notes, one for 20% and the other for 80%, one of which they’ll immediately sell to get the cash they want. To buy real estate with no money down, just look for a way to get the seller (and the lender, if necessary) what he needs - without using your cash.

Copyright Steve Gillman. To see a photo of the house we bought for $17,500, and get a Free Real Estate Investing Course, visit: http://www.HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com

We all know that too much sun is not good for our skin due to the link with skin cancer, but did you now that not enough sun can also be dangerous? Why is this? Our bodies need sunlight to perform almost every vital function that leads to overall good health. Just as we cannot have healthy skin without a healthy body, sunlight is a very important natural skin care treatment - and you need daily exposure to the sun. The all important question is how do you get that daily sun exposure without increasing your risk of getting skin cancer?

First of all, let’s look at why sunlight is so important to us. When sunlight enters the eyes, it goes to the hypothalamus in the brain. The hypothalamus is known as the brain’s brain, it controls the part of the nervous system that regulates the body’s automatic and metabolic processes through hormones. The hypothalamus depends on light-activated information to do that and that light comes from the sun. Once the sunlight hits the hypothalamus, a domino effect takes place that influences the entire body. Here’s what it does.

• It regulates body temperature, blood pressure, hunger, thirst, and water balance.
• It links the nervous system to the pituitary, thyroid, adrenals, ovaries and testes. The hormones released by these glands influence almost every cell, organ and function of the body,
• It initiates the body’s stress response.
• It controls the immune functions.
• It houses your body’s clock which, in turn, controls the pineal gland - the body’s master organ - which also uses light information received through the eyes to activate and synchronize the body’s internal functions.

All of these bodily functions contributes to healthy skin, but they are all dependent on sunlight entering the eyes and going into the hypothalamus. Studies have shown that even taking supplements can’t really replace that one natural process.

Secondly, let’s look at how you can make the sun part of your natural skin care treatment routine without the skin cancer risk. One good thing is that although the hypothalamus needs sun, it doesn’t need a lot. About 15 minutes in the sun every day is plenty. Make sure you are out in the early morning before 10:00 or late afternoon after 4:00 when the sun is at it’s at it weakest.

Mother nature has provided us with many natural skin care treatment remedies, of which sunlight is the most basic - plus it’s free! Use it liberally, wear sunscreen during the hottest hours of the day, and don’t forget the shielding lotion!

If you are having problems with your skin CLICK HERE for a copy of my FREE 7 day report on Quick and Easy Tips for Younger, Healthier Skin.

A word of warning however: if at all possible, use a sunscreen without toxic chemicals. Protection from the sun is vital, but some of the chemicals in sunscreens can be just as dangerous. To be sure, always use a shielding lotion. Apply it under the sunscreen, and it will help prevent the chemicals from absorbing into the skin. See my article on this subject HERE.

Julie Fenoglio is a Registered Nurse and skin care consultant who loves to give away freebies, tips, and reports to help others learn about skin care.

Visit her blog at http://www.myantiagingskincareonline.com

When you build with bricks you’re creating something that can be appreciated for generations. It’s not uncommon to find structures in complete ruin except for the masonry such as a brick chimney or wall.

The reasons for do-it-yourself bricklaying vary, but the primary reason seems to be cost. Others include learning a valuable skill for starting a new business, or simply learning a new hobby. Planning a bricklaying project begins with gathering ideas and envisioning the end result. Don’t overlook this step. Masonry is permanent so be cautious and remember you need to do it right - the results of your efforts will be on public display for a long, long time.

As you begin your planning it’s important to consider size and scale, location, material selection, drainage and appearance. Make deatiled drawings of the planned project so to eliminate design flaws and aid in estimating building costs.

Visit your local home improvement center or hardware store and collect samples of the material you have in mind and evaluate the way they blend with your existing landscaping. Depending on whether you plan on pouring a small slab or building a brick archway, estimate the dimensions of your project as accurately as possible. This eliminates extra shopping trips. Since your using brick the local brickyard is where you’ll find the best supply of bricklayers material. They also carry the tools you are going to need.

Speaking of the tools, and to work effectively you are going to have to buy or rent some special purpose tools. I suggest that if this is a one-time project then by all means rent the tools. What follows is a suggested list of tools for doing brickwork:

Mortar hawk - for holding mortar
Wide pointing tool - for placing mortar on brick
Jointer - for finishing joints
Brick tongs - for carrying multiple bricks
Narrow tuck pointer - for placing mortar on bricks
Mason’s trowel - for applying mortar
Masonry chisels - for splitting brick
Mason’s hammers - for chipping brick
Maul - for driving stakes
Joint chisel - for removing dry mortar
Shop broom - for keeping the work area clean
Bucket and scrub brush
Stiff bristle brush - for removing loose material
Rubber mallet
Pipe clamp - for scoring large quantities of brick
Circular saw (with a masinry blade) - for cutting brick
Hammer drill with masonry bit
Wheelbarrow - for mixing mortar
Shovel
Cement - for mixing mortar
Particle mask, gloves and protective eyewear

A helpful hint is to build your project, if possible without using mortar. This allows you to see the finished project, make corrections along the way and decide if the end result is really what you wanted.

The last thing I’ll cover is choosing, mixing and throwing the right mortar. Masonry mortar is a mixture of Portland cement, sand and water. Other ingredients include lime and gypsum to improve workability and control setup time. Believe it or not the strongest mortar mixture isn’t always the best for the job. Gone thankfully are the days when do-it-yourselfers had to mix mortar fom scratch, often with disasterous results. These days mortar comes premixed in 50 - 100 lb bags. Today you simply select the correct mix for the job at hand.

Type N mortar is often called for because it offers a good blend of strength and durability. It’s commonly used in non-load-bearing projects such as freestanding walls, BBQ grills and chimneys.

Type S mortar is a high strength mixture for exterior use in foundations, brick and block reatining walls, driveways, walks and patios,

Type M mortar is a very high strength mortar for load-bearing exterior stone walls.

There are other types mixes for special purpose but fo the sake of simplicity I left them out o this article.

Mixing mortar is simple these days. I dump one to two bags of mix into a large wheelbarrow, push it to one side and slowly add water until I get the right texture I want. If it’s too thick , it will fall off the trowel in a heap and not in the smooth line you want. Add to much water and it’s messy and weak. Just follow the manufacturers directions and you should be fine. If you’ve never mixed mortar before experiment in small batches until you find the mixture that works. Keep note of your mixture ratios to use later.

Don’t mix mortar in large batches unless you are willing to use it all in one application. More than one do-it-yourslf bricklayer has ended up with a wheelbarrow filled with 200 lbs of dried mortar for this reason. It’s best to mix mortar as needed. You can’t foresee delays such as bad weather, running out of daylight or worse yet injuring yourself.

Watching a professional bricklayer at work is an impressive sight. I remember as a small child living with my grandparents and watching their new home being built. The mortar practically flew off the workers trowels and the walls seemed to rise out of the ground in minutes. “Mortar throwing” is an acquired skill that takes years to master, but you can use the basic techniques successfully with just a little practice.

Throwing mortar is a quick, smooth technique. Load the trowel with mortar (how much depends on you comfort level), then position the trowel a few inches above the starting point. In one motion, begin turning your wrist over and quickly move the trowel across the surface to spread mortar consistently. Ideally you want ot end up with a line of mortar about 2 1/2 ” wide and about 2 ‘ long.

These are the very basics. There are numerous books and how-to videos on countless masonry projects. Just remember to plan accordingly, take your time and above all … be safe.

Chuck Lunsford is a successful Webmaster and publisher of do it yourself B.B.Q. plans. You can additional home improvements on his website.