Foreign Investors Group

Kicking off the evaluation process is the toughest for us. Question after question kept popping up “Is the property market low enough?”, “Is this property worth considering?”, “Are the numbers the only criteria for investment?” What are we really looking for in real estate investing?? Quick bucks $$ or Regular income…

Bottom-line = Money!!!

Property Agents have tons of recommendations for YOU! How will you know whether they are good investment for you?

There are many factors that need to be considered in evaluating a real estate investment. For example, location, environment/neighborhood, facilities, financing options, rental income, etc. If all above works, it is time calling your agents and set up appointments. Happy Viewings!!!!

Actually it is not difficult and it does not need much of your time to know if a real estate investment is worth investing in the first place. All you need is crunching some numbers with your calculator, and Bingo! You can decide whether the property is worth investing.

Later in this article, we will show you how these numbers work in your prospective real estate investment by two real life cases in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

Numbering GAME
Numbers, numbers and numbers.. How do you get them?

You may try calling a few property agents, check with banks on properties valuations and of course there is plenty of information on the Internet. Once you have these numbers you can determine if a real estate investment is worth spending your time for a viewing. “Seeing is Believing.” Check out the property to see the actual condition and the environment, whether it is to your liking once you get your numbers RIGHT! Once you get your numbers, you will see:

Incomes
One-time income – selling price
Regular income – rental price

Costs
One-time expenses (startup costs) – down payment, agent’s brokerage, legal fees, stamp duty, furnishing cost, etc.
Regular expenses (monthly costs) – monthly loan repayment, monthly maintenance fee, quit rent, property tax, etc.

See how they (numbers) work..
The basic requirement for a good real estate investment is that the income it generates must be more than its costs.

If the selling price of a real estate investment is more than its purchase price and startup costs, this investment generates capital gain.

If the rental income of a real estate investment is more than its monthly expenses, this investment generates cash flow.

If you are looking for capital gain, the gain or loss depends very much on the real estate market. Hoping to make money from capital gain on real estate is like buying a product and hoping the value of the product will go up with time. On a long term basis, real estate will be appreciating in value because of inflation, but the gain is not guaranteed.

On the other hand, a real estate investment that generates cash flow effectively put money into your pocket every month, while your equity in the real estate investment increases over time. This is the real estate investment that we are looking for – an investment worth investing.

Too good to be true?
With this recession time, you will ask yourself, “Is it the RIGHT time for me to start investing in real estate? Everything is so uncertain NOW.”

In Johor Bahru, you can find plenty of real estate investments worth investing at this juncture. We discovered most of these investments that generate substantial cash flow are mainly apartments or condominiums. You can read from our upcoming article to know why apartments or condominiums are better real estate investments in Johor Bahru. Here are two recent real life cases of real estate investments worth investing in Johor Bahru.

Case 1: We found a condominium in Larkin area of Johor Bahru in Octorber 2008 selling at $160,000 with existing tenant. Monthly rental income is $1400 while monthly maintenance cost is around $300 (maintenance fee plus sinking fund plus quit rent).

If we finance 90% of the purchase price to buy this condominium with interest rate 4.85% with a tenure of 30 years, monthly loan repayment is estimated to be $760. Thus, this condominium is generating a net cash flow of $340 every month, $4080 every year.

Total capital outlay for this investment is $24,000 for down payment including other startup costs like legal fee and brokerage.

Effectively this investment gives us a yearly cash-on-cash return of 18.5%. In other words, within 6 years we would be able to take back our capital $24,000! The best thing is we still own the condominium. It will keep putting money into our pocket every month. We also have the option to sell it away when the market is good.

Case 2: There is a 3-rooms apartment in Tampoi sold at $125,000 in Octorber 2008. Monthly maintenance cost is about $150. If we finance 90% of the purchase price with interest rate 4.85% with a tenure of 30 years, monthly loan repayment is estimated to be $600.

Expected rental income for a fully furnished apartment in the area is about $1200. With furnishing cost of $10,000, total capital required for this investment is around $27,000, while total monthly cost is $750.

The apartment is expected to generate a net cash flow of $450 every month, $5400 every year. Cash-on-cash return on this investment is 20% which we can expect to take back all the capital within 5 years.

Sound interesting right?
Of course, so far we are only talking about numbers. A good real estate investment does not rely on purely numbers. You still have to go and have a look at the building structures, study the location and neighborhood, and perform other checks before you make your decision. What we have discussed, however, can save you time and give you more ideas on the potential returns of a real estate investment before you tell your agent which real estate you want to view in the coming weekend.

Read more about real estate investment tips at http://reijb.com

We write regularly about real estate investment. Some of our featured articles include:

“How to estimate the value of a property?“

“Why apartment can be the best real estate investment?“

“How important is location to an investment real estate?“

Your personal source for buying real estate and Properties in Israel – rental and sales site for rent apartments and homes for sale in Israel is “land of Israel”  . Who is renting and buying apartments and homes in Israel? The Central Bureau of Statistics forecast that Israel’s population passed the 7 million mark during February 2006, reaching 7,006,000. The statistics revealed that 76% of Israel’s population is Jewish (5.32 million), 20% Arab (1.4 million), and 4% (300,000) were of other religious denominations most of which have family ties to the Jewish people. Based on its population, Israel is now larger than Denmark and Slovakia (which each populations of 5.5 million), Ireland and Lithuania (3.9 million people each), Finland (5.2 million) and Norway (4.5 million). One tip in renting and selling real estate in Israel is: rent may not include paying city taxes. And do not waive the Israel Rental Protection Law. The Ideal of the Jewish people’s return to their Land, holds the promise not only of its fulfilment as a spiritual home but also a realistic one in purely material terms. Those seeking to invest in it, can look forward to the inherent long term rewards. The Promised Land’s well-spring of blessing, is not about to run out of milk and honey!

It is recommended to Visit the country. come and see Ranana , kfar sba , Hertzelia , Ramat hasharon .it is also important to check the “Zoning Plan” of the area surrounding the purchased property. By doing so, the purchaser can confirm that there will not be any “surprises” down the road as to the nature of his neighborhood (tall building, schools, kindergartens, synagogues, country clubs, etc.). Such information can be obtained at the offices of the relevant municipal authority.

In Jerusalem Real estate investment / foreign sales accounted for about 25 percent of recent purchases in central Jerusalem neighborhoods such as Rehavia and Katamon, and in the Jewish quarter of the Old City, said

Romania – famous for its beautiful palaces and castles, wonderful liquors and food, Dracula, dazzling women is a beautiful country located in central-eastern Europe. It is the 12th largest country in the Europe. The economy of Romania has shown potential growth in the past few years. Since 2000, Romania has shown a rhythmic growth of 4.5% raised by 8.3% in 2004.

The current economy statement in Romania is steadily increasing the levels of GDP and significantly high levels of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The economy investment grade has recently been upgraded by Fitch and P&S. Romania benefits from the rising FDI flows due to the privatization process, and the advantages of its big internal market

Romania is also having a great geographical location at the intersection of some great trade routes joining the Far East with the Western Europe. With population of more than 20 million people, Romania has a large domestic market. After having such great property investment opportunities, Romania is continuously attracting more and more foreign investors to invest in Romania. Stable and encouraging government of Romania is the other reason which is creating great investment opportunities in Romania. The Real estate market in Romania is growing at a rocket speed. Following are some best reasons for investing in Romania.

Reasons to Invest in Romanian Real Estate Property:

1. With strategic and visionary efforts by Romanian government, the economy is becoming stronger and stronger over the years. Romania is one of the fastest growing economies in Europe.

2. Falling inflation and increasing employment are two other boosters of rapidly growing economy. Inflation has dropped to 7.5% low in 2005 from 22% high in 2002. Unemployment rate also fell to 6.2% in 2006 with less than 3% in capital Bucharest which is far lower than the many other developed European economies. With under control inflation and falling unemployment rate Romania is confidently creating the strong property buying opportunities over the country.

3. Foreign investment in Romania is increasing drastically. From 2001 to 2005, foreign direct investment in Romania has reached over 5000 million euros and more 8000 million euros added in 2006. With 55% of FDI in capital city Bucharest, major companies from all over the world are coming to invest in Romania.

4. Along with capital city of Bucharest, other cities in Romania like Brasov, Transylvania, Craiova, Constanta and Iasi are also attracting investors. Transylvania is the Romania’s biggest tourist asset and the expected to attract more investment with immense number of investment opportunities. One more golden opportunity where investors want to invest is in Brasov, the most visited city of Romania. Having facility of international airport, Brasov is also linked with new motorway for fast transportation.

5. Report given by investment experts says that house prices in Romania are expected to increase by 4 times higher over the next 10 years. In past few years, property prices are already raised by 25%. Even such a great rise, property price in Romania are still 20-30% lower than the other eastern European countries.

6. After accession to the EU in 2007, the real estate market in Romania has been influenced dramatically. EU funding to Romania has been invested into the infrastructure development in road, hospitals, schools, bridges etc. EU funds will help to create more jobs and therefore potential customers seeking to buy/rent properties.

7. Low tax rates are the other main reason to invest in Romania. Romanian government has set up a flat rate of only 16% for corporation and income tax. Such low and fixed rate of tax is powering Romania to draw more foreign investors seeking for new business places.

Some other secondary factors are also responsible for great investment opportunities in Romania. Romania has great network of international airports with two in capital Bucharest. Developed and fully facilitate ports in Romania is also boosting its economy drastically. Romania has huge network of telecommunication systems equipped with modern telecommunication equipments. Also there are nearly 48 industrial parks.

As far as it looks, the boom is yet to come! Buying property in Romania will be great ROI in near future. So what are you waiting for? Invest now in Romania for your better future.