Emaar Properties get First Investment Grade after Four Years

The latest sign and good news of the Dubai property market recovery is the investment grade rating received by Emaar properties for the first time in four years. Emaar Properties are the builders of world’s tallest towers. They received the lowest invest grade “BBB-” from Standard and Poor during the real estate bubble burst in December 2009. But now S&P has given a BB+. 

"The rating action reflects the sound performance of Emaar's high-quality, Dubai-based leasing and hospitality assets, which constitute a large share of total earnings," S&P said. "The upgrade also incorporates Emaar's successful launch and presale of new high-margin developments in Dubai."

In December 2013, Cluttons reported a significant growth in residential values in Emaars Burj Khalifah. According to Knight Frank, Dubai’sproperty market is vastly recovering and the world’s largest increase in homeprices are growing by 35 to 40 percent this year. Emaar's new rating followed property pre-sales, increase in recurring income and after the developer converted bonds valued at $475.7 million into shares, according to Bloomberg. Included in Emaar's $2.5 billion of debt outstanding, it has a $500 million Islamic bond due in August 2016.

5 things to learn before Investing in Real Estate

Investing in real estate can be exciting and a fabulous way to earn extra money without having to do much. However, like many other businesses real estate also needs a thorough understanding before getting started. Here are five things to learn about real estate before investing.

1- Trends in local market

Understand the current condition and trends in your market. You should know what are the present home prices and different marketing methods. Learn the strategies that work in your market because they will come handy when it’s time to list your property. Updating the real estate is also necessary to attract buyers. Also know whether open houses are a good idea in your area or not.

2- Interest Rates

Local and national interest rates are important when investing in real estate. They determine the buyers you attract and affect your marketing strategies. Its common sense that when interests rates are high buyers tend to hold out until the they go back down .A property sold during high interest rates sits on the market longer and affects  your overall profit.

3- Construction and Rehab

Updates made to a house are useful in increasing their value. You need know a little about building and rehabbing a real estate. Knowing about these different areas of construction will help you when it's time to choose a contractor, or if you're planning to do the work yourself.

4- Leasing and Flipping

Learning about real estate definitely includes leasing and flipping, so this is something you should become intimately familiar with.

5- Inspection

Understand the inspection process. Buyers request for certain updates before closing the deal. You should know what the buyers would ask for and get it upgraded before their arriving for inspection. This can help you save thousands of dollars in the deal or make a huge difference between selling a property and losing a customer.

Determining Property Price

The first arduous step in selling a property is determining the value of your property. This valuation or range affects the property price that you put up in listing agreement. Depending on the real estate market in the town or city you live in, you can expect to profit from the property either more than the property value or slightly bit less. A broker can easily estimate the price for you. Here are a few tips to determine the property price:

Browse Real Estate Listings

Browse real estate listings for homes that are similar to yours in size, age and construction. You can find these listings in newspapers, community magazines, classified publications, trade magazines and national multiple listing services online. Pay close attention to the listing prices and obtain a close guesstimate of your property price.

Check with the Local Tax Assessor

Tax assessors provide and maintain online databases of property value assessments within a community. You can get these documents within the country office.

Use Online Tools

A number of web-based applications help you determine what the price of your home should be. These websites use tools where you simply input the physical address of the home, the city, and the state in which you are located. The system then searches thousands of public records and databases to determine a quick estimate of your home's value. Remember that the figures presented by the system are just an estimate and many factors affect the worth of the property.

Hire an Appraiser

An appraiser can easily do the job for you. Simply hire an appraiser to determine the actual value of a piece of property.

List with an Agent

Consider listing with an agent. You and the agent can mutually set a listing price for your house. The agent will have some solid experience for homes that were recently sold in your neighborhood. 

Difference between a Land Contract and a Mortgage

Land contract

Land Contract

In a land contract a person makes payments on a property with the intention of owing the land only once the property is paid for. Regular short-term installment agreement is made between the owner and the buyer. An agreed upon amount is paid for a specific period of time. The title of the deed is not transferred unless the property is paid off.  But in a mortgage payment continues on with the same amount for a specific time, such as 15 or 30 years.

Benefits of a Land Contract

It happens that a new business is trying to buy up a land but does not have enough history for a bank to lend the money. No credit history or a self employment is assumed as obstacles in obtaining a mortgage. However, in a land contract the seller may have requirements such as a higher down payment or larger monthly payments than you would find with a traditional mortgage. In a land contract, there are no closing costs or money put in escrow. Property inspections are not required as well. The lender takes care of all the legal issues relating to transfer of property. Hire a professional to handle all the work for you.

Disadvantages of Obtaining a Contract over a Mortgage

In most land contracts it’s must to pay the balance owned by the end of the period. If you don’t have the money your only option is to extend the contract longer until you could afford to pay it off, but not all sellers want to be obligated for a lengthy amount of time. 

Real Estate Quotes

Don't wait to buy real estate, buy real estate and wait.
- T. Harv Eker

In a real estate man's eye, the most expensive part of the city is where he has a house to sell.
- Will Rogers

Never fall in love with real estate.
- Richard Warnick

Don't stretch yourself too much with a mortgage. Buy within your means.. it's not worth the sleepless nights.
- Sarah Beeny

The best investment on earth is earth.
- Louis Glickman

Your House is not an asset, it is a liability.
- Robert Kiyosaki

It's tangible, it's solid, it's beautiful. It's artistic, from my standpoint, and I just love real estate.
- Donald Trump

Your House is not an asset, it is a liability.
- Robert Kiyosaki

Work to Commence in Dubai's World Islands

The World Islands, Dubai

Construction of a large resort complex known as “The Heart of Europe” is soon to be begun on the artificial archipelago of various small islands called as World Islands. The project will consist of a complex of luxury hotels and villas encompassing six small islands. It will complete at the end of 2016. The project will feature classic German, Spanish and Italian architecture. The project's cost is estimated to be more than $800 million.

The artificial archipelago is made up of more than 200 islands in the shape of world map. They are located 4.0 kilometers (2.5mi) off the coast of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. All the projects on the islands were cancelled due to 2008 real estate crisis. But now with the development of The Heart of Europe, it is expected that other developers will be encouraged to begin work on more islands, analysts say.

  

Nakeel Announces New Projects at Palm Islands

Nakeel, the top constructing and leading developers of Dubai expect to have nine hotel projects under development by 2016. These will be part of new projects that Nakheel plans to reveal this year, which includes homes, retail and leisure locations. The sales value will be 6 billion dirhams ($1.63 billion) to 8 billion dirhams, Bloomberg reports .According to the plan four new hotels will be built on Deira Island, located on its palm island. The company also plans four other developments across the rest of the city, Chairman Ali Rashed Lootah said at a news conference.

Dubai Palm Island

"We are seriously thinking of expanding in hospitality, which goes along with the vision of the Dubai government of trying to build enough facilities," Lootah said. "By 2016, we will have nine hotels and more to be announced."

Due to Dubai's real estate bubble bust Nakeel came under a severe financial crisis but was rescued by a government’s bailout in 2009. Earlier this month the developer announced it plans to pay AED6.8billion ($1.9 billion) of its debt one year ahead of schedule.