Enjoy another guest post by Scott Mathew. Thanks, Scott!

It may be your childhood dream to buy your own house. If you think the wait is over and this is the right time to buy a house, make sure you find the best deal. Whether it is the house itself or the mortgage required to buy it, select the most beneficial option for you. In case of mortgage, it is sensible to compare different mortgage quotes before choosing one. This article focuses on guiding you in comparing online mortgage quotes and getting cheap mortgage rate.

Comparing mortgage quotes
It is really exciting to purchase a house. When you have decided to purchase one, you do not feel like waiting at all. However, it is really important to conduct adequate research and compare mortgage quotes before you select a mortgage. Given below are some important points relating to this:

1.) Type of loan – You can either select a fixed-rate or an adjustable-rate loan, depending on your future planning. In case of a fixed rate loan, the interest rate remains stable. If you have planned to stay in the house for a long time, a fixed-rate loan will be a good option. On the other hand, the interest rate in case of an adjustable loan keeps on changing. In most cases, the interest rate is fixed and quite low at the initial period. So, if you are planning to stay in the house for a brief period, adjustable loan can be a suitable option.

2.) Term of the loan – Compare the term of the loan. Some short term loan may demand an overall low interest rate. However, as you have to pay the principal amount within a short period of time, the monthly payments can be quite big. On the other hand, in case of long term loans, the amount you pay per month may be low but the total interest over the entire loan period, will be high.

3.) The loan points – Check the cost of different points offered by different lenders. A point implies a type of fee which is paid at closing. A single point equals to 1 % of the loan. It is important to compare points because some lenders offer lower interest rates while asking for higher points while others may offer loans at a high interest rate but with low points. It is better to opt for loans with high points and low interest rate if you are planning to stay in the house for a long time.

Ways to get cheap mortgage rates
After comparing mortgage rates and understanding what would suit your requirements, the next step would involve searching for cheap mortgage rates. The steps mentioned below can be helpful in this regard:

a.) Make phone calls to various reputed banks to compare rates and get the best deal.

b.) If you find a favorable deal, make sure you go for the deal without delay and ask the bank to lock the rate.

c.) If your credit score does not look good, make sure you improve it before applying for a mortgage. A bad credit score may lead to imposition of high rate of interest.

Before making a big purchase like a house, take some time out and research about various mortgage quotes and cheap deals. It would help you to smoothly pay off your mortgage.

Please enjoy this the first ‘Guest Blog’ submitted by Scott Mathew.

The Canada Customs and Revenue agency (CCRA) had introduced Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP), which acts as a favorable retirement tool for the Canadians. Anyone with an ‘earned income’ can make use of the plan till 71 years of age. The RRSP acts as a tax-deferred savings option for the working individuals, which even generates interest if the savings are used as investments. RRSP investments are generally made in mutual funds, GICs, stocks, bonds, and even in real estate properties.

RRSP investments in real estate can be done with the help of a home mortgage. Such investments can yield high returns if done properly. One can easily make use of his own RRSP to fund his mortgage loan, and pay it back again to his RRSP account gradually.

However, to invest in real estate with your RRSP, you’ll need to have sufficient resources in your account to cover your home mortgage loan. You can pay the loan amount gradually back to your own RRSP, according to the loan terms you choose. All other conditions associated with a mortgage loan remain the same though. You’ll need to compare the mortgage quotes to get the best deal on your home loan. Failure to make regular payments will result in foreclosure.

Holding a mortgage within your own RRSP has certain advantages associated with it, as explained below:

1. If you invest from your own RRSP savings and pay it back gradually, the interests on the mortgage will accumulate over time. You, as the investor, will be able to keep the interests to yourself only, and won’t need to pay it to other mortgage lender.
2. The interest rates will be decided by the investor only. Thus, they can be arranged at the maximum permissible rates.
3. There’ll be less risk involved for the investors, since the growth of the RRSP accounts can be foreseen.

Even though you’ll virtually own the mortgage, you won’t be able to reduce the risk factor involved with a home mortgage loan. The bank will have the right to sell off your house to repay your RRSP account, if you default on the mortgage. Besides, a mortgage would need you to make a considerable investment from your RRSP. You could have diversified the amount to be spent on other options.

The Real Estate Blog of Khusan free real estate classifieds and listings is looking for guest bloggers.

Why invite guest bloggers?

Why guest blogging at all? Well, we have to confess something here….
As the founders started with this great Real Estate platform that Khusan.com is, of course a Blog should be integrated too.
But as a lot of you out there know, writing posts for your blog isn’t that simple and foremost it’s time consuming.

Because all founders of Khusan.com have their own businesses, it became harder and harder to keep up writing Real Estate related posts.
Furthermore, and this would be our second confession, we all have succesfull businesses, though Real Estate is not our core business as in being a Realtor or Real Estate Agent or Real Estate investor.

But, pursuing our goal to provide the wider public with a platform that addresses everybody that has something to do with houses or property in general, we got the idea of inviting writers and bloggers to do guest blogging for us.

We strongly believe this creates a win-win situation if some of the basic rules of guestblogging in the wide field of Real Estate are adhered to.

The basics of all good blogging applies to guest blogging too, so:

• Write content that is unique and hasn’t been used elsewhere previously (we use copyscape to check that)
• Break posts up with images, bullet points and headings (we can help take care of that with you, text is key)
• Write your best work. Blog posts to a blogger are like paintings to an artist. They’re your portfolio and show you off.
• Keep the piece relevant to Real Estate content and what you’ve have published in the past (Ref. buying, flipping, mortgage, shortsale, …)
• Provide as much value as you can to the new broad international audience you’re interacting with

This will bring the win-win situation:

• If you write good content for our site, you’ll have your posts approved and you’ll receive the benefits that guest posting has to offer.
  That would be backlinking, building more credibility and reaching wider audience
•  We on the other hand will get quality content to support our Real Estate portal, building as such more credibility too and generate more traffic for our advertisers who are looking for property.

So, if you’re up to engaging in this win-win situation, please use the feedback-button on the left side of Khusan.com to contact us with your suggestion of the Real Estate related article or post you could write for our blog.

How do you feel about this initiative?

Ripley’s Building (Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada)

Fuji television building (Tokyo, Japan)

Nord LB building (Hannover, Germany)

Mammy’s Cupboard (Natchez, MS, United States)

Erwin Wurm: House Attack (Viena, Aust

The Ufo House (Sanjhih, Taiwan)

Stone House (Guimarães, Portugal)

On June 14th 2010 – The Free International Real Estate classifieds listings portal Khusan was launched to cater for both the merchant (house owner, Realtor, travel agent, etc.) and the consumer (all those wanting real estate) to place their advertisements.

Khusan.com’s primary target group is the property owners who sell their realty privately using the ‘For Sale By Owner’ method. However, it is definitely not limited to this target group. No one is excluded from advertising their property or their requirements on Khusan.com. Adverts include comprehensive info about properties and Google Map positioning. Ads are free of charge and it is a refreshing way to create free classified ads within the property market.

Khusan has now added a valuable service for advertisers who would like to see their properties appear at the top of the listings pages. In addition to placing Free ads, an advertiser can now opt in to pay a small fee that will feature his classified ad as a ‘Top Listing’.

Top Listings will appear above free ads and therefore draw more interest from site visitors. This is an attractive advantage in a portal that displays thousands of properties. However, the Top Listings segment will be limited to just 4 properties on each page.

User friendliness is one of the major success factors of any website. With Khusan you can get to any property listing in 2 clicks. Property details are attractively displayed on one single page. They include the owner contact details, a generous description, property features, a photo gallery with up to 8 images and to conclude the page a Google map is incorporated showing the exact location (if required). Khusan does not only have free classifieds for ‘offered’ Real Estate but also ‘wanted’ listings.

So if you admire beautiful people, enjoy gourmet food, appreciate fine wine, adore innovation and take pleasure in visiting amazing websites… you’ll love Khusan!

Of course, you may just want to sell or find a house.

Visit Khusan – The International Real Estate Classifieds Portal here.

by RAY CLANCY on FEBRUARY 10, 2011 @ www.propertycommunity.com – http://bit.ly/eiPqSl

Lack of stock is bolstering the real estate market in London with multiple buyers chasing every property available for sale, according to a new report.

And despite speculation that house prices would fall in 2011 it has been a positive start to the year for the London sales market with D&G reporting the highest number of applicants it has seen in over a year and three times more than in December.

Its London Property Barometer for January shows that although it is not uncommon to see an increase in both buyers and sellers in January, it appears that many of those buyers are now genuinely ready to enter the market having realised that mortgage rates are on the way up and therefore having booked their rates they now need to spend within six months.

‘Lack of stock remains the key issue for the London sales market with our figures showing almost five buyers for every property available for sale. This lack of stock continues to be caused by the inertia of low interest rates and consequent low mortgage rates,’ said Ed Mead, D&G director.

He believes that believes prices may well rise by at least 5% this year which may perhaps give buyers an extra incentive to feel they are buying at the right time.

The London lettings market is seeing similar levels of interest, according to director Virginia Skilbeck. ‘Good quality properties in popular areas are being let at the highest rates seen in the past few years, with some properties being let within hours of coming to the market.  The continuing lack of properties for sale has caused many buyers to remain in rented accommodation, increasing the number of renewals,’ she said.

‘With the rental market continuing to strengthen over 2010, buy to let investors have returned to the market and we have had enquiries from both sophisticated and amateur investors this year,’ she added.

A separate report from Knight Frank shows that prime central London prices increased by 1.1% in January, led by Knightsbridge and Kensington where values are up 6% in three months.  Prices are now 26.9% higher than March 2009 and 3.4% lower than their all time peak reached in March 2008.

‘London has bucked the wider UK trend in recent months, with strong price growth and resilient demand for property. Whereas prices in the wider UK market fell by over 1% in the year to January, central London saw continued double digit growth,’ said Liam Bailey, head of residential research at Knight Frank.

‘Demand for property has been strong, applicant volumes were 13% higher in the three months to January compared to the same period a year earlier. The real drivers of this demand have been overseas buyers, especially Europeans, and also City based buyers, who have been more numerous than expected given the uncertain discussions over bonus levels,’ he added.

by RAY CLANCY on FEBRUARY 10, 2011 @ www.propertycommunity.com -http://bit.ly/eiPqSl

Today the number of people searching for homes and the number of online resources available continues to grow, so using the internet as the most effective way to find properties has become really important.
Khusan.com has harnessed the advantages of the world wide web and created a Real Estate Classifieds portal that allows both buyers and sellers alike to advertise free of charge in an international arena. Whether those properties are for sale or for rent or a house is being offered or wanted – khusan makes the task very simple and effective.

Just in Europe alone, several million residential properties are changing hands each year. Having the opportunity to search for these properties from home is a huge advantage in terms of the time saved and footwork no longer required. Khusan makes your search simple and you can be sure of getting the best deals available.

Khusan has become a dynamic and innovative online classifieds listings service. Ads are free and the portal is built around this basic concept. However, in order to facilitate a better ranking in the listings – advertisers will soon have the option to feature their listings at the top of each search result page for just a small fee.

This second phase which is to be introduced over the next weeks will give advertisers a marked presence when site users are searching for properties in a particular area. Khusan will display Top Listings on the first 4 or 5 positions of each page to allow properties to be seen and clicked on quickly and in a very short time.

Khusan was launched last April and is growing fast. Currently the portal has several thousand properties – so if you want your property to be found easily and rapidly – now is the time to advertise it and get maximum exposure.

The whole concept is based on the ‘For Sale by Owner’ premise where property owners can advertise at no cost (or for a small fee to feature the property) and users interested in a property contact the owner directly. Khusan, as the portal owner has no intermediary role between buyers and sellers.

If you are selling or buying property – If you are looking for a FREE Real Estate classifieds portal – Then visit  www.khusan.com Khusan? You can!

Google acknowledged that low adoption rates of the experiment has contributed heavily to the decision to scrap the service. Between real estate companies that offer much more evolved (and often exclusive) property searches on their own websites and classifieds listing services like Craigslist and Khusan amongst many others that are very popular, Google’s real estate search was just unable to keep up.

After less than a year, Google’s experiment in helping people find a home is to stop.
One of Google key philosophies is to take risks and to experiment. To that end, in July 2009 they announced the ability to find property for sale or rent directly on Google Maps. This is one of the “search options” next to the search box on Google Maps, and is currently available in the US, Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Japan.

In part due to low usage, the proliferation of excellent property-search tools on real estate websites, and the infrastructure challenge posed by the impending retirement of the Google Base API (used by listing providers to submit listings), Google has decided to discontinue the real estate feature within Google Maps on February 10, 2011.

Google has learned a lot and been excited to see real estate companies use Google Maps in innovative ways to help people find places to live, such as Coldwell Banker’s use of Google Maps and YouTube, or Realtor.com’s Android app that lets you draw a shape on a map to find all properties you’re interested in.

Yet Google recognizes that there might be better, more effective ways to help people find local real estate information than the current feature makes possible. They will continue to explore this area, but in the meantime, Google offers other options to home-seekers: you can still access other information in Maps such as local businesses, directions and transit times, as well as aerial and Street View imagery to explore where you might want to move, and also use Google search results to find helpful real estate information and websites.

Real estate companies can also continue to use tools from Google to help connect with buyers and renters who use the Internet to research properties. For example, companies can use the Google Maps API to embed customized maps that are useful to potential clients right on their own web pages. The Google for real estate professionals site contains various methods for generating leads and improving real estate business operations.

This article based on info from Google Lat Long Blog on Wed, January 27, 2011

According to the Telegraph – some areas of the UK have 1500 buyers going after just 150 properties on the market. If you want to sell your property – perhaps this is the perfect opportunity to do just that. Still unsure?

Certainly the best time to sell is when there are the most amount of buyers actively looking to buy. This is undoubtedly due to the positive effect that competition has on achieving the best possible  sale price.
Any buyers competing over your property will inevitably increase the offers. When you sell your property, this is a key factor behind getting the best price.

But in general this a very tough market for sellers. In some areas of the UK where there are similar numbers of buyers and sellers, you are not going to get the returns you are hoping for. An increase in the number of properties available for sale relieves the upward pressure on prices. That is good news for buyers but not so encouraging for sellers.

If you need a home – then you should look at todays market as the opportune moment. You won’t have a problem finding well priced properties – but you may find it more difficult getting a mortgage. On the other hand, if you are looking to but property as an investment – you may want to think twice before putting your money into something that may well be worth considerably less in a few months time.

But wherever you are in the world – there is an easy way to test the Real Estate market – without spending any money or wasting valuable time doing it. Try Khusan!

In 2010 an innovative Real Estate Classifieds Listings portal was launched that allows both buyers and sellers alike to advertise. The concept is based on the ‘For Sale by Owner’ premise where property owners can advertise at no cost and users interested in a property contact the owner directly. Khusan, as the portal owner has no intermediary role between buyers and sellers.

So test the market yourself. See who is interested in your property – without any obligations.

All classified ads on Khusan are FREE and visitors from around the world are visiting the site daily to check out the latest properties that have become available.

Khusan operates out one of the former merchant hubs of the world, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Madeira is a small island — just 30 miles long — with 250,000 residents. Located 600 miles south-west of Portugal and 360 miles off the african coast, it enjoys year-round warmth.

It has long been a favourite with Britons, especially retirees, who love its lush gardens, hillside walks along the lavadas waterways, and spectacular views from steep volcanic mountains.

The island is officially Portuguese and British tourists account for about a fifth of the 900,000 foreign visitors who arrive by air each year and the 450,000 arriving on cruise ships.

They also make up the bulk of the foreign buyers of holiday homes.

In February, Madeira hit the headlines when flash-floods and mudslides took the lives of more than 40 islanders.

Severe storms battered the south of the island and bulldozers were required to clear mud from the streets of the old capital, Funchal.

Bridges were swept away and the airport was closed. The world’s most famous Madeiran, real Madrid football star Cristiano Ronaldo, even played a charity match on the island to raise money for the relief effort. it’s estimated this will cost about £1.2bn.

However, only three months on, transport and communications are back to normal, emergency homes have been built for locals who lost their properties and easyJet has resumed flights from Britain.

Buoyed by funding from the local authorities, the island’s estate agents are advertising in the UK and worldwide to tempt foreigners back.

Much of Madeira’s property history is tied up with the British Blandy family. John Blandy, who first visited Madeira in the early 19th century during the Napoleonic wars, later returned to establish his legendary wine business.

By the end of that century, his descendants had become one of the largest exporters of Madeiran wine and built a vast family estate on the island.

This estate, Palheiro — still run by the Blandy descendants, who also own several other businesses across the island — has been the scene of some exciting new holiday home developments.

In 1993, the 18-hole par-72 Palheiro golf course, designed by US golf architect Cabell Robinson, opened. it’s set in what used to be the estate’s hunting grounds.

The course was redesigned in 2003 and entered the list of Europe’s top 100 courses a few months ago in Golf World magazine.

Meanwhile, in 1997 a country house on the estate was transformed into the fivestar Casa Velha do Palheiro hotel.

The estate is home to new residential developments in what has become known as Palheiro Village.

‘Buyers can select plots on which villas or apartments can be built according to one of a variety of design options under either freehold or fractional ownership,’ says a spokesman for the Palheiro Village resort.

Designed by the algarvebased architect Michael Brown, all Palheiro Village homes have panoramic views over the Bay of Funchal and the atlantic Ocean.

A second scheme of new housing can be found on the Ponta de São Lourenço peninsula, home to the 16-hectare Lorde resort, a ten-minute drive from Funchal airport.

The houses capture the charm of a Madeiran seaside village; there are 127 one, two and three-bedroom villas and apartments on a scheme laden with restaurants, bars and shops, plus a marina boasting berths for 264 vessels.

Modern homes aren’t the only properties on offer.

In Funchal, where prices have fallen 20% from their 2007 peak, you could get a 70-year-old hillside villa for some £200,000, rising to £350,000 in the centre of the town, where a few small apartments cost £100,000 each.

In the north of the island — about 35 minutes from Funchal by motorway — there are large villas for about £225,000.

Although there are several new schemes of holiday homes to complement the stylish period property on the island, scope for future development is limited. Some 67% of Madeira is designated as protected land and national forest.

On many other areas, particularly the steep hills, building work cannot be undertaken and there are increasingly restrictive planning rules being introduced. as a result, there is unlikely to be substantial numbers of new-builds.

‘There are two options for financing a second home in Madeira,’ says Simon Smallwood, of international Private Finance, a mortgage firm specialising in helping Britons buy overseas

‘You can raise the money against your primary UK residence. The downside is that you will be raising funds in sterling and then need to transfer the money into euros, which will be expensive because of the current exchange rate,’ he says.

‘Or you can have a Portuguese mortgage, borrowing in euros on a mortgage secured against the property in Madeira. Portuguese lenders have historically been more cautious than lenders in the UK so are in a much stronger position, post credit crunch.’

Britons can buy on the island without restriction, but must pay 5% to 8% of purchase price in transfer tax and notary fees. Holiday home running costs include an annual tax of 0.2% to 0.8% of the home’s value.

Madeira has no inheritance tax and VaT is just 15%, but capital gains tax of 25% is payable on profits when you resell the home.

So if you want a warm welcome in the island known as The Floating Garden of the atlantic, Madeira might be the answer.

International Private Finance (020 7484 4600, internationalprivate finance.com).

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This article from Graham Norwood – http://bit.ly/c9SXq7