Heidelberg Immobilien

In today’s real estate market, a home-grown website, ad in the local paper and yard sign with directional signs on the corner, are just not enough. For most for sale by owners (FSBO), little incentive exists to invest the time and effort in building a meaningful web presence and the long-term upfront costs of running local newspaper ads to promote your property is impractical.

Unless you get lucky, illogical strategies like „I’ll try it on my own for a month or two and then turn it over to a realtor“, are doomed to failure. Such strategies illustrate a lack of confidence as well as a coherent plan for effectively marketing your property. It takes both to be successful and unfortunately, far too many for sale by owners (FSBO) start out with strategies like these.

Whether you’re a first time for sale by owner (FSBO) or seasoned real estate professional, buying, selling or renting a property requires commitment and hard work. If you don’t have the time, don’t kid yourself. Hire a real estate professional. Trying to market your property on the ‚cheap‘ usually offers little reward. In most cases, you’ll end up wasting valuable time and money. But if you’re serious about going it alone, do some research to understand what you’re up against and how to avoid common pitfalls.

Fortunately, most of the information you will need is readily available. You only need to avail yourself of the numerous for sale by owner (FSBO) resources currently available on the web. Since much of this information is written by real estate professionals, it’s fairly comprehensive. These resources cover every aspect of the for sale by owner process, including property preparation, determining and setting the selling price, the advertising process, buyer/seller negotiation, as well as understanding the closing process. Even the contracts and forms required to close a property are available and best of all, many of these services are free!

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg

Source by Barry Milteer

Imagine, if you will, Tinyville, a community of only ten houses. All ten houses were the same size and style, built at the same time on similarly-sized lots, using similar architectural drawings and building materials, each with comparable views and amenities, and each sold to its initial owner for the same price, $250,000. Assuming the fair market value of each of these houses was $250,000, (because after a reasonable amount of time that’s the price at which the sellers and buyers had meetings of the minds, neither being under duress,) Tinyville’s tax assessor valued each property at $250,000, resulting in an underlying total property value of $2.5M for all of Tinyville.

Like any municipality, Tinyville has expenses: police & fire departments, schools & libraries, water & sewer, sanitation workers, judges & clerks, engineers & inspectors, tax assessors & collectors, officials, and secretaries. To keep the math simple, let’s imagine that Tinyville’s annual budget is a mere $100,000, and that it has no other sources of revenue (such as parking meters, local sales or income taxes, or hunting/fishing permits). In order to meet its annual expenses, Tinyville’s tax assessor divides its $100,000 of budgeted expenses (known as a total tax levy) by each property’s proportionate share of the $2.5M total assessed value of the community. Dividing $250,000 by $2.5M means that each house is responsible for 10% of Tinyville’s property tax levy. Each homeowner (or their mortgage bank) gets a tax bill for $10,000.

For years, everyone is happy in Tinyville. The families each have kids in Tinyville’s schools, they march in Tinyville’s parades, and compete in Tinyville’s pie-eating contests. In the natural course of events, two of the original families were more prosperous than others and moved into better digs in Mediumville, one retired to Southville, one got transferred to his company’s office in Westville, and one died in a tragic car accident, but their heirs in Bigville didn’t want to move back to their family homestead. Anyway, five of the homes went on the market and because the market had been doing well for the past several years, four were sold for $300,000… except the one belonging to the heirs of the deceased couple – they let the house fall into disrepair, stopped mowing the lawn, and eventually squatters moved in and started trashing the place. When they finally sold it as a „handyman special,“ they got $150,000 for it.

Before any year’s tax assessment becomes „final,“ it is sent to each homeowner to review. Each homeowner has an opportunity to dispute the assessment. The five original homeowners continued to be assessed at a rate commensurate with their $250,000 property value, and knowing that many of their neighbors sold their comparable homes for $300,000, they silently accepted this assessment. The four new owners who paid $300,000 each are also assessed at $250,000. Strangely, it is illegal for a municipality to perform a „spot assessment“ of individual properties so although the „fair market value“ of those four homes has increased by 20% since last appraised, they continue to be assessed at $250,000 each. The tenth home, purchased by the handyman for $150,000, is also assessed at $250,000, but he disputes his assessment. He argues that the fair market value of his home should be based on his recent purchase price, and through the various legal methods at his disposal, he has the house reassessed at $150,000.

Assuming the total tax levy is unchanged at $100,000, what happens to each homeowner’s property taxes? Nine of the ten houses are still assessed at $250,000 each, but the last is now assessed at only $150,000. One might quickly (and incorrectly) guess that the houses with unchanged assessed values would have no change in their $10,000 property tax bill, and that the tenth house would pay just $6,000, but that doesn’t add up correctly; Tinyville needs to collect $100,000 in taxes to balance its budget, and this formula only adds up to $96,000. What actually happens is that the denominator changes, too. Tinyville’s total assessed property value is recalculated based on each property’s assessed value, and now adds up to just $2.4M. That means that each of the $250,000 houses now accounts for just over 10.4% of the total, and is now responsible for that percentage of the $100,000 levy, increasing each of their assessments to $10,417. The handyman’s $150,000 assessed value accounts for 6.25% of the total, so he’s now responsible for just $6,250 of Tinyville’s tax levy.

Some (including the handyman) would argue that the handyman’s house is worth less, and consequently, he should pay less tax than his neighbors. Others (including his neighbors) would argue that his house is the same size and shape, takes up as much land, and places the same demand on Tinyville’s police, fire, schools, libraries, sewers, and other services, and that he should pay the same amount as the other houses. Some (including the original five families) would argue that the resold houses should be assessed at their new, higher market values, and that the new owners should pay proportionally more taxes. Others (including the four new owners) would argue that the fair market values of their homes (as evidenced by their sale prices) are indicative of the actual fair market value of the five unsold homes, despite the fact that those homes haven’t recently changed hands. These are the sort of issues that confound homeowners and plague tax assessors, assessment review boards, and courts in every municipality, every year.

In a perfect world, when the handyman files for building permits to repair and restore his home’s value, the new value he creates by the work he does should bring his tax assessment back in line with the other comparable houses, thereby reducing his neighbors‘ percentage of the total tax, accordingly. Unfortunately, not everyone applies for building permits, and not every project even requires building permits. Upgrading your kitchen appliances improves the value of your home without requiring building permits. Many municipalities don’t require a building permit to add a new layer to your roof or to retile your bathrooms. Of course, there are also homeowners who build bedrooms in attics or lofts over their garages without permits, and not every new home buyer is savvy enough to realize that they are paying for such unpermitted improvements. If you complain to the tax assessor that your neighbor has an unpermitted finished basement, the tax assessor doesn’t have the same authority as a building inspector to knock and demand to see that basement so as to tax them appropriately… and not every building department inspector is willing to perform inspections on an anonymous tip, so you may have to go on record as the guy who ratted out his neighbor. Consequently, a lot of home improvements are not reflected on the tax assessment rolls.

Since buying a home in a market downturn gives you the ability to grieve your tax assessment based on its new apparent fair market value, other home owners can actually use your new „fair market value“ to argue that their house is comparable to yours, and that their assessment should be lowered, too. This creates added burden on the assessors as they try to determine new values of homes that haven’t recently sold based on evidence created by comparable homes that did. As more and more homeowners grieve their assessments, it reduces the denominator in the municipality’s total assessed value, increasing the actual tax bills for houses for which assessments haven’t been grieved. Naturally, that reinforces the process, inciting more and more homeowners to grieve their taxes, creating more and more work for assessors. However, taken to the unimaginable extreme, in a community where home values have fallen, it may take a few years for all of the homeowners to realize that they are being unfairly assessed (as compared to their neighbors), but ultimately, when the last of them finally grieves his taxes, everyone’s proportion to the new denominator should be comparable to their proportion to the original denominator, meaning that they’ll all on average, eventually pay just about as much tax as they did before. In the intervening years, the ones who got onboard first and had the largest and earliest reductions in their assessed home values will reap the greatest short-term benefits. Some would go so far as to argue that this is fair, like so many other instances in life when the early bird gets the proverbial worm.

The intervening chaos and disparity, however, causes more work, thereby costing municipalities more in assessments, review boards, and grievance hearings. In the worst cases, when grievance processes fail and are left for courts to decide, municipalities have to pay unanticipated refunds to vindicated homeowners, which reduces their immediate coffers and further increases tax levies in subsequent years to make up for those losses. For scholars of economic theory, Keynes would argue that these machinations are a necessary and productive part of the system, and that they employ lawyers who otherwise would earn less; these lawyers rent offices, hire staff, and buy office supplies, and in effect, keep the economy’s wheel turning. Hayek would retort that these legal costs do not so much enrich the system, as they do redirect capital that would have been employed elsewhere, such as the tax savings permitting the homeowners to buy new furniture, hire a gardener, or take a vacation. He would consider these inefficiencies in the tax assessment process an unnecessary cost that allocated resources in a less-than-optimal manner… and I’d tend to agree with him. I don’t know what the solution is, but I know that we should try to come up with a better one.

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg

Source by Brian Blum

If you read my article ‚How Hemorrhoids Made Me Healthy, Fit & Sexy‘ you know how I treated my condition. Now, discover how a severe flare-up of hemorrhoids increased my faith in God. It sounds unbelievable, doesn’t it? Here’s what happened.

In early 2009, I was shocked to see how the recession was eating into my RRSP savings. People I knew were facing the prospect of deferred retirement because of their losses. What could I do? I had two choices: keep losing money and worry, or (deep breath) take the plunge into home ownership.

I had dreamed of owning a home for years, but life in Toronto is expensive and I didn’t think I could afford it. Despite an uncertain corporate job with an income that would barely stretch to meet my financial needs, buying my first home felt like the right thing to do. In fact, it was my ‚unnatural‘ peace about taking this huge step that convinced me it was part of God’s plan for me.

I do not like to rush important decisions. I emailed a realtor friend and laid out my finances, my wish list and my will-settle-for list. I doubted he would find anything for me but I was determined not to buy more than I could afford. We sat down together in early March, just to talk. My friend brought two sample listings to show me. Two months later, one of them was my first home. I had been praying, „Lord, I don’t want to turn (big round number) and still be renting.“ My closing date was 7 days before my birthday!

With $25,000 borrowed from my RRSP for the down payment and renovations, I began purging 20+ years of accumulated possessions, and shopping for flooring and a kitchen for my new condo. With the help of my realtor, family and friends, everything moved quickly but smoothly.

The next ‚miracle‘ was that nearly all the renovation work was done in one month. Old floors and kitchen ripped out. New bamboo floors and a custom-designed IKEA kitchen installed. Tile was laid in the bathroom and kitchen. I even had the whole place professionally painted. It was wonderful! It was expensive. Was I getting in over my head?

Before I could worry, I had a more pressing problem. My kitchen countertops were on back order. And the plumber insisted on installing the kitchen and bathroom sinks as one job. This meant I had no water, except in the bathtub, for three weeks!

By July, I had both sinks, the renos were done and I could actually enjoy living in my new home. My south-facing unit is bright and has a lovely view of the river. Located in a park-like setting amid lawns, trees and gardens, my home occupies a peaceful corner of the city.

Summer was super busy. I was working full-time and unpacking boxes and organizing stuff at home. I was too tired to cook nutritious meals or get much exercise – though every so often, the thought would come: you should go for a walk, or, try the gym downstairs, or, eat more salad and fruit, not just chips, cookies and beer.

All the excitement and stress – buying a home, renovating, moving – plus my recent poor lifestyle choices – took their toll. In October, I had a severe flare-up of hemorrhoids (a condition I have had since my 20s). Usually, after a few days of eating lots of fiber and exercising more, the veins would shrink, the bleeding would stop and the pain would end. Only this time, nothing helped. Days turned into weeks and I was still suffering.

Finally I went to see my doctor and got prescription ointment and suppositories. I was careful with my diet and started working out and walking. After 10 days, the bleeding stopped and the pain subsided. What a relief! But within days, it started again and got worse. I used three courses of medication and the doctor said the next step was surgery. Ouch! Just the thought of it was terrifying. There had to be another way to treat this condition!

I began to pray, „Lord, have mercy on me. Help me. Heal me.“ I found Bible verses about healing, wrote them out and read them daily. One favourite was in Matthew 8, verses 1 to 3, about a man with leprosy, who approached Jesus, knelt down and said, „Lord, if you want to, you can make me well again.“ And Jesus touched him, said „I want to. Be healed.“ And he was. Later in the same chapter, a Roman officer asked Jesus to heal his sick servant. Jesus said he’d come to the man’s house, but the Roman said, „Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my house. Just say the word from where you are and my servant will be healed.“ Jesus was amazed by the Gentile’s faith and praised him for it. He healed the servant. Other scriptures that helped me were Psalm 6, verses 2-3; Exodus 15 verse 26 and Exodus 24 verse 25. I started declaring „Thank you Lord for healing my hemorrhoids“ before it happened, believing that he would.

But I didn’t just sit around waiting for it to happen. I continued with my Internet research. Instead of desperately buying an expensive ‚miracle cure‘, I was determined to try everything that was reasonable and affordable. Some of the things that helped me included:

– Sitz baths – filling a large tub with very warm water, adding some Epsom salts, and literally soaking my backside for 20 minutes twice a day

– White oak bark – one website suggested steeping this mixture into the sitz bath water

– Herbal supplements – of several I tried, Butcher’s Broom was the most helpful

– Fiber – three times a day I took psyllium fiber. Inulin fiber was almost as good and much easier to take

– Diet – I changed what I ate and how I ate (see my article ‚How Hemorrhoids Made Me Healthy, Fit and Sexy‘ for details)

– Exercise – I started working out 3-4 times a week in my condo gym and walking every day at lunchtime

When I went for my annual checkup in early December, I had lost 8 pounds and toned up nicely. I felt better and I looked good. Most days, I had very little pain and the bleeding had almost disappeared. I began to believe, and to declare, that I would be 100% healed by the New Year.

Looking back, I realized that the fleeting thoughts I had over the summer – that I should eat better and exercise more – were God’s way of trying to get my attention. He wasn’t being a spoil sport, he had my best interests at heart. He knew my chronic condition would flare up and he wanted to help me avoid it. But I didn’t listen. When it got to the point where I was in severe pain and ready to do whatever was necessary to stop it, God helped me to find the information I needed. And to commit to making the changes – in my diet and exercise habits – that would heal the hemorrhoids and get me fit. I learned that if I don’t respond to God’s gentle ’nudges‘, he applies increasing pressure. Tough love. I wished I had listened sooner! But, because things got as serious as they did, the changes I was forced to make turned into a permanent new lifestyle.

I have a confession to make, though. I am not perfect. Two or three times, on weekends, I overindulged (chips, ice cream, pastries, alcohol) and my hemorrhoids flared up again. Constipation caused strained bowel movements and the pain of an aching colon reminded me that this condition doesn’t disappear – it becomes dormant. Under the right conditions (eating foods that cause constipation and not exercising enough to keep the digestive system functioning) the bleeding and pain can return.

These relapses made me grateful that God did not heal my hemorrhoids outright. I believe he could have. But he knows that I can be lazy and self-indulgent; that there are times I may not be as careful as I should be. At family gatherings, where we enjoy big meals with a variety of foods, accompanied by wine or beer, followed by rich desserts and coffee. Or after work, when I’m tired and don’t feel like exercising. It’s easy to slip back into bad habits, so I am grateful for these reminders that nudged me back on track.

Now, because I learned the hard way, I am convinced of the need to eat balanced meals, with lots of fruit and vegetables, and very little dairy, meat and saturated fats. I know I have to stay active – walk every day, take the stairs, work out. Becoming stronger and healthier feels great. Staying balanced promotes physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. And that means that I can enjoy living a ‚purpose driven life‘. (Note: this phrase is derived from the book „The Purpose Driven Life“ written by Rick Warren.)

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg

Source by Vera Petkovsky

I recently visited Langnau, Bern, Switzerland and spent two days immersed in all things Langenegger. My wife and I arrived at the Langnau rail station on June 25, 2004, exhausted from a long flight from San Francisco. As we left the train station we were immediately struck by the unique character of this area.

Outside the train station are the remnants of a cobblestone street, now patched by asphalt. Everywhere we looked were beautiful Swiss houses and buildings – many of them hundreds of years old – and all colorfully decorated with pink and red begonias placed in flower boxes below each window. As we found later, the Emmental is also a wonderland of covered bridges, friendly people, church spires with Swiss clocks and chimes, tinkling cow bells – everything you expect Switzerland to be.

As we walked toward our hotel in Bareau we noticed how friendly and courteous the locals are – stopping to allow us to cross the street and smiling as we passed with a friendly „Hallo“ or „Guten Morgen.“ The town is dotted with long stone tanks with well water splashing in at one end and draining out the other. They look something like a stone horse tank. These are available to anyone who wants a cool drink of well water.

After we settled into our room at the Landgasthof Hotel Adler, the owner kindly invited us to a short ride into the countryside where we saw more beautiful houses and pastures. After we returned we asked a few locals in the hotel restaurant about the Langenegger farm and they had a good laugh. Turns out that there are a lot of Langeneggers there and we didn’t know the name of the people who lived in the original house that we came to see.

The hills are about 1200 feet above the valley floor and incredibly green with grass and forested areas visible from anywhere in town. Langnau is small – perhaps three or four long blocks across and the hills seem very close. Black and white cows break up the greenery and produce and wonderful tinkling sound as they graze around ringing the bells around their necks. Higher pitched bells worn by sheep and goats blend with the clunk-clunk bong-bong of the cow bells making a delicious backdrop to the scenery. This is the last sound we heard as we drifted off to sleep covered with a feather quilt on our first night in Langnau.

The birds woke us up to wonderfully green world that is Langnau in the summer. We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast of homemade bread and jelly provided by our host, Stephen. We hoped to attend church, but found that our information was incorrect and arrived too early. Instead we started our walking tour of Langnau early. Langnau is a small town and we walked all of the main streets by about noon when we took a break for lunch to share a small cheese tart and an apple pastry from a small shop near the center of town. By that time, the local museum had opened. It is housed in one of the oldest houses in Langnau and is a great opportunity to look around inside one of these magnificent buildings and see all of the fancy joinery done by the builders. It is also a great museum with a number of permanent and rotating exhibits that depict the history of Langnau and its residents.

The museum’s docent has lived in Langnau for 70 years and knows the Langenegger name very well. She quickly found a book that contains the Langenegger family crests – one for those in the valley (Langenegg Ey) and one for those up higher in the hills (Langenegg Unter). She also loosely parsed the name into Lange (Long in English – pronounced ‚Long‘ in German too) and negg (hill in English – pronounced ’neck‘ in German). I haven’t been able to confirm the word ’negg‘ anywhere – but that is what she said. The book also included a statement, „Ulrich, von Langnau, wanderte 1748 nach Pennsylvanien [USA] Aus (Faust 61)“ which roughly translates that Ulrich Langenegger immigrated to Pennsylvania in the United States in 1748. This is our ancestor Ulrich Langenegger Sr. The book doesn’t give a further source for this information. On the map, the Langenegg Unter is just about a 30 minute hike up the hill from the museum and Langenegg Ey is about a mile down river from Langnau. Since the Unter had been owned by someone other than a Langenegger for many years, we decided to take a closer look at the Ey property in the valley to see if we could at least get a picture of the house and perhaps, if we were really lucky, meet a distant relative.

Margaret and I walked along the river where many of the local people were taking a break from regular life to cool off. We were pleasantly surprised at the number of covered bridges in and around Langnau – all still being used. We even drove over one just outside of Langnau.

Just as we approached the long driveway to the Langenegger house, two women came up from the river and one of them spoke English. She told us that we were in the right place and that the Langenegger family did live here. She offered to escort us to the right house among a group of several houses and buildings located on the property. With a cheery German „Woo hoo“ she called out to the people inside and introduced us to my 9th cousin who lives in the house where Ulrich Langenegger Senior was born in 1664 (the same one mentioned in the book that immigrated to Pennsylvania).

Our new-found cousins were gracious and greeted us warmly even though we just showed up on their doorstep after over 250 years without a Christmas card! We had a short conversation about the family and viewed some of the information that they had there. Coincidentally, the couple’s sister-in-law next door was in Pennsylvania to attend a Longenecker reunion while we were in Langnau. We exchanged contact information so that we can follow up with them with information we find that might be useful to them. They kindly offered us a cool drink from their well before we took a short walk around the farm to get some photos. The cows were in the barn as it was unseasonably hot that day. Milk from their cows is sold into a coop of local farmers that makes it into cheese. If you are looking for some authentic Langenegger cheese, look for the Emmentaler type as that is what they make there. It is sold in the US as simply Swiss cheese – the type with holes in it. I must admit that it tasted much better in Langnau than in California.

The house is located an easy hike along the river from Langnau and consists of the original house plus some additional houses and outbuildings. I found the house a challenge to photograph by itself. It is a typical Swiss farm house arranged with living quarters and barn under one roof. On one side is an earthen ramp going directly into the attic over the barn that is used to move hay into that area for storage and use during the winter.

The roof is steep by US standards but not as steep as I expected in an area that gets lots of snow. Most roofs in the area are tile and include a series of brackets about six inches high that hold the snow in the winter so that it doesn’t all fall down at one time. Some buildings had a simpler system with only one set of brackets near the bottom of the roof that held a four inch pipe running the entire length of the house – apparently for the same purpose as the brackets on other buildings. In addition, this system probably uses the snow to insulate the roof from the cold. Another interesting thing about some roofs and houses – the builders sometimes put their initials and the date of construction on the roof by using different colored tiles. Others painted this information under the eaves or on the face of the building under the eaves.

The Langenegger house is not as fancy as some in town but is large and includes some fancy joinery work that we saw repeated inside the museum, on the covered bridges, and elsewhere in the area. The main structure appears to be large beams carefully joined together at the proper angles so that they get stronger as more weight is put on them – and held together with wooden pegs. On one bridge near town we saw metal strapping that seems to have been added later.

The business of the farm centers around the milk cows. There was a large field of corn planted near the house along with a well-kept garden that seems to grace every house we saw in Switzerland. Along the driveway approach to the farm there are some cherry trees with mostly green fruit just beginning to turn pink in places. The rest of the farm appeared to be in grass. My friend John Garland in Oklahoma would call the fencing „psychological fencing“ – not much of a barrier to an animal that wants out. We noticed that a lot of fences appeared to be temporary and electrified so that the cows can be easily moved to fresh grass as needed. We even saw one electric fence hooked up to a solar panel up high in the mountains a long train-ride away from Langnau. Out of respect for the current occupants‘ time and space, we only stayed briefly.

We returned to our hotel via a path the goes along the river and stopped for a rest in the shade of an old covered bridge. We were exhausted again and happy at getting to meet our distant relatives and to view the old house.

Research: If you are researching this area, no genealogy information is readily available in Langnau. The records office has records from 1886, but doesn’t release it without permission of the persons mentioned in the records and the charges to do so are very high. You will have much better luck in Bern where most of the Swiss records are held. There is almost always someone around that speaks English and the records offices are no exception. The records are neither computerized nor indexed – but they are very neatly categorized by location and time frames. You will need to tell them exactly who, where, and when you want to look in order to get the right microfilm. Then it is an old-fashioned search browsing through records written along time ago using unfamiliar styles and letters. Lockers are located outside the office in the hallway and you will have to leave your backpack, purse, etc. there. It’s free and secure.

The Archives de I’Etat de Berne is located at Falkenplatz 4, CH-3012 Berne near the main railroad station. It was easy to find the third time I tried. The rail station is large and busy and on several levels. Locate the elevators on one end of the station and take them all the way to the top. If you have trouble, follow the students and the signs to the university in order to find the elevators. Once you are at the top, go toward the campus – the only way you can go really – and pass between two large university-looking buildings. Falkenplatz 4 is the first building on the right after you pass through the campus area. There is a small street stand just across the small park where the students congregate for a cheap and good sandwich – get there early as they run out of sandwiches quickly after noon. The office is open from 8:00 to 12:00 and 1:00 to 5:00 every weekday except Friday when it closes at 4:30. If you want to confirm before going, their phone numbers are 031/633 51 01, fax 031/633 51 02. Copies are one Swiss Frank per page – so take along plenty of cash so that you can get everything you want. You can easily spend 50 franks in one afternoon depending on the records you want. I didn’t have time, but you may also want to check out these sources provided by the museum in Langnau . . .

Zivilstands-und Burgerrechtsdienst

Des Kantons Bern

Eigerstrasse 73

3011 Bern

031/633 47 85

Fax: 031/633 47 39

Nieisen Paul-Anthon

Biochstrasse 7

3753 Oberhofen am Thunersee

033/243 24 52

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg

Source by Gene Hall

How about combining your skiing or snowboarding holiday with the visit of the most popular castle in Europe: Neuschwanstein Castle? Stay at one of the boutique and luxury self-catering apartments or a rustic hotel and enjoy the view of the King’s Castles, which look stunning especially when lit at night.

And as a special bonus you can use the Royal Thermal Spa with its hot indoor and outdoor pools, its sauna and massage offers after a fun day in the mountains.

Here is a list of the best places to go skiing in and around Schwangau.

1. Tegelberg Mountain (1720m) & Wintersport Arena / Schwangau Germany

Right in Schwangau, the village of the King’s Castles Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau is the wintersport arena Tegelberg with its cable car, 4 regular lifts and flood light at night. You will enjoy 7.3 kilometres of downhill piste here as well as a separate one for tobogganing. This place is great to for beginners and intermediate skiers, has a ski school and a ski/snowboard rental facilities. Snow machines provide snow garantuee.

A special highlight is the 2km long Neuschwanstein Cross Counry Skiing Track which is lit at night…and of course skiing with „cinderella castle“ in your view.

2. Buchenberg (1140m) Ski Area / Buching Germany

Only a 5 minute drive from Schangau you will find a double seater lift taking you to the top of the Buchenberg. 2 more regular lifts provide variety.

A special highlight is the 2.5km long tobogganing track right from the top of the mountain. The hut on top of the mountain provides stunning views of the lakes and the valley. This area is great for beginners and families as well as for tobogganing fans.

3. Alpspitz (1575m) Ski Arena / Nesselwang Germany

Only a 20 minutes drive away from Schwangau is the Alpspitz Ski Arena. It benefits from the longest 2km long daily floodlit piste in the region, has one cable car, a 4-seater, one 2-seater, 3 regular lifts and 2 children’s ones. This varied place provides skiing fun for advanced skiers as well as beginners and families. Ski school, ski/snowboard/tobogganing rental facilities and tobogganing areas are available and so are several excellent mountain huts for your après-ski.

Snow machines provide snow garantuee.

A special highlight here is the O’Neill Alpspitzpark, a top modern Freerider Snowboard Park with Floodlight every night from 6-9pm.

4. Breitenberg Mountain (1877m) Ski Centre / Pfronten Germany

Only a 15 minute drive away from Schwangau you will reach the Breitenberg Ski Centre with its cable car, an open 4-seater and 5 regular lifts as well as 4 children’s lifts. Nearby in Steinbach is the Snowboard fun park, the ski school as well as two more floodlit pistes.

A special highlight for the first time in winter 2009/10 is the 6.5km long tobogganing track right from the top of the mountain.

5. Hahnenkamm Ski Resort (1900m) / Reutte Austria

Only a 25 mintue drive away from Schwangau into Austria is the Hahnenkamm Ski Resort with its cable car, double seater and 5 further regular lifts. It has one of the best ski schools for adults and children. Skis and snowboards can be rented there.

6.-9. Füssener Jöchle (1821m) & Ski Arena Tannheimer Tal / Austria

There are 4 ski resorts in the Tannheimer Tal in Austria, no more than 30 minutes away from Schwangau, one of which is Füssener Jöchle in Grän. It has a cable car, a 6-seater and 3 regular lifts. The piste from the top is 3.5 kilometres long.

The other ski resorts here are Neunerköpfle / Tannheim, Schattwald and Nesselwängle.

10. Jungholz Ski Centre / Jungholz Germany

About 40 minutes away from Neuschwanstein castle is a super family friendly ski centre with two special 4-seaters for children and one training lift. For adults there are 4 regular lifts. Snow machines provide snow garantuee.

There are even more cross-country skiing/ nordic skiing opportunites which I will cover in a separate article. And if you get bored of downhill skiing, how about tryin snow-kiting, letting the wind in your kite pull you across the piste?

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg

Source by Silke Rehman

Not so long ago selling a house was possible only through a real estate agent. This was mainly because there was no way for sellers and buyers to connect directly. And, the real estate agents would charge an exorbitant sum for providing their services in form of commission. But thanks to the internet, there are new ways of communication that have powered property sellers for selling a house privately.

What does selling a house on the internet imply?

These days we look towards the internet for all our needs. In the real estate sector, buyers no longer rely only on real estate agents to find a home for them. They search online for homes. The internet provides them the convenience of searching homes from the comfort of their home. They can also filter the listings according to their preferences such as the location, number of rooms, budget, etc. This helps them shortlist properties easily. They only need to visit properties that they have shortlisted. Therefore the entire process of finding a home saves their efforts, time and money.

If you are a seller and know that buyers are looking online to buy a property, then it definitely makes sense to channelize your efforts towards listing it on property portals. You can easily eliminate the agent from the process and sell it online.

While selling a house privately it is important to understand the role of a real estate agent. An agent essentially markets your property; arranges viewings of your property with potential buyers; negotiates the price and closes the deal.

The internet offers you a great platform to market your house.

All that you need to do to sell your property privately is:

• Price your house accurately. You can seek the services of a professional property appraiser for accurate pricing.

• Identify the property listing websites where you will list your house.

• List it on the site by uploading a description of your property.

• To give the potential buyers a clear idea of your house, upload attractive photographs.

• Uploading a virtual tour of the house is also beneficial.

• Once the potential buyers view the property online, they will directly connect with you.

• You can arrange the viewing of the house.

• Once a buyer is finalized, negotiate the price of the property.

• You can sell it without an agent easily.

Therefore, selling a house privately is not as complicated as it seems. It just requires some dedicated efforts. And, you will realize that a little bit of legwork does not hurt especially if there is so much to gain.

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg

Source by Kanika Saxena

Top 5 awesome tips to save for a down payment

Want to own your own house? Well, who doesn’t? You may not be looking to buy a house now but eventually you will. Owning a house is a dream of most people but only a lucky few manage to get a home that they really want. You are not alone if you are worried about saving enough money for a down payment. Hopefully, our tips for saving money will help you gather the amount required for the down payment on the flat that you have been eyeing.

Your bank will finance almost 80% cost of the house/flat (in some cases 90%). The balance is down payment that you will have to self finance. This is a substantial amount for a middle class family. For example, If your 2 bedroom kitchen costs Rs. 30 Lakhs, then your bank would finance up to 24 lakhs and the rest 6 lakhs has be self financing.

Home buying is a complex decision especially if you are a first time home buyer. You will need professional help that will help you get the best homes at best price. Enough money in the bank before going out shopping for a house will give you confidence and peace of mind while choosing a home. We are going to share some tips For saving money here that will help you take control of your finances and save for that daunting looking down payment.

1. Track your spending and expenses

OK, we admit this is one of the most boring and clichéd tips for saving money BUT tracking your spending really works. There are a plethora of apps and websites that help you track your spending and keeps a running total of the amounts you spend on specific items or categories.

This process is an eye opener for many. Sometimes we don’t see the obvious until an app tells us!! You will need to cut down on luxuries and divert money towards savings. Finding out where your money goes is the first step in figuring out how to keep more of it in the bank.

2. Invest in Mutual Funds- Don’t be afraid, Research

Do a simple research on the power of compounding or power of compound interest and you will understand why mutual funds are one of the most popular methods of investing these days. India has seen, in the recent times, a sudden spurt in the number of people investing in mutual funds. While there are many things that you need to consider before investing in mutual funds, we recommend that you start a monthly SIP in an equity fund that matches your risk appetite.

Generally, equity funds are the best since they offer you high rates of returns. These funds are also risky because the market fluctuations in these equity funds can be regular affair but over a period of time Mutual Funds usually offer better returns than the Bank FD rates.

Go to a website named valueresearchonline.com and read about Mutual Funds. The end decision is yours but we speak from personal experience-mutual funds offer good returns on investments. There are multiple number of SIP calculators that will help you plan the exact amount of savings, you require each month to reach your down payment in a particular period of time. For example if you are planning to buy a house in 2020, A mutual fund SIP calculator will tell you how much money you need to start saving for your 20% down payment.

This method of investing is not one of the usual tips for saving money but is a method that helps grow your money.

3. Make a Monthly budget and stick to it

Sticking to a monthly budget will be tough especially if you are used to a life of indulgence and luxury. Sticking to a strict budget often isn’t a lot of fun and is challenging. Remember, A penny saved is a penny earned. Having said that allow yourself an occasional treat or two but treat it as an exception and ALWAYS make up for the cost of this exception in other activities. Some belt-tightening now is a minor sacrifice that will quickly be forgotten when you are getting the keys to your new home.

4. Start Saving Early

Have you heard of the saying well begun is half done? One of the major deficiencies of our education system is that we are not taught financial literacy at a young age. We are not taught how to save and why to save. We don’t know about long term and short term financial goals.

Although our moms always insist on saving, majority of us lack proper financial literacy. Start saving early, dedicate at least 15 to 20% of your salary savings each month. Start with your first job when responsibilities are less. Some people save as much as 50%n of their savings while they can. Among numerous Tips for saving money this one is the most powerful.

Benefits of starting to save early is that by the time you reach 30 you will have enough money for a down payment on your house.

5. Look for ways to boost your income

For most of us middle class salaried people, there is only one source of money coming in (i.e. monthly salary). At the most, both husband and wife are working so in such cases there are two sources of money coming in. The number of avenues through which the money goes out is always more than the number of ways through which money comes in. Consider your income and expenses as an upside down funnel. Every successful person understands that additional sources of revenue need to be created in order to save money.

There are many ways through which you can create an alternate source of money. You can consider starting a blog, YouTube channel or simply affiliate marketing. You can start an online store and make good money if you have done proper research. There is multiple number of videos online through which you can learn about online businesses.

You don’t need a considerable investment to start any of these activities. All you need is a laptop and some time. There is TedX video on YouTube which says that you only need 20 hours to learn a skill to a satisfactory level.

Your budget consists of two parts: money coming in, and money going out. You’ll get the best results if you make improvements on both sides.

Open a saving bank account for the purpose of down payment and consider it untouchable. Barring a major emergency, don’t even toy with the idea of spending any of that money until you are ready to purchase a home. It’s easier to keep an off-limits down payment fund if you set up a separate account dedicated solely to this purpose.

Treat this bank account as a black hole in which light goes in but nothing comes out.

Here is a video with some more tips for saving money

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYUUCA0MpD8&t=141s?rel=0

Conclusion

We hope these tips for saving money for a down payment on your home have helped you. Saving for a down payment on your home is tough but not impossible. There are other things that you can do to get financial benefits. For Example, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana is a great scheme that has benefited millions.

Also Listen to the Podcast

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg

Source by Ankit Kashiv

This home selection checklist is a tool to help you select a home that is right for you and your family. Before you select a home and get a mortgage, you need to know if you will be happy with the home you select for the coming years. Home selection is a major step in your life and using a checklist to select smartly will help you think of all the things you need to realize about a home before you buy. Take a checklist with you to each home you might select and write down all the important home selection points on the checklist. Use the checklist for each potential home selection and you will have a „fact book“ to review and analyze before your final home selection.

These important factors in home selection are designed to help you create a checklist of your own.

You can then research homes for sale and checklist how each home compares to other homes you’ve selected to view. By the time you are ready to get a mortgage you will know, from the selection checklist, exactly the pros and cons of each home.

1. How old is the structure? Older homes require more maintenance. Mortgages on older homes can be more difficult to obtain. Mortgage insurance and the homeowner’s protection required by the mortgage company you select can be more costly on the home. Note on the selection checklist any items which need repair if you select that home.
2. How many stories is the home? If you or a family member is aging, or you expect to live in your home selection for years, stairs can be a major problem. If you are young and won’t live in this home selection for years, this shouldn’t be a problem. Place this on your selection checklist if it is a concern for you and your family. Note on your home checklist any selection items which might make family visits difficult.
   It would be a major inconvenience to say the least if your family can’t visit because of stairs or hills.
3. What material is the home construction? Concrete slab and block construction homes
   pose a lower fire threat and this will reflect in your home insurance and maybe
   even mortgage rates. Place the building type you prefer on your home selection
   checklist.
4. Kitchen area: How large a kitchen will suit your lifestyle? Is the refrigerator ancient or newly new? Is the stove in good condition? Do you prefer to cook with a gas or an electric stove?

   Do you want a garbage disposal? Determine exactly what is important in a kitchen, and place those selections on your checklist. Then rate each property you might select as to how many of the checklist features are included. Of course, some selection checklist features are easy enough to add; other selection checklist features can’t be changed.

5. Living areas: Is a formal living area and a den an important selection on your personal selection checklist? List on the home selection checklist each need. Are there windows for plants, if you are
   a plant-lover? Is the carpet in the potential home selection in good condition? Think about these
   items before signing a mortgage! Note any probable expenses on your home checklist for later review. Use these in budgeting for your mortgage
6. Laundry facilities: Does your home selection have laundry hookups that will not require you to run up and down stairs to bring laundry from bedrooms to the washer? Are the hook-ups in good condition? Note on the selection checklist. Place on your selection checklist any items you would select to replace upon moving into the home. Write on the checklist the anticipated cost of replacing the items you select as unacceptable. Remember to budget so you can pay the mortgage plus refurbish the home selection after purchase.
7. Bedrooms: Is your family formed or do you plan on more children? Are there enough bedrooms to allow guests? Is the master bedroom in the home selection large enough? Obtaining a mortgage on too small a home can be a major error. Place on your selection checklist exactly the size home you need to select.
8. Closets: Will there be enough closet space for your family’s clothing? Place on your checklist how many closets you require.
9. Bathrooms: Will there be enough facilities in your home selection to allow everyone space for their personal items and plenty of time to use facilities. Large families require several bathrooms; be sure to put this on your home selection checklist! A selection that needs bathrooms added plus mortgage payments can be expensive. Consider this in your mortgage budget.
10. Roofing: Take a look at the materials and condition. If the roof looks as if it will need repair soon, consider this major cost in your mortgage pricing. Roofing is very expensive. Research the cost of replacing a roof
    before you make an offer. Note these costs on the home checklist. Will your budget cover mortgage and roofing expense?
11. Water heater: Look at the water heater and determine condition. Look for
    places that may have leaked and any damage resulting. Also, is the water heater
    gas or electric in the home selection? More notes for your home checklist.
12. Air conditioning / heating: Do these units in the home selection appear to be old or new? Are they energy efficient? If you sign a mortgage on a home only to learn the entire heating or HVAC requires replacement, you could cause yourself financial stress. Checklist the estimated age of each appliance and piece of equipment in the potential home selection. Include checklist notes of expenses for replacing older items. Place in your home mortgage selection notes that you may want a home inspection or warranty if equipment looks older; your checklist selection can save you from making a major mortgage error!
13. Utility Cost: Don’t be afraid to ask the home owners to see electric, gas and water bills. If your home selection is well insulated and energy efficient, they will be happy to show you. Energy costs are important points on your home selection checklist.
14. Neighborhood: Do you want to be in a gated community? Is a play area for children nearby the home? What about schools? Is the neighborhood surrounding the home selection clean and attractive? Ride around the neighborhood; see other homes to learn about the area before making your home selection to mortgage. Secure neighborhoods help not only ease of mortgage approval, but on insurance as well. Checklist this item on your home selection list.
15. Yard: If you have children or pets, you may desire a large yard. If you are a gardener, a nice yard is important. Again, checklist everything that truly matters in your ideal home selection.
16. Parking: Is there space for your vehicles and guests? Is there a garage? Carport? Is the driveway in good condition? Include on your home selection checklist what matters to you. Again, if these require repair, put these notes on the checklist so you can budget
    accordingly.
17. Future expansion: If you wish to expand the home at some future time then is there space on the property without crowding? Consider the future before you mortgage a home that you may have to sell later as your family needs grow.
18. Zoning and Restrictions: If you have a home business, is it permitted in the
    potential neighborhood? Selection of a home which prevents the activities you value would be a bad mistake. Some communities have restrictions regarding working on your car or motorcycle, parking a boat and other issues you need to know before
    making your final home selection. Keep this point on your selection checklist if
    you work on your car or have a boat beside the home.
19. Work: Is the home of your selection near your workplace? If not, is it easy to access the expressway for an easy commute from home? Will you come to hate the idea of going to work from
    this location? Note on the selection checklist for your home the miles you will
    drive per day and the cost.
20. Shopping: Groceries, and convenience stores, gas stations and the like should be in close proximity of your home selection. Note on your selection checklist how far from home to the nearest shopping centers. Checklist where you would go from your home to shop.
21. Sidewalks: This checklist point for home selection is important for families with children. If there are no sidewalks,
    then children won’t be able to easily walk to visit friends, ride bikes, or do other activities children love to do. Also, checklist if you like to take strolls or walk for exercise yourself.
22. Amusements, churches, activities: If you have activities you like to do, consider the drive time from the home selection. Will your children’s movie visits on Saturday become a long drive? Are at least a few doctors nearby the potential home? Amusements your family enjoys should be reasonably easy to reach.
23. Neighborhood Lighting: If you like to go out at night, or your children will be playing outside, is the area well-lighted? Not only are these selection criteria important for your children, but burglars just hate a well-light home and neighborhood! Checklist some safety issues you need before considering a mortgage.
24. Traffic: If you have children, your new neighborhood should be low traffic. Also, traffic equals noise. Consider this important fact as well. A home on an expressway has frustrated many.

This home selection checklist points are meant to help you think to checklist important home selection options before obtaining a mortgage for a home. Make yourself a custom home selection checklist that includes the things that matter to YOU and YOUR FAMILY, and then take this along when home shopping. With a checklist

in hand, you can make the selection that will make you happy for years and years!

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg

Source by David Chapman

Private real estate research firms provide free foreclosure listings. Their lists contain all properties posted for sale across the county. These lists also include daily updates, and append a wide range of necessary data for evaluating upcoming sales. Company services are completely free during a trial offer period, usually lasting seven days. After the trial period, subscriptions for the best companies range from $30 to $50 per month. You are free to use as many trial offers as you wish.

In general, government agencies and lenders also provide free lists to comply with state law. These lists contains contain minimal information for each listed property.

Newspapers publish notices of intent to foreclose as a service for lenders. All lenders, in all states, have a statutory duty to provide public notice before repossessing real estate. The individual notices are reliable.

County agencies provide public records online, including real estate records and notices of intent to foreclose. These records are available as a public service provided at taxpayer expense. They typically disclose the minimum information allowed by law. County records are highly accurate, but may not be current.

Banks provide free lists of foreclosed property they own. They hope to sell all REO, to turn non-performing collateral into a performing loan. You must contact each bank or lender individually, which requires a large investment of your time. Their lists are reliable.

A few real estate agents specialize in foreclosed properties. Usually, they receive a listing after the sheriff’s sale or private auction. They may represent banks or other lenders, and list the property in the MLS. Their lists are reliable.

The question of reliability should also include business utility. If you hope to bid on property, relying on a free list is foolish. You will waste time and money collecting lists, researching necessary details, and inspecting homes to begin finding qualified prospects. The same information is available online for negligible cost. The information is available in minutes rather than months. Use a free trial offer from a full service company. You can easily find great prospects in your area, and perhaps bid in seven days.

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg

Source by Hector Milla

Basic Real Estate Statistics Explained

We are going to define some of the basic real estate statistics that get thrown around on a regular basis. To do that, we will use one real estate market, located in Hood County Texas. Even more granular, we will use the single family numbers for homes in Granbury Tx, a small town of approximately 8,000 residents which has seen substantial real estate growth in the past 12 months. It is important when reviewing real estate statistics to use a group of numbers large enough for consistency, but granular enough to tell your story.

The statistics that we will be referencing are true and accurate for the year discussed but are being used to define the real estate statistic itself.

We have chosen Granbury Tx as our example because the growth of the local real estate market there make the statics stand out.

Anytime you are evaluating statistics, especially in real estate, the source of the numbers are extremely important. In most instances, the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) provides the most accurate numbers when referring to real estate. This is because they have all listings by all local real estate brokers in their database. For the sake of explanation of the data, we will be looking at the numbers for home sales in Granbury Tx, directly from the MLS. These numbers are meant to give an example of how to read the statistics themselves. Anytime you evaluate real estate numbers, its important to pay close attention to how the numbers are gathered. In this instance, we will be using ONLY single family properties in the city of Granbury.

Basic Real Estate Statistics

• Number of Sales – This one is pretty self explanatory. It is simply the number of single family homes sold in a particular month. In January of 2015, they had 51 single family homes sold. One thing to pay attention to when looking at this statistic is are they using the Under Contract date or the day the property actually went to closing. These two dates are usually between 30 and 60 days apart, so its critical that you know which one is being referenced. In addition, many of the homes that get calculated, if you are using the „under contract“ number may not actually close! In our example, we are using the number of homes that actually closed. In January of 2016 they had an increase of over 49% which brought the total to 77 from 51. Growth of that level is very seldom ever seen.
• Sales Volume – Sales Volume is simply the total amount of dollars spent on single family housing within that month. Once again, when reviewing this statistic, its important to keep the property types consistent. If you are comparing two areas to see which one has grown more and you include vacant land in the number for one area, you must include it in the other too. As previously mentioned, our examples only include single family properties. With Number of Sales looking at the units, you would expect the Sales Volume to go up appropriately, but in this instance, it went up even more than the units (by percentage). The total Sales Volume of single family homes in Granbury in January of 2016 was $15,191,500 as opposed to the January of 2015 number of $9,281,915. That is an increase of over 63%. Because the Sales Volume went up at a larger rate than the number of units, this reflects the average home sale being much larger in 2016 than 2015.
• Months of Inventory – This is a commonly referred to statistic when examining a real estate market. This statistic refers to at the current rate of sales, how long will it take to sell through the existing level of inventory. This reflects the supply and demand for the market. In our example, in January of 2015 the level of inventory was 9 months and in January of 2016 it had dropped to 6 months. That is a 33% drop in available inventory! This means if you are looking to buy a home in Granbury Tx, it will be a little tougher in 2016 as there is less inventory available to buy.
• Median Days To Sell – This stat simply refers to how long it takes for single family properties to be put under contract. Don’t let the „to sell“ confuse you. To accurately show the demand for active homes, you really want to track how long it takes to go „under contract“. The process of acquiring final lender approval, insurance and getting to a closing can vary on a variety of factors. In January of 2015, the Median Days to Sell was 88. That number dropped by over 30% to 61. Once again, this tells you if you are looking for homes in Granbury TX, you better get your offers in quickly as the most desirable homes are going fast!
• Average Price – This statistic can be derived in a variety of ways. We are going to use it in its most raw form and simply be the Average Price of Homes Sold within that month. Be careful when looking at this statistic printed anywhere as how the user defines the date sold can vary. Needless to say, Average Price can be used for active homes for sale or for the homes that sold. The Average Price of ACTIVE homes for sale is generally a pretty useless number as you can list a home for any price, without any possibility of it ever selling. Many homes listed for sale are at unrealistic prices thus the Average Price of Active homes for sale can fluctuate dramatically and give little insight into the market. You will want to look at the Average Price of SOLD homes. In January of 2015, the Average Home Sale was $181,998 and it jumped to $199,888 in the same month in 2016. This is an increase of almost 10%. This is not a number that truly tells the increase in home values across the board, but simply of the homes sold in that month, what the average was.
• Median Price – The Average Home Sales Price can be skewed by a variety of factors. All it takes is one 5 million dollar home sale to throw those numbers off. To get a better view of the overall increase in value, it can be better to look at the Median Sales Price. Median Sales Price takes the number that is perfectly in the middle. For instance, if you have 11 homes that you are using in your statistic, you would take the sales price of the 6th one. This leaves 5 homes sold higher and 5 homes sold lower. In this instance, they are pretty close as the Median Sales Price increase from January 2015 to 2016 was 9.69%. This shows that we didn’t have the Average Price skewed too much because of an extremely large or extremely small sale.

There are hundreds of ways to look at the same numbers, when referencing to real estate, so be very careful to read the fine print on exactly what numbers they are using. When making comparisons, you will want to make absolutely sure that both are referencing the same property types, dates etc. It like the old saying says… there are lies, damn lies and statistics.

Immobilienmakler Heidelberg

Makler Heidelberg

Source by Dean Cacioppo