Cyrus Mistry (left), who took over for legendary businessman Ratan Tata, offered this with regard to the investment climate there in India:

“The recent emphasis on policy clarity and a renewed thrust to economic reforms by the Government of India is encouraging. With a sustained focus on policy stability and implementation, I believe that India would continue to be an attractive investment destination.”

ata Housing Development Company Limited

Tata Group owns some 100 plus companies worldwide already including legendary auto maker Jaguar, and
It seems safe to assume at least some of this new investment will be earmarked for real estate, given the group’s past interest in the sector. The conglomerate has Tata Realty and Infrastructure Limited and Tata Housing Development Company Ltd., as well as several key investment arms in the real estate space.

Just last month Tata Housing announced the expansion of developments for affordable housing in India via “Smart Value Homes Limited forays into Bengaluru”, and high end real estate ventures have been in the news for Tata of late as well. On the demand side of the real estate equation in India, the New York Times reported last month on a coming construction boom fueled by the lack of appropriate real estate space for International brands like Walmart to expand into there. The point being, there is little quality commercial space in all India for stores to take up business in. New construction would seem a logical investment avenue for any conglomerate.

Tata has almost half a million employees worldwide, and one of the most valuable brands in the world. It remains to be seen what path the new CEO will blaze to extend the empire Ratan Tata created. Manufacturing to services and beyond, $8 billion almost seems like a puny sum when all Tata’s assets are weighed. Still, forward momentum is always positive news.

Festung Lovrijenac, Dubrovnik, Kroatien

Chances are most of you reading this may not have even heard of Dubrovnik, but I assure you it is the most prominent touristic destination on the wonderful Adriatic. This part of Croatia, this part of Europe, is imbued with natural wonders and legends a-plenty to satisfy even the most adventurous – and the most pampered too. Let me show you via this video below this timeless spot between legends of Epidaurus refugees and Greek sailing lore.

Fort Lovrijenac, sometimes called Dubrovnik’s Gibraltar (Image above), is one of the city’s most prominent landmarks. Another, the azure waters and sandy beaches of the Adriatic, you can see as well. Now I know you can imagine living here, or having a Summer getaway on the Adriatic. History, chic shopping, local and gourmet culinary wonders, wines, and buzzing nightlife, all the cliches are here. And more. As for The Residences, the video below shows off a little of what owning a piece of Dubrovnik is about.

Residences from Residences Dubrovnik Sun Gardens on Vimeo.

Dubrovnik Sun Gardens is one of those unique opportunities to not just visit legendary places on Earth, but to be there anytime you feel the need, all the time even.  Overlooking the sea, this five star resort sits in the midst of natural treasures you’ve only seen on TV. Dalmatia is the Riviera only more beautiful and economical. Treasures like the waterfall falling into the sea below, you probably only thought such encounters happened in Jamaica.

Dubrovnik Sun Gardens Residences – courtesy their Facebook

The ultra modern meets antiquity and nature in the one and two bedroom residences of Dubrovnik Sun Gardens. Cozy 44 square meter flats, or sumptuous 111 square meter residences are the concept of Hirsch Bedner Associates, the architects who resigned the residential village here. Optimized for optimal comfort and minimal environmental impact, the whole resort concept is taken to another level here. This brochure shows off more of the benefits of owning at Sun Gardens (PDF).

Festivals, feasts,  fairytales, this is the title the developers gave a section of their stunning print marketing. How appropriate, for Croatia is famous for celebrations. The Feast of St Blaise in November is a great example, as you can see from the image below Croatian’s take their Saints pretty seriously. Dubrovnik International Film Festival, the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Carnival, and many other music and cultural events ensure you’ll never be bored in this coastal paradise.

Feast of St. Blasius courtesy Croatia.hr

To describe all there is to do in and around Dubravnik, we would neeed a website, not a news article. The video at bottom suggests still more event loveliness courtesy a superb http://www.tzdubrovnik.hr site. But for more on these residences and all Dubrovnik Sun Gardens has to offer, consider the totally attainable luxury of:

• Fully furnished residences
• Air-conditioning
• High-speed wireless internet access
• Internet TV with international channels
• Fully equipped kitchen
• En-suite bathrooms have rain showers and luxury toiletries
• A large, fully-lit wardrobes with luggage storage and safe for valuables
• Five-star services and facilities, including personal concierge.
• Free access to our award winning Wellness Centre & Spa, with eleven treatment rooms, gym and indoor pool.
• Exclusive owner discounts in all our restaurants, bars and food outlets
• Three years’ automatic membership of Registry Collection, the world’s leading luxury asset exchange programme, offering extensive holiday opportunities around the world
• Free use of the on-site Sports and Racquet Club: three internationalstandard clay tennis courts, squash courts, beach volleyball and mini football pitch, plus a range of classes and activities including Pilates, Yogalates and table tennis.

Fine dining at Tartufo Restaurant

For more information on the residences we suggest you read the brochures, visit the supplied links, or contact the management via Twitter Residences at DSG. Alternatively, you may want to use the following contact methods.

Mailing Address:
Na Moru 1, 20234 Orašac, Croatia

TELEPHONE +385 (0)20 361 500

FAX +385 (0)20 361 651

EMAIL residences@dubrovniksungardens.com

About the Ownership Group:
Dubrovnik Sun Gardens is owned by iO Adria Limited. The company, formerly Jupiter Adria Limited, was originally set up in 2005 as an investment fund under Jupiter Fund Management plc, a London-listed fund manager. Following the separation from Jupiter Fund Management plc in 2011, the company was renamed and branded iO Adria Limited. iO Adria has been investing in Croatian resort real estate since 2006, with the sole vision of creating the finest collection of resort properties in Croatia which offer an authentic Adriatic experience coupled with the highest levels of service. iO Adria is actively engaged in the management of all of its investments from inception through to operation, and has assembled a renowned executive team with experience in the design and management of leading five-star luxury hotels and resorts across the world.

Rooofus Doofus!- Online Takeover

So, it’s time for a wake up call. Oh ye of tiny listing thumbnails and lip service social engagement, hark! The following is a for real instructional, even a challenge to “would be” investor types. Take it from an old Internet hand, everything I say below can be done. I know, you are a bit curious, and my writing style, while flowing, is wordy, so here is a one minute instructional for taking over real estate online one-market-at-a-time.

First, the SERPs can be pretty much bought. If not outright via a good SEM campaign, then good old premium content and SEO strategy. Throw in some news, cutting edge site design and compliance, and especially some SM and user value, and Bingo! Trulia and Zillow move over. You see, there really is no one else out there. Okay, one or two to compete with for your attention -buyer or seller – but very few. In the startup world, venture capitalists or even my pals at the tech blogs might as for “differentiation” for a real estate startup, let’s call our new “baby” Rooofus – all your property needs under one rooof, with a big R for you know what, and an extra o for good measure! Later on we’ll stack those o’s into a nice pile of smileys for a good logo. But for now.

Imagine a real estate website that does not show off white space and banner ads, but the home you want to sell, to buy. Fast, efficient, no nonsense, but imminently capable of answering your questions. Imagine following the link in the image below, and instead of a classy New York hotel, you find a Grand Rapids Realtor, selling houses, hooked to you via this site, social media, smart devices….

The Library Hotels from Library Collection Hotels – A WIHP Hotels Convert Website

99.999 percent of real estate websites suck. Even the once in a lifetime octagenarian who takes his great grandson#s advice and looks for his retirement fishing cottage online, is apt to leave the web in disgust on venturing to what agents these days call Internet presence. I won’t argue this point, and please don’t be so obtuse as to come argue yourself either. To tackle this aspect we simply engage some friends of ours in the hotel marketing space, WIHP (World Independent Hotel Promotions), work out how to scale their Convert hotel booking strategy for real estate listings, then build out for each of 50 markets in the US. We can start with Atlanta maybe? To get the picture, look at a recent press bit my company Pamil Visions PR helped out WIHP with.

You see, WIHP Hotels was a successful Paris company, content with lapping up all the boutique and exclusive little gems in and about Paris, then outward to Budapest, Prague, Spain, blah blah, and Capri, Sicily, Argentina, and, and New York City! That’s right, good news travels fast and the nicest boutique hotels in Manhattan, re-vamped as the Library Collection, bottom line “intelligently leveraging and executing with tools like WIHP’s Convert marketing suite, will be a virtual tsunami washing over what’s out there now. All you have to do is put a good roof over a leading edge plan, make it safe and warm inside, and.. Let’s move on.

Socialite or Sociopath

Okay, we just bought Roofus.com. Our pals over at WIHP in Paris have converted Convert. to engage perfectly any home seller or buyer, to show off an “experience” of the place being bought or sold, a value so concrete in digital form as to exactly portray what we are selling… Now what? People have to see our new and wondrous landing pages, now don’t they? Enter WIHP Hotels again, along with the rest of our network, our own SEO and SEM capabilities, and WIHP’s landmark adwords and other search engine marketing capabilities, media buy capablilties, and Pamil Visions media outreach capabilities (or Blueglass Interactive, MWW Group, Waggener Edstrom, whoever you choose to do the PR and marketing) Bingo! It is not rocket science once you have a nice storefont.

The same 99.999 percent of Realtors who even venture online to offer up their wares, and engage in social media practices, appear to real web experts as sociopath wanna be’s for the most part. Just having a Twitter and LinkedIn account, tweeting every day about how wonderful you are, this does not make you or your business expert at anything. If it were up to me, anyone still doing hard sell social on Facebook or Twitter for their real estate company, should be forced to hold up a sign like the one below.

As a new friend just commented on a Skype call, “you call these revelations a Stroke of sudden wisdom.” Of course he was not talking about running across some “would be” social media real estate guru, but the wisdom of knowing most don’t get it or are too cheap and lazy to really accept engagement, this is a revelation all home buyers and sellers should take to heart.

If your agent does not take seriously the most powerful selling and communicative conduit since TV, what does that say about you paying he or she a percentage of your hard earned home equity to… to do what? Hope and pray somebody drives by and sees their sign? Uh hum. Back to our instructional. I showed off some genuine social media gurus on Everything PR News just the other day, ask them if I am lying!!!

Let’s put it this way, anyone who knows their business on the social networks stands a million times greater potential for selling your home online, than some agent in Hoboken with a dilapidated website no one sees. Think about it, and start thinking about integrating all the stuff I am putting out here. Be a social media socialite. You can continue reading, try and absorb all this, or go visit Nicole Nicolay at MyTechOpinion, and get the tools to try this for yourself now. Nik Nik basically tells the same story only nicer and more friendly.

Commitment: Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

The wise and the wise-cracker out there is saying about now; “Yeah fine, but where do I get the money for all this?” Listen folks, my partner and I, with a very small team, write, edit, and/or publish 6 media outlets, contribute to a dozen more, service more than a dozen PR clients, operate no less than 50 social media accounts, and handle the day to day of running a few business ventures. It’s about commitment, investing time and money. And yes, the rationale that says “if he is so smart, why doesn’t be just take over?”, this old adage is relevant. And there you have it.

For what the average idiotic Silicon Valley startup gets in investment to be a flop, we could take over just about every real estate market in the world,  online, with hardly a whimper. That is unless Trulia and or Zillow, or maybe some Big Daddy property boss decided to hire it done. Even then, there’s not doubt in my mind, not an inkling, that a large segment of real estate visibility online could be had quite easily. There is no one in the way! Imagine a sort of Ask.com meets TechCrunch, meets About.com, linked and interfaced with a near flawless and experiential site in all the major cities, then interlaced with every smaller one.

Impossible is checkmated by execution with intelligence and passion

It sounds interesting, fantastic, to good to be true, impossible, doesn’t it? What if somebody I send to read this is an Angel Investor?  What if sayings like “Content is King” – “Stay hungry, stay foolish.” by Steve Jobs – “The qualities that make Twitter seem inane and half-baked are what makes it so powerful.” by Jonathan Zittrain – the reaching dogmatic that is Internet jargon, what if it is all true. Is Zillow the best there is? Hmm. Come on, I dare you, investigate how lame some of these markets are.

“The Internet has been the most fundamental change during my lifetime and for hundreds of years.” – Rupert Murdoch

This rant, this appeal, this plug for contemporaries in Paris or New York, it is not about what you may think. If you considered that I would like some VC out there to call me up and say; “Let’s do it!” – you would be right. If you also considered people like me just want to see if done, see if better, then you would be correct too. A lot of us are just sick of seeing mediocre efforts, both for clients and for the businesses that fuel our economy, our lives. It’s about time somebody just led, followed, or got the hell out of the way. All that stands in the way of a multi-million dollar online real estate win is execution.

You are welcome WIHP and all the others I plugged here, and/or gave ideas to. Maybe you have an itch to create the next cool thing, a better way for John and Jane Doe to sell or buy a home. Maybe. Let’s see, I think anybody with a little investment can be the next real estate tycoon.

Watch the video below.

Image credits: Andrius Repsys & Fotolia, BortN66 – Fotolia.com, and Thomas Pajot – Fotolia.com.

Sunrise on Belize real estate.

Those living outside Belize who would like to purchase real estate should be aware of the laws and fees surrounding Belize real estate acquisition. Non-Belizean citizens are free to purchase land and be granted full title to the land; however, everyone purchasing more than a ½ acre in a city or 10 acres in a rural area must first procure a permit called the Alien’s Landholding License, which is issued by the Department of Natural Resources. In order to obtain this license, you’ll have to present a plan detailing what you will do with the land. This law was created in the ‘70s, in an effort to curb rampant Belize real estate speculation.

Of course, financial issues are also usually on the minds of those looking to purchase real estate. As a non-Belizean, you’ll be required to pay a 15% transfer tax to the Government of Belize when you acquire the land. Attorney’s fees are usually 1-3% of the sale price; a token registration fee is also required. You are entitled to your own legal council when purchasing land in Belize. However, if you have training in real estate transactions, such as online accounting classes or a finance degree online, you may close the transaction yourself.

As in the U.S., in Belize real estate agents generally charge sellers around 6-7% commission on property sales. Buyers purchasing land in rural or remote areas should also be prepared to pay for travel expenses. Foreign individuals looking to invest in land in Belize are generally expected to pay cash for a property, as little financing is available to foreigners.

Currently, regular property taxes in Belize are around 1-1.5% of the value of the property, as is determined by the Department of Natural Resources. Other property taxes are a yearly 5% tax on tracts of more than 300 acres. The tax is paid on the land’s undeveloped value, and was created to help spread development throughout Belize and lower land speculation.

Source:

University of Denver

Joy Payley is a writer and editor for the blog writing company, Article Writing Services.

Just as we have analyzed many US cities to see where the digital divide is for “wired” and “unwired” companies, we took a look via Google at London’s most visible property companies today. A keyword search for “London homes” returned the usual 10 results, some of which are, of course, paid ads. But, here’s a brief rundown of the rest.

Foxton's gives it a go in some respects

Foxton’s

At first glance, Foxton’s seemed a departure from the so called “cookie cutter” websites of American real estate, a green sheet of listings, all shiny and efficient. Or, maybe this was my impression of UK business in general? Whatever the case, Foxton’s site proves the English (at least these ones) understand a few things Americans do not. First off? If you are selling a property for over $20,000,000 – listing it online, it is probably a good idea to have lots of big images. As you can see above, Foxton’s does this very, very well.

If you’ll note too, the call to action on the right (arrange for a viewing) – clearly these Brits understand logical site design. “Here look, now come and look,” if you will. Enough said there. Where the Foxton people really fail though, is almost exactly where most US realtors do, in understanding 21st Century marketing online. Facebook and Twitter, any sort of two way communication, are missing. In a very real way, Foxton’s online presence is a shame, for such a well funded and resourceful company, that is.

“We embrace change and are constantly challenging tradition because we have a strong desire to improve the way our industry operates. We do business differently to give you the edge.”

Foxton’s however refined in some ways, does not engage, does not show personality, and is unoriginal. They need to embrace the reality that their digital brand and storefront is lacking. Rating: 5 of 10

Home dot co dot UK

Let’s not waste time here. This is utter crap. No nothing, and almost inconceivable that one of the world’s greatest cities has a real estate market this weak. Rating: 1 of 10 (for somehow getting in the top 10 on google, not once, but  TWICE!)

Home, home on the crap website, where somehow, whoever they are....

Findaproperty.com

Findaproperty actually offer some hope of digital awareness in London town. That is, if one can get past the quirky and ugly landing.  Okay, Findaproperty does have a very good Facebook engagement here, as well as a superb Twitter aspect here (5867 followers), but the main site has surely already driven off droves of potential buyers. Check out the superb commercial these guys have on their YouTube Channel.

But, if you can get past goofy navigation to find these guys (or find em via Facebook first), even their blog is up to date (too bad they did not make it findaproperty.com/news huh?). The tale of the digital tape for these guys is, they really know “part” of what they are doing. Rating: 7 of 10 (this means I would probably call them)

Rightmove Really Moving Right

Rightmove is clearly doing a great many things right. But, like so many big companies, they do not fully integrate things. Over 13,000 Facebook fans and they are not proud enough of this to put a button on the main website? This may seem picky to some, but we are talking a multi million pound operation here. And, I know what it takes to get 13,000 followers too. Their blog is edgy and nice (all be it not totally up to date). They even created the correct url structure in adding the suffix “news” – but without integrating their online elements? Twitter is superb as well, and except for their missing congruential-ness, let me quote them:

“Here at Rightmove we live and breathe for property. In fact, it’s probably all we think about! With over 90% of properties for sale and to rent in the UK, we are by far the UK’s leading property website. ”

Aside the integration of elements, and a few aesthetic aspects on their main site, Rightmove does deliver on their promise for us at RealtyBiz. The image below illustrates this to a degree. Rating: 8 of 10 (Rightmove would be the second best digital engagement we have tested with some tweaks).

Rightmove London, the right move toward digital brands

Rounding out the top 10 Real Estate search results: Prime Location rates a 4 of 10, Zoopla rates 5 of 10, Homes Point 2 gets no rating because they are an Ontario, Canada company, and Hamptons International rates 3 of 10 for NOT meeting expectations. As you can see, two companies appear to dominate the digital landscape for London. Just why a Canada property seller ranks on Google? But then, why some others of these even exist is a mystery too.

My overall assessment of the London online property game is that the Brits have the edge over a great many US cities, perhaps all of them (we have not covered some larger ones). I must say I very much like Rightmove and Findaproperty -as their scores indicate. Clearly these companies understand the value of not only social media, but presenting properties to a waiting online customer base. Compared to their competition, these two companies are light years ahead.  The Alexa graph below shows the relative positions of these players. More later when we do in depth analysis of worldwide players.

A final note. One thing the reader will notice in this analysis, versus American counterparts, is the absence of broker names and faces. This is intentional on my part, the reason being, London’s agencies are almost completely devoid of the personal touch. Seeing the hand you are going to shake, the smile that will greet you, is not something anyone can readily find on a UK real estate website. Let alone an email address. What this indicates, I will leave to you for now.

Alexa rankings of London realtors - Righmove is clearly the leader

Prop2Go announces new expansion to overseas markets

Prop2Go has taken the decision to expand globally rather than focusing on the local market, and Jason Richard, founder and CEO of the company says “We have the technology already developed, and we have the hardware to maintain it, why not test the limits of our ingenuity.” They have just launched in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, India and the United Kingdom.

One of the strengths of the company is the ability to capture and store real estate data, and they want to see what kind of results they can obtain from the world real estate and rental industry. Their ultimate aim is to have sufficient property listings to enable them to mine for social economic trends in the world market, and they expect to achieve this by as early as next year.

Research and innovation at Prop2Go is driven by the growth in web traffic, and everything is tested in real time. Jason says “It’s the only way we can be certain that the results are properly measured. Our primary focus is providing quality service to our clients which are realtors and property managers, but at the same time we are innovating every day.”

Prop2Go is popular with property managers for the huge amount of traffic it can send to their listings

It certainly seems to be paying off, as web traffic is increasing every month. The company gains revenue by offering its services to property managers and realtors, and also uses advertising revenue to pay for research. Prop2Go is good at driving large amounts of visitor traffic within a very short time period, and is aiming to prove this competency to new markets.

Jason is confident that they can easily meet their goals, and they are already close to obtaining critical mass of data, as long as they can keep the momentum going and keep adding property listings.

Image courtesy Vancouver Sun

Available for $288,900 in January 2006, this same house is now on the market for just $109,900.

According to one well known Realtor at the Phoenix-based Russ Lyon’s Sotheby’s International Realty, the housing market in the city is at its lowest for 25 years, and Canadians in particular are rushing to make the most of the situation – while there’s still time. In a sign that things are set to pick up soon, last week’s report from Moody’s Analytics in West Chester, Pa., showed that home mortgage applications had hit their highest level for 3 months, thanks to an improvement in the job market and growing consumer confidence.

For now though, the market remains bottomed-out, and many Canadian bargain hunters are seeking to exploit the opportunity before it disappears. According to Russ Lyon’s Sotheby’s International Realty, with more than 70% of mortgages in Phoenix underwater and around 40,000 properties listed in the area, competition to sell is fierce, with the majority of units being sold at list price, paid for in cash.

Canada real estate leaving US in shadow

However, we’re not just seeing a rush of sun-seekers in Phoenix. Florida too, is proving to be a big hit right now. One particular Ontario retiree, Diana Carter, toured dozens of properties for more than four months in the Sunshine State, before eventually settling on a $43,555 single family home. With prices this low, Carter admits that it’s “crazy not to buy right now”, and indeed she may be right.

And who can not take note of Canadian all star investor W. Brett Wilson, who gave a name and a face to ultra successful Canadian money makers.

A Miami Beach condo in 2007 that sold for $214,300 was available for just $81,900 last year, while single family homes have dropped from an average of $371,200 to a low of $200,900 in 2010. While figures for 2011 are currently unavailable, things have not improved much.

Meanwhile, back in the West, prices are even lower – a condo in the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale area used to fetch around $201,500 just four years ago, yet now the same condo can be snapped up for as little as $68,900, while family homes have fallen from $234,900 to a staggering $139,200.

The biggest appeal for Canadian buyers is not just the rock-bottom prices though – with the Canadian dollar hitting a three year high against the US dollar this week, rising 3 cents above the dollar, the premium that they used to pay in the US housing market has been completely wiped out. Expect to see more Canucks in your neighborhood sometime soon.