Owning a business of your own is the American dream. Real estate agents or those considering opening their own residential real estate brokerage should read Dan Hamilton’s new soup-to-nuts book on establishing a successful brokerage.

Real Estate Brokerage: A Guide to Success by Dan Hamilton, Thomson/ South-Western, 2006, ISBN 0324379463, Paperback, 380 Pages, $46.95 is written by an experienced real estate broker and instructor. Hamilton readily admits that the brokerage business is going through a permanent shift in how they will continue to be financially successful and remain the first point-of-contact for residential real estate consumers. Admission is one thing, but the author provides deep and clear ways to reorient your brokerage from agent compensation,recruiting and retention, business planning and development, to effective new-age brokerage marketing. All ideas are explained in great detail, with an added benefit of bolded topics and bullet points, for those who want a pick-up-put-down desk reference.

Chapter titles include:The Real Estate Industry, The Real Estate Broker and Owner, The Real Estate Brokerage Office, Real Estate Brokerage Operations, Real Estate Marketing, Additional Marketing Ideas in Real Estate, Real Estate Brokerage Compensation Structures, Real Estate Brokerage Staff Relations, Recruiting Real Estate Salespeople, Recruiting Interview, Retention of Real Estate Salespeople, Real Estate Business Development, Real Estate Business Planning, Financing a Real Estate Business, and Starting Up a Real Estate Business.

In addition to the chapters there is an appendix and introduction. Chapters are presented in an easy-to-understand format with review questions to help the reader assimilate the chapter information and it’s relevance. Boxes highlight important definitions or statements. One benefit I especially liked was the use of relevant definitions adjoining text instead of the usual back-of-the-book glossary

This book is recommended to current managing brokers, real estate franchise operations managers, brokerage educators and trainers, and those contemplating starting up their own brokerage.

The moment you make the decision to buy real estate in Jamaica, it’s essential for you to become knowledgeable of everything that is included in this process. Regardless of whether you would be interested in residential home, farm land, residential land or commercial buildings, you will need to comply with the Jamaica real estate laws and regulations.

This can be a simple or complicated procedure, depending on the type of property you are acquiring or if it’s a cash or mortgage loan purchase. If you need assistance, some simple suggestions are given below and can guide you to purchase a home in Cherry Gardens or an office space in New Kingston.

Prior to your search to find the property that you need to buy, it would be best to get the pre-qualified for the mortgage first. You could do this at one of the financial institutions in Jamaica or at the National Housing Trust (NHT). Obtaining this pre-approval for a real estate mortgage will be just as essential as when you are buying the Jamaican property.

Most people do this after they began their search for suitable properties, but this pre-approval process could save you a substantial amount of time in the end. This means that when you are ready to buy real estate in Jamaica, you would already know the exact amount that the lender is committing to and not waste your time viewing real estate properties that you cannot afford to purchase.

Unquestionably, whenever you submit an offer to purchase it is highly likely that you would get the property because you had the pre-qualification letter to accompany the offer.

Typically, the leading mortgage companies in Jamaica for real estate loans are Jamaica National Building Society, Victoria Mutual Building Society, First Caribbean and Scotia Jamaica Building Society.

They provide both company and individual with a pre-qualification letters which will state the highest amount that a person can get for a loan and how much they are willing to supply.

However, before going for this pre-qualification letter, you should have your statement of earnings, proof that you can make the deposit and pay the required closing costs. In addition, the financial institution will ask you for other monthly expenses like credit card payments, motor vehicle loans, utility bills or any other financial obligations.

The following would enable the mortgage bank to ascertain exactly how much would be given to you as the loan.

When you deciding which of the financial institutions to chose, try not to opt for one that is offering you significantly lower interest rates. Most lending institutions currently have a high rate and if one is offering you a package which is actually below the current market rates in Jamaica, you can expect to pay some hidden costs. In addition, you should keep in mind that these companies are totally unrelated as they are separate entities.

Make sure that the areas you are thinking of purchasing this property will not have a negative effect on the future value for this investment. This means that you should research the area carefully and stay away from locations with issues such a high crime rate.

These areas are not good to buy real estate in Jamaica, especially when you want this investment to yield good returns in the long term. Presently, the rental market in Kingston is flourishing, so you could look at the possibilities to purchase apartments in areas such as Golden Triangle or commercial buildings in New Kingston.

Italy is one of the most attractive property markets in the world. It has not suffered the collapse undergone by many other markets and yet if you know where to look you can discover some fantastic real estate investment opportunities at bargain prices.

How to Buy Property in Italy?

The country has a fairly simple property buying process but it differs a lot from the USA and UK systems. I
have gone through the real estate buying process myself and it is easy.

The process is in three steps:

1) Make the offer

Once you find a property you like you then make an offer signed by you and the seller. This then gives you and the seller a certain amount of time to sign the Compromesso (preliminary contract). You normally pay around 10% of the purchase price which is held by the estate agent. If you back out after this is signed you lose this money. This is also when you can have your surveyor (Geometra) check out the property to make sure all is as stated.

2) The Preliminary contract (Compromesso)

The preliminary contract (Compromesso) commits both parties to the sale. The contract confirms that both parties agree to buy and sell the property, and agree on the terms and conditions of the sale. It is often a good idea to let your lawyer look through the contract as you need to pay a 1/3 deposit which you will lose if you back out after signing the contract. If the owner backs out he will have to pay you double your deposit.

3) Rogito

The final completion of sale, if you cannot be here you are entitled to give power of attorney to someone in Italy you trust or your agent. I would recommend that you attend in person though, with a translator if your Italian isn’t that good. You will need an Italian tax number known as a codice fiscale, which your lawyer or agent can arrange. You will also need your passport.

It is vital that your mortgage is finalised too as you must make full payment and pay the notary, surveyor fees and all taxes at this point. The property is now yours.

My advice is to try and organize the mortgage and home insurance in your own country if you are buying a holiday home. Firstly it is easier to do in your own language and secondly if your home currency isn’t euro it eliminates the currency risk.

For more on where to buy, house insurance in Italy and getting an Italian mortgage visit:

In recent years, real estate search engines have exploded in both popularity and quantity. It seems that every time you turn around, there’s a new real estate search engine being launched or announced.

The use of real estate search engines has also skyrocketed. People go online by the thousands every day, conducting real estate searches through websites like Yahoo, Trulia and the others listed below. This usage will only increase as new search engines emerge, and as existing engines become more advanced.

This article reviews some of the most popular real estate search engines available today. But before we get to those reviews, let’s cover some quick terminology.

What’s a Real Estate Search Engine?

Here’s my informal definition of a real estate search engine: “Any website that allows consumers to search for real estate listings.” I think that’s a basic definition we can all agree upon. Of course, there are many different types of real estate search engine, but in their basic form they all match the definition above.

Popular Real Estate Search Engines

Here’s a list and summary of some of the most popular real estate search engines online today (with popularity measured by prominence in the marketplace, website traffic, and general buzz).

REALTOR.com

This is probably the most popular real estate search engine, just because it has been around the longest. When you land on the home page of REALTOR.com, you’re offered a variety of real estate-related information. But the primary element on their home page is, of course, their real estate search engine.

To begin, you simply enter a city and state, provide some qualifying information like price range and number of rooms, and then click “Go.” Once you get to the actual home listings, you can sort them by price, number of rooms, etc.

One thing I’ve always liked about REALTOR.com is the way the results are presented. You can view 10 homes per page, with thumbnail photo and basic information. This lets you “eyeball” shop and weed out any homes that don’t interest you right off the bat. That way, you only have to click the “learn more” link for homes that you’ve screened first. A lot of the newer real estate search engines are map-based, meaning you have to click on an icon to see the house and details. I prefer to see a lot of listings at a glance and then “drill down” as desired … but that’s just me.

HomePages

This website offers another map-driven approach to real estate search. As with most real estate search engines, you start the process by entering a city and state. After sitting through a map-zooming process that makes you feel like you’re skydiving, you’ll be asked for the usual follow-up parameters (price range, number of rooms, etc.). Properties for sale are presented as icons that you can click on to learn more about.

Personally, I didn’t like the interface because it doesn’t show as much data at a glace as other real estate search engines — you have to sort of scroll around the map to find what you want, and that annoyed me. From my perspective, it seems to be another one of those websites that’s so “slick” it’s just plain hard to use. But that’s just me!

Trulia

Trulia bills itself as delightfully smart real estate search. Their “About” page offers a more detailed description: “We are a real estate search engine that helps you find homes for sale and provides real estate information at the local level to help you make better decisions in the process.”

From the home page, you simply enter a zip code to see real estate listings for that area. You can also refine your search by price range, number of rooms or bathrooms, etc.

Like many real estate search engines, Trulia is powered by Google Maps. Trulia has customized the Google application to show pushpin icons for each property listing, which adds a nice visual element to the search.

You can use Trulia’s real estate search engine with or without an account, but if you sign up for a free account you’ll be able to save your searches for future convenience. If you like Trulia and plan to use it often, I recommend creating an account. It will save you a lot of time on future visits because you won’t have to enter your search parameters all over again (unless you want to).

Yahoo Real Estate

Yahoo’s real estate search offers a lot of information in addition to property listings. You can also find information on schools and neighborhoods through their site. But this is an article on real estate search, so let’s stick with that.

From the home page of Yahoo Real Estate, you can search for homes, apartments, or even home values. For homes, you simply enter the city and state and hit enter. You are then shown a map with icons representing homes for sale.

Hover your mouse over an icon and it will show the listing price. Click on the listing price, and it will pop up a bubble with street address, a thumbnail photo, and a “learn more” link. To get around the map, you simply click-and-drag with your mouse (as with MapQuest or similar mapping sites).

NeighborhoodScout

NeighborhoodScout is a different sort of real estate search engine. As the name implies, this website focuses more on neighborhoods than actual home listings. Here’s how they describe themselves:

“NeighborhoodScout is a web-based patent-pending neighborhood search engine that uses neighborhood statistics to build neighborhood profiles that allow individuals and families to instantly find the best neighborhoods for them, in any part of the United States they choose.”

So if you’re relocating to a new area, this website might help you refine your search by narrowing it to a few select neighborhoods.

A Word of Caution

When using any real estate search engine, you need to understand they do not operate in “real time.” The accuracy of a real estate search engine is determined by the age or “freshness” of their data, which varies from one search engine to the next.

Also, while a real estate search engine can be a helpful research tool, they do not take the place of a qualified real estate agent. If you are new to the real estate world, I strongly recommend that you have professional help when buying or selling a home.

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