The Hidden Costs of Buying Properties Abroad

You can fund the purchase of a property abroad by arranging a mortgage through a UK lender, such as the Halifax, Abbey or Barclays.You can also release equity from your home in the UK or by arranging a mortgage in the country you are moving to.

Your main home will be at additional risk if you use it as security to raise finance.On the other hand borrowing money overseas also carrys a risk, especially if currency exchanges rates move against your own interests.Normally there will be no problem in finding a favourable mortgage for popular holiday destinations like Spain, but the choice of mortgages for farther flung locations may be more limited.We recommend that you consult a mortgage adviser, who
specialises in overseas locations.

A Note on Legal Fees
The fees payable over and above the purchase price varies dramatically between different countries, so it is extremely important to take account of these costs when considering your budget.

What to pay and when to pay it
Having found a property and had your offer accepted, you will have to lodge a non-refundable deposit, which is generally 10% of the agreed price.
Check this out, as some countries like Portugal and Italy, require a third of the asking price in advance.

Never part with money until an initial contract has been agreed and even then make sure that the cash is lodged with a bonded estate agent or lawyer.
Italy is probably the most expensive country to purchase a property in, where the costs add up to a startling 16,500 pounds when purchasing a 100,000 pound property.This is made up of Estate Agent 3000 pounds.Legal Fees 1000 pounds.

Survey and other adminisration costs 1000 pounds and miscellaneous fees are an amazing 11,500 pounds.The latter includes land registry taxes, other notary fees and transfer taxes.Turkey was the cheapest country we found.Here the total cost over and above the purchase price was 7000 pounds, which breaks down as follows Estate Agent 3000 pounds.Legal fees 1000 pounds.Other fees amount to 3000 pounds.

Get the experts in
Different countries have different property laws and regulations, so it's important that you find a good, fluent English-speaking solicitor who is not connected to your seller, estate agent or property developer.
They should be used to dealing with overseas purchasers and go through all the possible fees, taxes, insurance issues, local authority rules and any possible pitfalls.The laws and procedures involved with every aspect of the house buying process are often different to British laws, so make sure the local knowledge of your solicitor is excellent.

If you have bought a plot of land and are having a property built make sure all planning permissions are covered and find a good architect.Again, the tourist office can help.If you think the service you are receiving is unsatisfactory, say so and explain if things do not improve you will go elsewhere.
Make an offer

Once you have found your ideal home, set a maximum price you will pay and don not go over it.

After your offer is accepted and you have instructed solicitors make sure you keep tabs on them and the estate agents.Ask for regular updates and make sure you fulfil all the requests made of you promptly.

About the Author

Interested In getting a quote on a Mortgage?

Please Visit the mortgages-makesense.co.uk for more information and other resources.Our sister site Brokers Online offers cutting edge articles and information about mortgages and other financial products.

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Decreasing Electricity Costs With PrePaid Electricity Meters

Last year (2008) was a tough year for South African households.As interest rates rose 7 times, mortgage bonds killed excess cash in household budgets.Adding to the problems, petrol prices sawed making an already difficult situation even harder.

Adding to the problems South Africans were faced with "load shedding" power failures to decrease the load on the utility companies which couldn't cope anymore with the high demand on the infrastructure.

Hot on the heels of the "load shedding" debacle, South Africans received the news that Electricity Prices will have to be increased.

Depending on area, utility prices were hiked between 14% and 20% in various areas to upgrade infrastructure, once again placing additional financial pressure on households.

Utility companies have stated that increases are not flat rate but per usage.In other words, the more you use the higher tariffs you pay.For this they created prices breaks per usage.This in turn created a situation where the household has become responsible for using less electricity in order to avoid the higher bracket tariff rates.But how would a household use less, when they only find out how much they use when the bill arrives?At which point it is of course too late to turn back the clock and reduce usage.

Both households and commercial properties need the use of a system that can help them monitor consumption on an ongoing-basis during the month.Greater transparency into ongoing consumption creates greater awareness with which people can take steps to cut usage and conserve in order to reduce consumption before the bill arrives.

For this reason, many residential houses, landlords with tenants and commercial premises have started to use secondary prepaid meters.Such meters enable daily monitoring of use by way of a digital display.When one sees the usage daily, one can take action based on this input.One can replace old devices, trying new devices that are more electricity efficient, switch off lights when and where these are not necessary, etc.

Furthermore, there is no longer a need to budget for electricity usage.Once the usage is prepaid, one can reduce the usage for that budget to last longer.It helps both with budgets and especially with better cash flow in households.

Since the increases in electricity tariffs more tenants both residential and commercial are asking landlords to install secondary meters simply for monitoring purposes.Once installed a very interesting phenomena has been found.Many users of prepaid electricity meters significantly change the electricity usage habits.

Electrical heaters are replaced with cheaper heaters that use gas, geyser timers are installed.Geysers are one of the largest contributors to domestic electricity bills.Timers enable users to switch on their geyser for only a few hours in the day during periods when hot water is required.Other people are buying electricity saving light bulbs, they are far more expensive than normal light bulbs but can cut 1000's in the electricity bill for many months.

In summary, it was found that prepaid electricity was once considered a bad thing because you have to dish out the money in advance, proved to be extremely useful when reducing the use of electricity and therefore the month electricity bill.

One of the major barriers to people and commercial properties using prepaid electricity was payment habit.Why pay in advance, when you can deal with it later?However, since the increases in electricity tariffs, this barrier has been lowered.Consumers that were once unhappy about prepaying for electricity are now happy that prepaid meters have been installed.They never thought they could save so much in electricity until they started monitoring their own use.

About the Author

Sean Wheller is the founder of www.

PrePaidMeters.co.za, a PrePaid Metering provider in South Africa, dedicated to create efficiency in metering electricity and water for the benefit of both tenants and landlords.

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Business Cleaning Service: What Kind Of Agency Should You Employ?

An effective way of cutting business, financial costs is by outsourcing those services that your company does not specialize in such as cleaning or janitorial services.Outsourcing these services also allows you to customize the type of maintenance and how frequently it is done.The best part of outsourcing to business maintenance services is quality results that will show your business at its best.

The first thing you must decide is what type of company you are interested in.Are you seeking a national chain that can provide the latest equipment, quick, reliable service?Perhaps you are looking for a small, owner-operated company that can customize the type of maintenance that you need?

There are companies that use traditional cleaning products.Other crews use green products that will not damage the environment.Still, other organizations will stock and supply your basic janitorial needs such as toilet paper, hand sanitizer, garbage bags, and cleansers.

The prices that you can expect to pay for this type of maintenance upkeep ranges based on the services you require.Some companies that advertise on Internet bulletin boards can start as low as $10 and hour.However, not all of these organizations are insured or bonded, which protect you as a consumer and leads to piece of mind.

Other organizations, which do offer insurance can begin around $20 and go up from there.Prices also vary on the depth of maintenance that you need.Regardless of the cost per hour, using a cleaning service saves the company from having to add an employee with wages and cost of benefits.Additionally, if the maintenance crew is not up to your standards, it is easy to switch companies.

One of the most specialized types of cleaning crews today are those that offer environment friendly maintenance.It is estimated that the pollutants indoors can be as much as 100 times more concentrated than our outdoor environment.This is partly due to the types of cleaning products that are used.

Most of the classic cleaning products give off volatile organic compounds through evaporation.However, "green" is a buzz word these days and just because a company says they are green, does not mean they are eco-friendly.

When you interview perspective companies regarding their services, ask them what type of energy saving techniques they use.Ask what kind of cleaning products they use, verify that these products have natural ingredients such as eucalyptus, sage, coconut oils, or grain alcohols.You can also go verify the company through an eco-friendly or "green" association that verifies how authentic the company is.

Other green services to inquire about are their recycling techniques.You may go to the trouble of separating trash from recyclables, but does your janitorial crew?If the company supplies janitorial products, make sure that those are also eco-friendly like recycled toilet paper and paper towels.

Some green companies take the extra time to shut off any lights, copiers, or coffee makers that may have been left on by one of your employees.Choose an organization that uses eco-friendly fiber, such as micro-fiber that can be washed and air-dried more than traditional cotton fibers.Select a company that uses high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, which remove almost 100% of particles that cause asthma and allergies.

Choosing a cleaning service is not easy, but there are so many choices that you can find one that tailors to your needs.The Internet is the best place to research and review organizations, but it ultimately comes down to interviewing the company face to face.

About the Author

Atlanta business cleaning firm is bonded and insured, and has been providing excellent service since 1989 as a leader in the building maintenance industry.

To employ a reliable, professional and affordable business cleaning service, visit www.atlantaofficecleaners.com.

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Are You Looking For Some Daycare Center Ideas

There's a definite need for day care centers as more and more mothers of pre-school age children are forced to find jobs outside the home.This is due in part to the current economy, and unfortunately, to the high divorce rate, which means mothers who might ordinarily stay at home and care for their own children must seek income to help make ends meet.

Many experts expect the demand to increase through the turn of the century, and the popularity of this type of business to continue growing from there.They base their forecasts on the fact that more and more young parents have happy memories of the time they spent in day care centers, and the learning experiences they enjoyed.And again, there is the continuing need or desire of young mothers to work outside the home.

Profitable day care centers are much more than glorified baby-sitting services.Social researchers have found that the most important years in a child's development are those from one to six.Thus, the exposure to the world in which he lives, the instruction he receives, and the habits he forms during those years, definitely affect his ability to learn and properly ad just as he progresses on through his years of formal education.

For mothers of today - usually better educated than their mothers - are more aware of these factors and wanting the best for their children, are demanding the structured pre-school education and learning stimulation offered by modern day care centers.This is an honest desire of the mothers of pre-school age children - even those who aren't forced to work outside the home.

Another thing in your favour: Even though there seems to be a trend for many large companies to finance and operate day care centers for their employees in or close by their factories or office buildings, studies show that most working parents prefer to leave their children closer to home than where they work.Thus, privately operated day care centers in residential neighbourhood areas should not be worried too much about competition from the few company operated day care centers.

The first step toward start-up of a profitable day care center is to understand what makes them profitable.There are a lot of day care centers operating with full enrolments of 35 to 65 children, but just barely breaking even.This is generally the result of regulations imposed by the state government, causing exorbitant overhead costs of operation.Basically, you'll need facilities to handle 150 to 200 children in order to realize annual profits in the "before taxes" bracket of $100,000.

Check with your state and local government regulatory agencies.Many states require day care centers to provide a minimum area per child, both inside and outside the building, plus at least one hot meal per day.A licensed teacher for every 15 to 20 children and even a licensed nurse on the premises may be required.Be sure to know the regulations in your area, and then design your business plan to meet these regulations.

Actually, you can begin by operating a baby-sitting service, by learning and expanding from your profits, and of course, through the long-term benefits of establishing a quality image.In fact, we recommend that you do start small - with a baby sitting service - and build upon your progressive successes, unless, of course, you have half a million dollars to invest.

Once you're beyond the baby-sitting stage, out of your home and backyard, beginning to build a real day care facility, you might try locating in your church or one of your area's civic club facilities.Also, you should check out the possibilities of renting or buying a vacant house.A large ranch-style home with a large backyard would probably suit your needs at this stage.But be sure you have zoning approval from your city council before signing a rent lease and finalizing your plans.

About the Author

Uchenna Ani-Okoye is an internet marketing advisor and co founder of Top Affiliate Programs

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