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Sterling enjoys a fine week against Euro and Dollar

Sterling has continued a fine end to the week following growing concerns regarding the economy in Greece and the effects it may have on the Eurozone as a whole.

The Pound rallied against the Euro and a basket of major currencies in early morning trading and at the time of writing this Sterling/Euro was at a four month high – A welcome change in luck for those with upcoming property purchases.

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Friday Greece had much work ahead to resolve its fiscal issues, after highlighting the fiscal challenges to a number of euro zone countries at a news conference the previous day.

This may well limit upside movement for the Euro in the short term so could create some excellent buying opportunities over the coming weeks, that paired with the huge drop in property prices overseas all means investors and people due to emigrate win both ways at present.

Ask Daniel Wright from Foreign Currency Direct for more details on 0800 328 5884 or UK 44 1494 725353

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Las Vegas is identified as a USA hot spot by Girasol Homes as homes roll back to 2000 levels

Las Vegas Summary ~ it is a great time to buy for foreign investors

A multitude of real estate investments exists in Las Vegas today. Residential properties represent some of the better current bargains, especially in the range below $200,000.

We are not defining a “bargain” as a decrease from the high-flying 2005 and 2006 years either. Rather, home prices appear to have over corrected on the downside and are below the long-run trend that existed ahead of the bubble.

By several measures, such as median home prices and the S&P/Case-Shiller index, we have reset prices back to the early 2000’s. In some home segments we are probably further back, even to the early 1990’s…and that is before adjusting for inflation. In recent months, prices have leveled out. Chances are one’s wages, while possibly flat for the past couple of years, has still not fallen to early 1990’s levels, presenting a real opportunity to purchase housing by those that are employed.

By such fundamental measures such as price/rent or price/income ratios, we have returned to some very reasonable levels of valuation. Affordability like this has not been achievable in years. While employment has been weak, for those that are working and seeking a home, it is a good time to shop around. Investors have noticed this as well and are purchasing homes for rentals. Many of these properties cash flow quite well, so they are performing assets even in the absence of near-term appreciation. We have calculated cap rates in the six to twelve percent range so there are some great investment homes in the Las Vegas Valley. Any appreciation back up to trend is just an added benefit (This is a return to the old paradigm of buy low and sell higher instead of buy high and sell higher which everyone thought they could do just a couple of years ago. IE: things make sense!).

As an example, a home like 1521 Splinter Rock could be purchased for $142,000 and would likely be rented for about $1300 per month. Factoring in expenses like taxes and maintenance as well as a vacancy factor, a home like this should yield around $10,000 (on the conservative side since its been remodeled already) in net operating income per year. It’s also already been remodeled so its move-in ready. It properties like this that are relatively easy to manage and are within a size range that makes them suitable for many renters, making them a good choice for foreign investors.

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Picasa Web Album

Here are just a few of our many photo albums for properties, places, locations and much more please go to our Picasa Page at PICASA to discover more

Here is one of our latest Christmas pictures from the Murcia Region of Spain

Much more at PICASA

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Girasol Homes Christmas Letter 2009

Dear friends,

Just a quick note and “round robin” to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and all our best wishes for 2010.

I don’t think anyone needs me to remind them it has been a tough year. We have seen some major and cherished high street brands in financial difficulty and have lost some of the worlds greatest icons such as Michael Jackson, Patrick Swayze and Farrah Fawcett.

The media branded credit crunch has continued to bite with job losses being the main impact this year more than 2008 where the impact on banks, developers, many scandals, the Euro currency rates, government policy and investments were the hot stories.

But 2009 has also been a great year for companies and people prepared to innovate and work hard.

We have launched our newest site and our back office agent suite (the “lite version”) has been well received and is also free to our partners, many of our partners are now taking advantage of the full version where over 10,000 live overseas properties will be available in January and a whole host of client and property management features will be available. This enables even the smallest and lowest funded agents to compete with much larger competitors and benefit their clients and business as well.

Sadly we lost a few of our partners this year where a combination of a really tough sales environment and also the inability to respond to the market forces cost them dearly and closed their doors.

Our area of influence got larger this year with new markets in Florida, a comprehensive selection in the Algarve became available, new and bright properties were sought and found across Turkey and we added to the great start we made in 2008 in the Silver Coast area too.

Other new and exciting areas also now include Egypt, Mallorca, Menorca, Canary Islands, Marbella, Valencia Province (and City) and a wonderful selection of properties right across Spain. We are always looking closely at our partnerships and as always this is a dynamic environment where we are always looking at the service quality.

So at Girasol we have tried to adapt our offerings, our approach and tools to reflect the challenges and environment and this work we have done in 2009 has made us a much stronger and more effective company.

Looking ahead to 2010 I feel there are still going to be challenges ahead for us all, but it is an exciting one as well because we know what worked in 2008 and 2009 and this has made us into one of the larger companies into our sector.

For your reference our offices will be open until 1pm on 23rd December and re open on the 28th December, we will be checking emails and responding to them over the festive period.

Once again whether you are a client or a partner we would like to thank you for your help in 2009 and wish you a wonderful 2010.

Best wishes

Nigel Salmon and all of us at Girasol Homes

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Foreign Currency Transfers

Foreign Currency Transfers – Our choice – Foreign Currency Direct

We get asked all the time about who looks after our customers needs for Foreign Currency Transfers and Payments, after over 3 years in this business we have distilled it to one company – Foreign Currency Direct.

Here is why.

When purchasing a property overseas you will need to transfer money. Whilst the natural inclination is to go to your local High Street bank to transfer funds abroad, this is usually a fairly expensive way of doing it. Exchange rates and commissions provided by high street banks are significantly less favourable than those typically offered by specialist foreign exchange brokers.

We therefore recommend the services of Foreign Currency Direct. Transactions arranged through FCD are always at the most competitive rates, and the service is fast and efficient. An estimate of the typical savings using FCD over high street bank transactions are in the region of 1 to 2%, or £1,000 to £2,000 saved for every £100,000 transferred.

To transfer money via FCD contact: Daniel Wright, Tel UK: 0800 328 5884 Tel abroad Tel: +44 1494 725 353 or create an account via the FCD website by visiting Foreign Currency Direct here FCD

We know you will be delighted with the service Daniel and his team provide. Daniel is also a contributor to our blogs/articles and his informative blog is a source of superb information.

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