The rise in refinancing: shopping around

The recent interest rate rises have prompted property owners to shop around for the best mortgage deal, with the number of borrowers refinancing growing by 6% between December 2007 and January this year, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Over the past three months, refinancing has risen almost 22% to an [...]

Sydney’s most wasteful

Few places on Earth have a carbon footprint to match that of Mosman, one of Sydney’s wealthiest enclaves. But now its civic leaders are going green.
Mosman, on the North Shore of Sydney, encompasses some of the city’s most spectacular real estate, palatial houses with swimming pools and wonderful views of the water, along with [...]

Laid Bare: Las Vegas stripped by mortgage crisis too!

The last few days have made painfully clear that even a fantasy land like the Las Vegas Strip exists in the real world. And the troubles with the real estate market and credit crunch seem to be imperilling a significant amount of the next wave of Las Vegas development.

Three major Strip projects [...]

A huge gap in the market: Australia’s looming crisis

Michael Marquette of Marquette Turner writes in his Special Report: The biggest post – war crisis that Australia has faced is almost upon us. We have all heard about the aging population and the need for Superannuation to lessen the burden on taxpayers for pensions and other welfare payments. The terrifying statistic that very few [...]

Michael Schumacher gets his share of The World

Possibly the most ambitious of Dubai’s land reclamation projects, The World is an archipelago of 300 islands laid out to represent countries of the world.

The first developed island is owned by Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher. The $7 million piece of land was gifted to him by Dubai’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al [...]

How to foil burglars

Engraving or marking your property leaves no doubt as to its ownership.
Not only does it deter others from taking your property because of the difficulties involved in “offloading” identifiable property, it also helps police to recover and return items which may have been stolen.
Neighbourhood Watch suggest you should keep an inventory of all [...]

Mosman Council slowest to process development applications

Mosman Council on Sydney’s North Shore has been ranked the slowest in the New South Wales for processing development applications.
A new report card released by the Planning Department shows it took the council an average of 174 days to determine applications in 2006-2007.
Holroyd Council, in Sydney’s west, came in second and Ashfield, in the inner [...]

The properties of our politicians

As well as his residential home, former Coalition Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer and his wife own a vineyard.
Former employment and workplace relations minister Joe Hockey, and his wife Melissa Babbage, live in their home in Hunters Hill, but together also own a Canberra property in the exclusive suburb of Forrest, as well as investment [...]

10 Tips to Avoid Mortgage Foreclosure

Here are 10 tips to avoid defaulting on your mortgage, and ultimately preventing repossession and foreclosure.
1. Don’t ignore the problem. The further behind you become, the harder it will be to reinstate your loan and the more likely that you will lose your home. If you are behind on your mortgage payments or have received [...]

Top 10 Ways to Get Insanely Motivated

Here’s some wisdom of Omar Periu, one of the world’s best known motivational speakers.
Here he gives ten ways that he keeps himself motivated which Marquette Turner recommends following:

Condition your mind. Train yourself to think positive thoughts.
Condition your body. It takes physical energy to take action.
Avoid [...]