Launched in the last few days….

Gibraltar’s answer to the Burj Dubai, well not quite, but it stands an impressive 19 stories high and when finished will be the tallest building in Gib.  
Recently Gibraltar has seen a wave of new luxury modern residential buildings spring up on the waters edge. Like some of the others this particular development caters for different buyers with 1-4 bedrooms being made available. The project will have many standard amenities including a pool and fitness centre. It is located close to the town centre and marina. Price start for £205,000 for a 1-bedroom unit and go upwards to £690,000+

Gibraltar has its attractions and many investors buy here due to its significant property tax advantages. As development space is at a premium, these types of developments are selling out in day’s, even hours!

Overall view: New developments are “slightly” more expensive than neighbouring Spain, but the advantages can be lucrative for savvy investors. Gibraltar is on the up with the possibility of expanding the airport and development on the other side of the rock, a longer-term investment here could prove a good bet!

For more information email me here below stating your interest in this development:

Emaar announced their newest venture on the 23rd of March. The new project Lakeside is valued at US$700m and is a joint venture with Turkish company Atasay (largest Jewellery Exporter in Turkey).

Further to this investment there will be an estimated US$5-10 billion to follow as addition funds. The two companies are looking for potential sites to develop other facilities including shopping centres and hotel complexes.  Emaar has put in place a “Vision 2010″ program, which includes expansion across the many countries such as Morocco and India.

For more information on this press release click here

This Turkish development sounds as impressive as many of the projects that Emaar are developing. It has a good location close to the International airport and city and will consist of villas, some of which will be close to the sea.

I feel that they are showing the local community that they are not just there to develop and move on, as they have reported investment in infrastructure to back up the development.As many of the Emaar projects are yet to be completed, it is difficult to know how well the concept will work in the new countries that they have chosen. However as they are such a large organisation, I feel confident that they have the resources to make these projects work.

Emaar may feel that although the Dubai property market today is in a boom period for longevity, a more global development base will stand them strong in the long run.

It has been discussed and debated amongst the property community and finally on the 15th of March the Dubai Government announced that foreigners would be able to buy freehold property in designated areas. For expatriate owners who have already invested in the Dubai Property market will have the opportunity to register their titles with the Dubai lands and properties department.

So will this revitalise the real estate market?

Many leading estate agents are predicting a new wave of prospective buyers to come into the market on the back of this change and with rental yields looking particularly strong, these could really make the market become a choice destination for the overseas property investor.

Does this make you feel more secure about buying in Dubai?

See sites for more details:

AME

Khaleej Times

Inspired by a pod cast from the American real estate blogger Tim O’Keefe, I want to echo some of his comments on the subject of “Why have a real estate website“.
 
As a property company operating in this very competitive business, does your website actually work and what is its purpose?

Simple really, capture clients data, so that you can build a relationship with them, with the ultimate aim of selling them a property. Many companies forget this and create complicated sites that are too difficult to navigate for the end user and as such are turning away interested clients.
 
As markets slow and get more competitive, it is harder to close a sale. You should be trying to capture as many clients as possible for now and the future. Buyers are getting much more Internet savvy with a wealth of free information for research, they are not going to fall for the BS that has been bounded about in the past. Make sure your website echo’s this, make it useful and less of the “We are No1″ rubbish.

So how to capture and test data successfully…
 
Do you give something away in return for client’s details, if not why not? This exchange significantly increases your chances of a client trusting you with their personal details. It works try it!!

I have talked to many real estate website owners, who are totally obsessed with getting good rankings, but have had bad experiences with SEO companies. Many companies don’t really know what to expect from SEO and as such are getting exploited by the knowledge gap. I hear comments like “Yes I know about Meta tags and links”. Well if that is your attitude you are going to get taken for a ride and receive very few clients.
 
We all want to be sold to, it is part of life and like the real estate industry, and the web-marketing world is full of companies that will guarantee you this and that. Problem is can these companies really guarantee anything in this fast moving market?

Some useful questions you may want to ask yourself, as you need to understand your site and how others use it.

Do you test your advertising through different means?

If you do an ad campaign you can track it by using different website addresses, use telephone software that tracks calls from ads.

Do you have statistics software, if so do you know what to do with it?

There are many free site statistics software programs out there that can give you all that information. My favourite is the new Google analytics package, which is free, downside is that it is oversubscribed and you have to wait to get accepted into the program (request an invitation). IMO it is worth the wait!

Point is you need to start using your site to its maximum potential and as such you need to understand your clients better, offer them something unique and capture the information.
 
This is only half way there, as you then need to work with that information and sell properties to prospective clients, but that post is for another day!

I have just come back from a trip to the Costa del Sol in Spain. Over the last days I have been speaking to many unhappy customers and property buyers, who have numerous problems with their new properties in Spain. See rants below:”The development was supposed to be finished in September 2005 and we are still not in today. The latest is we will be in by June 2006…”

This seems to be the trend at present certainly on the Costa del Sol. Many developments have got delayed due to bad weather, developers not paying their workforce (people just walking off site!) and unrealistic time scales.

So what does this mean for the buyer?

Many Spanish Property contracts have built in clauses that deal with the issues of delays.
So it may say “6% late charge back to you the client, if the project is not completed within 2 years with delays of no more than 6 months” However READ THE SMALLPRINT, as many clauses state from “when we break ground”. So you may sign and the developers don’t break ground until a year later thus giving them the right to 2 years and 6 months build time from that point! Many people have got caught up in this and are just having to wait. In an extreme case I know of a couple who had moved lock stock from the US over here in August last year and were due to move in, in September 2005 and are still renting with all their furniture in storage today, with no firm dates of completion.

I am sure this goes on all over and frankly there is little you can do, just be aware of time scales as your plans may change as time passes.

“Property” it is everywhere and still the hottest topic at dinner parties.

On the 17th-19th of March the Homebuyer Show 2006 is on at the Excel in London. This show has been successfully running for 15 years and is there to answer all your questions regarding the property industry.

There are many seminars throughout the duration of the event including “Buying your own home” and “How to make it big in Property in 2006″.

For more information email sales@homebuyer.co.uk or telephone 0208 8773636.