Archive for February 16th, 2010

Selecting a Commercial Property Location

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

Contrary to public opinion, rent is not one of the top 5 considerations when evaluating a property or a space for your retail business. True, it is an important factor but without consideration given to the 5 items below, even a rent-free location could be a losing proposition.
-Location: The old adage, Location, Location, Location is still true but retailers today must take this one step further. A great location means different things to different retailers. For instance, a great location for a restaurant that serves only lunch and dinner may be a poor location for a coffee/espresso retailer. A great location for a high-end jewelry store may be a poor location for a check cashing / payday loan retailer. In order to determine the best location for a particular retail business one must look beyond the general notion that a strong site is universal and consider what makes it such.
-Demographics:A strong retail location will encompass a trade area that has a dense population of your core customer base. This can be daytime population (businesses & employees), residential population (commonly known as rooftops) or both. A strong location is one that is visible (regularly) to the types of customer that you want to attract. For example, a location that is close to a residential population that has many young working families may be a good location in which to consider opening a day care business. A daytime population that has a lot of white collar employment in a ½ mile radius may be a good location in which to open a casual restaurant that specializes in lunch and dinner. The “right” demographics are different for every retailer.
-Ingress & Egress: A strong retail location MUST have easy access from the major streets servicing the property. In the retail world you don’t want to have what is known in the industry as a “Statue of Liberty” location, meaning one that is extremely visible but next to impossible to access. We all know that consumers are lazy. If given the choice a customer will favor one retailer over another (goods & service being relatively equal) simply because it is easier to drive in and out of the property’s parking lot. This is a fact and you can see its effect on retailers all over your city if you look hard enough. Make certain that the location you choose has good access.
-Signage: A visible sign is very important to all retailers. If your customer can’t see your business how can they shop there? A well located, visible sign that identifies your business is critical to your success. On the flip side, many retailers think that monument or pylon signs are a necessity. This is only partly true. If you are an “anchor-tenant” and are able to erect a sign that is large enough to see from at least 1-2 blocks away, a monument or pylon sign will be helpful. Otherwise, traffic moves at such speed and there are so many visual displays competing for the motorist’s attention that a minor position on a multi-tenant sign will do little to draw traffic into your business. You are better off taking the time to evaluate the type, size and visibility afforded your storefront sign and base your signage decision from this perspective.

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Price of Your Home

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

The present real estate market is truly an immense and extremely competitive sector with tremendous trends and components. For example, selling a home is more of a challenge and a game of strategy than just a venture into a property investment. This is because of the massive number of houses put up in the market for sale, thus making it an ultimately steep competition. Whenever you find it difficult to sell your house, you might want to consider several options like lowering the price of your home. However, lowering your price is not your only choice if your house remains unsold for quite some time. Real estate agents stated that there are main factors to consider when deciding to cut on an amount of a property such as the condition of the home, location and the price. Another thing you can do is to ramp up your marketing efforts, either by putting on more ads or increasing the number of open houses. It would be helpful to seek the advice of a real estate agent if your house remains unsold for quite a time. Real estate agents have more experience at marketing homes and they can help you determine whether your asking price is reasonable enough by comparing it to similar homes in your area. Real estate agents can also inform you how much inventory is on the market, and how long it takes a home to sell on average. This is a valuable information if you are deciding on how long to hold out for your asking price. It is indeed a difficult decision in lowering your asking price than the original amount you intended it to sell. Every seller wants to have a more profitable result for his or her property sale. In real estate, versatility is the name of the game especially when dealing with the property value and worth. You should be able to do something in order to have an edge among the rest of the properties for sale in the market.

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Mortgage Help

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

When you are looking to purchase your first home, the mortgage and house purchase processes can be daunting. How do you go about finding the right deal from all the first time buyer mortgages on the market and what things are the lenders going to want to know about you? To start with you need to find out how much your can borrow and what it is going to cost. Speaking to a mortgage broker who has access to the whole market would give you the opportunity to find out which first time buyer mortgages will be the best for your circumstances. You will need to provide details of your employment and income, your address/residential history, savings for your deposit and any credit commitments you may have such as personal loans or credit card balances. Lenders use this information to assess whether you may or may not be able to afford mortgage amount you are requesting. After performing a credit search, to check your payment track record on any other credit agreements, the lender will issue you with a mortgage promise confirming if they will lend the mortgage amount you are applying for. If they do not feel you are suitable they may decline your application.

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Buying Your First Home

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

There are convenient things that one should know when they are going to buy their first home. Unfortunately, most of the first-time home owners or home buyers are basically not aware of the facts that they can actually save a big amount of money when it comes to purchasing their first large investment – a home. So how would you be able to know how much you are able to afford when it comes to the boring monthly payments for your first home? It is really vital to realize that the experts are recommending no more than 28-30% of the income is spent on your home each month, or through the annual earnings. When buying the first home, you can use the budget to determine the total price of the home once you have determined how much you are able to afford. With this account, you should begin to measure the pre-approved for a certain amount when it comes to mortgage.

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Decision Between Buying and Renting

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

Every year, millions of people graduate from college and move to new areas around the country. When moving around the country people face the need to find a place to live. As such, the question arises, do you buy a house or rent a place? What are the benefits of each? Buying a house offers the great advantage that every dollar spent is going towards a long term savings. Even though you no longer have the money, you are building equity by paying off the amount you owe on the house. In the end, you can freely sell the house and make back the money you paid. Or, you can simply continue to live in the house without the cost of a monthly payment. Financially, it is impossible to argue with the benefits of buying a house. On the other side of the equation, buying a house is a big commitment. What if you don’t plan on living in the area for an extended period? Whereas when renting, you don’t have anything holding you back, when you’ve purchased a home, you now have responsibility and an investment in the area. It suddenly is difficult to leave.

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