You don’t want to pay excess on a property. So, it’s important to know what a home really costs on the equity scale

Real estate whether home or abroad is a substantial, long-term investment. It is therefore imperative that you research various countries and neighborhoods before choosing one to invest in because economists agree that there is an opportunity cost to investing in a particular property.

Your research should include the existence of changing political and economic scenarios, as these would have profound impact on the housing market, especially influencing central bank rates and lending policies.

Factors Affecting Market Value of Foreign Real Estate

Location is critical. Apart from the real estate conditions existent in the country, you don't want a place with high crime rate and bad transport system. But looking ahead, you have to examine the profitability of your investment. Home appraisers looking at homes consider features like property age, lot size, internal square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, amenities and overall condition. Hence the first step in determining your home's market value is taking an appraiser’s glasses and looking at the home objectively, writing down the principal features of your home.

How to Determine Market Value of Foreign Real Estate

Valuing a home is not an exact science but here are some things you can do to make a ‘scientific’ guess on the fair market value of a property abroad.

1. Check out comps.

Find four or five comparable homes in the area that have sold within the past six months. A local agent should be able to help you with that data. Your research on comparable homes (comps) will give you a good indication of what your intended property might be worth. Comparable homes should be roughly the same size, construction, age and style with the same number of rooms, layout and other features. You want to identify the prices at which these properties sold and how fast they left the market.

2. Calculate the rate per square foot.

For each of your comps, divide the selling price by the square footage of the property. This gives you a price per square foot or PPSF. Find the average value of these homes by adding the PPSF figures and dividing by the number of comps you are using. For example, suppose it has the following compositions:

Property A is 2,000 square feet and sells for $ 420,000. The PPSF is $ 210.

Property B is 2,200 square feet and sells for $ 480,000. The PPSF is $ 218.

Property C is 1,900 square feet and sells for $ 390,000. The PPSF is $ 205.

Property D is 2,000 square feet and sells for $ 475,000. The PPSF is $ 237.

The average price per square foot is $ 217. Multiply this figure by the number of square feet of your home to get a rough idea of ??the market value of your home.

3. Consider the special qualities of your home.

While the PPSF gives a benchmark, it does not take into account the unique features that could raise or lower the value of your home. Improvements like a new bathroom, kitchen or siding tend to add value; On the contrary, it is likely that a home in poor condition will have a lower value than a well-maintained property. There is usually a wide variety of prices per square foot based on these factors. Ultimately, you have to decide if your home is worth more or less than the average PPSF in your neighborhood.

A memorable real estate slogan can keep you top on the minds of prospects. Your slogan defines your business, forms an element of all your marketing materials and can be what people associate with you. For Scott Geller, a RE/MAX realtor in Jamison, Pa, with the slogan "Scott Geller, the home seller",  some people probably think his slogan is his real full name. The name and occupation awareness brought him so much business that after a while, he didn't need to advertise to the general public, he had enough repeat customers and referrals.

A clever, memorable slogan forms part of your identity. While a good slogan can transform your business; a bad one can harm your business and reputation. Hence you should put more effort into developing the right slogan for your real estate business. Here are a few things good real estate slogans can do for your business.

1. Help you appeal to customer emotions

2. Highlights your customer service or care.

3. Reflects your business's personality and character.

4. It is memorable; stays long in the mind of prospects.

Let's look at twenty great real estate slogans and some reasons why they are effective.

20 EFFECTIVE REAL ESTATE SLOGANS

One important thing slogans and taglines do is helping to distinguish you from the competition. According to Dictionary.com, a slogan is a distinctive cry that separates you from everything else. So, the most important thing you want to maintain is the individuality of your slogan. Here are 20 real estate slogans that work. You can put your creative gear in motion and use these examples to craft something effective for your real estate business.

1. Sell for More. Buy for less.

2. A Track record that speaks for itself.

3. The Realtor for You.

4. Turning Dreams into Reality

5. Doing Everything but the packing

6. Your Dream Home awaits.

7. Helping San Diego find where to live.

8. Experts in the local market.

9. Your concern is my priority

10. The agent that works harder after the closing papers are signed.

11. A tradition of (excellence, trust, service).

12. A cut above the rest.

13. Helping New Yorkers move since 1983.

14. I'm never too busy for your referrals.

15. Going above and beyond

16. Beautiful L.A homes

17. Helping clients get more home for less money

18. Beautiful places to live.

19. Helping you close for less.

20. Turning transactions into relationships.

What these slogans have in common are that:

1. They focus on the client. Your prospects do not care about you or your business. They want to know how you can help them. Having a real estate slogan that clearly states how you can help them gets you points. Keep your slogans around your clients and you'll keep them around longer.

2. Non-generic. Although you should look around and examine trends in your market and incorporate these in your real estate marketing, don't forget to differentiate yourself from the crowd. Is your slogan helping you stand out?

3. Memorable. Effective slogans have a musical memorability around them. Quality slogans are short phrases that are easily remembered.

Having a high quality real estate slogan will keep you in the minds of clients for a long time.

The kitchen is the heart of the home. There will never be a day in your life when you don't enter the kitchen for some reason. It is where groceries go in and delicious pizzas and finger licking butter chicken comes out. The kitchen is where the children first learn to be of some service. It's also where you hone your cooking skills by trying new recipes.

The design of the modern kitchen has created an evolution in function that has made the kitchen a place of entertainment. An open kitchen is a place for socializing and hanging out with friends and families. This helps families spend more time together. You can keep an eye on your daughter while you cook. Your spouse can perch herself on the counter and regale you with tales from her workplace, you can share a bottle of wine with your friends as you cook.

Being such an important part of the home, it's important that home sellers make the kitchen attractive to prospective buyers. Here are some home staging tips to make your kitchen spark more attention from prospective buyers.

You want to make your kitchen radiate a fresh 'feel'. Buyers should want to stay a while longer in your kitchen. Although the process of staging your kitchen may warrant a few inconveniences, it's usually worth it because an attractive kitchen will sell your home faster than any other thing you do to prepare your home.

1. Make it sparkling clean. Obviously, buyers won't be able to imagine themselves in your home if your home has a dirty kitchen. The neater your kitchen looks, the better. From kitchen windows, to rugs, to stoves and dishes, make sure that everything shines. Hiring a professional cleaning company might be worth the cost.

2. Apply fresh paint. A quick and easy way to make your kitchen appear fresh is putting fresh paint on walls. Let the colors used complement colors of cabinets and drawers to bring out cohesiveness.

3. Use energy efficient lighting. Another relatively inexpensive tweak to make your kitchen feel fresh and new is updating lighting with energy efficient and bright ones.

4. Update kitchen hardware. Buyers love a kitchen with updated fixtures. Don't leave your kitchen with old kitchen faucets and outdated lighting fixtures. Inexpensive, simple updates like garbage disposal, stainless steel appliances, faucets and cabinet hardware can make your kitchen appear new and attractive to prospective buyers. You can also go a step further by adding some pizazz to your countertops. You can put in decorative canisters, herbs, bowl of fruit, new cookbooks and new tea towels, etc.

5. Declutter. Decluttering may be the hardest part of staging a kitchen for sale. Your kitchen should no longer reflect you, but it should give potential buyers a chance to use their imagination. The easiest way to start the process of decluttering is to completely clear off your counters, then only put selected decorative items to fill in and soften the corners of a long expanse of countertop.

An ugly kitchen can make the home sit on the market for long. Staging your kitchen right might require some effort and inconvenience but if the property is priced right and looks fantastic, you should only have to be inconvenienced a very short time.