by admin, April 29th, 2007 | No Comments
By Scott James
Without wishing to stretch the imagination Turkey for those who don’t know it is a huge country located in south Eastern Europe. Of course this is a moot point because technically the Bosporus is where Europe meets Asia
Turkey borders the Black Sea between Bulgaria and Georgia. Turkey also borders the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea between Greece and Syria
This makes Turkey slightly larger than the state of Texas (this last point is added for the sake of our American friends). With a landmass extending to some 780,580 km² in total area, 9,820 km² of which is water. Turkey has 7,200 km of coastline and what can be described as a temperate climate with hot dry summers and mild wet winters.
Turkey occupies a strategic location controlling the Turkish Straits, (the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara and Dardanelles) which link the black and Aegean seas; Mount Ararat, a location extremely well known to most biblical scholars or Sunday school pupils is of course the legendary landing place of Noah’s Ark and is in the far eastern part of the country.
Turkey’s dynamic economy is a complex mix of modern industry and commerce, which along with the traditional agricultural sector still accounts for more than 35% of all unemployment in the country. Turkey has a strong and rapidly growing private sector yet it is the state that still plays a major role in basic industry, banking, transport and communications sectors.
Within the Turkish economy the largest industrial sector is textiles and clothing and this sector accounts for more than one third of industrial employment in Turkey but it faces stiff competition in international markets with what is called the end of the global quota system.
One of the key reasons for taking a look at Turkey at the moment is primarily to examine its full potential for property investment. According to experts the future prospects for Turkey are very positive indeed and this has had a knock on effect directly through to the Turkish property market, where investor interest has apparently surged throughout 2005/6 and where property prices are apparently beginning to creep up fast.
Though property prices in Turkey may lag about 10 years behind those in Spain this trend is starting to change and the gap is starting to close. Turkish properties have surged in both interest and value particularly along the Riviera region in southern Turkey.
What has acted of course as a catalyst to the Turkish property market was the announcement that Turkey is now in line for full EU membership and since this announcement, investor confidence in Turkey has reached record proportions.
One of the most crucial foreign currency earners for Turkey is its revenue from tourism. This rose 14% in 2005 to 18.15 billion US dollars just beating the government official target.
Because the Turkish tourism Board is spending a lot of money promoting the resorts along Turkeys Riviera coast the result is that second home, holiday home and retirement home interest in these parts of Turkey has surged. For those looking to invest in the economy this is highly encouraging.
If you know where to look, there are bargains to be had with the Turkish Property Market
Scott James writes about a number of Internet based issues such as Real Estate Investment and Real Estate Marketing. A keen proponent of all aspects of free and independent services available, he advises clients to look at the whole mix of online services available.
Tags: Filing+Personal+Bankruptcy, debt+consolidation+services, Personal+Loan+after+Bankruptcy, Debt+Consolidation, debt, insolvency, Debt+Management, bankruptcy
by admin, April 27th, 2007 | No Comments
It is said that addiction can be defined in a great many ways and examples. Perhaps the most obvious one being the view that addiction is an unhealthy dependency on any substance or form of activity, behaviour that has a potentially negative or destructive consequence that could cause considerable distress for the person or persons involved.
Phew what a mouthful eh?
I bet everyone has their own picture or image in their mind of what a drug addict is? Possibly it is the classic image of the junkie scratching around to get his or her latest fix of heroin. The really sad thing about this is that although this does actually happen, as an image of the typical drug addict, it is way of the mark as far as the majority of drug users are concerned. The vast majority of addicts do not conform to this generalisation in any way shape or form.
The bottom line is that addiction can strike and affect anyone out there and let’s be honest there has never been a better time possibly to be an addict with such a range of mind altering substances available.
Though not freely available to the general public it is certainly the case that if you know what you are doing then these substances can certainly be procured.
As I mentioned, addiction can affect anyone and can be as a result of the use or over use of many a legitimate product such as tranquilisers and sleeping tablets as well as the misuse of illegal substances such as cocaine and cannabis.
What causes an addiction? Well the classic causes are usually if you have a person who is having problems with a relationship or even finding a relationship, work/career problems or some forms of extreme emotional instability for whatever reason.
Let me make one point quite clear at the outset, addictions don’t just happen, they have to have an underlying cause that stimulates the body into seeking some form of artificial stimulation to cater for some inner craving.
The other really sad aspect and bizarre element to the whole problem with addiction is that by and large, depending on why the person is reacting in this manner, the chances are that one of the reasons for addiction was that at the outset the activity that caused the addiction was probably pleasurable in some form or another.
It is a chemical reaction within the brain that associates pleasure (certainly in the first instance) with the consumption of drugs at the outset and only when these feelings begin to wane does the need for replacement begin to cause problems. The sad and dangerous aspect to all of this certainly with regards to drug abuse is that by and large to start with it was probably a social event that caused the whole problem to start in the first place.
One last point to consider in this brief introduction to substance abuse and addiction is the effect it has on the families and friends of the dependent person.
Those families and friends who watch their loved ones sink ever more into some form of dependency or another suffer terribly both mentally and
Scott James writes about a number of internet based social issues such as Substance Abuse and Drug Rehabilitation. A keen proponent of all aspects of free and independent services available, he advises clients to look at the whole mix of online services available at http://www.addictionsearch.com
Tags: Personal+Loan+after+Bankruptcy, bankruptcy, Debt+Consolidation+Services, Bankruptcy, Filing+Personal+Bankruptcy, debt+consolidation, debt, debt+consolidation+services
by admin, April 25th, 2007 | No Comments
By Scott James
There’s nothing quite as safe as houses – or so they say, but in this climate of the various stock exchanges going up and down is this totally true? Sure, the news about surging housing prices and rising interest rates is never out of the news.
Loads of Home and Property programmes swamp our daytime (and our night time) viewing on the TV schedules and where does this all lead us?
Well it’s a well known fact that most of us have thought that we can all climb onto the property ladder at some time or improve our bricks and mortar assets to realise those ridiculous price levels that seem to be occurring time and time again.
Now they say it’s official. Property is now more reliable than our pension provision (though with the performance of a certain Mr G Brown at 11 Downing street this does not say much) and apparently it is also more reliable than Gold and yes we all knew this last fact that it can be more profitable than working for a living if you are lucky.
The trouble with all of this massive growth in the domestic market for refurbishment and spiralling prices of reselling homes etc is it any wonder that the intelligent and smart property investor is starting to look elsewhere other than good old Britain to make smart gains and returns. But where?
Well there are a whole plethora of reports that say that house prices and property in places like Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia and even Hungary are returning vast sums of profits for property developers so it would appear that the smart investor is indeed spoilt for choice.
Well if we take a look at how the global property market performed in 2006 we can see where it would appear to be safe making an investment and where it might be unwise.
In 2006 the country that lead the way in the growth of domestic property prices was Denmark with an average appreciation of 23.61% throughout the year. The worst performer was Japan where property prices stagnated and overall the market shrank by 3.88%.
In between the leading contenders for growth prices in Europe were Ireland and France on 15.54% and 14.31% respectively. Elsewhere, in the southern hemisphere, South Africa has lost part of its shine as the growth in the property market slowed slightly to 13.54% (down from 20.62% the year before) whilst Australia and New Zealand had a growth rate of 7.18% and 12.28% respectively.
In Asia, Singapore lead the way with 6.08% growth whilst Hong Kong saw its property surge crash from a growth rate of 23.9% in 2005 to a decline of 3.73% in 2006.
As far as the western economies are concerned the “sleeping elephant in the room that no one wishes to acknowledge” so to speak is the USA. In the USA, where the housing market has been on a “bull run” since 1995 the market is starting to soften and how this affects the rest of us remains to be seen.
So to sum up it would appear that yes there are bargains and profits to be made still in property but you need to know where to look and when to move.
Scott James writes about a number of Internet based issues such as Real Estate Investment and Real Estate Marketing. A keen proponent of all aspects of free and independent services available, he advises clients to look at the whole mix of online services available.
Tags: Filing+Personal+Bankruptcy, bankruptcy, Bankruptcy+Personal+Loan, Debt+Management, debt+management, insolvency, Debt+Consolidation, Bankruptcy
by admin, April 18th, 2007 | No Comments
Concerns about the pace of US inflation eased slightly after official figures showed that a key gauge of price growth declined in March from previous months.
Core inflation, which excludes energy and food costs, rose by 0.1% in March, down from 0.2% in February and 0.3 in January, the Labor Department said.
However, analysts said that high fuel costs meant consumer prices overall were still too high for a rate cut.
Consumer prices rose by 0.4% from February, and 2.8% from a year earlier.
Richard Dekaser, an analyst at National City said that the core inflation figure was “unambiguously good news”.
“There’s a lot of good news there,” he added.
Brian Gendreau of ING Investment Management said that the report would not prompt a rate cut rate, “but a few more reports like these, and it means the Fed is near achieving its goal” of slowing inflation from dangerous levels.
The big concern in March was a jump in petrol prices, which increased by 10.6% from the same month a year earlier.
The Labor Department said that during the first three months of 2007 consumer prices increased overall by a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.7%, almost double the rate in the same period a year earlier.
Higher energy costs accounted for 41% of the total gain in first-quarter consumer prices, it said.
The effect of higher interest rates and energy costs, both of which take money out of a consumer’s pocket, has been evident in the US housing market.
On Tuesday, the Commerce Department said that housing starts increased 1.518 million in March from 1.506 million in February.
Analysts said that while there was an increase last month, the general trend for housing starts was one of decline as demand slows and the US housing market cools.
Hugh Bromma from Entrust Group in San Francisco said that while the latest report was optimistic in the near term, “in the longer-term we’re going to see the correction continue”.
Adjustable Mortgage Rates / Best Home Finance / Equity Home Loan Rate
Tags: Filing+Personal+Bankruptcy, Insolvency Debt, debt+consolidation+services, bankruptcy, debt+consolidation, Bankruptcy, Debt+Management, Debt+Consolidation
by admin, April 18th, 2007 | No Comments
The continued growth of online travel booking is resulting in growing demand for more unusual holiday accommodation from providers of online tarvel such as World of Holidays. Figures show that demand for accommodation such as canal boats, castles, and oasthouses has increased by over 50% over the last year, while demand for apartments and villas grew by 12%.
The growing demand for different styles of accommodation is being attributed to the continued increase in DIY travel bookings over the Internet, with customers now able to research and book a wider choice of holiday options. Reduced leisure time is also recognised as a factor, encouraging people to make more of their holiday experience, through more adventurous holiday ideas.
Tags: debt+consolidation+services, Filing+Personal+Bankruptcy, insolvency, debt, Personal+Bankruptcy, Insolvency Debt, bankruptcy, Bankruptcy
by admin, April 18th, 2007 | No Comments
A record number of students in England’s further education (FE) colleges are completing their courses and gaining a qualification.
Statistics from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), for the year 2005-06, show that of every 100 courses started, 77 were successfully completed.
This compares to just 56% of courses in the sector being completed and leading to a qualification in 1999-2000. (Source Contact Collins College)
The figures also showed better success rates for apprenticeship programmes.
These rose by 13 percentage points over one year from 40% in 2004-05 to 53%.
The overall FE sector success rate of 77% for 2005-06 means the government’s target that 76% of FE courses should be successfully completed by 2007-08 has been reached two years early.
The government now wants to see a success rate of 80% by 2011.
Improvement on past years
The improving results will be welcome news for FE colleges, which have been the subject of criticism and concern in recent years.
In 2004, the then chief inspector at Ofsted, David Bell, said their failure rate was “a national disgrace”.
More and more young people and adults are getting the qualifications that they need to succeed in life
Mark Haysom
LSC
In 2005, former Audit Commission chief executive Sir Andrew Foster said in a report for the government that colleges should have a deadline to improve or face takeover by another college or outside body.
And last year the Education Secretary, Alan Johnson, said underperforming colleges in England faced a tough regime of intervention if they did not improve standards.
Chief executive of the LSC, Mark Haysom, said: “These figures show the massive achievement that all those in the further education sector have made in driving up quality in post-16 education and training.
“Over the last six years, success rates in FE colleges have risen by over 20 percentage points from 56% in 1999-2000 to the present level of 77%.
“Behind the figures lies the real story, which is that more and more young people and adults are getting the qualifications that they need to succeed in life.”
‘Better retention’
The Minister for Further Education, Bill Rammell, said the government was transforming the FE sector.
He said: “We are working with employers, communities and the FE system to create a culture of learning.
“The increase in success rates shows colleges and providers are responding positively to the skills challenges we face.
“Success rates are rising due both to better retention and higher achievement.
“To build on this and meet the aspirations set out in last year’s review of skills by Lord Leitch we are working towards meeting stretching targets and pushing for further improvement.”
Danger
The chief executive of the Association of Colleges, Dr John Brennan, said colleges should be very proud of the success rates.
“They provide another chapter in the success story of further education and are a real tribute to the achievements of individual learners as well as college staff and managers,” he said.
“Colleges have responded positively once again to the challenges presented by government and are at the heart of ensuring that people get the right qualifications to succeed and progress.”
The university and College union said there was a danger that the government’s latest changes would mean a greater proportion of temporary teachers and poor quality private provision, which would undo the good work.
“FE is a success story. It needs funding not fixing, and some further consideration of its direction not more experiments,” said joint general secretary Paul Mackney.
Tags: Filing+Personal+Bankruptcy, debt, debt+management, Bankruptcy, bankruptcy, Debt+Management, insolvency, Debt+Consolidation+Services
by admin, April 17th, 2007 | No Comments
The pound has hit a 14-year high of $1.9938 against the dollar, with many experts believing it will rise above $2 in the next few days.
Sterling has been rising against the dollar as the UK’s economic performance contrasts with fears of a US slowdown.redeemed a Mortgage.
The trend has been good news for British visitors to the US but has made life more difficult for exporters.
Solicitor and LawyerThe pound was last equal to $2 in 1992, after the UK was forced to leave the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.
Inflation monitor a Mortgage
The pound fell back slightly to $1.9900 in later trading, while the euro neared its all-time high against the dollar.
Inflation data being published in the UK and US on Tuesday could put further upward pressure on the pound, potentially pushing it above $2.
With the UK housing market showing little sign of slowing down and inflation well above the government’s 2% target, experts predict a further rise in interest rates before too long.
range of fees For casual tourists I think it has had an effect Mark Henderson, Gieves and Hawkes
In contrast, the US housing bubble has burst in recent months and weakness in the manufacturing sector means that further rate rises there are seen as unlikely.
Higher interest rates tend to support a currency by making certain types of investment more attractive to traders.
Tourist concern
The current situation gives British visitors to the US much more buying power.
Leading airlines have reported strong demand for US flights in recent months as people seek to exploit the favourable exchange rate to go on holidays and shopping trips.
But the situation is worrying the UK tourist industry which is heavily reliant on free-spending US visitors over the summer.
British firms with a large number of US customers are also beginning to feel the pinch.
“For casual tourists I think it has had an effect and we are beginning to see a bit of a dip,” said Mark Henderson, chief executive of bespoke tailors Gieves and Hawkes.
“If it goes beyond $2, it could become quite tough.”
One City analyst said the strong momentum behind the pound was set to continue.
“There is every chance that the higher volatility we are likely to see this week will take us above $2,” said Martin Slaney, currency expert at GFT Global Markets.
Tags: Debt+Consolidation, insolvency, debt, Bankruptcy, Debt+Consolidation+Services, debt+consolidation+services, Filing+Personal+Bankruptcy, Insolvency Debt
by admin, April 15th, 2007 | No Comments
PlasticEconomy.com has achieved vast success and publicity within just a few months of launching. The site helps people get out of credit card debt by offering them tools, resources, and information. On their site they have a
directory of accountants, including
Houston, Texas accountants and
Tampa, Florida accountants.
Tags: Personal+Bankruptcy, debt, debt+consolidation+services, debt+consolidation, Bankruptcy+Personal+Loan, Debt+Management, Insolvency Debt, insolvency
by admin, April 13th, 2007 | No Comments
Wow this one has been along time coming!
In the UK, Banks have been ordered by the financial watchdog, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) to refund Mortgage Exit Fees to clients they have overcharged when they redeemed a Mortgage.
This whole affair could cost the Industry upwards in excess of £300m and is long overdue. The trouble is that when a Mortgage is usually redeemed, the entire paperwork is handled by a Solicitor and Lawyer and the settlement figure is usually hidden under the terms “Professional fees” and people very rarely check how these are made up. The Lawyers don’t want to offend the Lending Institution by questioning the validity of the charges as they don’t want to be removed form the Lenders Panel of approved Solicitors – it’s an incestuous business and if you can always try and get an independent Lawyer to work for you in transactional cases like these.
In principle, what has been happening is this. When you take out a Loan secured on your property or a Mortgage there are a whole range of fees that you are subject too. It’s funny this (actually it’s tragic but that is another issue) but these issues are very rarely to be seen when they are busy trying to prostitute themselves into trying to get you to do a deal with them in the first place.
Anyway to get back to the point, these charges cover a great many issues and one of which is the cost of redeeming the mortgage and the paperwork cost. This last fact is quite ludicrous as if they haven’t made enough out of you during the term of the deal but that is another issue. The main issue is this; your lender should not raise the level of the agreed exit fees during the term of your deal. If they do (which some of them have done) then you should complain to the Financial Services Watchdog – the Financial Ombudsman.
If you have been charged an exit fee to get out of a deal then the first thing to do is to check your paperwork in the original contract and see what they say they would charge. If they are demanding more then contact your lender to complain. If they refuse or give you some sort of lousy explanation that we all know smells then complain and threaten them with the Ombudsman. This usually is enough to get them to cough up the money as at the end of the day none of our glorious financial institutions likes the bad publicity of being dragged through the Courts and also the papers!
The other thing to remember in all of these matters is very rarely accept their first offer of compensation. I have a client who has just settled a matter with the UK’s largest Mortgage lender (you know who you are) over a dispute over interest charges and they initially offered him a derisory £25 compensation figure and when the agreement was finally settled it end up at £379!
So the moral of the story is? Always (repeat always several times) check the fine print of any contract before you sign it and if someone tries to “slip something past you” without you knowing and you find out? Howl and complain as loud as you can!
Tags: Insolvency Debt, debt+consolidation+services, Debt+Management, Debt+Consolidation, Personal+Bankruptcy, debt+management, bankruptcy, debt
