Real Estate – TBO SEEN

Florida’s Real Estate Market is Doing Well Despite the Pandemic

Florida’s real estate market is reportedly selling a lot of homes to buyers coming from New York, California, Chicago and Boston, partly due to the pandemic. A lot of Millennials with high-paying jobs have decided to make Florida their new home as a result of the turmoil and health crisis that transpired in 2020. That being the case, a flurry of renovation projects are keeping the new Florida homeowners busy, all looking to convert some sections of their new residence, into home offices and study spaces.

After all, most Florida homes often come with extra rooms and spaces for entertaining guests. The large porch or patio has to be downsized, while the outdoor kitchen and the so-called powder room had to go to make spaces for study areas where natural light can flow in..

Converting these spaces into additional rooms that would fit in today’s new norms are best left to the care and expertise of professional builders. Most new Florida homeowners are confident they can take care of the remodeling and finishing aspect as a way to optimize their budget. These new breed of urban Florida residents are drawing reliance from their previous home DIY projects and from the multitude of how-to YouTube tutorials, as well as from their collection of handy power tools.

Some Advice When Doing DIY Remodeling Projects

When doing some DIY home remodeling projects, don’t just research about how-tos, but also look for information that discuss techniques that most professional apply to make their outputs distinguishably better-looking. Keep in mind that Florida laws are strict when it comes to home and building constructions that even a handyman has to have a a license. This denotes that a DIY project should only be minor repair or for aesthetic purposes.

Achieving a Smooth Finish to Wall Painting Jobs – The one technique that can make house painting jobs really smooth looking is to sand the wood panels first before applying paint. Nowadays, sanding large spaces are no longer as tedious because the best way to accomplish them with as little effort and time possible is by using an orbital sander.

Upgrading Cabinets with Sliding and Lift-Up Mechanisms – While these mechanisms are a great way of giving an old kitchen cabinet a modern look, don’t over do things. Keep in mind that over time and frequent use, these mechanisms will loosen, corrode and misalign, which eventually, will call for replacements

Don’t Overlook Florida’s Unpredictable Weather – Florida’s weather tend to be unpredictable, which can be rainy all the time and at the same time humid. Ask locals for advice on the best types of materials for your furniture and other remodeling additions. As previously mentioned here in this article, Florida have strict buikding constructiin laws to ensure that materials and construction methods used will enable structures to withstand hurricanes. l

Low Cost Housing In Indonesia

Clothing, food and shelter are the basic needs of every individual. But the construction of housing that is not in favor of the community makes the hope of having an affordable and adequate house in the center of the city.

Houses have become commodities with increasingly expensive prices, not as basic human rights needs. In Jakarta, housing prices rise by around 18 percent per year, while the average working-class income rises 10-12 percent per year. The house must be returned as a place of human dignity, civilized and living in one community.

Affordable Housing For The People

It is the duty of the government to provide affordable and adequate housing for the people. The state must change relations with the financial sector (sources of funding and cross subsidies), fully control the developer (supervision of spatial planning and selective licensing), and urge the property market to provide cheap housing.

Affordable housing is what the people are looking for, especially low-income people and modest young families. The location of housing must also be affordable. Thomas Meyer and Faisal Basri, as responders in the discussion, pushed the location of housing to be directed to the city center.

The growth of new housing that is getting further away from the city center actually harms low-income people. The price of the house offered looks cheap, but it is not balanced with information that there are additional costs that must be incurred by prospective residents, such as transportation costs (fuel and vehicle service), travel time (poor public transportation and use of private vehicles), and health costs that must be get paid later.

Housing is supported by adequate facilities and infrastructure. The limited land area of the city encourages the provision of vertical housing. Integrated area (can be in the form of a flat) supported by school facilities, markets, offices, parks / gardens, as well as evacuation routes and disasters.

Intolerant actions thrive in this country because there are laws or policies that conflict with one another. The Constitution clearly guarantees the right to freedom of religion and belief. But on the other hand there are still rules and policies that can threaten freedom of religion and belief which are maintained, including the Joint Decree of 3 Ministers of 2008 concerning Ahmadiyah and Joint Regulation of 2 Ministers of 2006 concerning Houses of Worship. There are also many regional regulations that limit freedom of religion and belief.

Intolerant action also continues to repeat because the government does not act decisively every time there is a violation of freedom of religion and belief that occurred before. The government has a series of poor report cards in dealing with conflicts due to differences in religion and beliefs and oppression of minority groups. Freezing of the Yasmin Church permit in Bogor, West Java; the burning of churches in Klaten and Tegal, Central Java; discrimination against Ahmadiyah followers; and the decline of the Amithaba Buddha statue at Tri Ratna Vihara in Tanjung Balai, North Sumatra, is a small part of the blurred portrait of the disregard for human rights.

If the government continues to ignore actions that do not respect such diversity, similar cases will continue to interfere with freedom of worship in this country.

In other countries like Canada, affordable housing is available to all and the choice to renovate their homes using quality materials such as those offered by a known Roofing company in Toronto. If this is possible in other parts of the world, this is not a far cry for Indonesia.

Tampa, Florida : Consistently One of the Best Places for Retirees to Live In

Florida has been consistently ranked high by personal finance websites Bankrate and WalletHub, as one of the top 5 places in the U.S. where retirees can live off on their pension, whilst enjoying a less harried life filled with moments of simple leisure.

This year, the state of Florida received official recognition from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). The AARP recognition is a true reflection of how the government of Florida is implementing perceivable measures in making the state of Florida more livable for everyone regardless of race, color, religious affiliation and sexual orientation.

The first and foremost feature that makes a Florida an appealing location for retirees is that it is one of 37 seven states in the U.S. that do not impose taxes on Social Security benefits. Moreover, in being fully aware that retirees are looking to live a life of relaxation, the state’s tax exemptions include income on pensions, IRA or a 401(k), as well as inheritance or estate tax.

A recent study conducted by WalletHub, showed that the city of Tampa in particular, is the best place to live in, when seeking to spend one’s retirement years in Florida in fact, across all U.S. regions, Tampa has the largest share of senior citizens, to which its more than 300,000 population has about 19% of folks aged 65 years and older.

We can state 5 features as the city’s all time list of reasons why most senior adults find the “Tampa the Best Place for Retirees,”

Five Reasons Why Tampa is the Best Place for Retirees

The Tampa Climate

Everyone is well aware that advancing in one’s years bring not only experience and wisdom, but also age-related health problems that can be aggravated by freezing weather conditions. In Tampa, the coldest periods are experienced during the months of January and February. Yet the average temperatures during the day reaches a pleasantly warm temperature of 21°C.

Tampa’s Extensive and High Tech Health Care Facilities

The city of Tampa has a diverse array of medical facilities to offer retirees in addressing just about any health problems. Even more helpful is the continuing technological developments that transpire to keep the Floridian City’s health care landscape in order to keep up with its growing population. The are freestanding emergency rooms and urgent care clinics available throughout the city.

Tampa’s Transportation Landscape

Tampa’s public transportation landscape is a system of buses and streetcars. Those looking to visit or receive visits from family and friends, can easily find means of commuting to and from Tampa to nearly all destinations. The Tampa International Airport for one is a major air transport facility, while taking the AMTRAK service from the station at the Tampa Union Bay, can take commuters anytime to Miami up to New York.

Tampa’s Natural Landscape

One of the nice things about walking in Tampa is the city’s abundance of green spaces. , despite its urban nature. Green spaces, including the numerous charming parks and forms of wildlife are intertwined, which allows the city to retain its heartwarming qualities despite the dense population.

Moreover, this Florida area is not wanting in blue spaces, as Tampa’s beaches are one of the most visited for being the best not only in Florida but throughout the country. It is actually beach season all year round in Tampa, which is why the pristine white sand surrounding the clear azure waters of the Gulf of Mexico, hardly becomes crowded with revelers.

Tampa’s Excellent and Diverse Array of Recreational Facilities

Inasmuch as Tampa has a well-developed tourism industry, there is a huge and widely diverse variety of recreational and entertainment choices at prices that are more affordable compared to other Florida cities. Festivals, concerts, and sporting events take place all year round, while marinas offer restaurants, bars, and clubs that offer excellent recreational and dining options.

The cost of space: band-aid solutions cover-up the problem. They don’ heal it.

The cost of space has been increasing throughout the years—more and more are living in smaller living environments with higher prices. These living quarters, although bought with quite a huge price tag mostly follow only the minimum and not the optimum and sometimes don’t even conform with the codes set by their respective countries.

Typical living residences in the major urban areas of most countries are set to a smaller scale. They are typically studio type apartments with all the amenities stuffed into the minimum space requirement for a condominium room set by the codes of their respective countries – take note that these are the minimum livable requirements and not necessarily the most comfortable. But it doesn’t end there, numerous condominium building owners are thinking of ways to get the most of the land they have bought and thus some resolve to numerous tactics to reduce the money they spend on the rooms by somehow cheating the space, such as including the “AC balcony” to create a 22 sqm label on a 18 sqm unit, or subdividing the rooms into smaller units such a the cage houses in Hong Kong.

Space-saving furniture has been introduced to help elevate the comfort of living in these small environments –space-saving beds (best beds 2019), movable furniture, convertible sofas, and numerous hybrid furniture have been increasing in popularity. Although space-saving furniture do provide smart alternatives to make the most of the space you have, it is not the solution to the main problem of the rising prices in the real estate industry– they merely serve as ban-aid solutions.

The increasing prices have resulted to scaling down for others and the loss of homes for some families, the prevalence of squatters and small illegal housing homes paid with high prices have been increasing in highly dense urban cities. Hong Kong’s cage rooms is an example of extreme scaling down practices that compromise comfort in order to make amends with the increasing real estate prices – scaling down per-se is a good thing, and making use of the space effectively is also great, but scaling down to the point of compromising comfort because of something you can’t control like increasing prices is not a good manifestation to how the country is dealing with the main problem of the increasing prices of land itself—reforming the law is the solution, its time to take a step back and observe, for whose interest is the law actually created for? Is it for the people? Or the pockets of the one’s running the law?

Buying or Building a Home in Florida: Strike Now While Mortgage Interest Rates are Going Down

If you are planning to build or buy a home in Florida, now is the best time to do so. Online real estate leader Zillow reports that mortgage interest rates in Florida have gone down by several points. As of May 21, 2019, Florida mortgage interest rate dropped to 4.08%, 4 basis points lower than last week’s 4.12% average rate.

Although a temporary rise in mortgage rates transpired in December and January, rates have reverted to the previous low of slightly above 4%. As a result, spikes in retail estate sales occurred in February and March, 2019.

Chief Economist Dr. Brad O’Connor of the Florida Realtors remarked that the trend is likely to continue up to the second quarter, which is why it is high time for Florida folks to realize that

.. “this might be their last chance to upgrade, downsize or buy their first home while rates are near historical lows.”

However, those seeking to build a single-family housing are advised to apply caution in light of affordability concerns. Growing house demands can also spur costs of construction, which builders have to manage, in order to stay within the current prices of home-building contracts.

Still, Dr. O’Connor projects that as real estate inventory levels across varying price tiers continue to surge, price growth in 2019 will not be sharper than they were in recent years. Based on the 2019 first quarter performance, the trend in median time, or the length of time it takes to close a sales contract for single family homes is 51 days, while condominium or townhouse units take slightly longer at 53 days.

Slow Rather than Drastic Peak in Real Estate Prices is Expected

According to figures recently released by Florida Realtors, the real estate market in the Tampa Bay area is still running on an erratic course. Single-family homes still have the biggest market share, where Pinellas is the only county experiencing price growth. Prices of single-family homes in Pasco and Hillsborough dropped, while remaining flat in Hernando.

Florida Realtors report that selling of Tampa Bay properties is taking longer than it took last year. Moreover recent sellers are reportedly receiving less than their asking price compared to what they got in April 2018.

Skylar Olsen Online, Director of Economic Research at real estate giant Zillow, explains that currently, price corrections are taking place after years of home value growth occurring at a rate that is beyond the pace of income growth.