Investing in real estate is your first step towards a productive life. So if you want to rack up large sums of money without having to face big risks, the first thing you should do is to go on a property investment
buying spree.
Despite the current economic crisis, real estate investing has never lost its appeal among many people. In fact, the number of real estate investors continues to grow and it looks like this trend is likely to last for the next few years. However, because more and more people are seeking to invest in real estate, you should learn how to outsmart the competition for you to succeed in this business.
One way to boost your knowledge of real estate investing is to do some research. As we all know, education is important in our lives because it teaches people new things and boosts their skills. So if you want to become a great real estate investor, you shouldn’t stop educating yourself just because you have managed to land a great deal on your first try.
A good strategy to improve your knowledge of property investment buying is to join the local real estate investing association or club. Setting the competition aside, befriending your fellow real estate investor can do a lot for your career. By surrounding yourself with individuals who share the same interests as yours, you will be able to obtain valuable information that you wouldn’t learn in books.
If you are truly interested in investing in real estate, then you should know the latest happenings in the housing business. Browse newspaper or surf the Internet to keep yourself informed of the latest market trends. This will help you make better decisions when buying investment properties.
The World Wide Web is also a treasure trove of ideas and information about real estate investing. There are numerous websites that offer valuable tips about buying investment properties. Many real estate gurus are also sharing their knowledge online with those who are just starting out in the business. So if you want to become better at what you do, just launch a browser and explore the Internet.
Meanwhile, there is a website the offers quality real estate education for those who want to learn more about property investment buying. REIWired.com is home to dozens of nifty articles, sound files, and videos that can bring out the great investor in you. So if you want to feed your brain with quality real estate content, visit REIWired.com.
Retrieved from "http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/how-to-improve-your-property-investment-buying-skills-1412870.html"
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Monday, 8 February 2010
Different Colors Describe Happiness vs. Depression
By Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Contributor
Color Wheel for mood:http://i.livescience.com/images/mood-color-wheel-100208-02.jpg
People tend to pick different colors to describe different moods, according to research published Feb. 8, 2010 in the journal BMC Medical Research Methodology.
Are you in a gray mood today? How about a blue funk? Maybe you're seeing red, because you're green with jealousy. The colors we use to describe emotions may be more useful than you think, according to new research.
The study found that people with depression or anxiety were more likely to associate their mood with the color gray, while happier people preferred yellow. The results, which are detailed today in the journal BMC Medical Research Methodology, could help doctors gauge the moods of children and other patients who have trouble communicating verbally.
"This is a way of measuring anxiety and depression which gets away from the use of language," study co-author and gastroenterologist Peter Whorwell of University Hospital South Manchester told LiveScience. "What is very interesting is that this might actually be a better way of capturing the patient's mood than questions."
Colors are often used as metaphors for moods, but no one had systematically researched color associations, Whorwell said. To investigate, he and his colleagues picked eight colors — red, orange, green, purple, blue, yellow, pink and brown — and split each into four shades. They then added white, black and four shades of gray for a total of 38 options. After meeting with focus groups, the researchers decided to display the colors in the form of a wheel.
Next, they recruited 105 healthy adults, 110 anxious adults and 108 depressed adults and mailed them printouts of the color wheel. Each person was asked to pick their favorite color, as well as the color they were most "drawn to." Finally, they were asked to pick a color that described their day-to-day mood over the last several months. Another group of 204 healthy volunteers classified each color as positive, negative or neutral.
Whether depressed, anxious or healthy, people liked blue and yellow. Blue 28 on the color wheel was the most popular favorite color among healthy people, while Blue 27 (which is a little darker than 28) got first place among people with anxiety and depression. Meanwhile, Yellow 14 was picked as the color most likely to catch the eye.
But when it came to mood, the groups diverged. Only 39 percent of healthy people associated their mood with a color at all. Of those who did, Yellow 14 was the most popular choice, with about 20 percent of the votes. Meanwhile, about 30 percent of people with anxiety picked a shade of gray, as did more than half of depressed volunteers. In comparison, healthy volunteers described their mood with a shade of gray only about 10 percent of the time.
The researchers also found that when assigning a mood to colors, saturation matters.
"A light blue is not associated with a poor mood, but a dark blue is," Whorwell said. "The shade of color is more important than the color itself."
Whorwell is now testing the wheel on patients with irritable bowel syndrome. He's hoping that color choices can reveal patients' attitudes and predict how well they will respond to treatments like hypnosis. Because people are embarrassed by gastroenterogical symptoms, Whorewell said, non-verbal methods of getting information are sometimes preferable to conversation. And, he said, with additional research, the wheel could be used in medical fields from pediatrics to surgery.
"You've got an instrument now," Whorwell said. "Now people have to play with it and find out the applications."
* What Color Fits Your Mood? http://www.livescience.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?s=health&c=news&l=on&pic=mood-color-wheel-100208-02.jpg&cap=People+tend+to+pick+different+colors+to%0D+describe+different+moods%2C+according+to+research+published+Feb.+8%2C+2010+in%0D+the+journal+BMC+Medical+Research+Methodology.&title=
* 7 Thoughts That Are Bad for You: http://www.livescience.com/health/090911-7-bad-thoughts.html
* Top 5 Keys to Happiness: http://www.livescience.com/health/080822-top5-keys-happiness.html
Color Wheel for mood:http://i.livescience.com/images/mood-color-wheel-100208-02.jpg
People tend to pick different colors to describe different moods, according to research published Feb. 8, 2010 in the journal BMC Medical Research Methodology.
Are you in a gray mood today? How about a blue funk? Maybe you're seeing red, because you're green with jealousy. The colors we use to describe emotions may be more useful than you think, according to new research.
The study found that people with depression or anxiety were more likely to associate their mood with the color gray, while happier people preferred yellow. The results, which are detailed today in the journal BMC Medical Research Methodology, could help doctors gauge the moods of children and other patients who have trouble communicating verbally.
"This is a way of measuring anxiety and depression which gets away from the use of language," study co-author and gastroenterologist Peter Whorwell of University Hospital South Manchester told LiveScience. "What is very interesting is that this might actually be a better way of capturing the patient's mood than questions."
Colors are often used as metaphors for moods, but no one had systematically researched color associations, Whorwell said. To investigate, he and his colleagues picked eight colors — red, orange, green, purple, blue, yellow, pink and brown — and split each into four shades. They then added white, black and four shades of gray for a total of 38 options. After meeting with focus groups, the researchers decided to display the colors in the form of a wheel.
Next, they recruited 105 healthy adults, 110 anxious adults and 108 depressed adults and mailed them printouts of the color wheel. Each person was asked to pick their favorite color, as well as the color they were most "drawn to." Finally, they were asked to pick a color that described their day-to-day mood over the last several months. Another group of 204 healthy volunteers classified each color as positive, negative or neutral.
Whether depressed, anxious or healthy, people liked blue and yellow. Blue 28 on the color wheel was the most popular favorite color among healthy people, while Blue 27 (which is a little darker than 28) got first place among people with anxiety and depression. Meanwhile, Yellow 14 was picked as the color most likely to catch the eye.
But when it came to mood, the groups diverged. Only 39 percent of healthy people associated their mood with a color at all. Of those who did, Yellow 14 was the most popular choice, with about 20 percent of the votes. Meanwhile, about 30 percent of people with anxiety picked a shade of gray, as did more than half of depressed volunteers. In comparison, healthy volunteers described their mood with a shade of gray only about 10 percent of the time.
The researchers also found that when assigning a mood to colors, saturation matters.
"A light blue is not associated with a poor mood, but a dark blue is," Whorwell said. "The shade of color is more important than the color itself."
Whorwell is now testing the wheel on patients with irritable bowel syndrome. He's hoping that color choices can reveal patients' attitudes and predict how well they will respond to treatments like hypnosis. Because people are embarrassed by gastroenterogical symptoms, Whorewell said, non-verbal methods of getting information are sometimes preferable to conversation. And, he said, with additional research, the wheel could be used in medical fields from pediatrics to surgery.
"You've got an instrument now," Whorwell said. "Now people have to play with it and find out the applications."
* What Color Fits Your Mood? http://www.livescience.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?s=health&c=news&l=on&pic=mood-color-wheel-100208-02.jpg&cap=People+tend+to+pick+different+colors+to%0D+describe+different+moods%2C+according+to+research+published+Feb.+8%2C+2010+in%0D+the+journal+BMC+Medical+Research+Methodology.&title=
* 7 Thoughts That Are Bad for You: http://www.livescience.com/health/090911-7-bad-thoughts.html
* Top 5 Keys to Happiness: http://www.livescience.com/health/080822-top5-keys-happiness.html
The High Cost Of The U.S. Budget
David Malpass and Eric Singer, 02.08.10, 03:10 PM EST
Remember the ending of ''Thelma and Louise''? This is worse.
Early last week the administration unveiled its new $3.8 trillion budget. This budget, and the spending it assumes, is so reckless it is difficult to fathom. It projects a deficit of $1.6 trillion for fiscal 2010, with an explosion of publicly traded government debt to $18.5 trillion by 2020. Debt service is projected to reach $912 billion a year by 2020, or over $5,000 for every working person in America.
Even assuming that wages grow over time, the budget suggests the government believes that as U.S. citizens we should devote 10% or more of our grossincome just to pay the interest on the federal debt. That 10% comes out of income even before people start paying for actual government programs like national defense, health care, bank rescues and welfare. Nor does it count the spending people need to make for state and local government obligations and their own mortgage and credit card payments.
The administration clearly believes that we can spend our way out of a slow economy and has put us on a path to have total government spending over 40% of GDP. This is Disneyland thinking. While it is true that we can spend our way into a depression, there is little evidence we can spend our way out. It didn't work last year, when we allocated $ 787 billion in stimulus spending on the threat that unemployment would go over 8% otherwise. (It is now at 9.7%--16.5% if you count the underemployed and those who are too discouraged to look for work.) Excess spending didn't work for President George W. Bush. It didn't work for Presidents Roosevelt or Obama.
When the government spends $3.8 trillion, there is no net multiplier effect. There is a divider effect. We become divided from our income and wealth. The government taxes inefficiently and spends inefficiently, wasting a big chunk of the transfer. Yes, it is possible for purposes of a speech anecdote to find isolated beneficiaries. The government will soon be able to claim massive "job gains" for temporary workers for the 2010 census. But much government spending misallocates resources--it's distributed without a profit motive and with frequent conflicts of interest, including an eye toward political returns rather than longer-term growth and private sector jobs.
Markets are waking up to the fiscal crisis. The price of a credit default swap for a five-year U.S. Treasury has gone up 700% since 2007, from about 8 basis points to 56 basis points. Germany, at 40 basis points, is now deemed by the market to be 28% less likely to default than the U.S., and the difference is growing. More ominously, the U.S. swap has more than doubled in price in the last few months. As recently as 16 months ago Greece was at levels we are today. When a country goes past owing 100% of its nominal GDP in publicly held debt, as this budget schedules us to do by 2020, there is danger.
Given our politicians' willful innumeracy, perhaps the best way to understand what the budget does for us is to compare it with the movie Thelma and Louise. For those who never saw it, Thelma and Louise was a film about two women on a supposedly liberating road trip. Toward the end, running out of money, they rob a convenience store and blow up a gasoline truck for fun. FBI agents close in on them, and they decide to drive their car off a cliff. In a Hollywood ending they are shown with a look of joyous freedom while they are in free fall.
Like Thelma and Louise, we are spending beyond our means, and at some point the bond vigilantes will close in. With this budget we almost guarantee that the United States AAA debt rating will at some point be called into question. If and when it is, the result will resemble the downward arc of that terrific 1966 Pontiac Thunderbird. In real life, at the end, when you go off a cliff at 100 miles an hour, gravity takes hold, and there is a fiery crash.
David Malpass is an economist and president of Encima Global LLC. He writes a column for Forbes. Eric Singer is the president and portfolio manager of the Congressional Effect Fund (CEFFX).
Remember the ending of ''Thelma and Louise''? This is worse.
Early last week the administration unveiled its new $3.8 trillion budget. This budget, and the spending it assumes, is so reckless it is difficult to fathom. It projects a deficit of $1.6 trillion for fiscal 2010, with an explosion of publicly traded government debt to $18.5 trillion by 2020. Debt service is projected to reach $912 billion a year by 2020, or over $5,000 for every working person in America.
Even assuming that wages grow over time, the budget suggests the government believes that as U.S. citizens we should devote 10% or more of our grossincome just to pay the interest on the federal debt. That 10% comes out of income even before people start paying for actual government programs like national defense, health care, bank rescues and welfare. Nor does it count the spending people need to make for state and local government obligations and their own mortgage and credit card payments.
The administration clearly believes that we can spend our way out of a slow economy and has put us on a path to have total government spending over 40% of GDP. This is Disneyland thinking. While it is true that we can spend our way into a depression, there is little evidence we can spend our way out. It didn't work last year, when we allocated $ 787 billion in stimulus spending on the threat that unemployment would go over 8% otherwise. (It is now at 9.7%--16.5% if you count the underemployed and those who are too discouraged to look for work.) Excess spending didn't work for President George W. Bush. It didn't work for Presidents Roosevelt or Obama.
When the government spends $3.8 trillion, there is no net multiplier effect. There is a divider effect. We become divided from our income and wealth. The government taxes inefficiently and spends inefficiently, wasting a big chunk of the transfer. Yes, it is possible for purposes of a speech anecdote to find isolated beneficiaries. The government will soon be able to claim massive "job gains" for temporary workers for the 2010 census. But much government spending misallocates resources--it's distributed without a profit motive and with frequent conflicts of interest, including an eye toward political returns rather than longer-term growth and private sector jobs.
Markets are waking up to the fiscal crisis. The price of a credit default swap for a five-year U.S. Treasury has gone up 700% since 2007, from about 8 basis points to 56 basis points. Germany, at 40 basis points, is now deemed by the market to be 28% less likely to default than the U.S., and the difference is growing. More ominously, the U.S. swap has more than doubled in price in the last few months. As recently as 16 months ago Greece was at levels we are today. When a country goes past owing 100% of its nominal GDP in publicly held debt, as this budget schedules us to do by 2020, there is danger.
Given our politicians' willful innumeracy, perhaps the best way to understand what the budget does for us is to compare it with the movie Thelma and Louise. For those who never saw it, Thelma and Louise was a film about two women on a supposedly liberating road trip. Toward the end, running out of money, they rob a convenience store and blow up a gasoline truck for fun. FBI agents close in on them, and they decide to drive their car off a cliff. In a Hollywood ending they are shown with a look of joyous freedom while they are in free fall.
Like Thelma and Louise, we are spending beyond our means, and at some point the bond vigilantes will close in. With this budget we almost guarantee that the United States AAA debt rating will at some point be called into question. If and when it is, the result will resemble the downward arc of that terrific 1966 Pontiac Thunderbird. In real life, at the end, when you go off a cliff at 100 miles an hour, gravity takes hold, and there is a fiery crash.
David Malpass is an economist and president of Encima Global LLC. He writes a column for Forbes. Eric Singer is the president and portfolio manager of the Congressional Effect Fund (CEFFX).
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