Realty Check

BY Alicia Dunkley Observer staff reporter dunkleya@jamaicaobserver.com The Government yesterday made another attempt to stimulate Jamaica’s flagging real estate market by moving the original January 1, 2010 implementation date for the further reduction in stamp duty and transfer tax fees to August 1 this year. In May of 2008, the administration announced that Stamp Duty [...]

With Cherryl Hanson-Simpson Thursday, July 09, 2009 In challenging times there are always tremendous opportunities for smart investors to make profit. Despite the fact that we are in the middle of a reported recession, there are several ways to earn good returns from investing in Jamaica. Right now, money market instruments are yielding attractive interest [...]

Avalon Court sits on a strip lined with expensive real estate, shared by commercial and residential investors alike. But Avalon is distinguished, to the chagrin of the people who manage the strata corporation, by its obvious deterioration and lack of proper maintenance, on the same street that is home to the historic Devon House and [...]

February 1, 2009 by Emma Sorensen Social media is here to stay and everyone’s using Twitter. But if you’re worried about how to best use it, here are propertyadguru.com’s Top 10 Tips for Real Estate Agents Using Twitter: 1. Understand what Twitter is and plan before you tweet. Twitter is about posting short updates of [...]

LEGAL NOTES With Andrea Scarlett-Lozer Wednesday, June 24, 2009 The most fundamental tenet of the relationship between a landlord and a tenant is that the tenant has the exclusive right to occupy and possess the premises that he has rented from his landlord. The tenant has the legal right to exclude all persons, including the [...]

Wednesday, June 24, 2009 The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) has given Gore Developments Limited an environmental permit to commence a housing development at Florence Hall, Trelawny. In June, NEPA decided to grant the developers with the permit that will allow them to construct 828 two-bedroom units each with 74.3 square metres (800 square [...]

Michelle Hirst Wednesday, June 17, 2009 Kingston today and Kingston just one year ago surprisingly look very different. Just last year, you couldn’t turn a corner without bumping into a new set of townhouses or an apartment complex under construction. Back then, if you happened to see an empty plot of land, it was almost [...]

Published: Sunday | May 31, 2009 Avia Collinder, Business Reporter It may not be the best of times to be shopping for a home in Jamaica. In general, it is more difficult to qualify for a mortgage now, as lenders attempt to deal with increasing loan defaults, clamping down on new credit in the process. [...]

An Iowa appellate court has considered whether a broker could collect a commission when he failed to enter into a written listing agreement with the seller. Jeffrey Sisson (“Seller”) owned a bar/restaurant that he was interested in selling. He contacted Larry Stewart (“Broker”), a licensed real estate broker, about selling his business. The Seller did [...]

WASHINGTON, May 14, 2009 Citizens of other countries represent an important segment of the U.S. home buying market, and now new special visa categories that allow foreign nationals to gain U.S. residency can help facilitate that process. By using these visa categories correctly, Realtors® will be able to help many more buyers from overseas purchase [...]