We must also not forget about the stress involved in moving to a new location. After all, one is leaving familiar surroundings and neighbours behind for good. Simultaneously, it often becomes necessary to get acclimatised to a new area where everyone is a stranger.

What are some of the most difficult and emotionally stressful experiences in any person's life? We can easily list the top four:

The death of a loved one
Breakdown of a marriage
Change of jobs
Buying a home
Does the last point really belong in this list? Actually, it does. Anyone who has ever been through the process of buying a home will agree that there is a lot of insecurity involved in such an operation. People ask themselves a lot of questions when buying a house:

"Are we doing the right thing?"
"Is this the right time?"
"Is this the right area/neighborhood/flat? I liked the previous one better."
We must also not forget about the stress involved in moving to a new location. After all, one is leaving familiar surroundings and neighbours behind for good. Simultaneously, it often becomes necessary to get acclimatized to a new area where everyone is a stranger. Finally, the expenses involved in buying a home are easily the biggest financial responsibility any of us will ever shoulder.

As a matter of fact, it is not just the process of buying a new home that can be stressful. Even leaving the old self-owned home behind can take an emotional toll. The questions we tend to ask ourselves are:

"Will the new owners take care of this home which we lived in and cherished for so long?"
"Will the old neighbours react well to them, and will they be good long-term neighbours?"
Of course, these last-mentioned factors are not ones over which we have any control, but this does not reduce the depression or worry. If anything, our helplessness increases them.

What we do have control over is preparing ourselves for our new home. When the time finally comes to sell your old home and buy a new one, you obviously have to face the situation squarely and proceed. But the experience of buying a home need not be as stressful as it often is.

Planning the process carefully gives you a psychological edge, removing a lot of the strangeness and frustration. Such planning makes sense in two other significant respects:

Since buying a home will probably be the most expensive purchase you will ever make, being financially prepared for all the costs involved reduces the chances of unforeseen shocks.
It is not something most people do often, so there are invariably stages at which we are caught short-footed for lack of proper planning. The process of finding and ultimately purchasing a new home should be based on planning and patience. It is alright to buy clothes, toys and other inexpensive things on impulse - but buying a home on impulse invariably spells disaster.

Conducting a carefully organized market survey can result in considerable savings, both in matters of finance and heartache. You can contact a real estate agent, place your requirements and budget before him, and allow him to conduct the search. You can (and should) actively assist him in this, but be open to all options that come your way and do not make impulsive decisions. New homes should be bought with the head and not the heart.

Another aspect of effective home buying is considering all the expenses involved - not just the price of the new residence. There will be a lot of extra costs to consider - down-payment, stamp duty and registration charges, brokerage, electricity meter charges, legal costs, packing and moving, housing loan EMIs (if you have taken a housing loan), etc.

Preparing for all expenses gives you a clearer idea of what you are doing, what you can genuinely afford, and in which areas you may have to restrict spending money for a while after the home is bought. All things considered, proper planning will put you more in control of the situation, making the stress of home buying easier to handle.

The above article is repost from Moneycontrol

U.S. millionaires see real estate as the top alternative-asset class to own this year, according to Morgan Stanley. (MS)

About 77 percent of investors with at least $1 million in assets own real estate, according to a survey released today by the New York-based investment bank's wealth-management unit. Direct ownership of residential and commercial properties was the No. 1 alternative-investment pick for 2014, with a third of millionaires surveyed saying they plan to buy this year. Twenty-three percent said they expect to invest in real estate investment trusts, the second-most popular choice.

Wealthy investors are turning to a rebounding real estate market as fixed-income yields remain historically low and equities surge. U.S. commercial-property values rose 8 percent in the 12 months ended Jan. 31, and have jumped 71 percent since hitting their post-recession bottom in 2009, research firm Green Street Advisors Inc. reported today. The S&P/Case-Shiller index of home prices in 20 cities is up 24 percent from its 2012 low.

"After a year where the Standard & Poor's Index rose 30 percent, some millionaires are moving money out of traditional, long-only strategies to find outperformance, and turning toward alternatives such as real estate and private equity," said Gary Kaminsky, a vice chairman at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management in New York. "Sophisticated, high-net-worth investors are much more concerned about losses."

Collectibles ranked as the third-most-popular alternative-investment choice this year, with 20 percent of millionaires saying they planned to buy, followed by private equity at 19 percent and precious metals at 16 percent.

Interest Rates

Wealthy investors see stocks getting expensive and interest rates staying stable or even declining over the next couple of years, Kaminsky said in an interview at a conference for Tiger 21 investors last week in Scottsdale, Arizona. That's why they are looking more closely at alternatives including real estate for returns and income, he said.

Tiger 21 members, who have at least $10 million in investable assets, increased their average allocation to real estate last year to 21 percent as of the fourth quarter from 19 percent in the first three months of 2013, according to a separate study released by the New York-based group last month.

Will Ade, a Tiger 21 member, said real estate is a particularly attractive investment as stocks show vulnerability in 2014. The S&P 500 has fallen more than 4 percent this year, while developing-country stocks have tumbled on concern that the outlook for economies is worsening.

Read full article here:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-06/millionaires-see-real-estate-as-top-investment-for-2014.html

related articles below:
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/119495-dorota-dyman-associates
http://www.dailystrength.org/groups/dorota-dyman--associates