Buying or selling your home - this is an inside look at what these pros do for you - real estate agent - lawyer - home inspector - home stager.

Find out how this experienced real estate agent works for you. Get the real story on Open Houses - are there any risks? Could it be the dinosaur of real estate? You go to sign legal documents and don't always ask all the questions. This lawyer clearly spells out each step that is taken to protect you in the sale or purchase of your home. You are advised to have a home inspection. Perhaps your Uncle Fred can take a look at the house? Think again after you hear from this professional home inspector. You are placing your home on the market. Does it look its best? This home stager will give you an idea of how a simple consultation or a staging can get you a faster sale and often a higher price.

With the information they have provided, these four pros empower the consumer when buying or selling a home.

About the Authors:
Vi Brown, B.A. is a highly knowledgeable and experienced real estate agent with a diverse background in business and real estate. She not only walks you through each step of the process but provides some invaluable insights into traditional real estate practices that are worth considering. Vi Brown has been a REALTOR(R) and Broker in both Ontario and British Columbia and has 20 years of experience. She also has a serious interest in writing and editing. Presently, she is based in Victoria, BC with DFH Real Estate Ltd.

Kelly Orr, LL.B. has two loves - law and music. To her law practice she brings a sensitivity to clarity. She ensures that her clients understand the implications of the legal process and has translated legal language into every day understandable terms. She provides a great opportunity for the consumer to become more knowledgeable. Kelly Orr is a graduate from the University of Victoria in British Columbia, had her own law practice specializing in real estate and land development for 15 years, and is presently practicing with Browne Associates.

Robert Hughes brings his no nonsense approach to home inspections by detailing what is involved in the process. He tells you what he does and what he doesn't do during the course of an inspection and demonstrates a high standard of workmanship. Robert Hughes was certified as an Engineering Technologist in 1987 through Ryerson University in Toronto, has an extensive background in both construction and engineering, and is licensed in the Province of British Columbia, a Registered Home Inspector, member of the Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors (CAHPI) for the last 5 years, and a past member of the National Certification Program for Home and Property Inspectors.

Josee Lalonde brings creativity to this newer discipline in real estate. She discusses how a small investment in home staging can bring about higher returns. Josee brings a passion to her work but doesn't lose track of the practical dimensions. Josee is a certified Canadian Staging Professional working with both clients and REALTORS(R) in Victoria, British Columbia.

Making Livable Places explores the history and politics of the issues and places that shape Boise's metropolitan growth.

Dialogue about Land Justice provides a solid understanding for readers of the key issues around native title from the minds of leading thinkers, commentators and senior jurists. It consolidates sixteen papers presented to the national Native Title Conference since the historic Mabo judgment. Taken together, these commentators tie native title to the fundamental issue of the place of Indigenous peoples' within the Australian political and legal framework, and national identity. With contributions about New Zealand, the USA and development in the UN, it also provides a comparative understanding of international Indigenous land rights and interests.

This book deals with the conceptualization of access to land by the dispossessed in South Africa as a human right. Yanou examines the country's property model in the context of the post apartheid constitutional mandate to redress the skewed land distribution of the past. The book reviews the strengths and weaknesses of the land restitution process as well as the question of the payment of just and equitable compensation for land expropriated for restitution. It also reviews the phenomenon of land invasion and quality of access to land enjoyed by the South African black woman under the present dispensation. Yanou argues that the courts have, on occasions, construed just and equitable compensation generously. This approach has failed to reflect the fact that what is being paid for is land dispossessed from the forebears of indigenous inhabitants. In a South Africa that lost most of its ancestral land during colonialism and apartheid, access to land for the dispossessed should not be equated with the protection of property acquired under apartheid. Getting it right would entail truth and reconciliation with the collective dispossession suffered by South African blacks.

Does environmental protection impose a cost? Many communities across the United States still lack affordable housing. And many officials continue to claim that 'affordable housing' is an oxymoron. Building inexpensively is impossible, they say, because there are too many regulations. Required environmental impact statements and habitat protection laws, they contend, drive up the costs of construction. But is this actually true? In a comprehensive study of the question, the authors of this eye-opening book separate fact from myth. With admirable clarity, they describe the policy debate from its beginning, review the economic theory, trace the evolution of development regulation, and summarize the major research on the topic. In addition, they offer their own research, accompanied by a case study of two strikingly different Washington, D.C., suburbs. They also include results of focus groups conducted in Dallas, Denver, and Tucson. The authors find that environmental regulatory costs - as a share of total costs and processes - are about the same now as they were thirty years ago, even though there are far more regulations today. They find, too, that environmental regulations may actually create benefits that could improve the value of housing. Although they conclude that regulations do not appear to drive up housing costs more now than in the past, they do offer recommendations of ways in which the processes associated with regulations - including review procedures - could be improved and could result in cost savings. Intended primarily for professionals who are involved in, or impacted by, regulations - from public officials, planners, and engineers to housing developers and community activists - this book will provide useful insights and data to anyone who wants to know if (and how) American housing can actually be made 'affordable'.

Buyers of offshore real estate property can be divided into two categories: The fortunate buyers who actually receive the property they paid for and the unfortunate ones who end up losing their money in offshore real estate fiascos or end up with a lemon of a property. Although the fortunate buyers outnumber the unfortunate, ventures in purchasing real estate offshore still end up badly for too many people. Did you know that the difference between fortunate and unfortunate buyers is sheer luck, not more business savvy on one side than the other? Fortunate buyers are lucky enough to buy from one of the reliable developers doing business overseas. Do not let luck dictate offshore real estate purchases. Learn how to buy offshore real estate safely from the author of the Rene Philippe Developer Test, an easy do-it-yourself test designed to help buyers to check the reliability of real estate developers. Learn all about the critical issues and the many pitfalls awaiting the unwary buyer. Rene Philippe approaches the subject in a manner clear, easy to understand and conductive to reflection and questioning. His objective is not only to impart knowledge and experience but also to raise buyers' awareness of the potential dangers that are awaiting them and how to avoid them. A member of the Geneva Bar, Author Ren-Philippe Dubout has been a lawyer since 1988. He practiced as a litigator in Switzerland for 10 years before moving to Thailand in 1999. In 2002, he founded Rene Philippe & Partners with a group of Thai lawyers. He lectures in several Thai Universities and is a regular favorite at numerous conferences and seminars. In addition to his expertise as an authority in real estate, Rene Philippe Dubout, is also an accomplished Swiss attorney with a background in international business, transactional law and arbitration. As an expatriate living and working in Thailand for more than 10 years, he founded Rene Philippe & Partners Ltd in 2002. A leader in his field, Rene Philippe has been recognized as the real-estate veteran (Bangkok Post 29.05.09) and real estate finance expert and author (Herald Sun Australia] 28.06.09). He is also a member of the JFCCT3 Property Meeting and is actively trying to improve the rights of foreign buyers in Thailand. As a lecturer on international private law in the Asia Institute of Technology master degree program, Rene is an accomplished speaker who has been invited to many events in Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong. He has also published many articles in local magazines. His books include the must-have and well-received How to Safely Buy Real Estate in Thailand, nominated for the USA Book News National Best Book Award category in business/real estate and well received by the Thai press and numerous readers. He is currently working on his next book, How to Safely Invest in Thailand to be published in October of 2010. His email address is: [email protected] Follow the authors blog www.doingbusinessthailand.com

After years of hard work and saving, you finally own a home. But don't get too comfortable. If government officials decide they want your property, they can take it--for a wide variety of shady reasons that go far beyond the usual definition of "public purposes." The courts have allowed these injustices to persist. And there is nothing you can do about it--not yet.

Real estate developer and property rights expert Don Corace offers the first in-depth look at eminent domain abuse and other government regulations that are strangling the rights of property owners across America. "Government Pirates" is filled with shocking stories of corrupt politicians, activist judges, entrenched bureaucrats, greedy developers, NIMBY (Not-in-My-Backyard) activists, and environmental extremists who conspire to seize property and extort money and land in return for permits. Corace provides the hard facts about individual rights and offers invaluable advice for those whose property may be in danger. It is the one book that every property owner in America has to read.

As far back as the Magna Carta in 1215, the right of private property was seen as a bulwark of the individual against the arbitrary power of the state. Indeed, common-law tradition holds that "property is the guardian of every other right." And yet, for most of the last seventy years, property rights had few staunch supporters in America.
This latest addition to Oxford's Inalienable Rights series provides a succinct, pointed look at property rights in America--how they came to be, how they have evolved, and why they should once again be a mainstay of the law. Richard A. Epstein, the nation's preeminent authority on the subject, examines all aspects of private property--from real estate to air rights to intellectual property. He takes the reader from the strongly protective property rights advocated by the framers of the Constitution through to the weak property rights supported by Progressive and liberal politicians of the twentieth century and finally to our own time, which has seen a renewed appreciation of property rights in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's landmark Kelo v. New London decision in 2005. The author's own powerful defense of property rights threads through the narrative. Using both political theory and economic analysis, Epstein argues that above all that private property is a sound social institution, and not just an excuse for selfishness and greed. Only a system of private property lets people form and raise families, organize religious and other charitable organizations, and earn a living through honest labor.
Supreme Neglect offers a compact, incisive look at this hotly contested constitutional right, championing property rights as an essential socialinstitution.

Dedication - Foreword - Preface- Abbreviations; Chapter 1: Concept of ownership Classification of ownership; The mode of acquiring ownership of property; The lawful ways of acquiring private ownership; Property and its classifications]; Chapter 2: Work The best and dignified work; The classification of work; The physical and manual work; The office work (salaried employment);The intellectual work; The qualities of a good worker; Rights and protection of worker; Unemployment]; Chapter 3: Sale Types of sale; Conditions of valid sale; Conduct of the parties in a sale transaction; The lawful and unlawful sale transactions]; Chapter 4: Gift Gift distinguished from other related concepts; Gift distinguished from sadaqah (alms, deed); Gift distinguished from ariya; Conditions for a valid gift; Structure of a gift; Donation subject-matter (Al-mawhub); Revocation of a gift]; Chapter 5: Testate succession Types of will; Void and voidable will; Object of making a will; Form of will; Revocation of a will; The lapse of a will]; Chapter 6: Intestate succession Definition; Pre-Islamic law relating to succession; Constituents of succession (Arkanul - Mirath); Grounds of inheritance; Liabilities of the deceased; Legal heirs; The fractions in succession]; Chapter 7: Legal impediments to acquisition of property; Introduction; Fraud (Gish/Ghabn); Hoarding (Ihtikar); Bribery (Rashwah); Death-sickness gift (Ahwal Mard-ul-Mawt); Theft (Sariqah); Impediments to inheritance (Mawani'al-Irth); Bibliography; Index Dr Yahaya Y. Bambale, former Head, Department of Islamic Law, and Assistant Dean for both undergraduate and postgraduate studies in the Faculty of Law, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, is a Reader. His currently on sabbatical leave at the IBB University, Lapai, Niger State of Nigeria where he is the Dean of Students. He is the author of Crimes and Punishment Under Islamic Law.

This empirically grounded study provides a critical reflection on the land question in Africa, research on which tends to be tangential, conceptually loose and generally inadequate. It argues that the most pressing research concern must be to understand the precise nature of the African land question, its land reforms and their effects on development. To unravel the roots of land conflicts in Africa requires thorough understanding of the complex social and political contradictions which have ensued from colonial and post-colonial land policies, as well as from Africa's 'development' and capital accumulation trajectories, especially with regard to the land rights of the continent's poor. The study thus questions the capacity of emerging neo-liberal economic and political regimes in Africa to deliver land reforms which address growing inequality and poverty. It equally questions the understanding of the nature of popular demands for land reforms by African states, and their ability to address these demands under the current global political and economic structures dictated by neo-liberalism and its narrow regime of ownership. The study invites scholars and policy makers to creatively draw on the specific historical trajectories and contemporary expression of the land and agrarian questions in Africa, to enrich both theory and practice on land in Africa.

The phenomenon of radical demographic revolution taking place in industrial countries is about to change the age structure drastically. The German population is increasingly ageing and will consist of more old people than younger people in the very near future. In conjunction with the rising expectancy of life, the today's Generation 50plus and their values and needs have greatly changed from those of people aged 50 in the past and have further major implications for market trends. The author Kristin Klebl analyzes the Generation 50plus and looks at the changes which retailers and marketers will have to make to adapt to the rapidly changing face of the consumer. Due to the increasing attractiveness of the mature market, their future survival will increasingly depend on what is known as the Generation 50plus - the seniors in the population who have the greater spending power. This affects all aspects of retailing, including communication, advertising, media selection and sales promotion. This book addresses to retailers and marketers, economists and students, and all interested parties.

In the past fifteen years, most countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States have shifted from predominantly collective to more individualized agriculture. These years also have witnessed the largest fall in agricultural production, yields, and rural employment on record, while the deterioration and dissolution of collective and state farms have been accompanied by a significant drop in rural public services. 'Land Reform and Farm Restructuring in Transition Countries' provides a structured and comparative review of important aspects of land reform and documents important differences in policies between countries to examine why the reforms have not yet lived up to their potential. It is based on data from farm and household surveys and interviews conducted in 2003 and 2004. Case studies from Bulgaria, Moldova, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan--countries that have had particular difficulties in land reform, farm restructuring, farm performance, or rural poverty--each highlight a central conundrum about land reform and farm restructuring. The paper concludes with some implications for policy.

How to protect your investment, maximize your return, and make the tough tasks much easier

What's the hardest part of being a landlord? Raising the rent? Turning down a prospective tenant? Evicting a current tenant? Dealing with tenant complaints? Whether you're an experienced landlord or new to the business, you know that these problems are just the tip or the iceberg. You might find yourself wishing there were faster, easier, more profitable ways to make these headaches go away-and now there are

"What Every Landlord Needs to Know "provides innovative, effective, completely legal solutions for everything from property and tenant issues to maintenance and repair problems, to legal obligations and responsibilities. Landlord Richard Jorgensen also offers ingenious tips on how to avoid many of these difficulties altogether. This comprehensive guide shows you how to: Maximize the screening power of the rental applications and credit reportsSelect only high-quality tenantsAvoid rejection and discrimination lawsuitsImplement basic maintenance and preventive measures that save time and moneyGet rid of nonpaying tenantsHandle critical landlord/tenant interactions with ease

Complete with a sample rental application, lease, and credit check, as well as a list of credit bureaus and landlord associations, "What Every Landlord Needs to Know" is your key to making your tenants happier, your property more valuable, and yourself more successful.

Step into the shoes of a black woman while she takes you through a legal hellhole that has lasted more than thirteen years. The Odyssey began in 1988 when she moved to Kingwood, Texas, approximately 23 miles from Houston. What started as a fairy tale ended up as a realty nightmare, having unknowingly bought into a planned community with foreclosable maintenance fees, her family and she had no idea what was ahead. At closing, she thought they had protected their property.

Find out how Texas' dirty little secret began and how the judges, Community Associations Institute (CAI) attorneys, constable and even HUD are involved in the cover-up in this cottage industry; and it is just not in Texas.

The author, Harvella Jones, President of The Texas Homeowner's Advocate Group, co-founded with her husband Johnnie, in 1996, will give you a bird's eye view of what it was like to lose her homestead after a five-year intense battle to save it and fight to save her mind as well as her life after stress threatened to take both.

It promises to be one of the best documentaries you will ever read from a pro se litigant in the Texas judicial System trying to save a home from a homeowner association foreclosure. It is a 360-page book with over 100 documents illustrating unbelievable legal events, such as the cancelled check for $184.92 the actual amount the buyer paid for her $75,000 homestead property. If you thought Winona Blevins had a bad experience, wait until you read this book

The Complete Guide to Real Estate Tax Liens and Foreclosure Deeds introduces you to the best investment alternative of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Every month, smart investors are placing their money in fixed interest rates of 16 percent or more in government-sponsored tax liens. Plus, learn how to invest in foreclosure tax deeds. All of this in 7 days From the publishers of Investing Without Losing, ISBN 0978834607.

This book is an examination of the law of land registration in England and Wales in light of the Land Registration Act 2002, and it looks in particular at the way land registration is influenced by, and in turn influences, the evolution of land law as a whole. It is argued, for instance, that land registration is changing the nature of ownership. The book examines the legal problems that have arisen in connection with land registration and considers the effect of the 2002 statute. It draws extensively upon the law in other jurisdictions and considers possibilities for future development. This is a book which will be essential reading for students, their teachers, and practitioners who will have to grapple with the intricacies of the new Act when it comes into force.