Get ready to smile all the way to the bank.No longer are wit and business mutually exclusive. Roger has tapped into something very important: How to make home finance, which is inherently dull, interesting and fun. Roger talks to us, not at us. He shows us how to choose the right mortgage while serving up the facts and rules with a generous helping of humor. One might even call it business entertainment. You will quickly learn that the mortgage industry is not the 30 year fixed loan. It is just one of the loans available and not the best one in any circumstance. You will understand, finally, what the phrase "30 years is a sentence, not a loan. Prepare yourself to learn and laugh your way through this thoroughly enjoyable book

'A masterful narration on the digitization of property in China.'Tan YinglanFounding Managing PartnerInsignia Ventures Partners, Singapore'...captures the fascinating story of 'smart city initiatives' and tells you all you need to know.'Ben ShenglinProfessor & DeanInternational Business SchoolZhejiang University, Hangzhou'...smartly combines economics, geo-politics, finance and real estate.'Joshua VargheseFounding Partner, Axia Real Assets, TorontoLong-planned advances in China - in 5G, blockchain, central bank coins, and SME superapps - have coalesced into a new world of digitized, tokenized, and tradable assets. New digital mega-projects like the Blockchain Service Network, smart cities, and new foreign exchange digital rails are animating physical assets: offices, warehouses, homes, and farms. Powered by a network of sensors, AI, and distributed trust, property has digitized wings. The resulting inflow of data from every part of the 'built' world will create new industries, uproot traditional finance, and transform cities.The global trade war is not just a re-ordering of technology: it's a re-ordering of cities. Nations which export this digital technology first will alter the digital fabric of the developing world. A digital Non-Aligned Movement is afoot! One way for the US to catch up is public-private partnerships between Silicon Valley and DC - or just 'copy' China. This book explores the many people and companies, large and small, which are blazing new trails in China's 'Internet of Everything' to transform the way we live, buy, and move.

'A masterful narration on the digitization of property in China.'Tan YinglanFounding Managing PartnerInsignia Ventures Partners, Singapore'...captures the fascinating story of 'smart city initiatives' and tells you all you need to know.'Ben ShenglinProfessor & DeanInternational Business SchoolZhejiang University, Hangzhou'...smartly combines economics, geo-politics, finance and real estate.'Joshua VargheseFounding Partner, Axia Real Assets, TorontoLong-planned advances in China - in 5G, blockchain, central bank coins, and SME superapps - have coalesced into a new world of digitized, tokenized, and tradable assets. New digital mega-projects like the Blockchain Service Network, smart cities, and new foreign exchange digital rails are animating physical assets: offices, warehouses, homes, and farms. Powered by a network of sensors, AI, and distributed trust, property has digitized wings. The resulting inflow of data from every part of the 'built' world will create new industries, uproot traditional finance, and transform cities.The global trade war is not just a re-ordering of technology: it's a re-ordering of cities. Nations which export this digital technology first will alter the digital fabric of the developing world. A digital Non-Aligned Movement is afoot! One way for the US to catch up is public-private partnerships between Silicon Valley and DC - or just 'copy' China. This book explores the many people and companies, large and small, which are blazing new trails in China's 'Internet of Everything' to transform the way we live, buy, and move.

The World Bank remains one of the most prominent actors in the field of global development, and one of the foremost international organisations in contemporary global politics. Over its history, its lending for housing has developed by prioritising financial sector expansion over the needs of low-income groups. Through this book, Liam Clegg explores the factors influencing change in the World Bank's operational practices, and the contribution of these operations to state transformations across the global South. The author outlines three main operational phases, in which the Bank prioritised: improving informal settlements, strengthening governments' housing finance programs, and expanding mortgage markets. Constrained experimentalism is identified as the driver of this changing focus, with trial and error-based learning interacting with personnel shifts and borrowers' reform trajectories to shape outcomes. In addition to reviewing relevant institutional dynamics at the World Bank, particular attention is paid to the impact of projects on housing system transformations in Mexico, China, and Tanzania. Overall, the declining focus on the housing needs of lower-income populations leads Clegg to label World Bank lending in this area as an exercise in mortgaging development. This valuable study of the field will be an important resource for researchers, postgraduate and advanced undergraduate students from across the fields of political science and international studies.