8 Jul
Click Here To Know More About:
By Donald Plunkett
While Montana is the fourth largest state by size, the population remains at slightly less than one million people. About 70 percent of the residents of the state own rather than lease their home. With mountain ranges, valleys, rivers and other scenic vistas, Montana’s beauty is matched by few states. As such, many wealthy business leaders and celebrities have purchased farms and ranches in the state, which has in some cases influenced the price of real estate upwards. Additionally in recent years, homeowners’ insurance rates have increased significantly. Finally, without a statewide sales tax, the Montana government relies heavily on property taxes as a source of funding for its operations. All of these factors make Montana homeowners very conscious of the need to save money when buying or selling homes in the state.
For Sale By Owner sales transactions have always taken place in real estate. The most common reason for selling by owner is that sellers do not want to pay the steep commissions typically involved in listing the property with a broker. Other reasons might include the desire to have more control over the marketing and sale of the home or the ability to negotiate one’s own contract. In many cases, For Sale By Owner transactions take place between people who know each other and oftentimes the property is not formally marketed for sale. Several factors make it difficult to market a Montana property as a FSBO. For one, many people are relocating from out-of-state and are simply not going to be in the neighborhood driving around every day following new for sale signs as they pop up. Another factor is that newspaper classifieds, be it the Billings Gazette or the Missoulian, no longer benefit from the strong readership that they once had. There are simply too many alternative ways to get ones news (e.g. the Internet) and to find products and services to buy. Finally, FSBO properties do not benefit from the most powerful marketing tool ever created, the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and the hundreds of websites such as Realtor.com that exclusively pull MLS data into their search results.
Realizing that the FSBO sales process can be difficult but still wanting to minimize commissions, more and more for sale by owner sellers in Billings and beyond have turned to flat fee MLS listings. Basically, rather than listing the property with a traditional agent, the FSBO seller instead lists the property with a flat fee listing company for a prepaid flat fee. The seller pays no listing commission at closing, however, continues to offer a selling commission to a buyer’s agent in the event that they represent a buyer that closes escrow on the property (if no buyer’s agent is involved, then the pay no commission whatsoever at closing). In this way, Montana sellers benefit from the best aspects of the For Sale By Owner marketing method as well as the exposure granted from listing a property on the MLS. Presently, there are few firms that offer this service beyond the Billings market. However, there will likely be more options available to For Sale By Owner sellers as this business model, and other Internet-powered business models take hold.
About the Author: Donald Plunkett is the President of Congress Realty, Inc., a $299 flat fee MLS listing company which serves Billings, Montana, and many other Western markets. His firm’s services have been particularly popular among Montana For Sale By Owner homesellers.
Source: isnare.com
Permanent Link: isnare.com/?aid=228663&ca=Real+Estate
8 Jul
|
This is the category for science and technology. Refresh this list to see the latest articles.
You can also browse through all articles in this category alphabetically. |
From Wikinews, the free news source you can write. Sister projects
|
(previous page) ()(previous page) ()
7 Jul
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Toulouse, FRANCE – In a ceremony attended by several European political leaders and 5,000 VIP guests, Airbus unveiled plans for the A380, a twin-deck aircraft that can carry up to 840 people in all-economy class (550 for a Boeing 747), or 555 people in typical three mixed classes layout.
The new aircraft will take the world’s-largest title away from rival Boeing’s 747. Boeing’s upcoming new design, the 7e7, does not attempt to compete directly with the A380 but instead is aimed at a more efficient and comfortable flight at 200-250 seats.
Airbus chief executive Noel Forgeard stated that he expected sales of the aircraft to exceed the 250 required for the project to break even. To date, 149 confirmed orders for the aircraft have been received. Airbus has hopes that sales will exceed 700. The company is currently in talks with China regarding possible sales there.
The first test flight of the aircraft may take place as early as March, and the first commercial flight is expected to take off in mid-2006 from Singapore’s Changi Airport.
British and American airline Virgin Atlantic has purchased six of these aeroplanes and intend to fit them with gyms and bars as well as seats.
7 Jul
Friday, March 28, 2008
2008 Taipei International Cycle Show (Taipei Cycle) & Taipei International Sporting Goods Show (TaiSPO) not only did a best reunion with conjunctions of the launch of Taipei World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition and the concurrent cycling race of 2008 Tour de Taiwan but also provide opportunities and benefits for sporting goods, bicycle, and athlete sports industries to establish the basis of the sourcing center in Asia and notabilities on the international cycling race.
Although the Taipei cycle was split from the TaiSPO since 1988, but the trends of sporting good industry in Taiwan changed rapidly and multiply because of modern people’s lifestyles and habits. After the “TaiSPO Innovation Award” was established since 2005, the fitness and leisure industries became popular stars as several international buyers respected on lifestyle and health.
For example, some participants participated Taipei Cycle and TaiSPO with different product lines to do several marketing on bicycle and fitness equipments, this also echoed the “Three New Movements” proposed by Giant Co., Ltd. to make a simple bicycle with multiple applications and functions. As of those facts above, Wikinews Journalist Rico Shen interviewed Ideal Bike Corporation and Gary Silva, designer of “3G Steeper” to find out the possibilities on the optimizations between two elements, fitness and bicycle.
7 Jul
Monday, February 27, 2006
Six teenagers were killed in a horrific road accident near Mildura in north-western Victoria, Australia late at night on February 18.
Cassandra Manners, aged 16, Stevie-Lee Weight, 15, Cory Dowling, 16, Shane Hirst, 16, and his sister, Abby Hirst, 17, died at the scene. Josephine Calvi, 16, was flown to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, where she later died of head injuries. Seven other teenagers were injured, including 15-year-old Marco Medici who is now in a stable but critical condition in The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.
The accident occurred after the teenagers left a 16th birthday party and walked along Myall Road, Cardross, south-east of Mildura. A car allegedly came speeding around a bend, hit the gravel on the side of the road, lost control and struck the group. The alleged driver, later identified as 34-year-old Thomas Graham Towle, fled the scene on foot, leaving his 10-year-old daughter and four-year-old son in the car. Towle was later arrested by police in Redcliffs. He was taken to Mildura police station for questioning.
Towle has been charged with six charges of culpable driving causing death, four charges of negligently causing serious injury, one charge of failing to stop and one charge of failing to render assistance after an accident. Towle faced Mildura Magistrates’ Court on February 20. Magistrate John Dugdale remanded him into custody to reappear before the court on June 26.
Meanwhile, the town of Mildura and surrounding areas is in deep mourning. Premier Steve Bracks said the State Government will provide $AU40,000 for counselling and support services.
Around 3,000 people attended the funeral for Josephine Calvi today. Funeral services for the other five teenagers were held last week.
7 Jul
Monday, November 15, 2004
AUSTRALIA – 128 people have been injured, 5 seriously so, in a high-speed train derailment in central Queensland. Police said the tilt train came off the tracks near Bundaberg (about 400 kilometers north of Brisbane) at 12.06am AEST.
Queensland Transport Minister Paul Lucas visited the site, and reported that the black box recording device on board the train would be sent back to Brisbane for analysis, in order to determine the cause of the accident.
Premier Peter Beattie and Queensland Rail CEO Bob Scheuber said that there were no current plans to halt other tilt train services. “That will depend entirely on the investigators, they’ve not made any recommendations yet — some of them are still arriving. If they recommend that that is the course of action, then of course it would be suspended,” Mr Beattie was quoted as saying.
7 Jul
Saturday, August 2, 2008
A 54-year-old German farmer who lost both arms in a farming accident six years ago has become the first patient to receive a complete double arm transplant. The patient, whose name has not been released, underwent the operation at the Klinikum rechts der Isar, part of the Technical University of Munich (Technische Universität München), last week; he is said to be recovering well.
The operation lasted 15 hours and was performed by a team of 40 specialists in Plastic Surgery, Hand Surgery, Orthopedics and Anesthesiology, under the direction of the head of the Plastics and Hand Surgery department, Prof. Hans-Günther Machens, Dr. Christoph Höhnke (Head of Transplants, Senior Physician; Plastics and Hand Surgery) and Prof. Edgar Biemer, the former Chief of Plastic Surgery at the Clinic.
In a press statement released by the clinic, it was revealed that the patient had been thoroughly physically checked and had psychological counselling prior to the surgery to ensure he was mentally stable enough to cope with the procedure. Since completion of the surgery, the patient has been on immuno-suppressant drugs to prevent rejection of the new limbs.
Following the surgery, the press release from the clinic’s press manager, Dr. Tanja Schmidhofer, included the following statement:
| The flow of blood was [re-]started in intervals of 20 minutes because the anaesthetists had to make sure that the patient would not suffer from the blood flowing back from the transplanted parts. No significant swelling was seen, nor indeed any ischemia (lack of blood flow to the tissues). This is a testament to the surgeons who established a fully functioning blood flow…the main nerves, the Musculocutaneus, Radial and Ulnar nerves were all attached and sewn together, and finally an external fixator was applied, with pins in the lower and upper arms, avoiding the risk of pressure points and sores. The operation was successfully completed after 15 hours. |
Without the immuno-suppressant drugs given to the patient, the risk of there being a Graft-versus-Host Reaction or GvHR, would have been significant due to the upper arm containing a large amount of bone marrow, consisting of ICC’s or Immuno-Competent Cells, which would have triggered a near total rejection of the new limbs. A GvHR is a condition which results in the cells from the transplant attacking the immune system of the body.
Indications from the clinic suggest that the double attachment went well, although it could be up to 2 full years before the patient is able to move the arms.
The donor arms came from an unnamed teenager, who is believed to have died in a car accident.
7 Jul
Thursday, April 17, 2008
2008 Computex Taipei (a.k.a Taipei International Information Technology Show), the second largest IT show in the world, will start on June 3 to 7 at the TWTC Hall 1 & 3, Taipei International Convention Center (TICC), and TWTC Nangang, in conjunction with 2008 WiMAX Expo Taipei, which will start earlier at the Taipei Show Hall 2. With two IT-related industry shows will be concurrently showcased in different venues, it will bring on many convergences and opportunities for networking and mobile-related industries worldwide including Taiwan.
Since the Taipei Computer Association, Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), and Industrial Technology Research Institute preliminary imported the “WiMAX Forum Showcase & Conference” into the TICC, WiMAX-related topics were mostly focused by several worldwide media and industrial elites. In extremity, some technologies and solutions like eSNG, wireless medical care, wireless transmission, and mobile entertainment were showcased there. And the MOEA also signed MOUs with 5 world-class WiMAX companies to help the networking industry last year in Taiwan.
Even though the signing of MOUs and new technologies will bring opportunities for WiMAX-related industries, and the mobile devices will be progressively popular in the future and more slim like an UMPC, but some companies from information security industry were worried about the future trend because of invisible threats on the Internet.
As of “Asia-pacific IT Security Forum” and “IT Security Pavilion” of SecuTech Expo 2008, there were several changes on participation from IT industry, but due to a major impact of “Edison Chen’s photo scandal“, several crisis were exposed with improper habits on modern people when using the Internet.
| There were several weak points on IM or P2P software, and USB mass storage devices. For example, Skype, a famous Internet telephony software, progressively became a hacking tool by several fraud groups although several enterprises had awareness on IM software and made several policies to prevent using them. According to a statistic on virus-infected users, even though there were 99% of Microsoft Windows users (infected by viruses), but a minor of 0.03% mobile device (e.g. Windows Mobile, Palm OS, etc.) users shouldn’t be unnoticed. If the infrastructure of WiMAX technology is matured, although it (WiMAX) will bring convergences and opportunities for networking and digital content industries and bring on mobile populations, as the fraud groups updated their crime tools and extended their platform into mobile devices, there will be a lot of risks for mobile and Internet users as they welcomed the WiMAX technology. | ||
It’s a real deal that the WiMAX will bring different kind profits and benefits for different industries, but before the WiMAX became the trend, if Internet users didn’t cultivate proper habits on using the Internet, the WiMAX will still bring on threats for end-users and industries.
7 Jul
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Ray Scott is running for the Family Coalition Party in the Ontario provincial election, in the Algoma-Manitoulin riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.
Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.
7 Jul
| Wikinews Audio Briefs Credits |
|---|
| Produced By |
| Turtlestack |
| Recorded By |
| Turtlestack |
| Written By |
| Turtlestack |
| Listen To This Brief |
Problems? See our media guide. |