When translated to English, El Cangrejo would be “the Crab”. El Cangrejo is one of the most centrally located neighborhoods in the capital city of Panama. It is so called because of its array of interconnected small streets that comprise the neighborhood. It conveniently borders the Obarrio and La Cresta neighborhoods and is close to Va Espaa, one of Panama City`s principal roadways.

El Cangrejo was initially developed and inhabited by the Jewish population of Panama. It is for this reason, that the neighborhood has a large sculpture of Albert Einsteins head. This population then moved to the Punta Paitilla neighborhood and more recently, to Punta Pacfica and Costa del Este. The primary inhabitants of El Cangrejo are middle to high income professionals and business owners. There is an increasing population of expats who have settled in Panama. A good example of this is the presence of Panamas first Bagel Cafe – New York Bagel. This convenient little spot is situated adjacent to one of el Cangrejos super market, La Casa de la Carne, which translates to Meat House and is next to the sculpture of Einstein. If fresh fruits and vegetables are the order of the day, then we recommend visiting Fruteria Mimi located on the important Va Argentina, one of Panamas primary avenues for restaurants and cafes.

There are several hotels located nearby the oldest being the Hotel El Panama located at the end of the Va Veneto. Other tourist friendly hotels include the Veneto Hotel, the Crowne Plaza, the Hotel Continental and the Hotel Granada. There are several smaller, hotels of a lesser category such as Hotel Marbella and Milano which are located within walking distance of each other. Perhaps the most important aspect of El Cangrejo is its wide variety of restaurants. There is something for everyone including Japanese (Ginza, Matsuei), Italian (Pomodoros), Spanish diners (Manolos and Del Prado), Spanish fare (Angel), Peruvian (Astrid & Gaston), European cuisine (1985) and many other restaurants of a excellent quality such as Green House (vegetarian and grill). As for bars, Taberna 21 and El Pavo Real are good options both located on Va Argentina. For the wine lovers you can head to The Wine Bar, located in Va Venetto.

As for schools, the neighborhood is conveniently located close to a number of including the Oxford School (bilingual), the Jesuit La Salle School and Kings School. Additionally, the National University and the Interamerican University are also located here.

Finally, the neighborhood is home to the famed Iglesia del Carmen (church) whose beautiful interior and architecture make it one of the most interesting structures in the area. A Chinese Buddhist temple is also located next to the La Salle School. If after attending the religious ceremonies, a stroll in the park is what is called for, the place to do this would be at Andres Bello park where there is a small walking circuit and rides for the kids as well as a basketball court. You can also head to Compaa Alfaro, to discover the wide range of musical equipment for sale.

El Cangrejo, just like many areas of Panama City, is going through a renewal of sorts with several new buildings with apartments and lofts coming up in this area. It presents several appealing features and good value for investment as it is slightly cheaper to purchase a residence here than in other neighborhoods of Panama that are seen as more exclusive.

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Choosing a specialization is the best place to start when you are just beginning your career in real estate investing. Spreading yourself too thin early in your career can be a bad move, so look to expand or shift at a later time.

So where should you start? If you want to develop a good feel for true worth, and learn the ins and outs of sale, resale, financing and turnover, one of the best moves is to go into wholesaling real estate.

Where other forms of real estate investing are based on either development or speculation, and tend to run high risk for property and may never materialize in a fulfilled form, wholesaling is based on real value: the resale of existing properties.

A wholesaler is looking for properties to flip, either by reserving the property through contractual assignment of marketing rights, or by owning for a brief time and then reselling for a profit based on markup of undervalued purchases, improvements, and services provided by the wholesaler. There is little, if any vaporware in wholesaling. The properties are real; they exist in real locations, and have substance that is in the control of the wholesaler.

Small initial investment means more control and more options for handling bad markets and slow moving properties. Immediate turnover, bundling the property with other properties to sell to a wholesaler in a different market sector or operating at a higher level, and renting are just a few of the ways that properties can be turned over allowing the wholesaler to never tie up his or her initial capital in any particular property for a long period of time.

The ideal real estate business in a down market is wholesaling real estate. When markets are rising, dreams exist. When markets are falling certainties exist and the wholesaler has certainty. When using speculation as a form of real estate investing, it draws in people who think they are high rollers and with that comes high risks. But these high rollers have high loses when the odds are against them, and now, more than ever, the odds are against them.

Wholesaling is a quieter form of real estate investing. By learning to trade as a wholesaler, you learn to base the business on existing properties, smaller deals, building a collection of properties slowly and allowing for smaller, but steady returns.

Wholesaling allows a beginner, who is also a businessman, to improve the fiber of his or her own community. By starting real estate investing in an area of familiarity and on a small scale, the wholesaler can develop customer loyalty and regional goodwill the same as the doctor or dentist can and show the members of the community that he or she is adding value to the community, improving relationships and creating worth giving the wholesaler the chance to be a benefactor in the community rather than a stranger coming to the neighborhood leaving it empty of prior value.

Wholesaling real estate is seen as the black-hat bad-guy, but it doesnt have to be. The risks can be controlled, the scale can be controlled, and the methods used managed to tailor things toward the needs of all involved.

Real estate investing in a completely safe form does not exist. Capital can be lost because investments are built on risk and daring. But of all the approaches a newcomer has to choose from, wholesale real estate investing allows for a chance to learn one option at a time and manage the risks and still reap the benefits.

Wholesaling can start on the level of an intense hobby, and grow, over time, into a true career in real estate investing.

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So what are forex scams? Some people jump to the conclusion that anything that doesn’t make them rich overnight is a scam. They do not want to have to spend any time developing skills – they want something that works like magic, without putting in any effort at all. That’s clearly crazy. If such a thing existed, everybody would be using it … and when you think about the economics, even if something like that was invented, it wouldn’t be effective for very long.

If there is money being made, it is coming from somewhere. Unlike technological innovations which can create wealth through new production models, all currency trading is a zero-sum proposition. If someone is making money, someone else is losing money.

There are always losses being taken by individuals and institutions who are either unaware of the currency exchange market or cannot for one reason or another allow exchange rates to dictate their activities. You wouldn?t put off a vacation because of exchange rates ? and businesses also cannot wait for favorable currency exchange rates to import or export goods. It?s just not a possibility for each and every Forex investor to get rich ? simple as that.

So when you are in an internet forum and you are trying to decide whether negative comments that you read about a product are really a sign of a scam, it is useful to picture the situation happening in the real world, i.e. offline.

Suppose you go to the bookstore and pick up a book on Forex trading. You find that the techniques given in the book do not work out in your case. It can be that the information here is out of date, or there could be any number of other reasons why this book didn?t give you the results you had hoped for. You may have learned a little and simply decided that this book wasn?t the answer for you ? you wouldn?t storm into the bookstore and accuse them of being a scam.

Let?s say that the bookstore had been hyping a new book which was about to come out and was urging every customer to pre-order. However, when everyone showed up at the bookstore on the release date only to find the store shuttered and the owners nowhere to be found, this would be a scam.

A scam, according to the dictionary, is ‘a fraudulent business scheme; a swindle’. A scam involves fraud and an intention to deceive. Scams are illegal. It is not correct to use this word to describe something offered and delivered in good faith.

With the word ?scam? being thrown around so often, it can be hard to know what products are legitimate and which are not ? this makes people, already a little hesitant of buying online even more nervous. In many cases, products are accused of being scams simply because they didn?t work the way a customer expected. You may take their advice and not want to buy these products; after all, not every legitimate product is a winner ? but it would be wrong to call these products or services Forex scams.

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Before you initiate the buying process for a new property, you should get a Building surveyor London to survey it. The survey will bring to your attention several factors that an untrained eye would find difficult or impossible to detect. If there is any work that needs to be completed, this will be evident.

It is not a legal obligation to get a survey completed, only a highly recommended thing to do as most people are not in a position to survey the building themselves. Leaving the whole thing to chance is a risky decision.

One of the biggest benefits of having a survey completed before purchase of a property is the money that it can save you by identifying what are sometimes very costly defects within the building structure. Repairs too structural defects can cost a lot due to the difficulty in accessing them.

When someone sells a property, they sometimes get a Home Condition Report prepared. This is often part of the Home Information Pack that the seller is obligated to get done when he or she is selling the property. The Home Condition Report will offer at least some guidance on the property condition, but it is nothing like getting your own survey completed.

On the buyer’s side of the deal, there are three surveys that can be selected. They are the Valuation Survey, the Home Buyers Report and the Building Survey.

The Valuation Survey is conducted on behalf of the institution that is fronting the money for the property. This is a survey conducted only to establish market value for the property and should not be confused with a proper building survey. The bank or building society wants to be sure that the building is worth the asking price. This way they can be more certain of the mortgage viability.

A Home Buyer Survey is a simple survey that will be carried out by a surveyor London and will provide several details regarding property condition and any particular defects. It will also offer a valuation.

The Building Survey costs more than the Home Buyer Survey but in this, the surveyor London will look in much greater detail and will not only report on structural defects but will also inform about the cost of repairs. The surveyor London will also see of there is any work that would be needed within the following 6 months of the survey.

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Market Opinions

I’m convinced that the worst in the housing market is not behind us so mid term, the market is in for a harsh reality.  I’m not sure exactly when this reality will hit though.  All I know is that foreclosures are going to be much worst than everyone expects and news will start to surface in the coming months because no one is really accounting for the fact that even the higher end California market (which hasn’t really been affected yet) will start to show cracks as everyone who thought their house was an ATM machine starts to default.

I’m not saying that the Dow can’t go up to 9,000 or more before then but when everyone realizes how bad things are, the market will tank unless the government comes up with some articificial way to stop foreclosures.

Interesting Articles

• ABC talks about Investment Policy Statement this week.
• The Smarter Wallet wants to encourage you to start your own business.  What a great idea!
• Oblivious Investor gives a comparison on Active vs Passive Investing.  Which camp are you in?
• Wealth Pilgrim talks a little about asset allocation.
• With Citigroup’s results so dire, do you think Vikram Pandit’s job is safe?

Carnivals

• Carnival of Twenty Something Finances
• OneMint Carnival

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Related Articles at Investing School:

• Weekend Investment Reading – Happy Holidays Edition
• WIR – What a Week in the Stock Market
• Weekend Investing Reading (WIR)
• Weekend Investment Reading – Ignoring the Volatility
• Weekend Investment Reading – Going, Going, Gone.

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