Ten Top Performing Mutual Funds Revealed by MutualsAdvisor.com

Ten Top Performing Mutual Funds Revealed by MutualsAdvisor.com

Business Financial Publishing inaugurates new investment advisory website by offering free copy of report on ten top performing mutual funds.

Washington, DC (PRWEB) September 5, 2007 -- MutualsAdvisor.com investment expert Ian Wyatt today released Top 10 Mutual Funds for Today, a special report that reveals ten top performing mutual funds poised for strong investment returns going into 2008 and beyond. Investors can get a free copy of the 14-page mutual funds analysis report by clicking here: http://www.mutualsadvisor.com/

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and people are looking to us for new investing ideas, independent research and mutual funds analysis. We plan on building MutualsAdvisors.com into a leading provider of special reports and free email newsletters about top performing mutual funds.
MutualsAdvisor.com is the latest investment advisory website from Washington, DC-based Business Financial Publishing, an independent publisher of paid subscription newsletters, special reports, and investment advisory web sites.

"In today's uncertain investing times, mutual funds remain one of the most popular forms of investing among individual investors," commented Ian Wyatt, Chief Investment Strategist of MutualsAdvisor.com, "and people are looking to us for new investing ideas, independent research and mutual funds analysis. We plan on building MutualsAdvisors.com into a leading provider of special reports and free email newsletters about top performing mutual funds."

The first issue of Top 10 Mutual Funds for Today report covers funds from Champlain Investment Partners, Dodge & Cox, Henderson Global Investors, Marsico Funds, Meridian Fund, Muhlenkamp & Co., Oberweis Funds, PAX, Perritt Funds, and T. Rowe Price. The reports on each fund detail its objectives, risks, and pricing structure for investors to gain an unvarnished view and assess whether it belongs in their portfolios.

The Top 10 Mutual Funds for Today report aims to provide individual investors reports on ten top performing mutual funds with diverse investment focuses and strategies including emerging markets, small cap growth, technology, micro cap, and large cap value. MutualsAdvisor.com plans to release a special report three times per year. Investors who sign up for the free special mutual funds analysis report will also receive MutualsAdvisor.com Weekly, a regular email newsletter focused on new mutual funds, strategies for maintaining a balanced and profit making portfolio, top performing mutual funds, and investment fund managers and their investment strategies.

Investors can get a free copy of the special mutual funds analysis report and a free newsletter subscription from MutualsAdvisor.com by clicking here: http://www.mutualsadvisor.com/

About Business Financial Publishing
Business Financial Publishing (http://www.bfpublishing.com) was founded and began publishing the Growth Report in August 2001. Since then Business Financial Publishing has grown into a leading publisher of research-focused investment information with two paid subscription newsletters including Growth Report and Rising Star Stocks, two free weekly email newsletters that include Big Idea Investor and Financially Fit, a small cap independent news service called SmallCapInvestor.com, and a stock advisory report website called NewsletterAdvisor.com.

Business Financial Publishing is led by founder Ian Wyatt who takes a leading role in the selection of investments and research as the Chief Investment Strategist. Ian has a passion for finding high quality investments and educating investors. He is assisted by a team of dedicated professionals who strive to provide the highest quality research and ongoing education of everything investment related in an easy to understand format for individual investors. MutualsAdvisor.com represents the next stage of this expansive effort.

Who In Their Right Mind Would Replace Greater Philadelphia Financial Media Guru Fred Sherman With A Former Homeless Man?

Who In Their Right Mind Would Replace Greater Philadelphia Financial Media Guru Fred Sherman With A Former Homeless Man?

Legendary financial media guru Fred Sherman has been a fixture on local Delaware Valley radio for the past 15 years, providing financial and stock market insights to thousands of Philadelphians. This Sunday morning, however, the venerable Sherman took the microphone at WPEN 950 AM for the very last time, bringing an era in Philadelphia radio and WPEN history to a close. In his place...A homeless man from Philadelphia?
when most people consider real estate investing, they think back to those old, late-night infomercials with the gurus in their Hawaiian shirts making empty promises about how people would become millionaires in a only few short months.

Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) September 5, 2007

Legendary financial media guru Fred Sherman has been a fixture on local Delaware Valley radio for the past 15 years, providing financial and stock market insights to thousands of Philadelphians. This Sunday morning, however, the venerable Sherman took the microphone at WPEN 950 AM for the very last time, bringing an era in Philadelphia radio and WPEN history to a close. Sherman can still be heard on KYW News Radio 1060 every day and be seen on local TV on NBC 10, Sunday mornings at 10 a.m.

Stepping in to fill Fred Sherman's massive shoes is Jim Canale, America's Real Estate Cashflow Expert and author of the new book "Live The Real Estate Lifestyle: Seven Steps You Can Take Today To Leave the 'Rat Race' and Start Living The Lifestyle You've Always Wanted!" (AuthorHouse publication date 10/15/2007)

Canale is a successful local Real Estate Investor, an Entrepreneur, an Educator, a long running Radio Talk Show Host on WWDB 860 AM, and an Author, but that wasn't always the case. Canale started his journey toward financial liberation in the worst possible circumstances. He was living under the Frankford El, the elevated train station at Bridge and Pratt Streets in Philadelphia, as a homeless beggar. Eventually, he made his own way to success and financial freedom by seeking out the top coaches to teach him Real Estate and business skills. Today, Canale provides that same coaching to the general public through his radio programs and free live trainings.

Starting with a 900-square-foot rental home -- his first property -- less than a decade ago, Canale now owns millions of dollars worth of Real Estate all over Philadelphia, properties which throw off a large amount of monthly income that he doesn't have to work for.

Canale's a big believer that anyone can use Real Estate, regardless of market conditions, to produce passive income to secure their retirement and meet their cashflow needs of today. "The problem is", Canale says, "when most people consider real estate investing, they think back to those old, late-night infomercials with the gurus in their Hawaiian shirts making empty promises about how people would become millionaires in a only few short months." In Canale's opinion, the idea of "get rich quick" is ridiculous. "Most people don't even have a need to become a millionaire!", Canale says. "Just a small handful of rental properties, each with just $300 to $400 per month in positive cashflow, could solve almost anybody's financial problems!"

Canale sensibly asks, "At $300 profit per month, how many simple, little Real Estate deals would you need to never have to make another mortgage payment on your house? What if you never had to pay for your own groceries again? Or your cable bill, or your electric bill? This is what I mean by Living the Real Estate Lifestyle. That type of freedom and independence is life-changing! I let my Real Estate pay for all the stuff I want and need. My radio program teaches you how to do it, too."

Following in his mentors' and coaches' footsteps, Jim Canale is a major proponent of Financial Literacy and Education for adults as well as young people. Past show guests include Robert Kiyosaki, author of the New York Times bestseller Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and T. Harv Eker author of the New York Times bestseller Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. Canale has taught thousands of people all over the Delaware Valley how to achieve the same success he has found in Real Estate through his free public workshops, and his radio programs. Canale can be heard each week on WPEN 950 AM every Saturday and Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m. and on WWDB 860 AM every Monday at 10 a.m. and Thursdays at 3:00 p.m.

U.S. oil prices near all-time high

U.S. oil prices near all-time high
NEW YORK, Sept. 5 (UPI) --

U.S. oil prices rose further above $75 near an all-time high Wednesday on fears U.S. crude and gasoline supplies fell and OPEC won't boost production.

The U.S. Energy Department is to release its weekly oil-stocks report Thursday and Qatar's energy minister said Tuesday the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries didn't plan to raise output when its members meet next week.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery rose 10 cents, or 0.13 percent, to $75.18 a barrel in mid-morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

October natural gas climbed 5 cents, or 0.91 percent, to $5.68 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Heating oil added 1.1 cents, or 0.53 percent, at $2.0905 a gallon.

Reformulated-gasoline blendstock for oxygen blending added 0.05 cents, or 0.03 percent, to $1.9915 a gallon.

AA said the average U.S. retail regular unleaded gasoline price was $2.792 a gallon, up 1.3 cents from Tuesday's $2.779 a gallon.

MGIC, Radian call off merger

MGIC, Radian call off merger
MILWAUKEE, Sept. 5 (UPI) --

U.S. mortgage insurers MGIC Investment Corp. and Radian Group Inc. said Wednesday they had abandoned plans to merge due to mortgage-industry troubles.

"Both MGIC and Radian believe it is in their best interests to remain independent companies at this time," the companies said in a statement.

"All outstanding litigation between the companies will be withdrawn. Neither party made a payment to the other in connection with the termination," the statement said.

The litigation followed an August announcement by Milwaukee's MGIC, the nation's largest home-loan insurer, that it wasn't obligated to complete the Radin merger announced in February because the value of the companies' Credit-Based Asset Servicing & Securitization LLC joint venture -- which creates mortgage-backed securities from mortgages of people with weak credit -- had plummeted with the U.S. subprime-mortgage crisis.

Days earlier, Radian, a Philadelphia a credit risk manager, said "unprecedented" disruptions in the market for risky mortgages might have wiped out both companies' stakes in C-BASS, valued at more than $1 billion two months earlier.

The companies' stocks, and the $4.9 billion value of their stock merger, plummeted after the announcements.

The original deal valued Radian shares at $60.78. Its shares closed at $18.11 Tuesday. MGIC shares, valued at $70.09 the day the deal was announced, closed at $30.34 Tuesday.

U.S. stocks fall on weak U.S. home sales

U.S. stocks fall on weak U.S. home sales
NEW YORK, Sept. 5 (UPI) --

U.S. stock indexes fell Wednesday morning after a realty report said U.S. pending-home sales were their weakest since 2001.

The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 168.43 points, or 1.25 percent, to 13,280.43 in mid-morning trading. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 18.30 points, or 1.23 percent, to 1,471.12.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index shed 20.74 points, or 0.79 percent, to 2,609.50.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index finished the day down 262.02 points, or 1.6 percent, at 16,158.45.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose 18/32, yielding 4.482 percent, while the 30-year bond was up 27/32, yielding 4.783 percent.

The U.S. dollar fell to 115.22 yen from 116.24 yen in New York late Tuesday. The euro fell to $1.3653 from $1.3609.

New York City Real Estate 101 - - Condos vs. Co-ops

New York City Real Estate 101 - - Condos vs. Co-ops


What’s the Difference Between a Condominium and a Co-op?
Are you tired of paying rent and ready to purchase your own apartment? Learn about the differences between condominiums and co-op apartments and decide which one is right for you.

What is a Co-op?
In New York City, 85% of all apartments available for purchase (and almost 100% of pre-war apartments) are in co-operative buildings.

When you buy a co-op, you don’t actually own your apartment. Instead, you own shares of a co-op corporation that owns the building. The larger your apartment, the more shares within the corporation you own. Monthly maintenance fees cover building expenses including heat, hot water, insurance, staff salaries, and real estate taxes

Advantages of Buying a Co-op

# Co-ops are generally less expensive than comparable condominium apartments.

# Some of your monthly maintenance fees are tax deductible.

Disadvantages of Buying a Co-op

# All prospective purchasers must be approved by the Board of Directors.
The Board approval process is often time-consuming and rigorous -- requiring extensive information regarding finances, employment, and personal background. Even celebrities have been turned down by some selective New York co-op boards.

# Monthly maintenance fees for co-ops are much higher than for condos. This is because the monthly fee includes part of the underlying mortgage for the building.

# Many co-op boards limit the amount of the purchase price that can be financed and require higher down payments than are usually required for condominiums.

# It is harder to sub-lease a co-op. Each co-op building has its own rules, but many limit or forbid subletting.

Manhattan Apartment Building Types

Manhattan Apartment Building Types

Guide for New York City Renters
Interested in renting an apartment in Manhattan, but confused by the different types of buildings available?

In New York City, you can rent an apartment in one of three types of buildings: all rental buildings, co-op buildings, or condo buildings. They each have their own quirks, so it’s important to know the difference.

Rental Buildings
In rental buildings, one landlord owns the entire building. Make sure to ask if your apartment is “stabilized” or simply free-market. When your lease expires in a stabilized apartment, the landlord is limited to relatively small, state-sanctioned rent increases (usually 2%-3%). With a free-market apartment, just as the name implies, a landlord is free to raise the rent as he or she sees fit.

Once you’ve submitted an application, the approval process can last more than a week and will include an income and credit check (for a $30-$50 fee).
The security deposit is typically one month’s rent.

Cooperatives (Co-ops)
Here’s one of those “only in New York” things. Co-ops are buildings that are structured as corporations. Instead of “owning” an apartment, people own shares in the building (like the stock market), according to the size and value of the apartment itself.

These buildings can be a nightmare to get into (whether you’re a renter or a buyer). In Manhattan in particular, co-ops are very restrictive regarding the lease length, roommates, pets etc. Don’t be surprised if the approval process takes at a least a month. Also, you’ll need to give very extensive financial and personal info (every deep, dark secret). Steep application and move-in fees are the norm.

Condominiums (Condos)
With condo units, individual people own each apartments. The owners have a lot of leeway to establish the rent and the term of the lease. The approval process can take 1-4 weeks. Expect to pay application fees and move-in fees mandated by the condo board. The security deposit is typically one month’s rent, but can be more. If your credit is spotty, this is your best shot at an apartment. With a good “song and dance,” you might get in.

Save, Save. Don’t Splurge on a Piggy Bank, a Tin Can Will Do.

Save, Save. Don’t Splurge on a Piggy Bank, a Tin Can Will Do.


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By SHIRA BOSS
MOST people would describe the classic novel “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” as a coming-of-age story. I think of it as a vivid personal finance book.
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Paul Hawthorne for The New York Times






As the main character was growing up in Brooklyn 100 years ago, her family sometimes didn’t have enough money to eat. Yet they had a tin can nailed to the floor of the closet, and they made a deposit whenever they had any money. Even when the girl and her brother earned a few cents from selling scrap metal, they dropped half of the coins into the can. When more dire times hit, the bank was raided. Then it was nailed down again.

Good grief. If that family could manage to save, then we can, too. But most of us don’t.

There is much advice from experts about the need to pay down our credit card debt, and most of us are well aware we should be saving money in retirement accounts. But what needs to be talked about more is the necessity, and almost magic, of simple savings.

Saving money is not the sexiest financial move, but it’s probably the most important. So start squirreling. Even if it’s the change from your pocket. Start incubating a nest egg, which is not just for retirement. A cash account may be for a flatter television set, a vacation, new clothes, a period of unemployment, a down payment on a house, car repairs or whatever treat you can dream up.

I know, times are tight and 7 out of 10 Americans report living paycheck to paycheck, meaning there never seems to be enough left over for savings. In 1985, Americans were saving $11 for every $100 they brought home; now the savings rate is around zero, and debt is at a record high.

The lack of savings is not a problem just for the working and middle classes. “Even among the ‘moneyed’ population, there’s not always an understanding of the mechanics and importance of saving,” said Marc Minker, an accountant in Manhattan who is involved with the national “Feed the Pig” campaign, sponsored by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Advertising Council, to encourage people 25 to 34 to save.

A friend of mine who grew up in a family of modest means in rural upstate New York worked his way up to a six-figure salary in Manhattan but lived large and never set anything aside. At age 49, he has managed to buy a house in Westchester with his wife and is now a year into building up a six-month emergency fund.

“I can’t believe I was so stupid,” he said of his earlier years. “I thought money would never run out, that I could spend whatever I wanted and run up all the debt I wanted and it wouldn’t matter.”

It is a widespread and harmful myth that one needs to make more money to save some of it. “We’ve met people who can save on a salary of $30,000, and people who have not a penny in savings and a salary of over $300,000,” said Manisha Thakor, co-author of “On My Own Two Feet,” a personal finance primer for women. “Saving is about a mind-set and a commitment, not a level of salary.”

When I was most stressed financially, I forced myself to put 5 percent of every check into an emergency account. It built up surprisingly quickly and ended up paying for surprise expenses that otherwise would have gone on a credit card. Now I’ve worked up to putting some cash from every paycheck into envelopes marked Goody Bag, which I dip into for luxuries like a nice teapot. That definitely makes earning money — and spending it — more fun.

“The powerful thing is that saving is not about deprivation, saving is actually all about spending,” Ms. Thakor said.

In a survey this year by the Consumer Federation of America, 4 in 10 households reported having savings. More than half reported that they built the accounts by making regular automatic deposits from their checking accounts. Half saved from tax refunds, and a third contributed loose change.

Ms. Thakor suggests an initial goal of $2,000 in a savings account, which, according to a survey of women in 2005 by the Consumer Federation, is the average amount of unexpected expenses in a year. That “starter emergency fund,” she says, is supposed to be used as needed and replenished. It’s better to borrow from yourself than to rely on a credit card and feel as if you can never get ahead. Additional savings can be set aside for other short-term and midterm goals, assuming that you are also putting a percentage of your income toward retirement.

Lobbying in U.S., Indian Firms Present an American Face

Lobbying in U.S., Indian Firms Present an American Face
Gurinder Osan/Associated Press

Near New Delhi, an employee helping a client of the Convergys Corporation, an American call center company.



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By ANAND GIRIDHARADAS
Published: September 4, 2007

MUMBAI, India — In the heat of the 2004 presidential race in the United States, John Kerry compared outsourcing to treason, Lou Dobbs harangued against it on CNN and the Indian outsourcing vendors were left scrambling.
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Prakash Singh/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Kiran Karnik, president of an Indian trade group, said his organization had worked with Americans to build good will.

Engineers to the core, their leaders fired back with data-packed PowerPoint presentations. Outsourcing is good for the economy, they said. It increases efficiency. It creates more jobs than it costs. But in the eyes of many Americans, those arguments proved no match for accounts of laid-off software engineers.

“Telling someone who loses their job in North Carolina or Jacksonville that this is good for the economy doesn’t work,” said Phiroz A. Vandrevala, an executive vice president at Tata Consultancy Services, one of the largest Indian vendors, who serves as a Washington strategist for Tata and other Indian companies.

But if four years is a lifetime in Washington, it is an eternity in Bangalore. And as the 2008 campaign starts to pick up speed, the Indian outsourcing companies have returned to Washington as veritable insiders, slicker and better connected than ever.

They have hired a former official in the Bush administration as a lobbyist. They are humanizing the issue by bringing Americans they have hired into meetings with politicians.

And, most striking, they have mastered the Washington art of waging proxy battles through local organizations, which allows them to not appear to be foreigners with an agenda.

Lakshmi Narayanan, the chairman of the National Association of Software and Service Companies, which represents the Indian outsourcing industry, agreed that the approach was crucial. “The moment Nasscom says something, it is a vested interest,” he said. So in the last few months, Mr. Narayanan said, the trade group has decided “to provide the data, work behind the scenes, but really to be fronted by the local organizations.”

The Indian companies are mounting this effort out of fear that the pressures of the presidential election, and of the Democratic primaries especially, will induce candidates to lash out at Indian vendors. Their business model is a perpetual lightning rod: the companies carve out tasks from their American clients and perform them more cheaply in India or other places with low costs for overhead and labor.

The Indian vendors’ main worries are two Democratic candidates: Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, whose campaign has hinted at opposition to outsourcing, and John Edwards, former senator of North Carolina, who is running a populist campaign. Many Indian executives consider Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, more sympathetic to their industry, but they are concerned that she will be compelled to match the others’ statements in a tight contest.

The Democrats’ new majorities in Congress were built in part on opposition to unpopular facets of free trade like outsourcing. For the Indian companies, a recent attempt in Congress to further restrict visas for skilled workers underscored that a storm is gathering.

Some in Washington would like to make outsourcing an issue again, said one Washington lobbyist who represents some of the Indian companies and who asked not to be identified because of company rules.

But if the movement against outsourcing is roused again, it will find itself jousting with a changed opponent. The Indian vendors have in no way strayed from their belief that outsourcing benefits both India and the United States. But they have found smoother ways to get the point across.

The Indian trade group has hired as its chief Washington lobbyist Robert D. Blackwill, a former senior White House adviser who served as the ambassador to India for the Bush administration. As the president of Barbour Griffith & Rogers International, an arm of one of the most powerful lobby shops in Washington, he is a heavy hitter on Capitol Hill.

Over the last year, Mr. Blackwill and the Indian companies’ executives have met with staff members of more than 100 lawmakers, said the lobbyist who asked not to be identified.

Mr. Vandrevala said executives from the Indian companies visiting the United States, including those on a trip organized by the Indian trade group in May, have met with aides to all the major presidential candidates, including Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Obama, the former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona. Several months ago, he said, the National Association of Software and Service Companies had an evening reception for members of the House’s India caucus. It drew 40 to 50 people.

But the core of the Indian vendors’ new strategy appears to be removing themselves from the limelight. Outsourcing is not about us, goes the new pitch to lawmakers, it benefits Americans, including ones in your district.

The Washington lobbyist who asked not to be identified said that a focus of the campaign was to collect data on Indian companies’ investments in the United States and then to lobby members of Congress from districts where those investments have created jobs.

For example, a lawmaker from Washington State might be told something like this: Indian outsourcing companies may funnel some Seattle-area technology jobs to India, but with the affluence that creates in India, more and more Indians are flying. That has made India a huge buyer of Boeing aircraft and thus a creator of jobs in the Seattle area, where Boeing does much of its manufacturing.

For Airlines, Hands-On Air Traffic Control

For Airlines, Hands-On Air Traffic Control
Tami Chappell/Reuters

Delta Air Lines uses G.P.S. technology to reduce the time its planes spend on the runway.


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By MATTHEW L. WALD
Published: September 5, 2007

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 — At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Delta Air Lines said its jets take off an average of 10 minutes after pushing back from the gate — three minutes faster than in previous years.
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Geoff Oliver Bugbee for The New York Times

A device that U.P.S. installed in the cockpit of one of its cargo planes to display traffic information.
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Using new technology, planes take off following a narrow route, so that that jets right behind them taking different routes do not have to wait as long. That makes the system move a bit faster.

“The pilots say, ‘Wow, this is kind of neat,’ ” said Joseph C. Kolshak, executive vice president for operations at Delta.

Delta, and also Alaska Airlines and U.P.S., is demonstrating pieces of the possible future of the nation’s air traffic system, hinting at what aviation might be like — if the airlines and the federal government can get the details worked out.

All three airlines use refinements based on the constellation of G.P.S., or global positioning system, satellites. Many of these save at most a few minutes. But in a crowded system plagued by delays, that may be enough to help smooth out bottlenecks.

The carriers’ use of satellite navigation and other tools and techniques represents a step toward replacing a 50-year-old system of radar and radio beacons.

In the process, they are pulling along a slow-moving government agency, the Federal Aviation Administration, that is eager for better air traffic control systems but short on money and the authority to put changes in place.

It is a revolution in technology, but also in politics. Previously, the F.A.A. usually bought new systems on the ground and told airlines to equip themselves to use them; now the airlines are taking the initiative to outfit their planes, with safety regulation from the F.A.A.

Airlines are even developing their own approach patterns for airports, which has almost always been a government job.

U.P.S. Airlines, working with Aviation Communications and Surveillance Systems, based in Phoenix, is developing a landing pattern based on separating planes by time, not distance, so they land at the briefest safe interval.

“We’re going to create the future, because we think we know where it’s going to go,” said Karen Lee, director of operations at U.P.S. This is in contrast to the traditional way of doing business, typified by “the F.A.A. tells us what the roadmap is,” she said, then “we’ll start building the stuff to do it.”

This is not quite do-it-yourself air traffic control, because everything requires F.A.A. analysis and approval.

But the agency is encouraging airlines to innovate, and is getting itself out of the picture, in many ways. For example, last Thursday it awarded a contract to a team led by the ITT Corporation, worth $207 million initially and possibly up to $1.8 billion, to build and operate a national network of radio receivers to accept signals from airplanes in flight.

Each plane would give its position as determined by G.P.S. The ITT contract is part of a system that would process that data to allow controllers and pilots in flight to see a display showing where all the planes are.

Another big step for the agency, which it hopes to take this year, is to publish a proposed rule giving the schedule for when airplanes will have to be equipped for satellite navigation and surveillance.

No one knows how much this will cut delays and improve capacity. But there are glimpses. One is in Juneau, Alaska.

For years, airplanes could not safely find the runway there, nestled between mountains, unless clouds were at least 1,000 feet above the ground and visibility was more than two miles.

And if there were clouds, there was only one way out, to the west, with a quick U-turn, which could be frustrating for travelers.

To assure that the plane could accomplish that maneuver under worst-case conditions — an engine failure on takeoff — Alaska Airlines often had to leave passengers or freight behind at the airport.

Today, Alaska Airlines’ planes land there as long as clouds are 337 feet above the surface and in visibility down to one mile. And they can take off in either direction. Of the approximately 3,600 flights the airline operated in and out of Juneau last year, 754 could not have been tried in years past.

“It’s a thing of beauty,” said Kevin Finan, acting vice president for flight operations at Alaska Airlines.

The more reliable operations happened because of a system developed largely by the airline. Through a combination of G.P.S., traditional navigation aids and instruments on board that give the plane’s position by measuring each turn, Alaska Airlines’ Boeing 737s know their position within 600 feet, the airline equivalent of the head of a pin.

In contrast, the older system required pilots to draw a mental map of the plane’s position, using compass cards and a display of how far the plane was from some land-based radio beacon, and a paper chart showing the mountains in the area.

Now the planes have a map that shows the mountains, the weather and the plane’s position.

Along the Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Along the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Tina Fineberg for The New York Times, left; Museum of the City of New York

On The River One East End Avenue, left, occupies the wedge-shaped block bounded by 79th and 80th Streets. Its narrow southern end resembles a ship’s prow. The co-op at 25 East End Avenue, right, was photographed in 1929.


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By CHRISTOPHER GRAY


EAST END AVENUE, running along the East River from 79th to 90th Streets, does not have the white-glove touch of Park Avenue — it’s mostly midcentury Modernist buildings. But the future on East End was supposed to have been different, and the two 1920s co-ops at the foot of this unusual street — Nos. 1 and 25 East End, at 79th and 80th Streets — give a flavor of what might have happened had the Roaring Twenties not gone bust.

Well into that decade, East End was still a mix of tenements and, below 84th Street, factories. Elisabeth Pell, who lived on 86th Street off East End in the 1920s, said in 1980, “We would just sniff along — coffee, sugar, something that smelled like popcorn, all depending on the wind.”

The gentry arrived on East End Avenue when the private Chapin School opened on 84th Street in 1928. Its reserved neo-Georgian building, completed in a year, brought scores of young girls from patrician families into the sleepy area.

The first apartment house to go up was the neo-Georgian 25 East End Avenue, at 80th, begun in 1927 and designed by Cross & Cross, which had been instrumental in the redevelopment of Sutton Place a few years earlier.

Each floor was divided into three apartments, the northerly unit running from the East River to East End, so fresh air could rush past the three double doors on the balcony of the 14-by-26-foot living room, through the 7-by-25-foot foyer and then out the windows of the library, facing the street.

An advertisement for the building in The New York Times proclaimed: “It is in the city — but not of the city. Every apartment will represent a gilt-edge investment.”

The construction of 25 East End was somewhat daring since the avenue south of 84th was still industrial. But in early 1928, property owners gained the rezoning of this section for residential use. When the measure was approved, James J. Hackett, secretary of the First Avenue Association, told The Times, “East End Avenue is destined to become the garden spot of Manhattan.”

Just to the south is 1 East End, begun in 1929 on the wedge-shaped block bounded by 79th and 80th Streets, from East End to the river. The architectural firm of Pennington & Lewis produced a chaste, aristocratic, nearly styleless building of soft orange brick and limestone, with four projecting window bays on the East River side.

Each floor was divided into three, a duplex in the central section flanked by simplexes north and south. The narrow southern end of the building looks like a ship’s prow. The living rooms there are 27 feet across, and each one must feel like the bridge of an aircraft carrier.

In an interview in 1980, Alexander Neave recalled living at 25 East End in the early 1930s: “Our apartment went through the building, and it was quiet except for the boats — they used to blow their whistles right under our living-room window, to clear the traffic. There was also an abattoir on the Queens side of the river, and sometimes it smelled like hell.”

The 1930 census indicates that the Neave apartment was valued at $25,000, as was the apartment of Charles MacArthur, an author of “The Front Page” who lived there with his wife, the actress Helen Hayes. (Earlier this year, a 10-room apartment on the 14th floor sold for $4.3 million.)

In 1930, co-ops up and down East End Avenue sued to stop nighttime dredging operations by the War Department. Col. George M. Hoffman, the head of the operation, suggested that residents stuff cotton in their ears, The Times reported.

In 1931 Vincent Astor put up the majestic 120 East End Avenue, at 85th Street, the last big apartment house of the boom period.

By this time other builders had been chased away from the avenue by the stock-market crash. In 1929 Rosario Candela had filed plans for an apartment building at 82nd, Louis Abramson for another at the same intersection, and Emery Roth for a 40-story hotel between 89th and 90th. None of them were built.

After the construction of the East River Drive in 1940, development began again, and now there are tall modern towers up and down the street. The original isolated character is lost, except for the little dead-end street crammed between the drive and 1 and 25 East End. Delivery trucks and off-duty ambulances sometimes idle there.

Walking past the back of 1 East End Avenue, there is a still a whiff of the ambition of the place. An elegant set of marble stairs leads down to what was originally a yacht landing. Now it is simply the leftover dream of a different era.

E-mail: streetscapes@nytimes.com

What You Get for ... $1 Million

What You Get for ... $1 Million

Homes on the market in Ketchum, Idaho, Tuscon, Ariz., and Blairsville, Ga.



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By ANNA BAHNEY
Published: September 5, 2007

Blairsville, Ga.
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WHAT: A five-bedroom three-bath house

HOW MUCH: $999,900

SETTING: Situated on Lake Nottely, this waterfront home has views of the surrounding mountains of North Georgia. Blairsville, two hours north of Atlanta, has access to golfing, hiking and boating.

COMMON SPACES: A double-height living room is ringed by an upper level gallery. There are two full kitchens: the primary kitchen on the main floor has granite countertops and white cabinets; the second kitchen is on the lower level. The living room and dining room are open to a wraparound porch.

PERSONAL SPACES: The upper level gallery has a reading nook with views of the lake. There are three bedrooms upstairs and two on the lower level.

OUTDOOR SPACE: The house features front and rear covered porches. There is a patio.

AMENITIES: There are a gas fireplace in the living room and a two-car garage with storage space beneath. The circular driveway is paved, and there is a boat dock on the lake.

CONTACT: Sonya Reid, the Appalachian Land Company, (828) 837-9199; www.sjreid.com

Ketchum, Idaho

WHAT: A three-bedroom three-bath town house

HOW MUCH: $1,040,000

PER SQUARE FOOT: $545

SETTING: Situated on Trail Creek and within walking distance of downtown Ketchum, this two-story 1,908-square-foot home is near the River Run ski lift. Ketchum is known for its access to the Sun Valley Ski Resort, as well as opportunities for other outdoor recreation like golf.

COMMON SPACES: The kitchen has granite countertops and a center island. It’s open to a combined living and dining area.

PERSONAL SPACES: The bedrooms are upstairs.

OUTDOOR SPACE: An outdoor deck has views of the creek.

AMENITIES: There are a gas fireplace and a two-car attached garage.

TAXES AND FEES: Taxes have not yet been assessed. A maintenance fee is $281 a month.

CONTACT: Bob Dittmer, Sotheby’s International Realty, (208) 578-1867; www.sothebysrealty.com

Tucson, Ariz.

WHAT: A five-bedroom house with four full baths and a half bath

HOW MUCH: $1,095,000

PER SQUARE FOOT: $239

SETTING: Built in 2002, this 4,578-square-foot contemporary is in the Tucson Country Club residential community. The house is in northeast Tucson, about 30 minutes from the Tucson International Airport and an hour away from Saguaro National Park East.

COMMON SPACES: A great room, with a living area, dining room and kitchen open to one another, has vaulted ceilings and a fireplace. The kitchen has a center island and a window seat.

PERSONAL SPACES: The master bedroom suite includes a fireplace in the master bath and an adjoining office.

OUTDOOR SPACE: A patio in the rear of the house is reached through French doors in the living room.

AMENITIES: There are a two-car garage and several fireplaces.

TAXES AND FEES: Taxes are $8,589 a year. The home owner’s association dues are $48 a month.

Building From the Ground Up

Building From the Ground Up
Illustration by Nancy Doniger



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By AMY GUNDERSON
Published: September 5, 2007

Unlike purchasing a furnished condominium, buying land to build your second home is a complicated process. Terms like zoning, wetlands and building footprints fly about, as plans for an idyllic retreat are patched together under the advice of a lawyer, real estate broker, architect and landscape designer.
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While the land search process can be an extensive — even a multiyear search — there are some basic rules of thumb to keep in mind as the hunt begins.

Where Should You Build?

Western states with wide open vistas and ranch parcels topping hundreds of acres may have few building restrictions. But in a highly developed area like the Hamptons, a potential property owner will be confronted with limits even on generously sized parcels.

Each town may have its own restrictions that dictate how much of a given parcel can be occupied by structures, including the main house, detached garage, pool house and even a tennis court.

A setback determines just how close a building structure can be to the property lines. “Every piece of property has a building footprint,” said Gary DePersia, a senior vice president with the Corcoran Group in East Hampton, N.Y. “And there are setbacks even if you were building in the middle of a cornfield, and that creates your building envelope.”

That said, a seemingly grand one-and-a-half acre lot can seem cramped. In the village of East Hampton, for instance, a small parcel of land might be limited to 7,000 square feet of structures. “A tennis court is 7,200 square feet,” Mr. DePersia said.

Who Should You Hire?

Once the search begins, bring in a second set of eyes to look at the property. Both a landscape designer and an architect can help not only to craft a vision of what can be built on the property and how views can be captured but also to estimate the cost of preparing the site for building, from the actual home construction costs to the price tag for a gravel driveway.

Working with a broker who specializes in land sales is helpful; so is a lawyer who is familiar with potential zoning issues or with building near wetlands. “Call town hall and start asking around for attorneys that are familiar with local zoning laws and have been in front of the planning commission,” said John Harney, a broker in Litchfield County, Conn. “They are familiar with the process and the players in the town.”

A good lawyer and broker can also investigate how the land was previously used. In Litchfield County, some land on the market was previously used as farmland. Such parcels might, say, have an oil tank buried on the property or something even more surprising. Mr. Harney noted a recent sale in the Lakeville, Conn., area where he said, an entire house was buried on the property. “The broker forgot to mention it,” he said. “And now the owners are stuck digging it up.”

How Remote Do You Want to Be?

The proximity to basic services like medical facilities, grocery stores or restaurants can help narrow down the search. “I was working with one buyer, and we were about 20 miles from White Sulphur Springs, Mont.,” said Dave Johnson, a ranch broker at Hall & Hall in Bozeman, Mont. “Once we got there, the buyer said, ‘We’re still 90 miles from town.’ This buyer wanted to be close to Bozeman.”
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In Wales, a Family Retreat

In Wales, a Family Retreat
Adam Sear for The New York Times

Nantyfarddu, a Welsh farmstead, is Tim and Judith Sear's second home.


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By SHERMAKAYE BASS
Published: September 5, 2007

Nantyfarddu, a Welsh farmstead, is Tim and Judith Sear’s second home now, but for years it was their first, and only, real home — the place where the British-born couple and their children retreated periodically as Mr. Sear’s career moved them around Asia in the 1960s and ’70s.
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In fact, when the couple bought the place in 1965, it was a bare-bones retreat, a touchstone for a growing family as it hopscotched from Singapore to Hong Kong to Australia and, finally, to just south of Fort Worth, Tex., where Tim and Judith Sear now live as naturalized American citizens.

“It’s been a constant for more than 40 years,” said Mrs. Sear, the mother of four and grandmother of five. Even now, all three generations return as often as possible, traveling from their homes in the United States to the town of Builth Wells, about 60 miles north of Cardiff, the Welsh capital.

“We think Nantyfarddu means ‘the stream of the black bard,’ ” Mrs. Sear said, “but we can’t be sure.” The name came with the three acres of land, a “gently crumbling farmhouse” (as eldest son Adam, now 43, described it) and two dilapidated stone barns, all of which date to at least 1810 and embody stone construction traditional to the region.

The farmstead now has two carefully restored and modernized structures. The original main dwelling, Mr. Sear recalled, “was a classic little house with three tiny rooms upstairs.”

“It hadn’t been lived in for 20 to 30 years,” he added. “There was no electricity, no running water, no kitchen; only a salting slab, a bread oven and a big old fireplace. There were also the two stone barns, one of which fell down subsequently.”

For plumbing, the Sears ran a hose from a nearby creek to a 600-gallon concrete tank that they installed in the hillside above the farmhouse. “You’d have to suck on one end of the hose to get the water started,” said Mr. Sear, now retired as chief executive of Alcon Laboratories, an eye-care products company based in Fort Worth. “I tied a tea strainer to the one end to stop the leaves getting in and, once we had the tank filled, we gravity-fed the water into the tap.” A local builder then fashioned a basic bathroom and kitchen.

Over the past 10 years, the Sears converted the remaining barn into their primary living quarters with three bedrooms, two and a half baths, a modern kitchen and spacious family areas. Then they refurbished the farmhouse as a guest cottage, with three bedrooms and one bath. Geoff Jones, a local architect, navigated the strict zoning dictates of the Powys County Council to create designs for both structures, maintaining the regional vernacular and, whenever possible, reusing materials.

“Because planning restrictions in Britain are terribly strict,” Mrs. Sear said, “getting permission to renovate — particularly a traditional barn — is difficult. And rightly so; these buildings really are a part of the landscape.”

Of the barn-cum-house, Mr. Jones said: “Naturally, it was pretty dilapidated. The roof was corrugated metal sheeting that had gone rusty and was leaking.”

Once that was taken off, the beams were raised. “It was very tricky, but it gave us 15 inches more headroom upstairs,” Mrs. Sear said.

Mr. Jones added: “The first thing we did was to stabilize the walls. We kept a lot of the old features, of course. The old timbers, some of them we rebuilt, and others we stabilized with reinforced concrete.

“We put new slates in the roof. Then, the outside has lancet openings, windows used in barns for ventilating the hay, that are only about four inches wide. So we put in new windows that the planners approved.”

Next Mr. Jones tackled the farmhouse renovation, a less complex project.

Now the two homes accommodate all 15 of the Sears’ immediate family and have all the modern amenities: electricity, plumbing and, more recently, a telephone — whose introduction caused spirited family debate. The idea of television at Nantyfarddu is anathema to most of the clan, who spend their time there reading, playing games, hiking the hills or watching local sheepdog trials, often convening in evenings at a pub in a 13th-century building three miles across the fields.

This isolated region has a particular appeal for Mrs. Sear. “I grew up in South Wales, from the age of 7 until the time I was married at 21,” she explained, “so it’s really my home. My parents were English and, after my father died, we moved down there to stay with an aunt. I developed a great love for Wales, so when we had an opportunity to buy something there, we jumped at it.”

But Mrs. Sear laughed in near-embarrassment when she revealed the 1965 cost of Nantyfarddu: 1,200 pounds (about $3,360 at the time).

Today it is virtually impossible to find even a crumbling barn for sale, let alone something so cheap, said Mr. Jones, who has spent his nearly 50-year career in Mid Wales. “These places are disappearing,” he said. “People who live in the cities — in London, in particular — want sort of a second home, and what they’re looking for is remote locations, and Wales is known for that.”

“Just one with a little bit of space around it, maybe an acre, would cost probably 180,000 pounds ($361,500). And that could be a barn that’s falling apart.”

For the Sears, however, no amount of money could buy the peace and quiet of this rustic family retreat.

“Over the years, we have developed very close friendships in the local farming community,” Mr. Sear said. “And they take their vacations in places like Spain, where it’s warm. They’re slightly bemused that we’d want to spend our holiday on a rainy Welsh hillside. But we do.”
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US law firm targets high-growth hedge fund community

Tannenbaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschtritt is opening its first international office in the UK.

We bring this expertise to the fast-growing London community of hedge fund managers, law firms and other professionals.

Michael G. Tannenbaum
Founding partner
Tannenbaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschtritt

By Anna Rooke, OurWorld Editor

The new London base will enable Tannenbaum Helpern to access new and existing clients including hedge funds, law firms and accountancy firms.

It is the firm’s first expansion beyond its New York headquarters.

“There is a tremendous appetite in the UK-based hedge fund industry for specialised knowledge of and access to the US investment landscape and shifting regulatory environment,” said the firm's founding partner Michael G. Tannenbaum.

“We bring this expertise to the fast-growing London community of hedge fund managers, law firms and other professionals.”

Read the full story on Hedgeweek

Review planned for UK drug pricing scheme

The Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme helps maintain a stable and supportive environment for drugs firms investing in the UK. How will a revised version aim to protect their interests?

Earlier this year, a report from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) recommended that the UK Government’s pricing agreement with drug companies should be reviewed.

Currently the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) links pharmaceutical prices to production cost and caps profits that can be made by firms.

The OFT suggested that drug prices should instead be linked to their health benefits, rewarding the most effective treatments and increasing efficiency for the NHS.

Listening to industry concerns

The Department of Health has just announced that it will look to re-negotiate the PPRS with industry.

“Whilst we recognise the benefits that PPRS agreements have brought to the UK over the past 50 years, ministers believe it important to update the system so it is fit for purpose in the modern world and contributes to achieving greater efficiency in NHS expenditure,” said a spokesperson from the Department of Health.

However, the UK’s competitiveness minister has emphasised that industry concerns about a revision of the scheme will be central to a renegotiation.

“We are undertaking a continuing programme of detailed analysis of the OFT report’s proposals, and will discuss this analysis with the industry, taking into account their strong concerns about a number of the proposals,” he said.

Maintaining stability for investors

One of these concerns is that a future pricing scheme could affect the stable framework that attracts pharmaceuticals firms from around the world to the UK.

“It is important that, once introduced, a future pricing scheme provides stability, sustainability and predictability for industry,” commented Stephen Timms.

“OFT identified this as an important area and industry has stated on a number of occasions that the stability of the UK Market makes it an attractive place to invest.

“We want to ensure that the UK remains a stable market over the coming years.”

Increasing uptake of new drugs

Promoting the take-up of new and innovative treatments will also be a priority going forward.

The UK Government already spends more on R&D in health than any other government apart from the USA.

“It is in all of our interests that any pricing system will encourage research and reward innovation which delivers valuable new treatments,” said Timms.

US research firm expands drug development facilities

Why has a global increase in outsourcing of drug development, prompted PPD to invest in it Scottish operations?

By Anna Rooke, OurWorld Editor.

Across the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device sectors, companies outsource their drug discovery, development and post-approval services to PPD.

In recent years, PPD has noticed an increase an upward trend in outsourcing throughout these sectors, as companies look to offer innovative treatments more quickly to patients.

"With the biopharmaceutical industry increasingly relying on global outsourcing to speed drug development and reduce costs, demand for our services continues to grow," said Fred Eshelman, chief executive officer of PPD.

“Intellectual and technical resources”

Located in Strathclyde Business Park, PPD currently employs more than 350 staff in Scotland.

Scotland offers both intellectual and technical resources that make it an important hub for our global clinical research operations.

Fred Eshelman

Chief executive officer

PPD

Now it plans to invest up to £15 million to expand its offices in this location over the next three years.

"Scotland offers both intellectual and technical resources that make it an important hub for our global clinical research operations,” said Eshelman.

The company will be recruiting staff in specialist areas such as biostatistics, data management, pharmacovigilance, product development, and clinical trial management and monitoring.

Benefits to wider life sciences sector

PPD’s investment will have a knock-on effect for the Scottish life sciences industry at large, according to Jack Perry, chief executive of business development agency Scottish Enterprise.

"This project represents a highly valuable and very welcome development for the life sciences sector in Scotland.

"The presence of PPD enhances Scotland's international reputation, and we welcome this ‘vote of confidence' in Scotland's capabilities and technological base,” he commented.

PPD's expansion is being supported with a regional grant of £4.5 million.

Small firms thriving in the UK shows report

Record numbers of SMEs are starting up in the UK. We look at the reasons why the UK’s regulatory framework, skills and new legislation are helping them to flourish.

There were an estimated 4.5 million business enterprises in the UK at the start of 2006, up 125,000 on the start of the previous year.

The figures have just been released by the UK’s Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR).

Numbers were up 2.9 per cent on the beginning of 2005 – the highest since the survey began back in 1994.

Setting up is easy

With international comparisons frequently ranking the UK as one of the easiest places in the world to start up a business, it is no wonder the numbers of SMEs are growing.

The World Bank rates the UK as the top country in Europe for ease of doing business and sixth out of 175 countries ranked throughout the world.

Looking into forming a company?

Find out how easy it is to register your UK firm in this factsheet.

The UK’s stable economic framework, supported by a transparent and business-friendly process to form a company contributes to the high levels of entrepreneurship.

Getting the right staff

An important factor to the success of firms starting up in any country is the flexibility with which they can employ the right workers.

The UK has a diverse workforce including an abundance of specialist skills to meet the needs of growing firms.

Labour market flexibility helps start-ups in the UK to take on more employees during start-up and growth periods.

And in recent years, an increasingly strong partnership between labour unions and business management has helped companies to resolve conflict with employees constructively and keep labour strikes to a minimum.

New legislation enhances

It’s all very well starting up a business, but what about making it work on a long-term basis?

The 2006 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor found the proportion of people running established businesses in the UK to be 93 per cent of the start-up rate, showing that the vast majority of ventures are successful.

How will the Companies Act impact on SMEs?

Learn about changes to corporate legislation and new reporting procedures for small firms in our article The short cut to setting up.

A further boost to small businesses will be delivered when the Companies Act 2006 is fully implemented in 2008.

Previously separate pieces of corporate legislation will be condensed into a single framework, with accounting and financial reporting procedures simplified for SMEs.

Manufacturing output continues to expand

Manufacturing performance is at an eight-year high, car sales are accelerating and demand for UK exports is growing. Is UK manufacturing making a comeback?

Manufacturing output grew for a fourth consecutive month, its best sustained performance for eight years, the Office for National Statistics said yesterday.

The sector's contribution to UK economic growth was one per cent higher than the same period last year, undermining perceptions that the UK manufacturing base is dwindling.

The UK as a manufacturing base

Is the UK manufacturing sector really in decline? We explore negative perceptions of UK manufacturing and look at key indicators for its future performance.

“The increase partly reflects the hunger of accelerating European economies for British exports,” reported the Daily Telegraph.

One notable growth area is the automotive sector where, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, sales of new cars last month were up 4.9 per cent on 2006.

Read the Daily Telegraph’s report on the latest manufacturing data.

UK sets framework for communications convergence

How is new regulation putting the UK ahead of other European countries in the development and take-up of convergent technologies?

A change in the UK law has removed restrictions on connecting home digital devices using ultra-wideband (UWB) technology.

The wireless technology enables the transfer of large amounts of data over distances of around 30 metres and previously required a license.

The decision was announced by UK regulator Ofcom.

Promoting market innovation

The move will enable device developers to launch the latest convergent devices in the UK market.

“Where possible, we want to remove restrictions on the use of spectrum to allow the market to develop new and innovative services – such as UWB – for the benefit of consumers,” explained Ofcom’s chief executive, Ed Richards.

UWB enables a variety of equipment – from computers and DVD players to cameras and mp3 players – to communicate without the need for cables.

Home hubs look likely

In taking this step, the UK is ahead of other European countries which still require licenses to use UWB technology.

However, market developments in other countries where the technology is already unlicensed, bode well for the UK.

In the USA and Japan for example technology companies have begun to develop and sell UWB products such as home hubs.

AIM outshines other growth markets

This week a Chinese property firm is floating on AIM, in favour of markets closer to home. How does AIM manage to attract more international firms than any of its global counterparts put together?

For smaller firms, growth markets offer the opportunity to raise finance with less stringent entry requirements and lower costs than the main markets.

Yet not all international growth markets are as accessible to start-up firms as others.

AIM needs only four to five months of preparation.

Li Tak-kwong

Chief executive

Libertas Capital

This week China’s Canton Property Investment chose a listing on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) over Hong Kong’s Growth Enterprise Market owing to regulatory barriers.

Less time to prepare

AIM offers an “easier and faster alternative” for Chinese start-up firms looking to raise capital according to a report in the South China Post.

Speaking to the newspaper, Charles Li Tak-kwong, chief executive of UK corporate finance specialist Libertas Capital said that more Chinese firms were likely to follow in Canton’s footsteps.

"AIM needs only four to five months of preparation," he said.

"In Hong Kong, it takes a new listing candidate 12 to 18 months to be vetted and approved by the stock exchange and the Securities and Futures Commission."

Growing popularity

Earlier this month, AIM ranked as the most successful international growth market, attracting more listings than all its global rivals combined.

The total number of listed companies shot from 1,399 in 2005 to 1,643 in 2006, according to accountants Grant Thortons.

AIM has continued to gather momentum and credibility since the dot.com boom.

Philip Secrett

International director of capital markets

Grant Thornton

The US growth market Nasdaq saw listings fall in 2006, while other exchanges such as Singapore’s SESDAQ and India's Indonext experienced only modest growth.

Backed by investor confidence

For Philip Secrett, international director of capital markets at Grant Thornton, "AIM has continued to gather momentum and credibility since the dot.com boom.

“The market has fed off investor confidence and its location in London has been critical,” he said.

The market of choice for growth companies

Learn more about AIM’s popularity for international companies in this presentation.

The total value of companies on AIM rose by over 80 per cent last year.

Magnet for international firms

There are a total of 41 growth markets worldwide – 19 in Europe, 15 in Asia-Pacific, four in the Americas and three in Africa.

According to Secrett, what singles out AIM from the rest is its appeal to firms from all over the world.

"Globally, a mere handful of markets can be said to have truly succeeded in attracting new companies and in growing investor appeal beyond national borders,” he said.

Read coverage of Canton’s listing on AIM in the South China Post (subscription only).

Ericsson to open new R&D centre

The telecoms giant will continue to draw upon the UK’s abundance of skilled ICT workers as it executes a long-term expansion programme here.

Swedish telecoms firm Ericsson is to build a new £60 million research and development base in the West Midlands region of the UK.

Around 600 highly skilled workers will be located at the new centre, due to open in 2009.

"The new site at Ansty will enable us to create a brand new operating environment, specifically designed to suit the needs of our business both now and for the future,” said Jacqueline Hey, Ericsson UK’s managing director.

Need a location to develop your telecoms technology?

UK firms are some of the world’s biggest spenders on ICT R&D. Look at the locations they have chosen using this map.

“We recognise both the skills that we have in the UK and the importance of maintaining the capabilities we have.

"Ericsson is investing heavily into the UK and this is an important step securing employment in the area that is likely to create new job opportunities in Ansty.”

Find out more on the Birmingham Post website.

London tailors property development to start-up firms

The UK capital is known as a world-class destination for large multinational firms, but can smaller companies find the flexibility they need to rent commercial space in central London?

By Anna Rooke, OurWorld Editor.

A new programme of property development will offer young companies flexible leases for office space in prime London locations.

Leases will start from as little as one year according to a report in the Financial Times.

Planned locations include Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets and other areas on the edge of London’s financial district, the Square Mile.

Read full details on the Financial Times website.

Why property? What you'll learn in this step: Sensible investments in property – residential or non-residential – have many benefits, including capita

Why property?

What you'll learn in this step: Sensible investments in property – residential or non-residential – have many benefits, including capital growth.

Property has been a popular route to wealth for many Australians for many years. Buying their own home is often the first ‘investment’ many people make; purchasing another property may well be the second – even before shares and other assets.

But your first investment in property needn’t be your home. Indeed, buying a small apartment to rent out can be a good way to accumulate funds so you can eventually buy your own place, in an area where you want to live.

Increasing numbers of young Australians are choosing this route, buying in one suburb while renting in a more desirable and expensive area – or living at home for a while longer.

Still others are diversifying into non-residential property via property trusts and syndicates.

Sensible investments in property have many attractions. Property can be less volatile than shares – though not always – and it tends to be regarded as a safe haven when other assets are declining in value.

It has the potential to generate capital growth (an increase in the value of your asset) as well as rental income. Then there’s the tax advantages associated with negative gearing (more about that later).

However, as with any investment, there are no guarantees. Property prices go down, as well as up, and sometimes tenants are hard to find – especially good ones who pay on time and take care of your investment.

Investors need to have a keen awareness of the interest rate environment – how higher rates might affect their expected net return and the market for their property should they wish to sell. They also need to make sure the return or ‘yield’ from their property stands up against the return they might have achieved had they invested in shares, for example.

Of course, you don’t have to make a direct investment in property. Pooling your funds with other investors in managed funds with a property focus, listed property trusts or property syndicates provides exposure to a broader range of property – including commercial, industrial and retail as well as residential – often with a smaller investment required.

Many financial advisers would argue that too many Australians let direct investment in residential property dominate their portfolios. In theory – and this is far from reality for most people – property should account for perhaps 10 per cent of an investment portfolio.

What you'll learn in this step: Returns come from capital growth and from rental income.

The potential return

What you'll learn in this step: Returns come from capital growth and from rental income.

Capital growth

Capital growth is the increase in the value of your property over time and is one of the main reasons people invest in residential real estate.

Historically, Australian residential property has experienced strong capital growth – the long-term average annual growth rate for property is about 9 per cent – but periods of stagnation and even decline are also part of the picture. The nature of the property cycle means real estate should probably be thought of as an investment with a 10-year horizon.

Take the experience in recent years. In 2003, Australian house prices were rising at a rate of about 20 per cent, but since then prices have come to a virtual standstill in many areas and have gone backwards fast in some of the hot spots.

Your best chance of achieving capital growth is buying the right property, in the right place, and – most importantly – at the right price.

Research current house prices. Keep an eye on sale and auction results in the papers, or buy reports on specific suburbs from researchers like Australian Property Monitors’ Home Price Guide (www.homepriceguide.com.au). Talk to real estate agents and observe at auctions.

Rental income and yield

You should apply the same standards to a property investment as to any other investment, ‘benchmarking’ the potential return against what you might achieve elsewhere.

An important measure is a property’s yield. That can be calculated by dividing the annual rent it generates by the price you paid for the property and multiplying that by 100 to get a percentage figure.

Let’s say you bought a unit for $400,000 and rented it out for $350 a week (or $18,200 a year). That’s a yield of 4.5 per cent. That might compare with a dividend yield of, say, 7 per cent had you invested in a particular company’s stock.

But let’s say you bought a worker’s cottage in a mining town where prices are low but the rental income as good as in the big city. Pay $350,000 and rent the property out for $600 a week and you’ll achieve a yield of 9 per cent.

Remember, yields fall as house prices rise (if rent doesn’t rise commensurably).

Keep an eye on vacancy rates – the proportion of properties sitting empty out of the total rental supply.

If landlords have to fight for tenants, they won’t have much ‘pricing power’ with regard to rent. However, if the rental market is tight, and tenants are competing for properties, they’ll be prepared to pay a bit more to get in the door.

A vacancy rate above 3 per cent is a warning sign, and it may pay to be wary of areas where there’s going to be a big increase in the supply of apartments.

In any case, build into your calculations of your likely return periods when you’ll be in between tenants.

What you'll learn in this step: Many people invest in property with the aim of taking advantage of Australia’s negative gearing rules.

Tax

What you'll learn in this step: Many people invest in property with the aim of taking advantage of Australia’s negative gearing rules.

Negative gearing

Gearing basically means borrowing to invest. Negative gearing is when the costs of investing are higher than the return you achieve. With an investment property, that’s when the annual net rental income is less than the loan interest plus the deductible expenses associated with maintaining the property (such as property management fees and repairs).

When you’re negatively geared you can deduct the costs of owning your investment property from your overall income – reducing your tax bill. High-income earners benefit the most, because they’re in the top tax bracket.

In addition, while you record a loss on the income from the property, in theory capital gains in the value of your property should make the investment worthwhile.

But don’t over-commit to property just to get a tax deduction. Those tax benefits generally don't come until the end of the financial year and you have to make your mortgage payments in the meantime.

That said, you can apply to have less tax deducted from your pay to take into account the impact on your overall income of expected losses on an investment property.

Say you earn $45,000 a year, gross, in your day job but you can reliably estimate that you'll make a $15,000 loss on an investment property. You can apply to have your tax payments calculated on an income of $30,000 rather than $45,000 – giving you more cash in hand now, rather than a refund at the end of the year. Get your sums wrong, though, and you’ll owe the tax man money at the end of the year.

See www.ato.gov.au for information about pay-as-you-go (PAYG) withholding payments.

Remember, too, that a capital gain – which will be taxed – is never assured. What’s more, the benefits of negative gearing are smaller when interest rates and inflation are low and can be offset by charges such as the land tax levied in NSW (see www.osr.nsw.gov.au).

Read more about:

Negative gearing goalposts shift, Annette Sampson, May 14 2005 - The Sydney Morning Herald: Changes to the tax scales have reduced the benefits of gearing in the short term.

For better or worse, Anneli Knight, May 24 2006 - The Sydney Morning Herald: Borrowing to invest may not be the best approach now.

How do I make my investment property work through negative gearing? Karin Derkley, September 10 2006 - The Sunday Age: People talk about negative gearing as if it is a magic get-rich-quick scheme. It's not.

Depreciation

The owners of investment properties can also claim depreciation of items such as stoves, refrigerators and furniture. That involves writing off the cost of the item over a set number of years – the ‘effective life’ of the asset.

The ATO sets out what it considers to be appropriate periods. The cost of a cooktop, for instance, is generally written off over 12 years – you claim one-twelfth of its cost as an expense each year.

There are two different types of depreciation – an allowance for assets such as the cooktop, and an allowance for capital works, such as the cost of construction.

It’s a good idea to talk to a quantity surveyor or other depreciation specialist right from the start, so you make full and correct use of the available depreciation allowances.

The higher the depreciation bill, the higher the amount to offset against income when you’re negative gearing.

Read more about:

Beware the rent collector, Annette Sampson, August 10, 2005 - The Sydney Morning Herald .

Accuracy counts, Denise Cullen, May 24 2006 - The Sydney Morning Herald: Don't get deductions for maintenance and capital works confused.

Taxman to blitz property investors, John Garnaut, October 21 2006 - The Sydney Morning Herald: The Tax Commissioner has sounded the alarm on negative gearing and warns he will crack down on landlords after they claimed $21.7 billion in tax deductions last financial year.

Capital gains tax

Capital gains tax (CGT) is the tax charged on capital gains that arise from the disposal of an asset – including investment property, but not your place of residence – acquired after September 19, 1985.

You’re liable for CGT if your capital gains exceed your capital losses in an income year. (If you’re smart, you’ll time asset disposals so that if you really must take a capital loss it’ll be at a time when it can offset a capital gain).

The capital gain on an investment property acquired on or after October 1, 1999, and held for at least a year, is taxed at only half the rate otherwise. This means a maximum rate of 24.25 per cent if you’re in the highest tax bracket.

The capital gain is the profit you’ve made over and above the ‘cost base’ – the purchase price plus capital expenses such as subsequent renovations. Make sure you keep good records of these sorts of expenses.

Capital gains tax is a complex area, so it pays to get specific advice about how it applies in your individual circumstances.

Read more about:

Capital gains tax, Barbara Drury, May 25, 2005 - The Sydney Morning Herald: It has been a great year for investors and the chances are that anyone who has cashed in some of their chips this financial year will be liable for capital gains tax (CGT).

Making your investment pay

If you hold your investment property for long enough, hopefully you’ll reach the stage where losses start turning into gains. The rent you’re charging should have risen over time, and you’ll be steadily whittling away at the mortgage.

Once your rental income exceeds your mortgage repayments you’ll no longer be negatively geared, however. And no negative gearing means no tax advantages – but that doesn't mean you should rush to sell.

Yes, you'll have to pay more tax because the income you're making is more than your losses – but the fact is you’re making money, which is why you invested in the first place.

The temptation may be to take your profits and plough them into another property – and that can be a perfectly reasonable strategy – but don't lose track of the costs involved in selling. Stamp duty alone is a big disincentive.

Selecting a property

Selecting a property

What you'll learn in this step: Good buys aren’t necessarily close to home.

Having worked through the financial considerations, and bearing in mind that you’re not actually going to live in the property, you should be able to make a fairly rational decision about where and what to buy.

You’ll want to benefit from as much capital growth as possible, so the first rule is to buy in a growth area.

That might be a suburb located within 10 kilometres of the city centre, or a suburb with special attractions such as a beach or trendy café strip. Proximity to a ‘hot’ suburb could mean your suburb will be next to rise in value.

It could even be a regional town supporting a booming industry.

Narrow your search down even further by looking at a property’s access to transport, shops and leisure facilities and its appeal to your market – whether they’re young professionals or blue-collar workers.

Another decision is what to buy – house or unit? old or new? Units usually are a much better proposition for landlords. They’re easier to rent out and easier to maintain: there's no lawn to mow, and when things go wrong in the building the expense is shared with the other owners.

Properties with a view are always more desirable than those without, and tenants like facilities such as balconies, internal laundries, undercover parking and security.

These sorts of facilities may not be available in an older property, which may have to compete with a new apartment building down the road with all the mod-cons.

If the property you’re interested in is already rented, ask about its history of tenancy. Have there been periods when it hasn't been occupied? If so, find out why. You don’t want to inherit those problems.

The bottom line: balance what you can afford to buy with the rent you’ll be able to charge. There’s no point buying a waterfront property if you can’t find tenants happy to pay the sort of rent you’ll need to make the exercise worthwhile.

Read more about:

Look beyond those boom-town boundaries, Jane-Anne Lee, October 30, 2005 - The Sun Herald.

Buying

Once you’ve found the right property, the actual mechanics of buying it will be the same as if you were buying a home to live in. See our guide to buying a home for what happens next, and for pointers on how much to borrower, where to borrow, and what types of loans are available.

There are few differences between borrowing for a home and borrowing for an investment property.

Some lenders charge a higher interest rate for investment properties because they say their risk is higher, but shop around and you should be able to get a rate that’s the same as for an owner-occupied property.

One option of particular interest to investors is the interest-only loan, where you don't pay off any of the principal, just the interest.

Such a loan can make it easier to estimate the true returns from a property. A tax advantage is that interest payments for investment properties are tax deductible, while payments off the principal are not.

One strategy that is being touted is to take out an interest-only loan and divert the money you would have paid off the principal to your tax-efficient superannuation fund. Upon retirement, you use your super pays off the loan. Remember, though, that this money is locked up until at least age 55 and you won’t have access to it if you strike a cash-flow problem.

Managing your property

Managing your property

What you'll learn in this step: It takes time, effort and money to look after a property.

It’s possible to manage a rental property yourself, and in so doing save a management fee that’s usually around 5 per cent of the rent. But it can be time-consuming and it's hard to remain emotionally detached when you have tenants ringing up complaining about every little thing, or you personally have to deal with damage to your property.

The other option is to use the services of a professional property manager. They’ll have up-to-date information on what’s happening in the market and what tenants are prepared to pay. They’ll have prospective tenants on their books, and experience vetting tenants. Because they manage many properties, they’ll have access to reputable trades people at cheaper service fees.

And their fees are tax deductible.

Read more about:

How to make a property work harder, Janet de Silva, October 22, 2006 - The Sun Herald: There are five things you should consider to maximise rental returns, Janet de Silva writes.

Insurance

Managing your financial risk as a property investor also involves insuring yourself against a myriad of potential hazards.

It’s up to your tenants to take out home contents insurance to cover their possessions, but you’ll need building insurance. Then there’s ‘landlord’ insurance, covering risks such as malicious or accidental damage to your property by a tenant, any legal liability should a tenant injure themselves, and lost rental income should tenants move out without paying.

Read more about:

Rental property blues, Gabrielle Costa, July 5 2006 - The Sydney Morning Herald: Can you afford to skip landlord insurance? Not if you have the tenant from hell.

Renovating

Be prudent about renovations. The colour palette of the kitchen in your investment unit may offend your sensibilities, but it only makes financial sense to replace it if a better kitchen will stop the unit sitting vacant or lift the rent you can charge.

Make a ‘cost-benefit analysis’ of your renovations. If the kitchen is going to cost $10,000, and you’ll have to borrow the money and pay interest, but it will only add $10 a week to the rent, it’s probably better left alone.

Don't ‘overcapitalise’ by spending too much on design, finishes and fittings.

What you'll learn in this step: Trusts and syndicates provide exposure to a broader range of property

What you'll learn in this step: Trusts and syndicates provide exposure to a broader range of property.

Pooling your funds with other investors in vehicles such as property trusts and property syndicates provides exposure to a broader range of property – including commercial, industrial and retail as well as residential – often with a smaller investment required.

You’ll be spreading your risk rather than being hostage to the ups and downs of the residential property cycle and you’ll still have access to tax advantages such as depreciation – but you won’t have to worry about kitchen colours and clumsy tenants.

Property trusts

Property trusts aim to generate rental income from a portfolio of professionally selected properties with good tenants on long leases, along with some capital growth in the value of those properties.

Property trusts can specialise in particular sectors – such as retail or industrial property – or they can be ‘diversified’, investing in various types of property.

They can be listed or unlisted. The advantage of investing in a trust listed on the stock exchange is that you should be able to sell part or all of your holding quickly – something that’s not so easy with your own bricks and mortar. But, like any investment, nothing is guaranteed.

Listed property trusts (LPTs) have blossomed in recent years and now account for something like 10 per cent of the Australian sharemarket’s value. A recent development is a push by LPTs into property assets overseas.

Read more about:

Iverson's $6.3 Million Listing

By CHRISTINA S.N. LEWIS
August 24, 2007; Page W6

NBA all-star Allen Iverson has listed his five-bedroom home in an exclusive Philadelphia suburb for $6.3 million.

The 32-year-old guard, one of the league's leading scorers, was traded to the Denver Nuggets last year after 10 ½ seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Mr. Iverson and his wife, Tawanna, paid $5 million in 2003 for the roughly 14,000-square-foot home on four acres, public records show. It's located in Villanova, according to the listing, about 20 miles northwest of the city on Philadelphia's wealthy Main Line. Built in 1991, the four-level French-style house has arched palladian windows, a 12-person movie theater, a billiard room and a guest suite with a kitchenette. The master suite is decorated with crystal chandeliers and has a closet with room for 500 pairs of shoes. The property also has a pool house, a hot tub and a stream.

Chanel Overton, of Long & Foster Cos., has the listing. She declined to comment. Mr. Iverson's agent, Leon Rose, could not be reached for comment.

Record Producer Sells

Grammy award-winning producer James Harris III, known professionally as Jimmy Jam, sold his lakefront home in Minnesota in June for $7 million. The 24,000-square-foot home on 3.6 acres had been listed for over a year at $9 million.

A longtime Janet Jackson collaborator, Mr. Harris and his wife, Lisa, have relocated to Los Angeles, according to the co-listing agent, Meredith Howell, of Coldwell Banker Burnet.

The seven-bedroom house is located on Lake Minnetonka in Minnetrista, about 25 miles west of Minneapolis. Mr. Harris paid $750,000 for the land in 1990, which has about 360 feet of lake frontage, and designed the two-story contemporary house himself. It has barrel-vaulted ceilings, an indoor and an outdoor swimming pool, a 16-seat screening room and two offices, as well as a 12-car garage. Mr. Harris could not be reached for comment.

The buyers are Christopher and Sandra Hintz, a local couple, who plan to live in the house year-round. While Mr. Harris took his numerous pianos and awards with him, he left more than 50 televisions that were bolted to the walls, according to Ms. Howell, who shared the listing with Ryan Burnet, a partner in their firm. Bruce Birkeland, also of Coldwell Banker, represented the Hintzes.

Mr. Harris and his producing and business partner, Terry Lewis, have dozens of platinum records to their name. In addition to producing albums for Janet Jackson, with whom they have won two Grammys, they have worked with Mariah Carey, Usher and Boyz II Men, among others. Earlier in their career they toured with Prince as members of The Time.

Write to Christina S.N. Lewis at christina.lewis@wsj.com