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“ Estela was excellent providing all the infor-mation I needed and help-ing me out. I was a little nervous investing in a for-eign country, but she made me feel very com-fortable, which helped giv-ing me the confidence that I was making the right de-cision. ”

Ana Maria Burgos

In This Issue

• International Property

• Macau…….“The Las

Vegas of China ”

• Safe Food Handling

• National Association

of Realtors report.

• Catalunya’s Price for

Independence

Global Real Estate - not everyone has the experience.

International Property

Real estate growth opportunities outside of the US are worth considering from many aspects. For one it offers a way to generate cashflow in anoth-er currency. In addition emerging economies, changing laws, and devel-oped landscapes, are all factors that can create situations offering stable and consistent growth. If you buy at the right time in the right location, then you have the opportunity for an accelerated rate of growth, that could far outweigh your domestic investment. Obviously a lot of research and accurate information is needed to make the right choice. An experienced global realtor is not someone who just refers you to an overseas agent, a global realtor has their finger on the pulse and knows the hot regions worldwide. They have done business themselves in foreign markets, and are able to provide first hand knowledge of how these transactions are carried out, they can compile comprehensive reports with all the details you need to make an informed decision. Finally, if they have had exten-sive experience, they can legally negotiate in other markets, or have the right active working relationships at their client’s disposal. Understanding of culture, languages, and basic knowledge of regions, can also provide an invaluable service for clients considering property overseas.

First things to consider if Buying International. • Have I considered tax laws and other costs?

• Have I done the right research for foreign buyers?

• Have I contacted an experienced Global Realtor?

PROJECT PEGASUS INTERNATIONAL Newsletter Oct / Nov 2017 Issue

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Macau….“The Las Vegas of China.”

Macau is just a comfortable turbojet day trip from Hong Kong, but visitors will find it is quite a different city. Located across the Pearl River estuary from Hong Kong, Macau was a Portuguese colony for 300 years until 1999. In the 16th Century, China gave Portugal the right to settle in Macau in exchange for clearing the area of pirates. Today it is a city of blended cultures, with ancient Chinese temples sitting on streets paved with tradi-tional Portuguese tiles, and streets with Portuguese names. You can eat traditional Portuguese dishes or Chinese, along with many other cosmo-politan dining options. Macau is one of the world's richest cities best known globally as the 'Vegas of China.' This city generates more revenue from gambling than anywhere else on the planet, including Vegas. The Macau Special Administrative Region is indeed a mecca of gambling and glitz, with an economy heavily dependent on tourism and gambling of every sort, from greyhound racing to horseracing, slot machines and gaming tables. Macau does however have other things to see that do not include just gambling. Macau Peninsula holds the old city centre, where colonial ruins sit next to arty new boutiques. You can visit UNESCO World Heritage Sites, like the Ruins of St. Paul, Monte Fortress, and including a section of the old city wall. Further south are the conjoined islands of Taipa, Cotai and Coloane. Taipa has gloriously preserved Macanese architecture, Cotai is home to the new mega casinos and Coloane is lined with colonial villages and pretty beach-es, where you can enjoy a relaxing day. Macau’s nightlife is still not quite up to par, but there is a nightlife scene slowly starting to emerge, in order to cater to the Chinese and Western tourists alike.

Safe Food Handling

Most healthy people will recover from a foodborne illness within a short time, some can develop chronic, severe, or even life-threatening health problems. Pregnant women, young children, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems (such as transplant patients and individu-als with HIV/AIDS, cancer, or diabetes) are at higher risk. from food poison-ing, Follow these four simple steps: clean, separate, cook, and chill. * See full guide www.fda.gov

CLEAN Wash your hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds before and after handling food. Wash your cutting boards, dishes, utensils, and counter tops with hot soapy water after preparing each food item. Kitchen wipes and paper tow-els are good to clean up kitchen surfaces. If you use cloth towels, launder them often in the hot cycle. Rinse fresh fruits and vegetables under running tap water, in-cluding those with skins and rinds that are not eaten. Scrub firm produce with a clean produce brush. With canned goods, re-member to clean lids before opening.

SEPARATE Separate raw meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs from other foods in your grocery shopping cart, grocery bags, and refrigera-tor. Use one cutting board for fresh pro-duce, a separate one for raw meat, poul-try, and seafood. Never place cooked food on a plate that previously held raw food.

COOK Using a food thermometer is the only way to ensure the safety of meat, poultry, sea-food, and egg products for all cooking methods. These foods must be cooked to a safe minimum internal temperature to destroy any harmful bacteria.

CHILL Use an appliance thermometer to be sure the temperature is consistently 40° F or below and the freezer temperature is 0° F or below. Refrigerate or freeze meat, poultry, eggs, seafood, and other perisha-bles within 2 hours of cooking or purchas-ing. Refrigerate within 1 hour if the temper-ature outside is above 90° F.

Macau Venetian - Bloghotel.com image

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FHA Released Actuarial Report for 2017

On November 15, 2017 — The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) released its Annual Report to Congress and the FY 2017 Actuarial Review of the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund. The report shows that for forward mortgages the capital reserve ratio was a healthy 3.33 percent, up from 3.11 percent for FY 2016. Serious delinquency rates continue to decline, dropping from a rate of 4.92 percent for FY 2016 to 4.32 percent for FY 2017. The total capital reserves for FY 2017 are $25.6 billion.

This is the third year in a row that the Fund exceeded the statutory requirement to maintain at least a 2 percent capital reserve ratio. The Fund's capital reserve ratio was 2.09 percent, down from 2.35 percent for FY 2016, due to the extremely poor performance of the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program. The FY 2017 HECM ratio was a nega-tive 19.84 percent, demonstrating an increase in volatility from FY 2016 when the ratio was a nega-tive 11.81 percent. 2018 NAR President Elizabeth Mendenhall issued the following statement on behalf of NAR: “FHA’s mutual mortgage insur-ance fund once again exceeded its target of a 2 percent capital reserve ratio, but that only tells a part of the story. The forward program has a 3.33 percent capi-tal reserve ratio, which HUD ad-mits is well beyond what Con-gress requires. Realtors® are excited to see rising numbers of first-time, lower-income and mi-nority homebuyers accessing FHA programs while the forward fund continues to strengthen. We believe the numbers still point to a healthy program that can do more to help homebuyers enter the market.”

Pending Home Sales Rebounded in October

National Association of Realtors WASHINGTON (November 29, 2017) — Pending home sales rebounded strongly in October following three straight months of diminishing activity, but still continued their recent slide of falling behind year ago levels, according to the National Association of Realtors®. All major regions except for the West saw an increase in contract signings last month. The Pending Home Sales Index, www.nar.realtor/pending-home-sales, a for-ward-looking indicator based on contract signings, rose 3.5 percent to 109.3 in October from a downwardly revised 105.6 in September. The index is now at its highest reading since June (110.0), but is still 0.6 percent below a year ago. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says pending sales in October were primarily driven higher by a big jump in the South, which saw a nice bounce back after hurricane-related disruptions in September. “Last month's solid increase in contract signings were still not enough to keep activity from de-clining on an annual basis for the sixth time in seven months,” he said. “Home shoppers had better luck finding a home to buy in October, but slim pickings and consistently fast price gains continue to frustrate and prevent too many would-be buyers from reaching the market.” According to Yun, the supply and affordability headwinds seen most of the year have not abated this fall. Although homebuilders are doing their best to ramp up production of single-family homes amidst ongoing labor and cost challenges, overall activity still drastically lags demand. Further exacerbating the inventory scarcity is the fact that homeowners are staying in their homes longer. NAR's 2017 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers – released last month – revealed that homeowners typically stayed in their home for 10 years before selling (an all-time survey high). Prior to 2009, sellers consist-ently lived in their home for a median of six years before selling. “Existing inventory has decreased every month on an annual basis for 29 consecutive months, and the number of homes for sale at the end of October was the lowest for the month since 1999

1,” said Yun. “Until new home con-

struction climbs even higher and more investors and homeowners put their home on the market, sales will continue to severely trail underlying demand.”

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Catalunya’s Price for Independence About 2.26 million of Catalunya’s 5.34 million voters (42.3 percent) voted in

the illegal referendum, according to Reuters. The claim that 90% of Catalans

are pro-independence, is simply not accurate considering the massive anti-

independence protests that dwarfed the pro-independence marches. Some

claim it's 40% of Catalans that are pro-independence, considering that's

roughly the 90% of yes in a 42% turnout (actually 37,8%). When you take

these facts into account, the picture is vastly different from the headlines

stating 90% of Catalans vote yes for succession.

Catalunya is one of Spain's wealthiest regions, making up 16% of the nation-al population and accounting for almost 19% of Spanish GDP. Spain's na-tional public debt in 2016 was priced at roughly $1.18 trillion, according to central bank statistics. Meanwhile, Catalunya has amassed one of the larg-est public debts of Spain's regions, at roughly 72.2 billion euros ($86.9 bil-lion) in 2016.

While Catalan leaders have been remanded in prison or have fled into exile since the regional parliament declared an independent republic in October, the cold realities of actual independence, have been demonstrated quite clearly. First by the lack of support and recognition of the international com-munity, in a statement, the European Commission said the vote wasn’t legal. They stated “As (European Commission) President (Jean-Claude) Juncker has reiterated repeatedly, this is an internal matter for Spain that has to be dealt with in line with the constitutional order of Spain.” The withdrawal of significant international business from the region is also a high price Catalu-nya can ill afford. Worth considering also, is that in order to become a part of the union it must receive a unanimous "yes" from EU members and that in-cludes Spain and its allies, which are unlikely to vote for Catalunya's addition to the EU. Denied entrance to the union, or even prolonged delay, would cost the Catalan economy dearly. Transition costs would impact greatly, as the EU accounts for roughly 65.8 percent of Catalan exports. In addition any trading difficulties with Spain would hinder the economy even further.

King Felipe Vl of Spain - denouncing illegal referendum ProjectPegasusInternational.com

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