| THE BUY TO LET SCAVENGERS WHO PREY ON THE HOUSING MARKET
You are bidding on another house, only to be outbid again. The housing market is hard. Not only does being outbid mean that you need to pay another month's rent, it also means that housing prices will increase about 100 pounds a day until you bid again. Even as you hit the real estate office looking for something - anything - to buy, any potential properties are being sold to real estate agents and buy-to-let landlords. Clever homeowners are quickly turning a few thousand pounds into fortunes. It must be nice to have the guts to risk everything. It is one thing to be loose a home to another young family. It is a 'kick in the gut' to be gazumped by a buy-to-let landlord. How are these people making money? Quite simply, they are taking advantage of the bank's willingness to lend money, high interest rates, and house auctions.
Japan Catches Art Fever as Sales Rise at Auction, Tokyo Fair
April 19 (Bloomberg) -- A Hisashi Tenmyouya painting sold at Tokyo's contemporary art sale at the weekend for 16.5 million yen ($139,000), an elevenfold gain for the work in three years and a sign Japan's long-dormant art market may be catching up. ``Nue'' was the top lot at Shinwa Art Auction's April 14 sale, which took a record 183 million yen in feverish bidding. The event followed last week's Art Fair Tokyo 2007, Japan's biggest art fair, where sales tripled to 1 billion yen from the previous event in 2005. ``I couldn't believe it,'' said Sueo Mizuma, owner of Mizuma Gallery, who sold the Tenmyouya work in 2004 to a collector for 150,000 yen. ``Tokyo art fever has just started.'' Prices of modern and contemporary art in Japan are still a fraction of those in the West and trail the increases in China in the past five years.
St. Francis Co. delinquent land auction sale nets $26719
The State Land Office collected close to $28,000 in revenue during the recent sale of tax-delinquent St. Francis County properties. According to a press release from the State Land Office, Commissioner of State Lands Mark Wilcox conducted the auction of tax-delinquent properties at the St. Francis County Courthouse. According to the press release, a total of 25 interested bidders attended the sale, which is held annually by the state to dispose of land on which the taxes have been past due for over four years. Ninety parcels were sold, collecting a total of $26,719.57 for St. Francis County and state government. The Land Commissioners office conducts one tax-delinquent land sale per county each year. A small percentage of certified parcels make it to public auction because a majority of the properties certified to our office are redeemed, which means that the back taxes are paid by the original owner, said Wilcox in the press release.
CDA seeks court OK to auction Gardenia
The Commonwealth Development Authority is asking the local court for a writ of execution so it could auction off the Pacific Gardenia Hotel and Sunset Beach Bar."We will be submitting our petition soon. The court has already ruled in favor of the CDA. We now need the writ of execution so we can auction it and sell Pacific Gardenia," said CDA acting chief executive officer Oscar Camacho.In a ruling last year, the Superior Court ordered the owners of Pacific Gardenia Hotel to pay $2.4 million to CDA for non-payment of loan, accrued interest and late charges.The CDA is also asking the Superior Court to grant it the receivership of the hotel. Camacho said the court has set a court hearing on the receivership status next month."We want to be the receiver," said Camacho.Currently, financial consultant Rex I.
[Northumberland Notes
5f you would like your community event to appear in the daily community calendar, please send details at least one week in advance to the Cobourg Daily Star or Port Hope Evening Guide, 99 King St. W., Cobourg, Ont. K9A 2M4; fax: 905-372-4966; e-mail cdsnews@ northumberland today.com.
Publicized events must be open to the public.
Tuesday, April 24
Today's program at the Ruth Clarke Activity Centre for Seniors, 81 Mill Street South, Port Hope, includes tai chi (advanced at 9 a.m., intermediate at 10 a.m. and beginners at 11 a.m.), darts at 9:15 a.m. and Bingo at 1:30 p.m. As well, the lounge area is open from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. For information about activities and membership, call 905-885-2228.
The Cobourg and District Seniors' Activity Committee welcome you to the Market Building (201 Second Street) for golf at 9 a.m.
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