All posts by MyOrbit-Team

Notes for Commercial Real Estate Investments

Commercial real estate is defined as property that is used for the purpose of commerce. For example, an office building, a warehouse, retail store, shopping center or an apartment building with five or more units.

Today in 2010, due to the global recession since 2008, there is a much higher supply of commercial real estate than its demand, and hence the prices are attractive and can be negotiated hard by interested buyers.

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/05/0529_commercialrealestate/image/4_gherkinbuilding.jpg

We expect that commercial real estate prices may correct by 10-20% in 2011 depending on the country and city. In general one can’t go wrong with buying commercial real estate (office space, rather than shopping malls) in big cities if the time frame is 5-10 years.

The risk-reward is more in commercial property than in residential property. Commercial real estate returns can give attractive over 5-10 year period; much better than you would get from residential real estate of the same proportion.

Location is very important in commercial real estate. Our experience has been that “it is better in general” to have a small space at a busy city-center/downtown place, than to a big space at a suburb.

London and New York are two cities that will deliver good returns despite recession if you can invest for 5-10 years. Irrespective of where you are in the world, see if you can invest in commercial property in high growth cities like Mumbai, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Shanghai, etc. These cities can deliver 5x returns in 10 years. Continue reading

Miracle 2010: All 33 Miners Rescued Safely from San Jose Mine in Chile

All 33 Miners Rescued Safely from San Jose Mine in Chile, and it is an amazing feat.  This is a miracle. We are very happy to see all miners come back alive and safely. 33 out of 33 in such a difficult mining accident will make it a milestone in mining history, or any engineering accident for that matter.

And it has been made possible by (1) sheer determination of the trapped miners to survive and (2) absolute top class engineering and mining effort by the rescue teams. We hear the total team was made of experts from USA, Germany, and many other countries. NASA also helped with special high calorie liquid food and psychological coaching to the trapped miners to survive the long isolation. This is a world class example for Project Management.

Congratulations to all people involved in this extremely well executed project.

estamos muy contentos de los mineros! le deseamos una larga vida!

Juan Carlos Aguilar

Fenix was the capsule designed to rescue one miner at a time.

Miner Jose Ojeda arrives as the seventh miner ...
Residents rally in support of the miners trapped ...
Following were photos taken from inside the mine on 27 August 2010, and we were praying for the safety of the miners, and today we are very happy after their successful rescue mission.

http://l1.yimg.com/a/i/ww/news/2010/08/27/082710minervid2.jpg

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20100827/capt.df5fb5040dea4d1aa7dfbf3601ba93e3-df5fb5040dea4d1aa7dfbf3601ba93e3-0.jpg?x=213&y=163&xc=1&yc=1&wc=409&hc=313&q=85&sig=HcuDaYZ_FDsuIeKPWm7RUA--

Tips for Parents of Children with Food Allergies

Are you the parent of a child who suffers with food allergies? If yes, here are some helpful tips to cope with your child’s medical condition.

Start by talking with your child about their food allergy. This is most important to do with preschoolers and young elementary school aged children. It is common for this age group to switch snacks or share snacks with their friends or classmates, but it isn’t always safe to do so. The sooner you have this conversation with your child, the better it will be. For small children, be sure to discus your child’s food allergy with them more than once. For older children and teenagers, teach them how they can read food labels themselves. Continue reading

How To Choose Allergy Medications?

If you suffer from allergies, we understand you. You may always be on the lookout for ways to seek relief. Although there are a number of natural ways that allergy sufferers are able to treat or manage their symptoms, many turn to medicine. Whether it be prescription medications or over-the-counter medications, many find themselves wondering which ones are the best.

When it comes to determining which allergy medications are the best, there are a number of important points that must first be taken into consideration. One of those points is the type of allergies. For example, different individuals suffer from different allergies. Some suffer from pet allergies, some suffer from mold allergies, some suffer from food allergies, and so forth. Some medications are better for those with certain allergies, as more targeted treatment is provided. One of the best approaches to take is to speak with a professional healthcare provider or do the research online. Continue reading

UK HMRC at melting point with over £40 billion uncollected tax

This audio interview reveals a very difficult situation within the UK HMRC, which has the responsibility to collect taxes, with £40 billion uncollected tax due to bad software systems and under-staffing.

UK HMRC at melting point

There are a million pieces of unanswered post. It will be taking 3 months to answer them, which itself might increase the problem further if a person has to pay back taxes with interest.

The UK HMRC contact centers are severely under-staffed, and that fact comes out from numerous press reports of people having to wait for a long time just to be able to speak to a tax officer to understand any discrepency in the tax numbers they have with them vs what HMRC is asking from them.

The average tax payment due is about £1400 and about 1.4 million people will receive letters from HMRC by Christmas.

So if you are in the UK and frustrated with not having any response from the HMRC, now you understand that many others are facing the same, and that the staff at HMRC are stretched to the limits already.

As long as you keep the communication from your side intact, it should be okay.