http://www.behindrealestate.com The secrets, the dirty details & the real facts behind the biggest financial decisons in our lives. Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:10:37 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The World's Best Places to Live 2008 Mercer Consulting's annual roundup of the global cities with the best quality of life is here, and Zurich once again comes out on top. The best place in the U.S.? Honolulu at No. 28 By Carl Winfield New York, London, and Paris are internationally renowned cities ... http://www.behindrealestate.com/2008/08/19/businessweeks-the-worlds-best-places-to-live-2008/ Supposedly, the world's happiest country is...Denmark. The country is #1 in terms of the Gini coefficient, #2 in terms of being the most peaceful country in the world & have the 6th highest GDP per capita. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Denmark, with its democracy, social equality and peaceful atmosphere, is the ... http://www.behindrealestate.com/2008/07/07/denmark-supposedly-is-a-very-happy-place-to-live/ ...at least this is what a recent Businessweek article is writing. Some more from the article: State and local governments were flush with tax revenue during the five-year housing boom. They pulled from bulging pools of property, income, and sales tax to expand education, law enforcement, health care, and infrastructure ... http://www.behindrealestate.com/2008/06/30/less-real-estate-taxes-less-government-money-less-services-to-citizens/ // --> // --> // --> Too many sites, too little time (close to 100 to be exact)... I decided to just copy and paste a bunch of websites I'll be reviewing and reporting on later. These are courtesy of http://www.killerstartups.com Keycanada.ca - Online Real Estate Community Currently in beta mode and restricted to the ... http://www.behindrealestate.com/2008/06/20/real-estate-websites-galore/ // --> // --> Looks like Seattle's already achieved 50% the number of housing units they were targeting for 2024 here in 2008. Approximately 47,000 housing units are built or being created right now which would represent the city's 2024 housing targets. Specifically, Ballard and Eastlake take the cake as far ... http://www.behindrealestate.com/2008/06/18/builders-can-sleep-until-2024-in-seattle-potential-deals-in-seattle/ Sitting in a taxi cab driving home earlier tonight, I thought to myself "The Taxi rates are pretty low here in Korea. How long will this last given the increase in oil prices?" Very specifically, it costs a little less than $2 (U.S.) for a 5-10 minute cab ... http://www.behindrealestate.com/2008/06/14/embrace-public-transportation/ I've taken the liberty to do a little research for all the real estate agents out there taking advantage of online marketing. There's paid online marketing and organic/natural online marketing, but both forms need to know what's the best real estate keywords to target. "Real estate" is the highest ... http://www.behindrealestate.com/2008/06/08/house-or-houses-what-real-estate-keywords-do-you-target/ // --> As consumers, we're getting more and more fortunate every day in terms of information available about the real estate world and for the savvier real estate agents, so are you! The year 2008 has a plethora of online virtual properties for you to do almost anything real estate ... http://www.behindrealestate.com/2008/06/06/best-real-estate-websites-roundup-2008/ Businessweek with data provided by a New York firm called OnBoard identified the top 50 locations throughout the U.S. to raise your kids based on crime rates, cost of living, schools, test scores and cultural amenities. The top were: No. 1 Groesbeck, Ohio No. 2 Western Springs, Ill. No. 3 Deerfield, Ill. No. 4 Echelon, ... http://www.behindrealestate.com/2008/06/01/dont-raise-your-kids-in-california-or-washington-state-at-least-if-you-have-a-budget/ Another list of potential places to invest in: http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/04/0418_housing/index_01.htm?chan=rss_topSlideShows_ssi_5 The slide show argues some markets have seen as much as a 40% drop in home prices and so it's wise to get in. A friend of mine in the business says "business is picking up" probably due to the drop. Cities listed ... http://www.behindrealestate.com/2008/05/12/buying-opportunties-in-some-of-the-biggest-cities-in-the-us/