Japan Foreclosed Property 2015-2016 - Buy this 5th edition report!

Over the years, this ebook has been enhanced with additional research to offer a comprehensive appraisal of the Japanese foreclosed property market, as well as offering economic and industry analysis. The author travels to Japan regularly to keep abreast of the local market conditions, and has purchased several foreclosed properties, as well as bidding on others. Japan is one of the few markets offering high-yielding property investment opportunities. Contrary to the 'rural depopulation' scepticism, the urban centres are growing, and they have always been a magnet for expatriates in Asia. Japan is a place where expats, investors (big or small) can make highly profitable real estate investments. Japan is a large market, with a plethora of cheap properties up for tender by the courts. Few other Western nations offer such cheap property so close to major infrastructure. Japan is unique in this respect, and it offers such a different life experience, which also makes it special. There is a plethora of property is depopulating rural areas, however there are fortnightly tenders offering plenty of property in Japan's cities as well. I bought a dormitory 1hr from Tokyo for just $US30,000.
You can view foreclosed properties listed for as little as $US10,000 in Japan thanks to depopulation and a culture that is geared towards working for the state. I bought foreclosed properties in Japan and now I reveal all in our expanded 350+page report. The information you need to know, strategies to apply, where to get help, and the tools to use. We even help you avoid the tsunami and nuclear risks since I was a geologist/mining finance analyst in a past life. Check out the "feedback" in our blog for stories of success by customers of our previous reports.

Download Table of Contents here.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Corruption in the Philippines

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The following article highlights the problem with governance in the Philippines. Read this article, and then my commentary. 
The problem with the current system is:
1. The centralised nature of financial disbursements
2. The lack of accountability for how those funds are disbursed
3. The lack of discretion that taxpayers have to contribute. i.e. Taxation is coercive; not voluntary.
4. The lack of legal action for anyone else to fill the 'needs' failed by government
5. The cynicism of taxpayers who, lacking discretion with their taxation, are loathsome to contribute more.

The problem is our system of government which results in:
1. Sanctioning of powerful interests whose legitimacy rests on their capacity to win an election. They do that by making promises which are contingent upon extortion of financial resources from taxpayers. i.e. This is essentially mob rule, and its no kinder than any tyranny. In fact, its worse because its sanctioned as 'your choice' because you 'chose' one tyrant over another, who are competing on the practicality of extortion. Where can that system take you, but towards greater community resignation, and greater political leader desperation. It will ultimately lead to a more oppressive state, as you back is broken. The paradox is that representative democracy was supposed to preserve stability; but in fact its setting society up for the perfect storm, and your politicians will not take responsibility for it. 
2. Repudiation of reason as the standard of value. Under democracy it is mob rule which decides what gets done. The implication is that arbitrary rules dictate what people do, and detached from any context, it is possible for anyone to circumvent the law by finding a 'loophole' in it. Whether the loophole is identified by government, to impose a new law/tax upon you, or corporates trying to reduce their tax burden, the implication is that government becomes, not a framework for protecting you, but a framework for systematically imposing arbitrary law upon you. Yes, it becomes a framework for tyranny. Death by a 1000 statutes. Statutory law comes to displace a far more coherent and logical framework of 'principled' common law, which actually far better carries a context, and is far less controversial. That's not to say that it is perfect. It is not fully open to rational debates; particularly since it has been subjugated to the 'public interest' test of statute law. i.e. Common law today has to be popular. 

What is the solution? It is clear to me that the solution is:
1. Meritocracy - This means different things to different people. Some consider the current system a 'merit-based' system because its the successful, wealthy people who dictate how the system functions because they finance powerful interests or parties, which succeed in getting them elected. This is extortion or mob rule to me. i.e. This is coercive or 'brutality' as the standard of value, i.e. The threat of physical force. I am instead suggesting rational debate, open to the poor (or their representatives) and rich alike. People argue 'whose reason'? The answer is yours; but there is no conflict between rational people, even if their context is different, they share the same 'reality' functioning under the same universal rules of nature. People think that people are not open to reason. This is no true; the problem is that they have the discretion not to be reasonable. Even if they are 'reasonable', they have the discretion to walk away when they are 'sure', rather than confront opponents or their contradictions. You never end a debate. So long as you have opponents, you keep debating. The fact that people are never able to close a debate means that fundamental issues are never resolved. i.e. We are still debating very simple or fundamental questions after hundreds of years of democracy. That is because we had 'aristocratic democracy which locked our competitors; and now we have extortion-based (3 party democracy - capitalists, labour, greenies mainly) imposing their agendas; so we never get to the facts. 
2. Decentralisation of power - Critics will argue that it would take too long to reach agreement on all issues if everyone needed to be convinced. The opposite is actually true. No decisions are really made under representative democracy, which means only 'material' or self-evident values are advanced, i.e. Its easy to get a govt to spend money; just not to do anything useful with that money. The alternative is to avoid the slow pace of decision-making by decentralising it. Not only does this allow people to contribute, which empowers and educates them, it allows them to participate in their area of knowledge or strength, and feel comforted that 'reason is never off the table'. i.e. The system is always open to them to challenge...or learn. They are not alienated by the system. There is no conflict between rational men when reason is the standard. Its a source of convince and respect for your fellow men; whether you respect their 'belated' better argument, or because they respect yours. This is a source of validation missing from representative democracy. In Western Democracy, you walk away from the table cynical, so you stop participating. You resign yourself to the fact that you have no right to exist; that your life is as a slave. 

If you want to make a difference to change the relationship between you and society. If you want a world where due regard is shown for the human mind. Then you need a different political paradigm. Representative democracy is incompatible with rationality. Only when we sponsor some small fragment of rational discourse will society come to understand what it truly means to be human. Few people are scarcely able to live by that paradigm in this era of slavery; which is posited as an era of 'rights' and 'reason'; but that is a moral relativist illusion. We are a long way from sanctioning or validating intellectual discourse. We are instead beholden to 2minute TV sound-bits and the arbitrary decisions of leaders; and the injustice of our justice system. The animal kingdom displays greater integrity than mankind. Start questioning why this is the case. Question the values upon which you were raised. You cannot separate political rights from economic rights. If you have no money because you are arbitrarily taxed, or threatened by arbitrary and punitive financial sanction by arbitrary rules, then you have no political rights. What good is 'due process' if you have no right to a material existence? This is the loophole which your government counts upon for its 'middleman' existence.

Already a great many expatriates live in the Philippines; not because its a better form of government, but because its smaller and more feeble. If you want to make a difference to our framework of political discourse - sign our petition!






Thursday, July 12, 2012

Philippines property boom or bust?

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Land prices have risen considerably in Asia, and the Philippines is no exception, even if the country is no laggard. Even if the USA, Japan and EU are weak, the Asian and Latin American economies are still pretty robust, and at the end of the day, these economies can be expected to drive most global growth for the next 5-10 years. So what can we expect?
1. Lower interest rates. There are economists talking of the US treasury rate on 10-year bonds falling to 1%. This does not surprise me. The implication I suggest however is greater in those countries which are not overly indebted, i.e. Asian countries. I'm expecting a property boom, and you can expect this wealth growth to feed into consumption, before the USA and EU rejoin the party. Also expect Western investment in Asian property. The driver for this will undoubtedly be yields. Consider that Philippine rental yields are very attractive at 8.62%. Indonesia is less attractive for personal investors, because of regulatory issues, but even Indonesia might appeal with future reforms. Certainly the Philippines looks like the best market, for reasons like their 18-mth 'extended' stay on a tourist visa. In fact they are higher than they were several years ago, highlighting the fact that income growth is outpacing construction in these uncertain times. 
                                     Source: Trading Economics.
2. Strong fundamentals for the Philippines with high commodity prices, high remittances and of course the strong business outsourcing market. 
3. Improving governance - We have yet to see much change here. There is a top-down push for anti-corruption, i.e. The sanctioning of the Chief Justice and former President Arroyo, but this might well just be a changing of the guard, rather than heralding the end of corruption. 

Indoubtedly global debt levels have topped out, but don't for a moment think that this boom is over as long as 70% of the global population is liberalising. This is the Industrial Revolution...that one in the 17-18th century was a baby in some respects. This is just as significant. In fact, we might even expect political reform before the end of it. More realistically, I'd expect such reform because of a 2030s crash...but that's a long time off. 

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Building or buying a house in the Philippines

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Here is a foreigner/expatriate who has built a house in the Philippines. I might note several considerations:
1. The opportunity to build with local labour to lower your costs; as long as you tightly structure contracts and manage performance to ensure your expectations are closely realised
2. The opportunity to buy foreclosed properties - remembering that not all banks offer good value, and to check to ensure you are paying a reasonable price
3. Take the opportunity not just to find out the prices of property from websites like Sulit.com.ph, but to also talk to landowners around your areas of interest. Why? At face value property in the Philippines looks like a rather illiquid market. Well, you'd be surprised how many sellers are out there, but its harder to connect with them.
4. Foreigners are like gold mines to Filipinos; a dollar sign flashes before their eyes when they see one. Its engrained in them from the age of 5yo. Its all a big joke; but at the end of the day, its their 'inter-dependence' culture that pulls everyone down. The difference between you and some other rich Chinese Filipino is that they will probably be assured that you have money, and that you are less likely to be committed to someone. 

See this blog by an expatriate who has built a house in the Philippines. You might expect materials to be more expensive in the Visayas. See here.

Monday, June 25, 2012

The Philippines is at war over energy

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Living in the Philippines at the moment you could be forgiven for thinking that the country is at war. It feels like D-Day. For the last 3 days I've seen helicopters, jet planes flying around with great conviction. Surely the Philippines is stepping up its military rhetoric as a result of ongoing clashes with the Chinese over the Spratly Islands. It is enough to suspect that this is going to be an awful shock for equity markets. Not that the issue will amount to anything; its just the surprising hostilities over something which was really off the radar....or more to point....such a pin-prick that no one thought much of it. It becomes just another reason to sell in a market with a confidence problem. Of course, for China it is a measure of conviction, an incidental issue to test whether the US would actually engage on an issue of real importance, like Taiwan.

Resort living in the Philippines
In actual fact, it makes more sense for the Philippines to simply give the offshore areas to China. Why? Well, ultimately the only reward the Philippines could expect is a royalty. Any oil or gas would be despatched to China, the only investors would be Chinese/Taiwanese, and this is ultimately the market.

Andrew Sheldon NZ Property Guide Philippine Real Estate Guide Foreclosed Japan Guide Applied Critical Thinking, Strategy, Integrity Investments SheldonThinks

Monday, January 2, 2012

Muslim rebels take another expatriate

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An Australian expatriate married to a Filipino is the latest person to have been held for ransom by Muslim rebels in the southern Philippine state of Mindanao. Read our interpretation of this state of affairs - you might be surprised by our thoughts on the incident.

Andrew Sheldon NZ Property Guide Philippine Real Estate Guide Foreclosed Japan GuideApplied Critical Thinking, Strategy, Integrity Investments SheldonThinks