Alternative Investor

A state of progress

A few years ago the US state of Ohio decided to rebrand itself as the “State of Progress” and in it's recently released future spending plans it seems that it has decided to take that progress in the direction of gambling based sports.

The two year $50.5 billion budget (which is still under consideration) shows Ohio to be one of the first states in the USA to be planning for the relaxed gambling laws that are due to filter down from congress through the legislative boards over the next few years, and it looks like Ohio want to be ready to go as soon as the starting gun has fired.

The spending plans include state wide distribution of lottery terminals the building of new horse tracks (racecourses to we British) these tracks are expected to produce revenues for the state in the region of $500million per year. There is a planned re-investment into the speedway and car tracks that have already made Ohio a big part of the motor racing world, and a plan to bring more world class motorcycle sports into the state.

Alongside these event based plans are proposed builds for both large and small casinos and the development of the betting industry that provides income for all of the above and the state itself in taxes and fees.

Ohio's position in the mid North East of the continental United States may also make it a lure for those East coast Americans who currently have to fly to California to visit Las Vegas, and with the possibility of higher flight costs due to the rising cost of oil it may be that more than just one of the US States could decide to make themselves the hub of gambling for there area of the North America.

One thing is for sure, there will be many delegations from Ohio to Las Vegas over the next few years, but whether anyone will want to talk to them, who knows?

Hot Property

My views on property investment have always been that it is more than likely to be a long term investment which can in some circumstances bring quite a few problems along the way, and unless you buy just before a spike in house prices it can be a decade or longer before you see significant returns. Property can be a difficult investment in your own country and so it would be true to say that I am not the biggest fan of foreign property for investment, and I would not normally recommend it. However, the current international downturn, or rather the effect that is has had and caused on the Spanish and other holiday destination property and housing markets, have led to an abundance of repossessed properties on the Spanish and Portuguese markets.

These are looking like being a sound investment. Most of the repossessed properties in Spain and Portugal are priced at 50% less than their market value. This gives you 50% instant-equity, in theory, the only question you have to ask then, is will it ever regain its market value.

From an economic view the answer to that question is yes. 

Currently Spanish properties are plummeting in value at an alarming rate,  in the main because of the chronic over-supply caused by the mass-exodus of foreign buyers, and because of the state of the Spanish economy which is in its worse recession for decades with unemployment spiralling out of control.

According to figures revealed by Primelocation last month, and from Property Abroad.com Spanish property has always been and will remain the most popular with British buyers. When things start to recover the numbers of overseas people searching for and buying property in Spain will obviously grow rapidly. At the same time the Spanish economy recovering will once again drive up demand in the internal housing market.

Therefore at this time property values will start to grow again, and the properties will regain their market value in a reasonable time-frame, at which point you will have made a 50% return, less costs, but plus any rental income you have made during ownership. So for once the opportunity to  make a faster return on property in a more reasonable time frame is here.