All Forum Posts by: Darlene Berkel

Thanks for the tips. Very helpful. Especially about linking articles published in the directories to posts on the blog. I will start slowly and try to find a schedule I can stick to. That may be the biggest challenge.

I like smooth Jazz.

My favorite is Kenny G... ( I LOVE him), others in my collection are Stanley Clark, Goerge Duke, Wynton Marsalis, Stanley Jordan, Spyro Gyra, Najee.

I have not been able to attend any Caribbean Jazz festivals recently, but its about time I scheduled that into my busy life again. Popular Jazz musicians congregate on different Caribbean Islands each year for the Tropical Jazz Festival of a lifetime.

Seems like Jazz Festivals are a central theme for many tourist bureau's in the Caribbean. I am not sure who enjoys them more, the tourists or the locals. It works to combine a great tourism product with great music. After all, music is an international language.. it brings people together, regardless of their background.

For me, the trick is finding something that I ENJOY doing and fits my schedule. For me, that is walking. I can walk different routes, which keeps it different and motivating, plus I can fit it into my schedule ( morning or afternoon). Even when I travel, I can take a good brisk walk.

I tried Gyms for a while and I get bored going to the SAME building over and over. Same with a home gym, I tend to get bored quickly going to the same room, to the same machine each day. No wonder its so tough to stay motivated.

With walking, its much more diverse. Then I get home and do about 15 minutes weight training after a good brisk POWER WALK! There is just no better way to start ( or end) the day!

CONGRATULATIONS!

You turned something painful (the break-up) into something very good...a determination to quit smoking! Quitting smoking is like losing weight, it is easy to talk about, but not so easy to do and requires a lot of will and determination.

In fact, quitting smoking may be more difficult in many ways since its is not only a HABIT but also an addiction. Your health will improve significantly, and so will your outlook on life despite the hurt in the past!

Being GOOD to yourself is the best thing you can do when life throws you a curve ball... and that is just what you have done. Good for you!! Bravo!

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the welcoming words. I feel "at home" already. I just need to be careful what I say in the non-advertising forums!

Curacao is indeed a great place to live. You get all the facilities of the "big cities" without the hassles (e.g. traffic). Since I am a dutch national, a Realtor license is not required, but I should complete my Realtor course in the next 4 weeks.

The real estate market here has a lot to offer, especially for real estate investors. Here are a few reasons why:

• Stable government, Curacao is part of the Dutch Kingdom.
• Curacao is attractive for investors: great location, a stable democracy, no hurricanes, modern facilities and constant economic growth (3% in 2007)
• Offshore banking available. Many multinationals have established their headquarters in Curacao.
• The current economic growth is expected to last at least another 10 to 15 years. This results in higher incomes and high return on investment.
• The Netherlands Antilles guilder has been pegged to the US dollar at the exchange rate of US$ 1.00= ANG. 1.78.

Properties that are high in demand for rental purposes costs about $150-$250 per square foot, with the higher prices for ocean view or waterfront properties. This is relatively low compared to other islands with a similar level of development where properties can sell for $500 - $750 per square foot.

The good news for investors and absentee owners is that the rental income here is relatively high compared to the purchase costs of the property, especially for properties with great views and/or easy access to the beach, which can generate anywhere between US $2500 and US$6000 per month ( depending on the size of the property). Properties with 2 or more bedrooms and 2 or more bathrooms are always in HIGH demand.

Hope this helps to give you an idea of what the market here is like.

I plan to do some real estate blogging indeed. I feel comfortable with that.

I have heard about squidoo and hubpages, but I would not know where to start to set one up. I like the idea of video's too, that's a great idea, but I would have the same technical barriers.

I imagine that there are places on the web where you can hire people to do all this for you? I would not want spend too much time "learning" how to build squidoo pages. I am a firm believer in outsourcing, but then again, good help is hard to find.

Any referrals you can provide would be welcome. I am working on setting up a marketing plan right now, so I can include all this as part of what I should be doing in the next 6 months. Depending on the cost factor I can decide what to do now and what to do a bit later.

Thanks for the tips.

I would like to publish an article about once a week. Is this too little or too often? Can anyone recommend what a "good" frequency would be for publishing real estate articles in article directories.

I would tend to think that the more often the better, but I am not sure if that would work with real estate. Sometimes, less can mean more.

I am already working on a list of topics to write about, but the list is pretty short so far. any tips about generating ideas for article topics would also be most welcome. Thanks in advance.

My goal for this month is to set-up a practical and effective online (and off line) leads generation/marketing campaign which I can stick to for at least 6 months.

I am partnering with another real estate agent to do joint off-line advertising, but I want to set up an online marketing campaign too. I like the idea of article writing. So I am glad that I found this forum and can benefit from the ideas of experienced online marketers.

I started right out of college in 1994. I bought my first property ( a house) and my dad helped me fix it up. I held it for a few years and then sold it as part of a sweet deal to a great uncle who had sentimental attachments to the property. ( Turns out my great grand father had built it originally, and I was about to sell it off to the highest bidder).

After that I bought another home which I fixed up and rented out, followed by a one acre lot in the mountains and a commercial unit. Both are still rented to date and paying for themselves. That's when I knew I loved real estate. And I have been dabbling in it for quite a while. Its the best way to build wealth and generate passive income.

Now, I am getting into selling commercial real estate, luxury homes, and vacation homes as a real estate agent. Where I live, these seems to be the booming real estate markets. Finding clients for these high end properties means I will have to find "bigger pockets" outside the borders of the small island I call home.

Thank goodness for the world wide web... ( and for this forum of course)! :)

Have you thought of Curacao?

Its one of the dutch islands in the Caribbean, just off the coast of Venezuela.
I live on Curacao and there is a lot going on here in the real estate investing area.