Selling Gold as Other Commodity Prices Rise

Why You Should Be Selling Gold And Buying Timber

Sell Gold and Buy Timber

Sell Gold and Buy Timber?

No question, gold has had a nice run. It’s been up 12 consecutive years. And during this period, gold prices are up around 500%. This is probably why in 2012, 84% of new cash invested in commodities went into gold funds.

But these investors would have done far better if they had invested in another commodity that we use every day. One that beat gold by 567% in 2012.

While gold was up 6.6% last year… Timber was up 37.4%. And timber future prices were up 49%.

I’m not surprised.

I grew up around a lot of trees and vividly remember our annual family camping trips in the northern woods of Wisconsin. It seemed like millions of towering trees – some more than 200 feet tall – closed in on us from all sides, for miles on end.

But by a long shot, the best part of these trips were the pancake breakfast specials and all the stories about the lumberjacks and timber barons.

Fortunately, the cut and burn practices of the nineteenth century lumberjacks and timber barons have been replaced by a sophisticated, sustainable and scientific business model.

And this is why timber has proven to be a terrific investment over the years. Looking ahead, Jeremy Grantham’s GMO research team ranks timber the No. 1 asset class for expected returns over the next seven years.

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Indian Jeweler Becomes Billionaire Selling Gold With Price Tags

Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) — T.S. Kalyanaraman is beloved by his customers and detested by his rivals for bringing transparency to jewelry sales in India, where haggling is the norm.

He opened a shop in the southern Indian state of Kerala in 1993 and taught customers how to test the purity of their gold to expose cheating craftsmen. He was also the first jeweler in town to attach price tags to his gold and gem collection, angering competitors who accused him of ruining the trade.

Two decades later, the 65-year-old has become a billionaire as a 12-year rally in gold prices fails to damp demand in India, the world’s largest consumer of the precious metal. He owns 44 stores in India and plans to open 36 more by March 2014, including five in the Middle East.

“Less profit, more turnover; that is what we believe in,” Kalyanaraman, chairman of Kalyan Jewellers, said in a phone interview from Kerala. “Be as transparent as you can in your trade. The big thing in life is trust.”

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Selling Gold – Where to Sell Gold Without Getting Taken

New York, NY — (SBWIRE) — 01/24/2013 — In this economic climate of chronic unemployment, many consumers are reluctantly selling their heirloom gold jewelry and other antiques containing gold simply as a way to make ends meet. Joshua Goldblum, a successful financial and business consultant and creator of the site Buy Gold, is cautioning the public to be savvy about which gold buyer they prefer to deal with.

Joshua warns that, depending upon which gold dealer you tap, the amount of cash you receive for your gold items will vary significantly. He states, “In other words, some dealers offering to buy your gold for cash will pay you a mere fraction of what you would receive from a more reputable bullion dealer.”

While gold continues to gain in popularity among the public, the risks associated with buying and selling gold lead Joshua to create Buy Gold, a comprehensive website that provides informational resources to assist the public in every aspect of buying and selling gold. The Buy Gold website features a directory of dealers who buy and sell gold coins, ingots, jewelry and various other items made with or containing gold. Besides the expected dealer descriptions and contact info, the directory features an interactive rating and review system so that consumers can both leave reviews of dealers they’ve done business with as well as research reviews left by others to investigate the reputation of any gold buyer before deciding to work with that particular merchant.

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While commodities prices continue to trend up, selling gold continues to make the news. In spite of a lengthy bull market spanning the past decade (or because of it?), the public interest in gold continues to swell. Where the prices of gold, silver and platinum end up on the last trading day of 2013 is anybody’s guess, but at this point in time it looks likely that prices will continue trending up.

 

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Clean Energy Making Headway But Setbacks Remain

First world atlas on renewable energy launched

Renewable Energy Conference

Renewable Energy Conference

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) on Sunday launched the world’s first atlas on clean energy which will offer open-access information on countries’ renewable energy potential.

“The Global Atlas is the largest ever initiative to help countries assess their renewable energy potential, and companies bringing together data and maps from leading technical institutes and private companies worldwide,” IRENA said. “It currently charts solar and wind resources, and will expand to other forms of renewable energy over 2013 and 2014,” the agency announced as it began its two-day annual general assembly in Abu Dhabi.

The online atlas is available on www.irena.org/GlobalAtlas/ IRENA said the atlas will also help companies looking to invest in new markets. “Over the next decade, we expect an enormous increase in investment in the field of renewable energy. Global Atlas will help us make the right decisions,” said Danish Climate and Energy Minister Martin Lidegaard, who chaired a session at the gathering.

IRENA director Adnan Amin said that by 2014 the atlas will include information on bio-energy, geothermal energy and marine energy. “The Global Atlas provides a powerful new tool in international efforts to double the world’s share of renewable energy by 2030″ to around 30 percent of the global energy mix, he said.

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Governor blew off clean energy, jobs

Wednesday’s decision against Turning Point Solar was a serious setback for clean energy. Gov. John Kasich should have shown more leadership (“Dark day for AEP solar project,” Dispatch article, Thursday).

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio voted 3-1 to strip the Turning Point Solar plan from a larger report about AEP’s projected power needs.

Turning Point could be the largest solar farm east of the Mississippi — reducing global-warming pollution by over 70,000 tons a year — and create more than 600 green jobs.

Turning Point would provide pollution-free energy for thousands of Ohio homes and be a major step toward exceeding the goals set by Ohio’s Clean Energy Law (Senate Bill 221). Instead, the project is stalled indefinitely.

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Clean Energy Investment Fell 11% as Governments Cut Subsidies

Clean energy investment slid 11 percent last year after governments in industrial nations slashed subsidies for technologies ranging from wind turbines to solar power and biomass.

The $268.7 billion invested in the industry last year was down from a record $302.3 billion in 2011, the second highest reading ever and was five times the level in 2004, according to data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Investment fell 32 percent in the U.S., 51 percent in Italy, 68 percent in Spain and 44 percent in India. That offset gains in China and from small hydropower projects, which were among the few bright spots in the report released today.

“The most striking aspect of these figures is that the decline was not bigger given the fierce headwinds the clean energy sector faced,” Michael Liebreich, chief executive of BNEF, said in the statement.

He attributed the declines to the debt crises in the U.S. and Europe, which pared support for incentives that bolster the industry, and to a 24 percent decline in solar panel prices last year. All segments of the renewable energy industry experienced a drop in investment except for small hydro, which rose 17 percent to $7.6 billion.

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Home Sales Close Out 2012 With Positive Gains

Nashville home sales end 2012 up 26.5 percent

Home Sales Increase

Home Sales Increase

Nashville-area home sales increased by 21.1 percent in December compared to a year ago, according to a new sales report from the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors.

According to the report, 2,147 homes were sold in the area last month, up from 1,773 a year ago. For the year, closing were up 26.5 percent over 2011.

“December home sales were up more than 20 percent over December 2011, and for the ninth consecutive month, over 2,000,” said GNAR President Price Lechleiter in a news release. “Single-family residential closings alone this month exceeded the total closings for all categories combined in December 2011. And, for the first time since 2007, year-end home sales numbers surpassed 26,000.”

The median price for a single-family home sold in December was $187,900, up from $168,500 a year ago. The median price for a condominium was $149,178, up from $140,062.

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Twin City home sales rebound in 2012

BLOOMINGTON — Twin City home sales just had their best year since 2007.

A total of 2,459 units were sold in 2012, a more than 20 percent jump from the 2,048 homes sold in Bloomington-Normal during 2011, according to data released Wednesday by the Bloomington-Normal Association of Realtors.

BNAR President Thom Jones credits last year’s improvement in sales to low interest rates and a good inventory of homes.

“Interest rates are still at a historic low; there’s no better time to get into the market,” said Jones, adding that the group expects the improvement in sales to continue through 2013.

Of the homes sold during 2012, 2,253 were existing homes, a more than 21 percent increase from the 1,856 sold in 2011. The data show that 206 new homes were sold last year, up more than 7 percent from the 192 new homes sold in 2011. The average cost of a home last year was $171,991, up just slightly from the average price of $169,714 for homes sold during 2011. The average cost of existing homes last year was $161,290, while the average cost of new homes was $289,026.

Last year’s sales were the best since 2007 when 2,585 units were sold.

And while year-over-year sales were up, monthly sales last month dropped nearly 6 percent compared to December 2011. A total of 198 homes were sold during December, down from the 210 homes sold in December 2011. Last month’s total includes the sale of 178 existing homes and 20 new homes.

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North Texas home sales for 2012 reach highest point since 2008

North Texas’ pre-owned home market ended 2012 with the best sales total in four years.

The area saw a 16 percent gain in the number of single-family homes sold through the Realtors’ multiple listing service for North Texas.

And median home sales prices in 2012 rose 8 percent from the year before, according to numbers released Tuesday by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M and the North Texas Real Estate Information Systems.

For all of last year, 75,207 pre-owned single-family homes were sold by real estate agents in North Texas. That’s up from just 63,832 sales at the worst of the housing market slowdown in 2010.

December home sales in the area were 10 percent higher than a year earlier with 5,658 houses sold through the MLS.

The local housing market rebound has occurred faster than many economists had predicted, largely because of a drop in properties on the market and fewer home foreclosures.

“I thought that 2012 would turn out to be an OK year, but it turned out to be a whole lot better,” said Dr. James Gaines, an economist with the Real Estate Center. “The market has turned, and it’s strengthening.”

Home sales in North Texas recovered to 12 percent below where they were at the top of the market in 2006, when more than 85,000 pre-owned single-family homes were sold by real estate agents.

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Commercial Real Estate 4th Quarter Insights

Fiscal Cliff: Impact Scenarios for Atlanta’s Commercial Real Estate Market

National commercial real estate services provider Cassidy Turley on Friday released research examining the impending “fiscal cliff’s” impact on commercial real estate markets across the country, including metro Atlanta.

The company’s Atlanta office is based in Midtown.

The fiscal cliff refers to the combination of tax increases and spending cuts that will take effect in January 2013, assuming no change to the current law. Economists’ general consensus is that if the fiscal cliff is allowed to occur, the U.S. economy will slide back into recession in the first half of 2013. Cassidy Turley’s report summarizes the various scenarios related to fiscal policy and then draws the link to commercial real estate.

For metro Atlanta, military installations and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are the most significant pieces of a sizable federal presence and $40.6 billion investment, but the military and federal agencies only occupy 2.5 percent of the market’s privately owned office space. Additionally, Atlanta’s diverse and recovering economy increasingly draws growing sectors such as entertainment, education and technology/biotechnology.

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Commercial real estate sees boost at end of year

Members of the commercial realty industry are in overdrive these last few weeks of 2012 as they rush to finish transactions before possible tax hikes take effect next year.

“We are crazy busy … We haven’t seen anything like this in awhile,” said Valerie Baldo, Sacramento division president of Placer Title.

The prospect of higher capital gains and health-related taxes is creating a sense of urgency, with some deals getting done at supersonic speed. “The end of the year is always a crunch time anyway,” said Jim Boras, senior vice president at Stewart Title of Sacramento. “But this year (activity) is up 30 to 35 percent on our commercial desks.” Some deals have been finished in as little as 10 days, he said.

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Conor Commercial Real Estate launches 342,620-square-foot speculative industrial facility

Conor Commercial Real Estate, a member of The McShane Cos., has announced the purchase of a 20-acre land parcel located within the Northwest Corporate Park in Elgin for the development and construction of a new 342,620-square-foot speculative industrial facility.

Known as Northwest Pointe, the industrial site offers direct access to I-90 via the Randall Road four-way interchange. Globe Corp. and Conor Commercial have formed a joint venture for the land acquisition and development. The Conor/Globe venture acquired the land site from The Busse Family in order to develop the speculative facility that is being offered for lease and/or purchase.

Groundbreaking for the project is scheduled for late winter 2013. The Class A industrial precast facility has been designed to offer single- or multi-tenant suites ranging in size from 70,000 to 342,000 square feet. The building features cross-dock or single load configuration with a 32-foot clear height and office space to suit. Northwest Pointe offers 68 exterior truck docks with four drive-in doors (expandable) and parking for 343 cars (expandable) with on-site trailer parking available.

The continued velocity of leasing activity and the depletion of existing industrial inventory within the Chicago suburban market has provided the opportunity to develop the speculative industrial property. Elgin’s low real estate taxes together with Northwest Pointe’s immediate access to the interstate system were factors in the selection of the site and the option to launch the property as a speculative development.

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