As a real estate agent, often I am requested to find my clients specific types of homes and home sites for building.  These specifics typically include: Bay front, Lake front, water view, specific number of bedrooms and baths etc.  If you’ve ever purchased a home, then you know exactly what I am referring to…In recent months however, I’ve been increasingly asked to locate homes or home building sites in gated communities around my service area of Bay County: more importantly, the Panama City – Lynn Haven metro area of Florida. I believe we are all well aware of what a gated community is, but if not let’s identify some characteristics of these communities…”A gated community is a type of residential community which offers controlled access and entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and may feature a closed perimeter of walls and fences.”While gated communities are not a new form of residence, they are often misunderstood. In today’s real estate market there remains a common misunderstanding that gated communities are only for the wealthy and beyond the means of the average home owner. This of course is not entirely true. While there are some upscale communities that cater to a more costly living style, there are also many gated communities that offer similar life styles and amenities for the average home buyer. In my area there are many of these types of communities all offering various amenities and benefits.  From master planned gated lake communities such as Lake Merial or Wild Heron, to master planned gated bay front communities such as Bay Point.Each gated community may offer unique living and investment potential.  For the consumer interested in these types of communities, there may also be additional benefits. When speaking with my customers regarding their desire to own a home in a gated community, an over-riding factor seems prevalent: Gated communities are perceived safer for children and families and offer unique living styles for those that so desire them.  They are also perceived as maintaining their home values and appreciation.While gated communities may not be for everyone, they do offer features many find attractive for their choice of style and quality of living. Features such as private and semi-private marinas, on-site fitness clubs, golf courses and child day care are being required by home buyers more and more in today’s real estate market. These features and amenities tend to be prevalent in many gated communities and fulfill the wants and needs of these types of home buyers.In addition, I’ve recently been made aware of another unique style of gated community which caters to the racing fan!  These communities offer residents race tracks for their amusement.  From oval stock car style tracks to 1/8 mile drag racing tracks as well as motocross racing.  How’s that for a unique recreation and living style!!!A retired couple I am currently working with would like to find an Active Adult 55+ Community.  Both husband and wife workout daily, own a boat and are avid golfers. Naturally, they would like to purchase a home within a gated community, which is either on or very close to the golf course.  The community must offer dock space for their boat and have a club house or community club with an exercise room or fitness center.As I show this couple the available communities, a few items are of particular interest to them:  Some gated communities offer limited or no “through traffic” to the residents, which they value.  The limited trough traffic value is for their grand children whom visit with them several times a year. Homes within gated communities often exhibit a strong pride of ownership.  I’ve yet to find within a gated community a home with an unkempt lawn or debris scattered about the property. In large part this is due to the homeowners’ associations’ rules, or covenants and restrictions which govern many of these communities. Homeowner association rules often include restrictions such as:
No overnight street parking
No boats, campers or RVs allowed in driveways
Houses must be painted only certain colors
Landscaping must be pre-approved by an appointed committee
Additionally, residents of these communities take pride in their community and self-monitor and maintain their properties. To some these rules may seem excessively restrictive, while to others they are a necessity to maintain their style and quality of living. Many of these communities have what I refer to as “spot light homes”.  These homes are the “premier” homes of the community.  Often, they are built for specific owners or for events such as the Panama City Parade of Homes.They will feature the highest quality construction materials and fixtures, and often are the highest priced homes in the community. While many gated communities offer luxury homes, vacation homes, and luxury condos there are also those that offer affordable homes, condos and home sites. These communities may not have the full amenities of the more luxurious communities, but still manage to offer safety, community spirit and modest community pools and club houses.   Many of these practical communities are specifically and conveniently constructed near schools and local recreation venues.SummaryNot all master planned gated communities have uniformed security guards and cameras, but all offer unique living opportunities for those that desire the features and amenities the gate community has to offer.From retirement communities to equestrian communities, from waterfront communities to forested secluded communities, gated communities are sought out by many of today’s home buyer looking for that little something “special” for their investment.  Gated communities work for everyone, not just for the wealthy.

Investment is important from many points of view. Before doing investment, it is essential to understand what is investment and its importance?”Investment is an act of investing money to earn the profit. It is the first step towards the future security of your money.”Need of InvestmentThe investment can help you in the future if invested wisely and properly. As per human nature, we plan for a few days or think to plan for investment, but do not put the plan into action. Every individual must plan for investment and keep aside some amount of money for the future. No doubt, the future is uncertain and it is required to invest smartly with some certain plan of actions that can avoid financial crisis at point of time. It can help you to bring a bright and secure future. It not only gives you secure future, but also controls your spending pattern.Important Factors of InvestmentsPlanning for Financial investment – Planning plays a pivotal role in all fields. For the financial investment, one must have a pertinent plan by taking all rise and fall situations of the market. You should have a good knowledge of investment before planning for financial investment. Keen observation and focused approach are the basic needs for successful financial investment.Invest according to your Needs and Capability- The purpose behind the investment should be clear by which you can fulfil your needs from the investment. In investment, financial ability is also a component that can bring you satisfaction and whatever results you want. You can start investment from a small amount as per your capability. You should care about your income and stability to choose the best plan for you.Explore the market for available investment options – The investment market is full of opportunities, you can explore the market by applying proper approach. You can take help from financial planners, managers who have thorough knowledge about investment in the market. Explore the possibility of investment markets and touch the sublime height of success by the sensible investment decisions.By taking help from an experienced, proficient financial planner and traders can also give you confidence to do well in the field of investment. Now the question strikes the mind that what are the types of investments?Types of InvestmentsMutual Funds- Basically the mutual fund is a managed investment fund in which money is pulled from the investors to buy the securities.Commodity Market- In India, it is a popular place of traders to invest their money. The commodity market comprises of MCX (Multi Commodity Exchange) and NCDEX (National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange) both. In Multi Commodity Exchange market, you can invest in crude oil, precious metals as gold, silver and base metals as copper, aluminium, nickel, zinc and many more. While in National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange market, you can invest in all agricultural commodities as guar, soya bean, cotton, sugar cane and many more.Stock Market- It is the place where various people trade globally and earn the maximum return on investment. However, it is essential to know the bull and bear of the stock market for investing in it. The Stock market for investment also includes the equity market and nifty market. You can invest in equities and nifty market and get good amount profit by focused approach and keen analysis of market trend.Bonds – It is the best ways to gain interest on your principal amount. The interest and period of time depends on the agreement. In this, a holder lends a particular amount to the issuer (borrower) for a fixed period of time. At this time, you will get the interest from the borrower and after completing that fixed period of time borrower will return back your money. A long term tool for financial investment.Fixed Deposits – The Fixed Deposit (FD) service is provided by various banks that offers investors a higher rate of interest on their deposits as compared to a regular savings account. Fixed deposits have the maturity date to gain the return on investment.Real Estate- One can also invest in the real estate and deal with the residential and commercial property. This is also a trending way to earn a good return on investment.There are various financial planners, financial managers, trading tips provider who can give you numerous options for investment in the market. But it is essential to choose the options wisely.

In order to make the most of your corporate travel budget, it is critical to plan for leveraging your program for all it is worth. Telling travelers to select the lowest logical airfare is just not enough. Here are the elements that should be considered when planning or evaluating your travel program.1. Travel policyA well written and disseminated travel policy is the foundation of any good travel program, and I am consistently amazed that so many corporations have such an outdated and poorly conceived travel policy, if they have one at all. It is not difficult to find a well written policy. One can be found online quite easily. All that remains is that it is edited to reflect corporate culture, and disseminated within the company so that everyone understands and agrees to follow it. For this reason, it is a good idea to have everyone sign a copy of the travel policy to ensure that it is read, understood and owned by all company staff. I suggest that everyone in the company signs a copy of the travel policy, whether they travel or not. They may change positions in the company later and be required to travel. A travel policy need not be long or complex. Some of the best travel policies I have ever seen were only a few pages long.2. Centralized travel internally and externallyMany companies do not centralize their travel program, and they pay a price in terms of a loss of expense reduction opportunities and internal efficiencies. Many companies that do not centralize travel have a fear of requiring travelers to do something they may not want to do, along with the idea that centralizing travel will require hiring a Travel Manager. Both of these may be legitimate concerns but they do not have to be in most cases. By requiring travelers to book centrally, you are not necessarily causing them to lose flexibility. You can centralize travel while still allowing travelers to book on their own, either with a travel agency of your choice, or online through a provider that you have partnered with and have confidence in. By assigning someone with the responsibility of overseeing travel, you are getting a single point of contact both internally and externally for travel issues. If your company spends less than $1 million in air travel, you probably do not need a full time travel manager. In these cases, travel oversight can be given to the finance department, human resources, or even an executive level assistant. Here is a look at the advantages to be gained by centralizing travel.When you centralize travel with a single agency, you gain in a number of important ways. You will have a single point of contact for problems while travelers are on the road, and you will have one entity to go to for all your travel needs. This eliminates the problem of consolidating a travel report from among several sources. By bringing travel together, you will gain significantly from economies of scale. If you can measure total travel among various divisions or locations, you can get more for your money from travel suppliers. This will allow you to gain more from airline soft dollar programs, which means more free tickets and upgrades, get a higher percentage discount from our preferred airline, and get better negotiated rates from your hotel and car contracts. Your fulfillment costs will decrease as well, as your travel agency will often discount their fees for a higher overall volume of travel.3. Mix of online booking and personal serviceThis is an addendum to the previous element, which calls for centralizing travel with one travel agency. This is important, but in doing so, you need not require travelers to use an online booking system, and you need not require travelers to call the agency directly. By offering travelers the option of doing either, you are accomplishing several goals. You will reduce your fulfillment costs, as online booking is cheaper in terms of a service fee. By giving travelers the option, you are giving them a sense of control, thereby increasing morale and standing a better chance of a high adoption rate. Thirdly, you leave open a best practice of using your online booking engine for less complex itineraries, and allowing senior executives, frequent travelers, and complex itineraries to be booked directly with a travel agent that can offer a higher level of service and a better overall travel experience where it is most warranted.4. Look under every stoneWhile the bulk of most travel programs revolve around the air budget, there are several other areas one can investigate to find savings opportunities. There are a couple of more obvious areas to look, such as negotiated hotel rates at your favorite hotels, or car rental discounts with a favored supplier. Often your travel agency will already have discounted rates through consortia affiliations and agency car contracts. There are also some less common areas that should be investigated. For example, if ground transportation is a concern, most suppliers will offer discounted rates and a direct billing option. Direct billing arrangements with hotels and car rental agencies are also a great way to increase efficiencies and make the job of the accounting department easier.5. Leverage hard dollar and soft dollar contractsMost major airlines today offer hard dollar discounts as well as soft dollar incentives in exchange for company loyalty to their product. If your travel program is over $1 million in air spend, you can secure a discount off of the lowest fares of your carrier of choice in return for a market share commitment. For your secondary carriers, or if your volume is less than the minimum required by the airline, you can enter in to soft dollar programs for free tickets and free upgrades, as well as traveler status enhancements or airport club passes. These programs require little in the way of volume, but they are not well publicized so you may need to hunt for them or ask Baker Travel or your current agency to point you in the right direction.6. Do not neglect hotel volumeHotel volume is sometimes overlooked but it should not be. Negotiated rates can be had through your travel agency or directly with the hotel properties of your choice. Individual hotels near corporate locations will negotiate discounted rates for you in exchange for a minimum room/night commitment. By utilizing a travel agency, you are likely to receive discounts of 5% to 50% on thousands of hotels worldwide.7. Have at least one car rental contractRental car contracts are easy to enter into and require little in the way of commitment from the corporation. Choose a partner that has airport locations and a reputation for excellent customer service. You can save 5-10% very easily and can also negotiate frequent renter membership for all your employees. This will make them more efficient and enhance morale. You can also enter in to direct billing agreements at the same time that can make the jobs of your travelers and accounting staff much less stressful.8. Understand group and meeting contractsAirlines and hotels will discount your fares and rates when you have groups traveling together or meeting at a single destination from multiple points of origin. These meeting contracts can bring you airfare discounts of 2-10%, and if you have enough travelers on a single airline, you may be able to negotiate for free tickets to be awarded at contract completion. The minimum requirement is usually 10 travelers going to the same place at the same time. Some airlines have higher minimums so be sure to ask before a contract is generated. Hotels will discount their rates in a similar way with a minimum of 10 room nights. These discounts can range from 10% to a much higher discount depending upon occupancy rate and seasonal variances.9. Use reporting to consistently improve metricsWell managed travel programs require constant monitoring and financial controls to be properly leveraged. Insist on timely and customized reports that can be designed to bring you the information you need most. By receiving regular reporting on traveler behavior and provider contract performance, you will be in a better position to fulfill contract obligations, achieve cost reduction objectives and see where opportunities for future savings may lie.10. Use all avenues to enhance traveler comfort and efficiencyLastly, any well managed travel program will take in to account the comfort and productivity of their travelers. When travelers are comfortable, they can focus on their main priorities that help propel your business forward. If travelers are happy, they perform at a higher level. Ask if your travel agency can upgrade traveler status on a preferred airline. Look in to purchasing blocks of airport club passes so they can be used strategically during long and complex itineraries. There are many ways to reward travelers for the difficult and often grueling chore of travel. These kinds of rewards generate feelings of loyalty and increased productivity and efficiency.If you would like to learn more about how your company can better leverage their travel program to benefit your bottom line and the satisfaction of your executive level, feel free to contact me. I am delighted to point you in the right direction.