Uplifting Trance #2

February 4th, 2010

In my last post I have presented a track which was voted #1 in the radio show A State of Trance. There was however another track in the Top 20, which made it only to position #8, although even Armin Van Buuren admitted that he thought it would get higher in the list. In my opinion it shouldn’t have been higher, it should have been on the very top of the list.

It is another example of a great uplifting trance with a superb build-up sequence and a very moving sound. It has to be noted that this track is not an entirely original piece. It is actually a remix done by Jorn Van Deynhoven to the original work of RAM: RAMsterdam. Compared to the original however, I think the changes have transformed the entire tune into a different, much better one.

—==[#6]==—

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Gaia - Tuvan

February 2nd, 2010

Gaia, or on it’s more known name, Armin Van Buuren, has released a track last year which was voted the best hit of 2009 on the show hosted by Armin Van Buuren himself: A State of Trance.

The name Gaia as a cover name was chosen for a simple reason:
“I know if I’d released it as Armin Van Buuren it would have sold better but I wanted to show that trance mattered and that I’m very much about instrumental electronic music,” he says. (DJ Mag).

Judging by the sound, I’d say the title “Tuvan” refers to the Tuvan Language. The main melody of the track does have some oriental/mongolic sound, so I’d say it has something to do with that, although I could not find any official statement about this.

—==[#5]==—

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The First House

January 31st, 2010

That is the translation of the current crediting program financed by our government and executed by a few selected banks in our country. Since I got fired up by the offer I saw (see previous post), I did a research on the offers the banks had. The offers have some difference, so I did a preliminary research on them using only data published on their websites. I have selected three banks:

I took as target credit the value of the flat I liked (without the garage): €42.000, and a crediting period of 240 months (20 years).
Banner BT
The first bank I examined, was BT, the preferred bank, because it is the regions bank and because I like them in general :) . They offer only one, basic crediting mechanism, with a flat paying rate of €257.91/month. This value is however composed of the credit+interest which varies along the 240 months:

Month # Rate Interest Fees Total
Month 001 €99.87 €158.04 0 €257.91
Month 240 €256.89 €1.02 0 €257.91

Although I have written 0 to the Charges section, there are occasional charges to be payed at certain periods. These are handling fees by the bank, which occur only occasionally.

There are also initial payments that have to be done when applying for the credit. According to the bank’s website, these are the numbers:

Advance €2100 5% of the credit
Credit fee 0 it says “gratuit”
Guarantee €472.92 3 rates of the interest
Evaluation 0 Done by BT evaluator
Total €2572.92 - estimation

Banner BRD
Next I examined BRD. This bank seems to offer two methods of paying the rates: it offers an almost flat payment rate with the following characteristics:

Month # Rate Interest Fees Total
Month 001 €119.36 €105.24 €39.9 €262.49
Month 240 €224 €0.59 €0.22 €224.82

and another type, the decreasing payment rate, with the following characteristics:

Month # Rate Interest Fees Total
Month 001 €166.25 €158.04 €39.9 €311.39
Month 240 €166.25 €0.44 €0.17 €166.85

The advantage of this second type of payment rate is of course the fact, that the rates are actually being payed at the flat rate… in other words this is the actual flat rate payment. It could represent a huge advantage when trying to pay the rest of the credit instantly in the future.

Here is the list of down-payments that have to be done when applying for the credit:

Advance €2100 5% of the credit
Credit fee 0 it says “gratuit”
Guarantee €314.77 3 rates of the interest
Evaluation €100 Approximation. By preferred evaluator.
Total €2514.77 - estimation

Banner BCR
Unfortunately BCR does not offer any calculator to calculate the rates for this type of credit. For this reason I do not know what the rates are. I was able to gather some information about the down-payments:

Advance €2100 5% of the credit
Credit fee €79.8 0.2%
Guarantee €400 Approximation. 3 rates.
Evaluation €83 300RON + Taxes
Total €2661 - very rough estimation



The research shows, that in order to have this type of credit the down-payment is really low. However it must be taken into consideration, that additional charges may be asked by the real-estate agency (see my previous post) and take into account that you might need some money for furniture also. The rates themselves are OK, but can be changed and I think they will be changed during the crediting period. For this reason I like the 2nd offer of BRD, where you actually pay linearly the credit, so after 10 years, there will be actually 50% payed of the credit and the rest is easier to be payed…

—==[#4]==—

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Attracting Clients

January 29th, 2010

I was surfing on the internet and just out of curiosity I have entered a site with real-estate businesses. There have been a few interesting offers, but they all had a general flaw, which I personally hate about the new flats that are being built in Cluj: almost none of the flats have underground parking. A few levels into the ground would really not hurt, if nothing else, it would add extra stability… but no… not in Cluj…
Home
As I was surfing among the offers I have stumbled upon one which said it had underground parking… wow… I was amazed, could this be possible? I checked the pictures and the floor-plan: quite good. It was a one-room apartment for €38.500 in a very good area (Zorilor) and the ad said that a garage comes with it also. I did a quick calculation and I realized that with the new house-loan program that the country has (”prima casa”), the monthly rates would be a bit more than the rent I am paying right now. I decided to take a look the next day.

The second day I called the real-estate agency. My first question was if the garage was really in the price of the apartment: this is where the first surprise hit me… the answer was NO, an extra €6.000 is charged for that. Well, I thought no problem, maybe I’ll pay the extra. I decided to arrange a meeting to see the apartment. When I got to the agency I had to sign a paper which said, that I would have to pay the agency an additional 2% of the flat price if a deal would be made… interesting… another €800 or so… On the road we picked up another agent who was supposed to show us around. In the car the two agents immediately started to talk about how well business went and how few apartments were left for sale… yeah right I thought (Nice move however from the agents ;) ).

We got to the flats and had a look at the apartments: there have been various arrangements on different levels, but I was told, that there were only 5 flats left… (nice move again…). The apartments had a pretty decent quality, however they were not really impressing. The isolation was however really good: no heating and in the -10 degrees, which was outside, nothing could be felt in the apartments… The down side was, that the apartment which had the price tag from the ad was actually quite small, on the top floor and nothing like the one described in the ad. The apartment described in the ad was actually €42.000…

I asked the agent to have a look at the garage also: nice, but dusty and seemed like a construction site (although it was ready for more than a year). The really big problem which appeared however, was the fact that I could only pay for the garage with cash down:€6.500 for one spot in the underground parking area, or maybe if I have cash at the spot when paying, I could get it for less:€5.500…
OK, I said… I’ll call you tomorrow with my decision…

I was really determined to go on with the arrangement, but all day long something was bugging me and made me uncomfortable… something was not right. I stepped back and analyzed again the problem: now it did not seam like it was a good idea anymore: the full price got up to €49.300 and I had to pay around €8.000 as an advance… I said NO: this would eat up all my salary and practically I could not save up anything for 30 years… not nice…

In general it is quite easy to get into the fever of buying something and agents are on a hunt for that. They almost had me, too. I think when buying something this big, it is wise to step back and re-analyze everything with a clear mind: just imagine that you do not want to buy it and you hate the flat, no matter how good it is. It might seem that it is a once in a lifetime opportunity, but it isn’t: there will always be good opportunities and flats will only get better and better in time. Who knows, maybe one day there will be also in Cluj flats with proper underground parking…

—==[#3]==—

Posted in People&Society, Romania | No Comments »

Gambling?

January 23rd, 2010

In the past year I have never written about something that I do almost daily: I gamble… or at least, that is what many of my relatives and friends say. The general idea is the same: I supposedly put money into something I cannot control, and pray to God that I win. Most of these people of course haven’t got a clue of what I am on about. Those people generally just get terrified by hearing the word: stocks.
Gambling
Our country has a very short history in trading. During the time of the communism this way of making money was nonexistent of course. After Romania has met capitalism, however, things have changed: those who had the spirit and moreover the mind, opened up a whole new chapter in some of the citizens life.

Over time more and more people started to join this “mysterious club”, soon people of all ages gave in their money in the big pool and tried their luck. Before the crisis this was an almost 100% guaranteed winning-game. Almost everyone had a 50-100% growth of their investment yearly. In 2007, a new phenomenon appeared on the Romanian stock market: the stocks started to lose value. By the year 2008 the game turned into a 100% losing-game. Most players simply got fed up and got out.

Last year hope reappeared: the stock-exchange grew and people started to win again. However this time, it seemed to resemble more to a simple party of Blackjack: people knew, that they could win or also lose.

So what can be done? Is this like Blackjack then? Honestly: YES, it is like Blackjack… and like in Blackjack, also here, people can count cards, only here, it is not illegal. Actually counting cards when playing with stocks, should be a required skill: read the news, draw the correct conclusions. Simple, isn’t it? So then, what should be read? There are thousands of news written (or not) circulating daily. Even the smallest detail, like what kind of credits banks are giving has to be taken into account… (as most of us now know…). It is a challenge to keep up with them, not to mention draw the correct conclusions. But then again counting cards in Blackjack isn’t an easy task either…

To everyone who is out there and wants to join the game then: yes it can be done, yes it is controllable and yes you have to be very very prepared. One thing to note: the tendency is when someone is winning in the stock exchange, someone will lose… try to stay more on the winning side than on the losing :) …

—==[#2]==—

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