Document Based vs Text Based eSignature Sites

eSignature or electronic signature websites are stand alone web tools or SAAS sites  allowing investment companies and individuals to get their important documents signed electronically without needing to use the post or having clients print, sign and then scan and return documents.

It is vital nowadays for companies to get their important documents and agreements physically signed by their clients to avoid any legal comeback in the future, the time of simply have a tick box on a web site form to agree with terms and conditions has gone because it have been proved again and again in the courts that this simply isn’t legally binding.

With current technology and the eSignature tools that are around these days companies have no excuse according to the courts.

For large corporate firms the best solution is for them to contact a professional web developer who can add an electronic signing option to the company’s website, but for smaller companies or companies who don’t get that many documents that require signing the most cost effective solution is the use one of the stand alone eSignature websites.

How these eSignature websites operate is they allow members to sign up for a secure account for a modest monthly or annual fee of course and once signed up the member can create/upload documents, send them to their clients and get signed PDF’s back.

There are a number of these websites around some good and some not so good. The not so good ones such as signable.co.uk  are simple built using free readily available tools but this makes for a clumsy, over complicated site. The better ones such as docusign.co.uk and esignlite.com are bespoke systems built for the ground up making them simpler to use even for the not tech savvy novice.

We have done trials with both docusign.co.uk and esignlite.com and we discovered that if you are wanting features then docusign.co.uk wins, however if you are wanting simplicity, speed and the most cost effective solution then esignlite.com wins hand down.

While some companies may need the extra features provided by docusign.co.uk we didn’t and found that sending a document for signing was less that straightforward and it took us a little while to learn the system, however with esignlite.com we have sent a document within 2 minutes.

The best thing we liked about esignlite.com was the fact that the system is text based, meaning you can created documents easily from word docs etc, there’s no need to convert to PDF and upload. The system will convert your text based document to a PDF after the signature has been added.

The text based system also meant that documents could be tweaked live before sending and as a private landlord simply wanting to amend the name and address of our tenancy agreement the system saved us a lot of time and effort.

 

Making your dull web site more appealing to visitors

Apex Articles

In the event your web design layout is flourishing, you’re now prepared to add distinct features like modules. Website design has arrived a ways in recent decades.  By taking a program, you are going to learn about web design and the way to write Hypertext Markup Language, also referred to as HTML. It’s important to keep the net Design or HTML light.

To lower the time it requires for your internet page to load, you’ll need to delete these added codes. When you’ve completed this, you’ve created your very first web page! It is only an web page free of content in it where it’s easy to put your own images and content working with the front page.

Using The Correct Web Design Tools

There is an assortment of sorts of design based on the aim of the site Moreover, there are different designs based on their page layouts. You may…

View original post 395 more words

EcoHouse Group Still Dominating Minha Casa Minha Vida in Brazil

Property giant EcoHouse Group are taking the Brazilian affordable housing market by storm and in the past 4 years have launched more Minha Casa Minha Vida housing projects than any other developer involved in the programme. The company has a unique way of raising funds for their projects and choose to involve investors rather than using bank funding which can be a long drawn out process, this has made investors all over the world a lot of money over the years and the company has recently expanded to the South and launch another housing project in Rio Grande do Sul.

It is however clear to see that EcoHouse is here to stay and rumours have been spreading that the state of Amapa, may be a future MCMV site, Brazil is a massive country and it make sense that a company growing at this phenomenal rate what to have a presence in every corner of the country.

The state of Amapá is the northernmost part of Brazil, bordering on French Guiana and the (former Dutch Guiana colony) republic of Suriname. In everyday speech many people nowadays still tend to use the old nickname of the territory, ‘Brazilian Guiana’, referring to its neighbours on the continent.

In the late nineteenth century the area of the state became of great interest because of gold deposits and the increasing importance of rubber. This led to serious clashes with French colonial neighbours, only settled in Brazil’s favour after much upset and by international arbitration at Geneva.

To the west and south of the state is the much larger state of Pará and at the extreme north of Amapá (and indeed Brazil as a whole) is the River Oiapoque estuary. The overall vegetation pattern of Amapá is rainforest growth and to this day well over half the territory of the state is still unexplored Amazon forest. For this reason the only large scale way to or from the capital city, Macapá ( on the Amazon) is by air or water. Every so often plans are drawn up for carving a major access road through the ‘jungle’ but so far nothing has come of them.

Altogether in the state live only about 650,000 people (more than 60% of them in the capital area), which is quite sparse considering the state has an area about half that of England. Seventy per cent of the people are ethnically mixed-race with considerable minorities of black or white. There are very few residents of indigenous ancestry. The state is unusual in that a fair number of people (but still a minority) also learn and speak French, prompted by the proximity of French Guiana, an overseas territory of France.

As regards the economy of the state, the vast majority of Amapá’s GDP nowadays comes from service sector sources. This amounts to about eighty-eight percent of the total. Industry accounts for just under eight percent of gross domestic product and agriculture five. For some decades from the mid twentieth century onwards, newly discovered manganese deposits revolutionised the local economy but by now (2014) that effect has become very much less.

The overall contribution of Amapá to the national economy at the present time is not impressive and amounts to scarcely one fifth of one per cent. Local administrators hope that the planned new international airport at Macapá will more than double visitors to and from the state and thereby boost the economy in the 2020’s and beyond

EcoHouse Group’s decision to manage all global affairs from the headquarters in London could lead to Projects in Goiania.

Because of it’s size to population ratio Goiania is another city crying out for more a affordable housing. Back in 2009 the government did launch the minha casa minha vida (my house my life) programme and many developers decided to participate, some big, some small. One of the largest and most successful MCMV developers is EcoHouse Group.

Since 2009 EcoHouse have completed various MCMV projects in Rio Grande do Norte around their offices in Natal and earlier this year took the step move south to Rio Grande do Sul and launch Monte Alerge close to state capital Porto Alregre.

Nobody knows what the property giants next move will be but with the closure of their Singapore office last week (a move welcomed by many who found that dealing with local branches difficult when trying to get up to date information on new and current projects.) and the announcement that they plan to manage all global affairs from the EcoHouse Group global headquarters in London, UK, It’s clear to see that the company is focusing on their build operatations in Brazil for the time being and Goiania may very well be next on the list.

Read more at Investor news now

EcoHouse Group Bypasses Recife and Moves South to Rio Grande do Norte

Recife is one of Brazil’s largest coastal cities so you would think I would be a prime candidate for the Brazilian social housing programme (Minha Casa Minah Vida) but up until now no major social housing developer has starting building in or around the city. One of Brazil largest MCMV developers, EcoHouse Group who have launched various projects in Rio Grande do Norte have now moved their attention South to Porto Alerge in Rio Grand do Sul.

Recife’s population of well over four million people (about half the size of Greater London) makes it actually the fifth largest metropolitan area in the whole country so is in desperate need of additional housing.

It’s pretty much unique, sited as it is where two major rivers reach the Atlantic Ocean. The name of the city itself ( meaning ‘reef’ in Portuguese) refers to a nearby coastal feature; the beautiful coral reefs that abound in the shallow water.

It was one of the very first European settlements in Brazil but took a long time to grow to any significant size. After all, there are nearly three hundred years between the first small settlement in 1537 and its eventual foundation as an actual city in the year 1823.

Recife is the capital city of the state of Pernambuco which is situated almost exactly on the eastern ‘nose’ of Brazil, in between the neighbouring states of Paraiba to the north and Alagoas to the south. Recife is an important focus for both business and industry in the northeast. A great deal of both these areas is connected, directly or indirectly to tourists and other temporary visitors and the maintaining and developing of facilities for these people.

Other industries in the metropolitan area centre on food, energy and transport issues. An important example of this is the processing of sugar cane to produce either sugar itself or ethanol, a major source of fuel in Brazil. There is also a ship-building industry and an increasing expansion in the construction of oil platforms and associated equipment. In recent years, small and medium sized electronic goods have also become significant.

The city of Recife is noted for one other aspect, too; its facilities for higher education. These are well-known and respected throughout the north east and indeed the whole of the country. In particular the Federal University of Pernambuco is the largest (and many say the best) such establishment in the whole region.

Yet another feature and claim to fame of the city and its wider zone is its medical reputation. This has been helped along by a combination of government expenditure and investment from private sources. Nowadays Recife is widely regarded as at least the second (after Sao Paolo) centre of medical excellence.

As regards the Brazilian national passion, Recife was also one of the twelve cities to host the FIFA World Cup competition this year (2014).

EcoHouse Group’s latest Minha Casa Minha Vida development in called ‘Monte Alegre’ and is located just outside Alvorada, as always EcoHouse is raising funds though private investment where investor can get a massive 17% return in just months form a £21,000 investment.

EcoHouse plan to launch additional MCMV developments and expand their operations in Brazil, EcoHouse Group recently closed their Singapore office and plan to manage all global affairs from the EcoHouse Group global headquarters in London, UK, a move welcomed by many who found that dealing with local branches difficult when trying to get up to date information on new and current projects.

Property Giant EcoHouse a True Multilingual Company

Property giant EcoHouse Group is a true multilingual compnay, not only is the company founder and CEO Anthony Armstrong Emery fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Married to a native Brazilian woman but many of the companies 1000 strong workforce is also multilingual.

With offices in the United Kingdom, Brazil, North America, Singapore, Malaysia and most recently China EcoHouse Group Global chief of operations Deen Bissessar has stated that it is a growing requirement for EcoHouse staff to in fact be fluent in more than their native tongue.

Not many companies can boast such an impressive collection of global offices so early in their life, EcoHouse are modest about their success in the world of property development but it’s easy to see that they are here to stay and could in fact expand to become on of the world largest property developers

Brazil is growing in importance in the world. Not only is it the fifth-largest country in land area but it’s also ( with 200 million people) fifth largest in population too. As well as all that, it’s now well into the top ten of GDP global economies. In fact in the last few years it’s fiercely contending with the UK for sixth place in that listing. International trade and investment by, with or in the south American giant is becoming much more significant than in previous times.

All this makes the country’s official language, Portuguese, of increasing importance on the world stage. However, it’s often surprising for people to learn that there are over two hundred other languages spoken in the country. One must remember though that because of Brazil’s size, location and self sufficiency in many ways, comparatively few people speak a non-Portuguese language fluently.

This is slowly changing with the growth of international commerce and communications but is still a small development. English and Spanish are widely taught in schools and colleges and in fact the former has now replaced the latter as the main secondary tongue among educated people. This is probably because of the size of the USA and British economies (and their trade with Brazil)on the one hand and the fact that Brazil is surrounded by Spanish-speaking neighbours and trading partners on the other.

Of the couple of hundred languages which are spoken in Brazil, the vast majority are actually indigenous but remember only about a quarter of a percent of the people actually speak any of them. These are nearly all Amerindian people who speak pre-Columbian tongues (or at least their descended languages). Before European explorers and settlers first came to the continent, it’s estimated that there were about one thousand local languages spoken by six million native Americans throughout the Brazil area.

Nowadays of course there are far fewer. Nowadays, far more Brazilians speak Spanish, Italian, German or French (or others of European origin) as a second language as well as the country’s main tongue, Portuguese. To quote just one example, it’s been estimated that over three hundred thousand German-sppeakers immigrated to Brazil from German, Austria, Switzerland and parts of Poland and the Volga region of Russia.

The secondary language patterns in Brazil are usually regional in character. Significant minorities from, say, Italy or Germany settled in coastal areas in the nineteenth century and later, particularly in the far south in the states of Rio Grande do Sul or Santa Catarina. To this day, though, ninety-nine percent of people in Brazil are more comfortable speaking Portuguese than anything else.

Mato Grosso do Sul The Newest Brazilian State Opens MCMV Registrations

Minha Casa Minha Vida (My House My Life) Registration has recently opened in the state Mato Grosso do Sul, The government programme that is to be extended again in July allows Brazilian families on modest incomes to own their very own home thanks to subsidies from the state. The programme has been very successful in the North East that to property developers such as EcoHouse Group building quality homes for the programme.

 

Mato Grosso do Sul ( ‘Dense Forest of the South’) has only been a Brazilian State since the late 1970’s when it was split off from (the still existing) Mato Grosso. To this day the two similar names do still cause some confusion, especially with people from overseas or elsewhere in Brazil. At the time it was suggested that the new state should have a name that was clearly distinct; perhaps ‘Pantanal’ after the famous and wildlife-rich swamps and lowlands at the heart of the state. However, for good or ill ‘Mato Grosso do Sul’ has become the settled name.

The state is officially in the mid west part of the country but in practice can broadly be regarded as in the south. As well as sharing a border with Mato Grosso (the original). It is also next to the states of Sao Paolo and Parana. As well as this, of course it has international frontiers with Bolivia and Paraguay.

The new state has an area of about 350,000 sq Km. This is around the same size as Germany but of course the population of only 2.3 million is very much lower ! The natural beauty of the sparsely-inhabited state makes it very popular as a centre for tourism, both from within Brazil itself and from the wider world.

The capital and largest city is Campo Grande which has about 800,000 people. This is followed by Dourados with about a quarter as many and then the cities of Corumba and Tres Lagoas which both have populations of about one hundred thousand. These four metropolitan areas comprise about half of the total population of the state.

Agriculture is a much more important direct contributor to the GDP of Mato Grosso do Sul than for any other Brazilian state. In addition, this direct contribution of about a third is boosted further by the input of secondarily-related factors. The main farming activities focus on Cattle and other livestock, soya beans, sugar cane, wheat and corn (maize).

Industry contributes around 20% of the state’s GDP. Much of this is based, one way or another, on the important iron and manganese mining operations which have been a mainstay. In earlier colonial and imperial times, gold was also an important product and several ‘mini-goldrushes’ took place during the history of the region. Nowadays it is much less important. The general climate of the state (like its neighbours) tends to be tropical or subtropical.

In summary, Mato Grosso do Sul is a beautiful place to live and any Minha Casa Minha Vida homes that are built will be snapped up very quickly. Although, with EcoHouse Group currently building in both Rio Grand Do Sul in the South and Rio Grande Do Norte in the North East it’s hard to say whether it will be EcoHouse who decide to build in Mato Grosso do Sul.

You can keep track of EcoHouse Group current and future Minha Casa Minha Vida developments by visiting the companies Official Blog.

EcoHouse Group, Rio Grande Do Sul and Social Housing Investments

Now that Anglo-Brazilian property developer EcoHouse Group has a firm footing in the south of the country we take a closer look at Rio Grande do Sul and it’s neighbours.

The southern region of Brazil is an interesting one. One of the five main subdivisions of the country, it’s also the smallest, with rather less than ten per cent of the whole area. In fact the total extent of the three-state ‘southern’ includes Parana, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul and is about 575,000 sq km. This is after all smaller than the single state of Minas Gerais elsewhere in Brazil.

Read the full article Here.

EcoHouse Group Expand Their Operations South to Rio Grande Do Sul

The growth of the middle classes in Brazil is a big demand driver behind the current boom in real estate investment in the country. Natal, capital of the north eastern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte is a prime example of a new middle class district expanding because of this demand for new affordable homes.

Natal, is quickly becoming, is one of the fastest growing cities in north east Brazil with rapidly expanding suburbs and huge opportunities for new businesses and Brazilian real estate investment.

Brazilian mortgage lending hit R$79.9 billion in 2011, an increase of 42%. ABECIP expects a rise of 30% by the end of 2014 which is all thanks to the Minha Casa Minha Vida social housing programme that gives millions of Brazilians a real chance of getting on to the property ladder a task that was once though impossible for anyone but the mega rich.

The programme however depends on enough new minha casa minah vida qualifying homes being building to match the huge demand; this is where Anglo-Brazilian real estate giant EcoHouse Group (who have offices in London, Brazil, North America, Singapore, Malaysia and China) comes into the picture.

To build quicker and to cut out a lot of the red tape involved in obtaining Bank finance in Brazil, EcoHouse instead turn to private investors, offering them amazing returns with a 12 months turn around, this has allowed them to build not one, not two but three separate minha casa minha vida developments in Rio Grande do Norte and earn millions for investors over the last 4 years.

After this amazing success in the North East, EcoHouse have now headed South to the state of Rio Grand Do Sul, With its first project in state ‘Monte Alegre’ being built in the suburb of Alvorada which is just 16KM from the state capital of Porto Alegre.

New groundbreaking construction methods adopted by EcoHouse earlier this year will allow them to build new homes quicker than ever, and with an ever growing waiting list of mortgage approved Brazilian families eager to move into their new homes at soon as they are built, return on investment is guaranteed making minha casa minha vida investments the safest and most profitable type property investment around.

However, Just like their previous developments, Acro Iris, Casa Nova and Bosque there are a limited number of units to invest in, investors are advised to make enquires early.

For more information on Monte Alegre visit the dedicated Monte Alegre Investment website, or visit EcoHouse Group’s main website. http://www.ecohousegroup.com

Public transport strike brings Sao Paulo to standstill

Transport workers in Sao Paulo have launched a strike demanding a 10% pay rise. The walkout has brought Brazil’s largest city to a halt after half of its underground stations were closed. Within Sao Paulo, reports suggested that even FIFA executives were stuck in traffic jams for hours as a result of the strike.

Traffic jams are a huge problem in all major Brazilian cities, especially during commuting hours, with many Brazilians commuting two or three hours every morning. Some developers under government programme designed to build new homes for Brazilian families, Minha Casa, MInha Vida, have been accused of exacerbating this problem by constructing developments on cheap land far outside major cities. However, UK-based developer EcoHouse Group makes a point of constructing its developments in Natal and Porto Alegre close to major employment hubs.

In Natal, all EcoHouse Group developments are within a 40 minute bus trip of the city centre, with education facilities on site to provide the quickest possible commute for Brazilian families. In Porto Alegre, EcoHouse Group has deliberately positioned its Monte Alegre development between the city centre and Gravatai, where Pirelli and General Motors have plants.

Investors interested in EcoHouse Group’s Monte Alegre development in the suburb of Alvorada can click here for more info http://www.montealegrebrazil.com/