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Inspiration From a Grocery Bagger
2007-12-31 16:35:00
Today is the last day of 2007. As with many years, it was filled with a lot of ups and downs. I’m a firm believer in having goals but times when things aren’t going according to plan make it difficult to keep your focus. Many of us set out on our working careers believing that ...
More About: Inspiration , Grocery

Centerline Homes Begin Selling in Summerlake
2007-12-28 15:49:00
Centerline Homes has begun the sale of homes at the Summerlake community located off Ficquette Road in Winter Garden adjacent to the Isles of Lake Hancock and Orange County National Golf Club. I noticed the community driving by the other day and they have begun construction of the roads and utilities. There will be 1,576 ...
More About: Selling

The Case Shiller Index Show Record Declines in December 2007
2007-12-26 20:07:00
Prices decline to record levels for the Case -Shiller Home Price Index released today. The 10 city composite index showed a decline of 6.7% which is the largest decline ever recorded. The previous record of a 6.3% decline was recorded in April of 1991. While the 20 city composite index did not show a record, ...
More About: Show , Record , December

Pictures from the Town of Celebration
2007-12-26 14:43:00
I finally got a little time and decided to add some photos of Celebration , Florida. It really is a picturesque little town and a great place to live and visit. The golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones is superb and there’s always wild turkeys that roam the fairways here. The downtown area offers ...
More About: Pictures , Town , The Town

Merry Christmas SW Orlando
2007-12-25 14:30:00
Some of my favorite Christmas moments with John Denver and the Muppets. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4j1paMC5S M http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6neT-hK18 k
More About: Orlando , Merry Christmas , Merry

Merry Christmas
2007-12-25 14:30:00
Some of my favorite Christmas moments with John Denver and the Muppets. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4j1paMC5S M http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6neT-hK18 k
More About: Merry Christmas , Merry

2007 Home Sales Statistics for Summerport
2007-12-23 21:19:00
The community of Summerport in Windermere had 37 sales of single family homes and 21 townhouses in 2007. The average price per square foot was $179.86 with an average sale price of $388,837 and average days on market of 180 days for the single family homes. For the townhouses, the average sale price was $252,314 ...
More About: Sales , Home , Statistics

A Home With a Push of a Button
2007-12-22 18:41:00
Having a home can be as easy as a push of a button. The Illy Push Button Home designed by Adam Kalkin is a home built within a shipping container. You press a button and in 90 seconds, viola. The container transforms into a home complete with a kitchen, dining area, bedroom, living room, and ...
More About: Architecture

The House of Dreams in Windermere
2007-12-21 17:20:00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DFyT7VDj2 U The Chateaux des Reves on Park Avenue in Windermere is the most recent addition to the architectural landscape on Lake Butler by renowned architect John Henry. The mix of Greco Roman and French Renaissance architecture was purposefully designed to contrast the bevy of Mediterranean styles that dominate the landscape along the shores of this prestigious ...
More About: House , Dreams , The House

Orlando Price Declines One of the Worst in Nation
2007-12-21 01:21:00
The First American Loan Performance Index was released yesterday with Florida and California having the most declines. The index tracks 40% of all zip codes in the United States and incorporates 30 years of repeat sales transactions. With a decline of 10.16%, Orlando experienced one of the largest declines found on the index.
More About: Nation , Price

How To Price Your Home To Sell
2007-12-21 00:36:00
Here’s a helpful little video on pricing a home to sell. The answer is black and white. Take your heart out of the decision and don’t overprice your home. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOrKLs0QJk A Thanks to FOREM for the find.
More About: Home , Price , Sell

Nikon D300 Wins Camera of the Year
2007-12-19 04:01:00
The newly released Nikon D300 just won Camera of the Year honors on popphoto.com. It replaces the ever popular D200 and makes some key improvements for real estate photography. The mega pixel has been raised to 12.3, the AF system has been increased from 11 points to 51 points, the 3″ VGA LCD screen provides ...
More About: Wins

Fly Me To The Moon
2007-12-19 00:11:00
With so many real estate markets expected to continue price declines next year, it’s been tough to find a place where price are supposed to go up. After an exhaustive search, I noticed an article on Reuters showing that real estate prices on the moon have increased 40% in 2007. Who knew you could buy anything ...
More About: Moon , The Moon

Trulia Makes It Easy to Find Foreclosures
2007-12-15 16:11:00
Trulia recently added the ability to search for foreclosures and it’s freakin awesome. They have teamed up with Realtytrac, the most comprehensive source of foreclosure data on the web, to become first major real estate search portal to enable such an ability. Visiting Realtytrac to acquire information used to require giving up your email address to spam and pop up windows but now foreclosure searches are about as user friendly as it gets with Trulia. There’s no need to provide any personal information. You just initiate a search in the simple and easy to use format that Trulia is known for and check the box that says foreclosures. That’s it. You can narrow things down zip code, neighborhood, city, style of property, price range, number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and square footage. On top of that, you also get a Google map view of the location for each property and photos. Searching for foreclosures have never been this easy. Trulia’s foreclosure search is hand...
More About: Foreclosures , Find , Easy

The Financially Distressed Are Not The Only Ones Being Victimized by Mortga
2007-12-15 06:52:00
Attorney Max Gardner who runs the Bankruptcy Boot Camp, a training ground for attorneys on spotting loan servicing fraud, was quoted recently on ABC’s Nightline as saying that it’s a common practice for loan service companies to charge illegal hidden fees so benign that most never even notice them. He enlists the aid of specialized accountants to search for these illegal fees and he says they have found bogus fees in every account they have investigated so far. Gardner says “The fees are unreasonable fees, they’re unnecessary fees, they’re improper fees, and I’m saying they’re illegal fees because they’re not approved by the bankruptcy courts. The problem with these fees is that, you know, they’re secret fees, they’re secret charges. These guys are smart and they are playing the odds, And the odds are that 95 percent of the people will have no idea exactly what’s going on. That 95 percent will just go ahead and pay i...
More About: Mort

Dr. Phillips Community Park Opens
2007-12-14 23:22:00
The Dr. Phillips Community Park recently opened to rave reviews at least from the looks of this guy. The new park is located adjacent to Sand Lake Elementary on Buena Vista Woods Dr. just past the Diamond Cove and Emerald Forest subdivisions. There’s also a pathway from Darlene Rd. so residents from this area can get to the park with just a short walk. There’s so many activities here alongside views of Big Sand Lake. The water park seems to be a big hit, but there’s also a lighted baseball field, 2 lighted soccer fields, basketball court, an amphitheater, playground, dog park, picnic areas, playground, and walking trails along the lake. It’s just a great new place and another reason why SW Orlando is such a good place to call home.
More About: Unit

Avoiding Foreclosure Scams by Freddie Mac
2007-12-14 18:38:00
Freddie Mac has set up an informative page on avoiding foreclosure scams that are unfortunately becoming more prevalent in this market climate at freddiemac.com/avoidfraud. The video shows how to avoid making a bad situation even worse. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS2HsaBA5N o
More About: Freddie , Foreclosure , Freddie Mac , Scams

Chaine du Lac to Add 80 More Homes
2007-12-12 18:30:00
The Gardens at the Village of Windermere will be phase 2 of the Chaine du Lac subdivision in Windermere which currently has about 30 homes. This new phase will add 80 lots to the subdivision and I’m sure some of those will be on Lake Butler. Well known residents of the subdivision include Lou Pearlman ...
More About: Homes

How To Analyze Investment Properties
2007-12-12 17:20:00
There are 3 basic methods for analyzing rental properties or income producing commercial properties: income approach cost approach sales comparison approach Each approach can be effective depending on whether you’re trying to figure out future income and expenses, reproduction costs, or how you compare to the market. The sales comparison approach can be useful if there are numerous comparable ...
More About: Investment , Properties , Prop , Pert , Rope

2007 Home Sales Statistics for Cypress Point
2007-12-12 03:59:00
Three sales have taken place for the Cypress Point subdivision in 2007. Cypress Point is one the premier guard gated communities in SW Orlando and its convenient location off Apopka-Vineland Rd. and spacious lots have contributed to the popularity of this community in Dr. Phillips. Sales prices ranged from $1,185,000 to $1,600,000 and they only ...
More About: Home , Statistics

2007 Home Sales Statistics for the Reserve at Cypress Point
2007-12-12 03:48:00
In 2007, four properties have sold in the Reserve at Cypress Point subdivision located off Apopka-Vineland Rd. in the Dr. Phillips area with an average price of $973,100 and average price per square foot of $226.37. The sales prices range from $755,000 to $1,130,000 with an average days on market of 122 days. download pdf: 2007 ...
More About: Sales , Home , Statistics

Heritage Hills to Become The Newest Active Adult Community in SW Orlando
2007-12-08 22:01:00
A new active adult community for those above the age of 55 is in the works for Winter Garden. Lennar has announced plans to build Heritage Hills between Marsh Road and Hancock Road. I noticed this development fishing on John’s Lake and it appears that they will also offer some properties on the lake. It’s ...
More About: Community , Adult , Orlando

Tibet-Butler Preserve
2007-12-06 19:29:00
The Tibet -Butler Preserve located on SR 535 is a little known oasis in SW Orlando. I’ve been driving by the place for years and never stepped foot on the property. For some reason earlier this week, I was compelled to check the place out and I must say it’s pretty neat. The nature trails are ...
More About: Serve

Lake Down Peninsula Estate
2007-12-06 04:39:00
One of the most stunning properties on the Butler Chain of Lake s can be found on a peninsula on Lake Down providing for majestic water views from seemingly everywhere. The only other place in SW Orlando where you can find lake frontage on the front and rear of the home is the peninsula located in ...
More About: Estate , Peninsula

A Questionable Future for Independence
2007-12-05 16:02:00
Tousa, the parent of company of Engle Homes and current company funding the development of Independence in Winter Garden stated it may file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after reporting a $619 million loss at the end of November. Chapter 11 is a reorganization filing so people under contract in this community will probably get ...
More About: Future

Brevard County Approves Feasibility Study for Artificial Reef Off the Space
2007-12-04 18:10:00
The Brevard County Commission approved funding for a feasibility study to be done on the proposed artificial reef a 1,000 feet off the Space Coast yesterday. The proposed reef will stabilize erosion, reduce the need for beach re-nourishment, create a habitat for marine life, and best of all create a world class wave for ...
More About: Study , Reef , Prove

Don?t Pass Gas at Home
2007-12-03 22:02:00
This public service announcement is either just really funny or a serious health warning. The Don’t Pass Gas website claims that asthma, bronchitis, allergies, coughs, ear infections, and pneumonia can be caused from breathing in the toxic fumes from the gastrointestinally challenged. Actually, they’re referring to second hand smoke from cigarettes but the analogy is ...
More About: Home

Views of the Housing Market from Harvard
2007-12-03 16:31:00
Nicolas Retsinas, director of Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, says in this interview with the Wall Street Journal that the housing market is cooling because lenders overlend, builders overbuild, and consumers now expect a drop in prices. We really don’t need a degree from Harvard to figure that one out, but he also ...
More About: Views , Market

Waterstone to Become the Newest Luxury Community on Lake Butler
2007-12-02 17:02:00
There will be a new guard gated subdivision to be built along the shores of the famed Lake Butler called Waters tone. It will be located in Windermere off Winter Garden-Vineland Rd. and adjacent to Windermere Preparatory School. No information on pricing is available yet but with the builders involved in this project such as C.J. ...
More About: Community , Luxury

Lake Starke & Lake Olympia in Ocoee
2007-12-01 21:45:00
Stark Lake and Lake Olympia in Ocoee are some of the very few places in SW Orlando where you can find affordable properties on a ski lake. Lake Starke is a good size lake covering 203 acres and much deeper than most lakes in Central Florida. A marshy area connects it to Lake Olympia which ...