Regardless of whether you were for or against the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers, you would have to agree that this incentive is helping many real estate markets across the country to bounce back, central Florida included. The tax credit has been so effective in helping to stimulate markets across that US that it has been extended and even expanded.
This tax break, which was supposed to expire on November 30, has been extended until April 30, 2010. And, whereas before this tax break was for first-time homebuyers only, it has been expanded to include a $6,500 tax break for homebuyers who have lived in their current residence for at least five years. The salary requirements for this tax break have been increased as well. Before, anyone who wanted to qualify for this tax break had to earn less than $75,000 individually or $150,000 for couples, now individuals can earn up to $150,000 per year and still qualify for the credit. Couples can earn up to $250,000 combined and still qualify for this tax break.
Just in Orlando alone, the $8,000 tax credit helped to triple pending home sales and increase sales contracts by 97% from October 2008 to October 2009. In Seminole County, home sales were 23.64% higher than in 2008.
If last year was any indication of the success of this tax break, we can bet that this new expanded tax break will help home sales rise all over the US into 2009.
September 5, 2009 – FYN Florida Friendly Landscape workshop for “Butterflies in the Garden” located at the Environmental Studies Center in Springs Hammock for more information on this event call 407.665.5575.
September 5, 2009 – Jazzed in Sanford at Magnolia Square kicks off its third season.
September 5, 2009 – Seminole County Fall Super Series Youth Tennis Tournament will be held at Sanlando and Red Bug Lakes Park, for more information on this event call 407.869.5966
September 12, 2009 – Lake Mary Farmer’s Market, located at Lake Mary City Hall, come out for fresh produce, baked fresh breads, cheeses, and much more…
September 18, 2009 – Fall into Fitness and Fun Party, located at 3581 Lake Emma Road in Lake Mary, free and fun for the entire family call 407.333.8069 for more information on this event.
September 19, 2009 – Lake Howell Restoration Project in Seminole County in Casselberry ,learn more about the environment and how you can make a t difference, call 407.665.2457 to register.
September 20, 2009 – Flamenco Fire, located at The Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center in Sanford, if you like Spanish music and dances clothed in authentic costuming do not miss out on the “Fuego Flamenco”
September 26, 2009 -3rd Annual Blues Review located at Central Park at Lake Mary City Hall in Lake Mary. For additional information on this family fun event call 407.585.1428 or visit the City of Lake Mary official website.
September 26, 2009 – “Fiesta del Coqui” at the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Sanford, this event if for all you frog lovers, come out and enjoy live music, local dance, crafts and activities. For more information visit the Central Florida Zoo website.
I was just browsing some websites when I ran across a trailer for a new documentary about the history of Lake Mary entitled, “Growing Home, The Lake Mary Story”. For a second I wondered why someone would actually make a documentary about a small and relatively unknown community such as Lake Mary. Then I watched the trailer and thought, what a great way to teach those of us who have not lived in Lake Mary all of our lives, a little bit about the history of this city we now call home. Sure, this documentary will only be 60 minutes long, which is nowhere near enough time to learn the history of Lake Mary, but from what I saw in the trailer, it will at least help us to get a better understanding of the values that have helped to shape this city. The trailer is short, only 2:14 in duration, but it was interesting to see some lifelong lake Mary residents talk about their beloved city and how it has changed in their lifetimes.
The Crawford Group, a Lake Mary-based production house and the Lake Mary Historical Society are partners in the production of this documentary, which is being funded entirely by community and corporate donations.
All donations are tax deductible and there are two ways to donate:
Donors can make donations through Pay Pal (No Pay Pal account needed)
Mail a check payable to Lake Mary Historical Society to:
Growing Home Film Project
122 North 4th Street
Lake Mary, Florida 32746
For more information, or to personally present your donation, please contact Mindy Matthews at 407-322-8888 or by e-mail at mindy@crawfordgroup.tv.
Corporate donors will receive recognition and promotional benefits at different levels including having their logos displayed in the video, on-camera appearances in the video, logo printing on DVD and packaging and mention in the film credits. For more information about the corporate program, please contact Mindy Matthews at 407-322-8888 or by e-mail at mindy@crawfordgroup.tv
For more information about donations, please visit http://growinghomefilm.com/donate/
Just about everyone who lives in the Orlando area knows about Isleworth. After all, it has been one of the most exclusive and prestigious, not to mention expensive, subdivisions in Seminole County for quite some time. This 300-home, master planned community near Windmere that sits in the Butler chain of lakes has some of the most expensive and prestigious real estate in Florida and is home to top sports stars, business moguls, politicians, actors and millionaires from all over the globe. The list of homeowners in Isleworth is a veritable who’s who of rich and famous celebrities and business tycoons who will settle for nothing less than absolute exclusivity. Some of the stars currently living in Isleworth include Tiger Woods, Grant Hill, Mark O’Meara, Ryan Longwell, Stuart Appleby, Shaquille O’Neal and Vince Carter, to name a few.
Thanks to the housing crisis of the past few years, homes in Isleworth are selling for about half of what they sold for just four or five years ago. Whereas the average price per square foot was about $500 a few years back, some homes in Isleworth have sold for as low as $200 per square foot recently, and those are the homes that are actually selling. About 15% of the homes in Isleworth are currently for sale including Minnesota Vikings Kicker Ryan Longwell’s 6,089 square foot mansion ($4.9 million) and Grant Hill’s Mediterranean-style estate home ($5.9 million).
But Isleworth is not the only luxury home community in the Orlando area where home prices have dropped to record lows, other developments near Isleworth are also feeling the effects of the national economic and housing crises. This means that if you have been waiting for home prices to drop in Exclusive gated communities such as Isleworth, the time to buy may be now.
If you are interested in finding out more about Isleworth or others master-planned gated estate communities, please contact me, Nick Burrafato. I can help you find the home that is the right for you, as well as help you get the best deal on your next luxury home.
Yes, Lake Mary has done it again. I was just reading through CNNMoney Magazine online, when I saw that Lake Mary had once again ranked among the top best places to live in the US. According to a ranking featured in the August 2009 issue of CNNMoney Magazine, Lake Mary has ranked 96th among the best places to live. Among Florida cities, Lake Mary ranks number 1. I know why I have chosen to make Lake Mary my home, and I like seeing it recognized as the wonderful community that it is. There are many great areas to live in Seminole County, but for those of us who like to be near all of the amenities of larger, more metropolitan cities such as Orlando, but far enough removed that we can let our children play in the streets without worrying for their safety, know there is no place like Lake Mary.
Though Lake Mary is a fast-growing city, there are still only some 15,000 residents living here. Lake Mary residents are warm and friendly, and this is noticeable when you go to any of the numerous community activities that take place here regularly. Whether you go to an outdoor concert, the farmer’s market or the cinema, you will feel a sense of community not very common in larger cities. However, this doesn’t mean that Lake Mary is some out of the way country town. With its modern industrial park serving as a home for IT and computer software companies, Lake Mary is fast becoming a smaller version of Silicon Valley.
There are great public and private schools and an endless array of activities for children of all ages. Lake Mary residents enjoy convenient access to an amazing variety of restaurants, and nearby Orlando offers tons of exciting entertainment options for the whole family. Lake Mary really is an ideal community, and it is not hard to see why more and more families are moving here.
Please click to read this article in CNNMoney Magazine online.
With the current Orlando-area real estate market the way it is, this is a question that many people are not able to answer. This is not surprising either, what with our local-area market practically flooded with distress sales and foreclosure sales, not many folks can give an accurate estimation of how much a specific house in a specific area is worth. This not only affects those who are selling their homes, those who are thinking of refinancing their homes or folks who are buying a homes are also faced with this dilemma.
So what can you do in order to formulate the realistic value of a home? First, there are several websites out there that publish the sale prices of homes including Zillow.com and Realtor.com. These websites publish the price that similar homes in your area have sold for and can help you to get a general idea of your home’s value in relation to recent sales in your neighborhood. Using these and similar websites, it is possible to see the selling price of homes in your area within 24 hours of the closing. This information can be helpful in determining what your home’s value is, but it’s important to remember that Bank-owned, foreclosures and other distress sales may take more than 6 months to sell in some cases, and this makes it difficult to determine how much these homes have sold for until much later. So, if there are many foreclosure or other distress sales in your neighborhood, it is trickier to find out your home’s true market value. Then you have to consider that not all of the information on these sites is 100% accurate. They are a good starting place that can give you a good idea of a specific home’s value, but they are not infallible.
I still tell all my clients and friends that the best way to truly find out the value of a home or formulate asking prices or bids is to sit down with a knowledgeable local-area real estate professional. A good real estate agent can help you to look at all of the factors that help to determine a home’s value and can help you to arrive at a realistic and reasonable value for a specific home. This is, after all, what they do for a living. They deal with these situations every day and can be indispensable, not only in the valuation of a home, but everything else that goes into buying or selling homes as well.
I have been working as a real estate agent in the Orlando area for more than 10 years and I am continually studying our local real estate markets in order to be able to provide my clients with the absolute best level of professionalism and proficiency in all of the Orlando area. Real estate is my business and I take my business seriously.
If you are thinking of buying or selling a home in the Orlando area, please contact me to schedule an interview to see how I can help you be a successful buyer or seller. I can help you with every step of the home buying or home selling process so that you can be free to do whatever it is that you do best.
Through May 17, 2009 – Orlando Parade of Homes, preview new, remolded, town homes, custom homes and condos in Orange, Seminole and Osceola Counties, for more information on this even call 407.629.9242 or visit the Parade of Homes Guidebook.
May 15, 2009 – Cinema in the Park at Centennial Park in Sanford, family movies starting at 7 pm, for more information on this event call 407.688.5004 free admission.
May 16, 2009 – Curb Day in the City of Sanford, bring out your unwanted items to the curb for others to cart away. Help others by donating your unwanted valuables, for more information on Curb Day click here.
Through May 24, 2009 – Orlando International Fringe Festival, all Fringe shows will take place within Loch Haven Park at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater and at the Orlando REP. For more information about the Fringe Festival in Orlando call 407.648.0077 or visit the Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival website.
May 22, 2009 – Friday Night Live in Uptown Altamonte from 7 to 9 pm. Family fun includes entertainment, local artists, Jazz, Pop, Bog Band and Contemporary music. Free admission call 407.571.8180 for more details on this weekly event.
May 25, 2009 – Sanford’s Memorial Day Parade starts at 10 am in Historic Downtown Sanford. Click here to fill out your entry for m for this year’s parade.
May 29-31, 2009 – Mount Dora Blues and Wine Festival, come out for some great music and wine tasting, for more information call 352.383.2165 or visit the Mount Dora Chamber of Commerce website.
May 30, 2009 – Chef’s Gala, one of the biggest and most extravagant fundraiser in Orlando benefiting the Heart of Florida United Way, this event is held at Epcot World Showcase from 6:30 to 10 PM. More than 20 of Orlando’s top chefs participate serving you the most unique dishes with the best wines. Also included n the evening is a silent auction. For more information on this event call 407.835.0900 or visit the Heart of Florida United Way website.
