The city of Ocoee has become the first town in SW Orlando to feature it’s own channel on YouTube. They’ve already added a good bit of content and the latest is about the Ocoee Parks and Recreation Haunted House to be open October 29th & 30th at 951 Ocoee Park Road.

There’s also a neat little video about the annual Founders Day Parade in the downtown area.

I think it’s a great way to showcase the area and hope nearby towns follow suit.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As part of Coldwell Banker’s new ad campaign On Location, the company aims to project more of an updated tech image with a new 3D logo, listing syndication, and video tours of local areas.

Coldwell Banker now syndicates their listings to over 350 sites. I didn’t even know that many real estate sites existed. Now that’s viral marketing.

The local tours also great although they could include a bit more detail about the areas.

I’ve been thinking of doing local video tours for a while, but I’ve gotta admit I can’t pull it off like this hostess and she’s a little easier on the eyes.

There’s 3 videos about SW Orlando at the moment but I’m sure more will be added. The only thing I’m disappointed about is that you can definitely tell they’re being done on a mass scale.

The videos about Dr. Phillips and Kissimmee are eerily similar and the Kissimmee video shows pictures of Granada Villas which is really in Dr. Phillips. The Kissimmee video also displays a photo of Dr. Phillips Elementary which is obviously in say Dr. Phillips?

Besides the oversights, I love the move to produce the videos.

Bay Hill and Dr. Phillips

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Celebration

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Kissimmee

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Ginn has sold the real estate sales and management operations to Reynolds Signature Communities and looking like we won’t hear about any new developments for a while.

While Bella Collina is just in it’s infant stages of development, Reunion is mostly complete and in my humble personal opinion, I’d prefer a property in Reunion over Bella Collina. Reunion is by far the best resort style community in SW Orlando much less all of Central Florida. It’s definitely not a place you wanna live permanently, but a great place for a vacation home.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe buying real estate in a vacation community yields great capital appreciation, but if you like to play golf and visit the attractions and you want a place that you own nearby, Reunion Resort is a better choice than most the other options available on 192 or hwy 27.

If Reynolds does anywhere near as good a job as they do in Reynolds Plantation in Georgia, I expect Reunion to remain a fantastic resort with some killer golf courses.

Apparently, you ride this sucker horizontally and not in a seat like traditional coasters so you really feel like you’re flying like Superman or in this case a manta ray. It’s definitely one of the perks of living in SW Orlando. All you gotta do is drive five minutes and you’re there.

To be honest, I haven’t been to SeaWorld in years and I’m not even a Shamu hater, but I’ll probably have to check this ride out.

Here’s a few videos I found on Pulse of Central Florida which has a great post on the roller coaster wars currently going on between local theme parks. Apparently, Universal Studios has a new coaster called Rip, Ride, Rockit.

I guess I’ll have to check this thrilling ride out too since it’s right here in Dr. Phillips. It’s hard to imagine they can top the Hulk coaster at Islands of Adventure, but after seeing the video I’m not quite sure anymore.

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Well, the drywall coming out of China has some problems like a lot of Chinese products and now I’m required to provide a Chinese Drywall Disclosure to home buyers. Recent reports say drywall from China churns out sulfur based gases that eat away air conditioning coils, pipes, and wiring. Worst of all, it stinks…  literally. When building materials became hard to come by during the housing boom around 2004, builders started importing goods from China. Man, they make everything over there.

One of the major builders to do this in Florida according to the Wall Street Journal is Lennar. I gotta tell ya, they’ve built quite a few homes here in SW Orlando since 2004 including Stoneybrook West, Windsor Landing, and Brookestone to mention a few. I’m sure there’s other major builders that used this product and I’m sure they’ll get pulled out of the rank and file once the lawsuits start piling up.

I can’t believe there’s another toxic import from China. It seems like it was not too long ago, the news was about lead in kid’s toys made in China. One thing that’s for sure is that Chinese products are cheap, but at some point quality will have to come into play.

Here’s a pdf of the new disclosure: Chinese Drywall Disclosure

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Here in SW Orlando, you don’t see too many of them on the Butler Chain and you see a few more on the Clermont Chain and Johns Lake, but I’ve been swimming in all these waters and being attacked has never crossed my mind.

I got to thinkin about it when I drove over the bridge on Lake Jessup today and glanced at the water. It seemed like there were a bunch of logs floating around at first, but I noticed they were gators with a little closer look. I mean I almost ran off the road. They were everywhere with pacts of about a dozen of them spread across the lake like the picture on this post.

The lake has been rumored to have over 10,000 of those toothy critters and 77 every square mile of the lake. This is one lake I ain’t going swimming in. The only other lake that could be considered comparable is Lake Apopka where the famed Bella Collina adorns its shoreline.

Now, there are places infested with alligators but at least not in SW Orlando. I’m not saying you won’t see any, but there’s just not that many of them.

So you guys worried about them shouldn’t be unless you’re on Lake Jessup or Lake Apopka.

1. Buddy Dyer – As mayor of Orlando during the real estate boom, he’s credited with the changing skyline of Orlando.

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2. Rich Crotty – Replaced Buddy Dyer as mayor and currently dealing with corruption from the expressway authority and economic woes.

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3. John Hitt – As president of the University of Central Florida, he’s credited with the growth of a mini economy around the university area.

4. John Mica – Republican House member from Winter Park and one of the biggest supporters of commuter rail

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5. Dean Cannon – Repulican House member

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6. Meg Crofton – She’s president of the largest single employer in town as president of Walt Disney World.

7. Bill Nelson – Florida’s Democratic Senator

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8. Jim Pugh – Understated developer responsible for the Orlando Performing Art Center

9. Jacob Stuart – Former head of the Chamber of Commerce in Orlando and now heads Central Florida Partnership. He represents big business interest in Central Florida.

10. Alex Martins – Cheif Operating Officer for the Orlando Magic

11. Clarence Otis – CEO of Orlando’s only Fortune 500 company, Darden

12. John Morgan – Attorney with a direct pipeline to powerful Democrats, Howard Dean and Barach Obama

13. Al Weiss – President of Walt Disney World’s parks and resorts division

14. Fred Leonhardt – Powerful attorney at GrayRobinson who was the lead attorney for the 55 West development and former head of the Florida Chamber of Commerce

15. Andy Gardiner – Republican senator from Orlando

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16. Jim Seneff – CEO and founder of CNL Financial

17. Harris Rosen – He’s one of my favorites as an understated multi-millionaire that speaks out for philantropy.

18. Charlie Gray – Politically connected attorney at GrayRobinson

19. Mel Martinez – Republican senator

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20. Corrine Brown – Central Florida Congresswoman

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21. Dick Batchelor -  Former legislator with strong political ties and SW Orlando resident at Isleworth

22. Bob Mandell -  He’s one of the few guys I’ve actually met on this list. He’s a developer who spearheaded Greater Homes and Construction which was bought by Meritage Homes. By the way, he’s got some great seats for the Magic games. He was the earliest and biggest local backers of Barack Obama.

23. Val Demmings – Chief of the Orlando Police Department. Her husband was also recently elected as head of the Orange County Sherrif’s Office. I’d be careful not violate any laws around these guys.

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24. Jeff Fuqua – He hands out multi million dollar contracts as head of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority.

25. Ron Blocker – Orange County schools leader

It’s awful difficult to predict the weather around here and frankly, the so called meteorologists have a tough time with it as well. The weather here in the winter is usually comfortable and nice with sunny skies and highs in the 70’s, but a cold front can put an end to that for few days. Below you’ll find the average temperatures and rainfall in paradise.

Average Temperatures in Orlando

Average Rainfall in Orlando

Afters years of we’re gonna build it and we’re not gonna build it, the Central Florida Commuter Rail is gonna get built with the first phase connecting Debary to Sand Lake Road right here in SW Orlando. They’ve even decided on a name and a logo so there’s no turning back now. It’ll be called the Sunrail. It’s supposed to be carting people around by 2011, but we’ll have to see if they even start construction on it anytime soon. At $1.2 billion, I’m not totally convinced it’s gonna be worth it and wish they would decide on the darn thing so I don’t have to hear about it any more. Personally, I think lowering property taxes would be more beneficial to the economy but people have spoken.

It seems like just the other day when I met her at my first job straight out of college. She was the top real estate agent at the office and I wanted to be just like her someday…. I’m still working on it by the way.

I’ve never met anyone more dedicated, caring, and willing to help. I believe it carried over to everything she did. A quote she emailed to me one day still sticks with me today. It said, good service comes from the heart.  She was extremely busy and successful, but somehow always had time to help me out as well as countless others.

I’ve been fortunate in my life in the fact that there’s always been someone looking out for me and teaching me things throughout the different stages of my life for whatever reason and Barbara has been that person for me a bunch of times. She’s been that angel lookin out for me… cheesy, I know but Barbara would appreciate that comment for sure.

I can’t say how many times she’s helped me out but it’s been a bunch. The funny thing is, some of the things I’m gonna miss about her is her distinctive kackly laugh, her disdain for mispronounced words which I’m guilty of egging her on with on a few occasions, and the fact that I knew she was somewhere close by when I smelled fried chicken. Really, I’m gonna miss her period. I feel fortunate to have known her and may peace be with you.

If Barbara has touched your life, please pay tribute to her on her guestbook: Barbara Brady Guestbook