The community of Brookestone in Ocoee is a wonderful place to call home in a gated setting with functional plans by Lennar, Centex, and Park Square Homes. The convenient location, spacious lots, and mix of architecture add to its appeal.
The past nine sale prices in Brookestone range from $215,000 to $360,000 with the average price being $275,156. The average size of the homes sold falls around 2,700 square feet and it took an average of 216 days of market.
The ever popular average price per square foot measurement was $103 a foot. The highest price per foot was just above $124 and the lowest price per foot was $87.
The prices have come down a bit here, but not bad compared to the grim market conditions that plague most of the country.
The annual Windermere Wake Fest took place last month on April 4th and 5th at Camp Down as part of the Festival Among the Lakes celebration. It’s considered to be the first pro level wakeboard contest of the year and the pros brought their sickest bag of tricks for this event.
The week long festival as well as the 2 day wakeboard tournament raises money for local charities and provides a week full of fun for residents in Windermere.
The conditions were pretty choppy and not the best this year, but the level of fun and wakeboarding did not wane one bit. The results are as follows:
I guess I’m on a comedy kick lately. I just came across this funny parody of real estate agents on my facebook page called Closing Escrow and couldn’t stop laughing.
I want to thank everyone for checking out the Scoop the past couple of years, so I teamed up with CSN Lighting to give away this gorgeous lamp designed by Carolyn Kinder for free. It’s beautiful with it’s light bronze finish, black matte accents, and Sienna crackle fabric bell shade. It’s been crafted by the Uttermost Company founded in 1975 by Bob and Belle Cooper which still operates as a 100% family business today.
All you have to do is leave a comment on this post and a winner will be randomly drawn on Sunday, May 31, 2009. This contest is only open to readers with a mailing address in the continental United States, but other than that it’s a free for all.
Showing a home in the right light can make all the difference between a home selling or not selling, so I’ve had the experts at CSN Lighting cast light on the subject.
Showing Your Home in the Best Light
Making a good first impression is key when it comes to selling your home – especially in a housing market like today’s. As you’re preparing to put your home on the market, make sure that you leave some room in your budget for lighting.
Good lighting makes a huge difference how your home comes across to prospective buyers. Here are some illuminating tips on how best to light your home while trying to fetch the best price.
The Foyer & Entryway:
You want the tone to be warm and inviting, not too bright or too dark. If you don’t have one already, install a pendant light or mini chandelier, depending on the height of your ceiling. An attractive table lamp on top of a console table would work just fine as well.
The Living Room:
The living room will likely be used for entertaining and relaxing, therefore it needs to be warm, homey without being too bright. If you have any extra table or floor lamps lying around in your basement, drag them out and dust them off. Lamps with dimmer switches work wonders in the living room, as they allow you to create a really nice, cozy atmosphere. Take down any heavy drapery while you’re at it and let the natural light in.
The Dining Room:
Like the living room, the dining room would benefit from a light with dimming capabilities – either a chandelier or a horizontal pendant light centered over the dining room table. The dining room is a gathering room so the lighting needs to be both stylish and functional. If you have a larger dining room, a couple of wall sconces might be a nice addition to your space.
The Bathroom:
The bathroom needs to be brighter than other rooms in your home. In addition to some lights over or around your mirror, some kind of overhead light would be a good idea. You can install a combination light and ventilation fan for added value and benefit.
The Kitchen:
The kitchen needs a good amount of work light, especially over the countertops and eating areas. Under cabinet lighting is a relatively easy and inexpensive option to consider. Not only does it provide ample work lighting but it also makes your granite countertops sparkle. A couple of pendant lights over the bar or island looks great and showcases the versatility of your space. A simple pendant or mini chandelier over the kitchen table also works wonders.
The Bedroom:
The bedroom doesn’t need too much in the way of supplemental lighting, perhaps a couple of floor fixtures or table lamps for your end tables. If you have curtains or blinds, open them up and let as much natural light in as you possibly can.
In terms of placement of your lamps, keep it natural. Don’t cluster groups of lamps around your living room as this looks staged. Also, don’t think that you need to spend crazy amounts of money on lighting. Just a couple of chic, stylish lamps placed in prominent locations around the home give your space the “it” factor it needs.
The community of Torey Pines in Dr. Phillips has seen 5 sales in the past 12 months with an average price of $541,200. The average size of homes solds was 3,470 square feet and it took an average of 194 days on market to sell. The average price per square foot was $161.
Currently, there’s 8 homes on the market ranging in price from $435,000 to $812,o00 which have been on the market an average of 98 days and 4 properties under contract.
This community has always been popular, but the low number of sales and the high number of available properties is concerning.
One of the most fantastic places in SW Orlando that gets forgotten about is the Grand Cypress Resort with 45 beautifully designed holes by the Golden Bear, Jack Nicklaus. I’ve played golf all over the world and it’s one of my favorite courses.
Typically, you have to be a guest at the resort and pay hundreds for a greens fee to play golf here, but currently they’re offering Central Florida residents the opportunity to play here for only $69 Monday thru Thursday and $79 Friday thru Sunday until September 30th.
It’s a great deal which I’ll be taking advantage of this summer.
Being a landlord can be a glorious experience at times. I manage 3 retail centers and let me know tell you, there’s always something broken and rent that’s past due. Every once in a while you need to make light of the situation and this little video put me on the ground laughing.
The Orlando Regional Realtor Association released their latest stats for the real estate market here in Orlando today and this past month shows a continuation of the improvement that we’ve been seeing throughout 2009.
The number of sales have been on the rise with inventory levels dropping which is what I’ve been looking for a long time. We’re currently at about a year’s worth of inventory and that’s not too far off from a normal level which is around 6 to 7 months. It’s a heck of a lot better than the 2 years worth of inventory we saw in 2007 and 2008.
We saw 1,741 sales, 3,412 new contracts, and 5,818 homes under contract for April 2009. There’s still 20,194 homes on the market, but this number should improve as long as the number of sales remain at the current pace.
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.
I was out showing some properties to Joshua & Danielle Rouse this week and they told me they were off to SeaWorld to check out some new roller coaster called Manta.
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.
