We have all heard of the man cave and many of us have them in our homes.  Did you know that there is something called the she shed that is starting to take over the popularity of the man cave?  That’s right!  Women now have their own special place they can go to get some alone time and it is called the she shed!  Below is a little bit of information about this new phenomenon.

1.  She sheds came about as a shed that was used for gardening but in the last decade they have quickly become nice outbuildings decorated in tasteful  feminine décor that are used by women to get away from it all!  How exciting is that?!
2. She sheds can be used for whatever you want to use them for.  For example if you like to read, create a she shed filled with books and comfy furniture.  If you like sewing and crafts make a she shed centered around that.  The world is your oyster when it comes to what kind of she shed you can create.
3. She sheds can be created on a budget scaled to fit your vision. They do not have to break the bank and they have endless potential. Again, you can make what you want out of your she shed.
4. If you want to build your own she shed there are plenty of DIY helps online to help you get the job done .  There are even she shed starter kits at local, well known hardware stores.
5. She sheds can even be used as beauty salons if you have a license and you want to have a shop at your home.  All you would need to do to make this a reality is to add the necessary plumbing to a she shed.  You can make them quite beautiful if you have the time and money that is required to do so.
6. As far as the “look” of a she shed, you can do it up or make it blend in.  Decorative lighting, artsy paint schemes, big windows, there are no limits. Plan your she shed to be whatever suits your fancy.

Now that you know there is such a thing as a she shed, it’s likely you will want to go online to find out more.   All you need to do is Google she shed and you will be well on your way to finding out about all there is to know in the world of the she shed!

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

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Smart Gadgets are quite fun to look at and try out but have you ever considered purchasing a few for your home?  Why not take the plunge to make your home a more interesting place to be by purchasing a few or all of the gadgets mentioned below.

1.  Many of you may have already seen or perhaps even tried the smart vacuum.  If you haven’t tried it you need to do so.  Just imagine pushing a few buttons and sitting down to relax while your vacuum cleaner does all the work for you.  What a revolution!  Be prepared to dish out $700 to $900, but it will likely be quite worth it in the end.
2. Smart trash cans have perhaps not been as heard of as the vacuum cleaners but they are just as cool none the less.  If you are the type of person that cannot stand to touch the top of the trashcan due to the fact that it is loaded with germs, this may be just the thing for you!  Not only will you not have to touch the lid but some of these gadgets even tell you when the trash is full and needs to be taken out!  How do you like that for smart?! $150 to $200 will buy you this luxury item!
3. Washers and dryers have had intelligent features for years but are beginning to add more and more as each year passes.  Some of them now have phone apps that let you remotely control them.  Some will sense when you are home and instantly begin using their quiet mode so as not to disturb you.  These types of machines will run you $1400-$1800 each but are well worth the money if you have it to spare.
4. Even air purifiers have been added to the list of smart gadgets folks are buying these days.  These items puts your homes air through different filters, then analyzes the data and sends it to your phone to tell you what types of things are prevalent in your air such as pollen, dust, pet dander, etc.  These cost from $200 to $750.

You may have thought that your home couldn’t be this smart but it can if you have the money to make it happen.  These items are so amazing that if you don’t currently have the money to buy them, you may want to consider saving up for one at a time.

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

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Many of us select plants for the garden at our Orlando FL home based on their visual effect—color, height, size of blooms, etc. And so we should, as the sight of our plantings should be pleasing to our sense of sight. As we plan our garden, however, we should also be aware of the other four senses—and include plants which appeal to each of them.

SMELL: Aromatherapy is a powerful practice. With nothing more than a simple scent, the brain can be triggered to remember long forgotten memories, emotions, and feelings. With that being said, it is important to carefully select the flowers you want in the garden of your Orlando FL home. With a few simple choices, you can create your own “memory lane’ or relaxing oasis. In terms of fragrance, it’s hard to beat roses or lavender. Wisteria and jasmine are scented climbers which can really enhance the sensory pleasure of a garden, and amaryllis belladonna and spirea both add pleasant scents.

SOUND: Few of us associate the sense of sound with our garden, but the rustling of long grasses and the chirping of birds add a much-appreciated dimension. To attract songbirds, use fruit-bearing understory trees like dogwoods and service berries and shrubs such as viburnums and hollies and introduce low growing perennials and dwarf shrubs like creeping juniper and cotoneaster. You can also plant vines, ground covers, and sunflowers to increase chirping and tweeting.

TOUCH: Texture in garden design refers to the surface quality of the plant. Plant textures range from delicate and fine to coarse and bold. The feel of the foliage in your Orlando FL home’s garden is not the only element of texture, however, as the texture can change with the play of light and shadow and even with viewing distance. Plants with thread-like leaves call out to be touched, so consider adding cosmos, baby’s breath, asters, and grasses. In addition, iris and lamb’s ear will each provide softer tactile experiences.

TASTE: The world of herbs is nearly without limits. Think about basil, chives, rosemary, chamomile, cilantro, mint, and parsley, to name just a few tasty garden additions. Consider, too low bush blueberries or ligonberries. Lesser known, but equally valuable as salad additions are the flowers of the hibiscus shrub, columbine, and daylilies.

Some of the plants you have selected for your garden will serve more than one purpose and will appeal to more than one sense, so be sure to sniff, feel, taste, listen to, and view each of them!

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

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What is the life span of a house?  Some houses may survive for hundreds of years, but the individual components that make them up may not.  Parts of the house made of concrete or brick may last a long time, but other things such as appliances may only last ten years or so, regardless of how expensive they were to purchase.

As seen in the graphic, components of the house made with hardy materials such as wood or stone flooring can last 100 years or more.  Other durables that can last a lifetime included natural stone or tile countertops, fiberglass, wood or fire-rated steel exterior doors, copper wiring and most types of insulation.

A study by the  National Association of Home Builders warns that life expectancies of homes will vary and the life span of an individual house’s component will depend greatly on the quality of installation, level of maintenance, weather and climate conditions and intensity of use.

Many homeowners will swap out house components or appliances before necessary due to changing styles and preferences or improvements in newer products.  Eligibility for tax credits or rebates and newer models that are more energy efficient and less costly to use may entice homeowners to replace items before the end of their useful life.

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

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Many Americans got some depressing news last week; either their tax return was not as large as they had hoped or, in some cases, they were told they owed additional money to either the Federal or State government or both. One way to save on taxes is to own your own home.

According to the Tax Policy Center’s Briefing Book -“A citizen’s guide to the fascinating (though often complex) elements of the federal Tax System” – there are several tax advantages to homeownership.

Here are four items, and a quote on each, from the Briefing Book:

1. Mortgage Interest Deduction

“Homeowners who itemize deductions may reduce their taxable income by deducting any interest paid on a home mortgage. The deduction is limited to interest paid on up to $1 million of debt incurred to purchase or substantially rehabilitate a home. Homeowners also may deduct interest paid on up to $100,000 of home equity debt, regardless of how they use the borrowed funds. Taxpayers who do not own their home have no comparable ability to deduct interest paid on debt incurred to purchase goods and services.”

2. Property Tax Deduction

“Homeowners who itemize deductions may also reduce their taxable income by deducting property taxes they pay on their homes.”

3. Imputed Rent

“Buying a home is an investment, part of the returns from which is the opportunity to live in the home rent-free. Unlike returns from other investments, the return on homeownership—what economists call “imputed rent”—is excluded from taxable income. In contrast, landlords must count as income the rent they receive, and renters may not deduct the rent they pay. A homeowner is effectively both landlord and renter, but the tax code treats homeowners the same as renters while ignoring their simultaneous role as their own landlords.”

4. Profits from Home Sales

“Taxpayers who sell assets must generally pay capital gains tax on any profits made on the sale. But homeowners may exclude from taxable income up to $250,000 ($500,000 for joint filers) of capital gains on the sale of their home if they satisfy certain criteria: they must have maintained the home as their principal residence in two out of the preceding five years, and they generally may not have claimed the capital gains exclusion for the sale of another home during the previous two years.”

Bottom Line

We are not suggesting that you purchase a house just to save on your taxes. However, if you have been on the fence as to whether 2017 is the year you should become a homeowner, this information might help with that decision.

Disclaimer: Always check with your accountant to find out what tax advantages apply to you in your area. 

by The KCM Crew

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

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Some industry experts are claiming that the housing market may be headed for a slowdown as we proceed through 2017, based on rising home prices and a potential jump in mortgage interest rates. One of the data points they use is the Housing Affordability Index, as reported by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Here is how NAR defines the index:

“The Housing Affordability Index measures whether or not a typical family earns enough income to qualify for a mortgage loan on a typical home at the national level based on the most recent price and income data.”

Basically, a value of 100 means a family earning the median income earns enough to qualify for a mortgage on a median-priced home, based on the price and mortgage interest rates at the time. Anything above 100 means the family has more than enough to qualify.

The higher the index, the easier it is to afford a home.

Why the concern?

The index has been declining over the last several years as home values increased. Some are concerned that too many buyers could be priced out of the market.

But, wait a minute…

Though the index skyrocketed from 2009 through 2013, we must realize that during that time, the housing crisis left the market with an overabundance of distressed properties (foreclosures and short sales). All prices dropped dramatically and distressed properties sold at major discounts. Then, mortgage rates fell like a rock.

The market is recovering, and values are coming back nicely. That has caused the index to fall.

However, let’s remove the crisis years (shaded in gray) and look at the current index as compared to the index from 1990 – 2008:

Though prices and rates appear to be increasing, we must realize that affordability is composed of three ingredients: home prices, interest rates, and income. And, incomes are finally rising.

ATTOM Data Solutions recently released their Q1 2017 U.S. Home Affordability Index. The report explained:

“Stronger wage growth is the silver lining in this report, outpacing home price growth in more than half of the markets for the first time since Q1 2012, when median home prices were still falling nationwide. If that pattern continues, it will help turn the tide in the eroding home affordability trend.”

Bottom Line

Compared to historic norms, it is still a great time to buy from an affordability standpoint.

by The KCM Crew

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

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So you have your house on the market and you are eager and ready to sell it as quickly as possible?  Here are a few tips for keeping your house ready to show at any given moment throughout the day or night.

1. If you are a busy working person in society it is likely that you don’t have time to keep your house spic and span twenty four seven.  However you CAN make the house look as if it is clean all the time by simply getting rid of some of the clutter.  Two of the main rooms you should concentrate on to accomplish this are the bathrooms and the kitchen.  Make sure that all counter space is clean and free from any clutter in each of these rooms.  Also a good way to make the kitchen look less cluttered is to take any and all items you have posted on your refrigerator off while you are trying to sell your home.
2. Another way to keep your house ready to show at any time is to clean eye catchers first.  Items you should clean first are such things as the ceiling fans, floors, countertops, stovetops, ovens, trash cans and bathroom fixtures.  These places can get dirty quickly and will be noticed by folks who come to tour your home so make sure they are clean at all times.
3. Do a few extra things like adding a touch of color to each room with pillows to make the space pop. Also if there are any beds left unmade or any areas of the house that need a quick pick me up do your part to make that happen on a daily basis before you head out the door.
4. Another tip for keeping your house ready to show at anytime  might be to use an essential oil diffuser in the main room of the house so that it always smells fresh and clean.

These are just a few tips for keeping your house ready to show at any time of the day or night.  You never know when you might get a call to show your house at the last minute and by doing these simple things you will always be ready.  This doesn’t mean you will be guaranteed an offer by any means but it does mean that your chances may be greater!

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

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Purchasing a home is a huge deal and can cost quite a bit of money.   There are a few things in this world that can make people crazy and one of those is money.  If you are thinking about purchasing a home with your best friend you may want to consider a few things first to make sure you are making the best decision for both of you.    There are pros and cons to buying a home together and they are listed below for your consideration.

1. One benefit of buying a home with your best friend is that there will be two of you signing on the loan.  This makes many lenders very happy because they know that they have double the chance that the mortgage payment will be paid each month.  Having two people instead of one signing the mortgage is better all the way around.
2. Another benefit of buying a home with your best friend  is that you will share the expenses.  You can sit down together to figure out who is going to pay for what and then take the savings you will receive by doing this and put it toward something you both want or something you want  for yourself.  The beauty of this is that by sharing expenses you will likely have the money to share for fun things too.
3. Buying a home with your best friend is a great way to gain equity. The longer you two live together the more equity you will be building in the home that you purchase.  If you decide to sell the home one day in the future, you will be able to split the profits and start your new lives more easily than if you didn’t purchase a home together.
4. One con to buying a home with your best friend  might be the sheer rawness of moving in with someone hitting you in the face.  You may be best friends but when you move in together there will likely be things you find that you don’t enjoy about the others company.  A good way to keep this from causing any issue is to spend some time apart on a daily basis.
5. Another downfall to buying a home with your “bestie” might be your debt to income ratio. If you both have your income tied up in the mortgage there might not be enough to quality for a new car loan if the need arises.

These are just a few of the things you should consider before purchasing a home with your best friend.

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

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