The Disney Castle by the LEGO Group is now available in select merchandise locations at Disney Parks. This highly detailed model contains over 4,000 pieces and comes with an array of exciting Disney-themed features and functions. We recently used some Disney magic to see how quickly we could build this incredible new model.

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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.

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

If you are in the process of buying or selling a home, you may have already come across some of these common real estate myths.  Real estate myths are abundant and are quite prevalent in the real estate world.  Below you will find a few real estate myths to be wary of whether you are buying or selling a home.

1. Some folks believe that if you don’t use a real estate agent you are likely to get a better deal. This is totally false because no matter which one of you have the agent…one of them is going to get the commission be it the buyer’s agent or the sellers agent.  The only way to get around dealing with paying a commission to a realtor is if you sell or a buy a home that is for sale by owner.  If you do decide to purchase or sell by owner, be very careful because there are a lot of things that can and perhaps will go wrong when you try to go it alone.  Real estate agents deserve all the commission they get because they do a lot of work that you don’t have to worry about doing yourself.
2. Another common real estate myth is that you should set your asking price higher than what you expect to make.  If you price your home too much above the market value you are likely going to be doing yourself an injustice.  Folks are going to pass your home by because they know that it is not in their price range.  Setting your home at a reasonable price is a good way to get buyers to show some interest and not be scared off by sticker shock.
3. Yet another common real estate myth is that all of the houses listed in the multiple listing systems are all available to look at online. Most of the houses on MLS are listed online but if you don’t tell your realtor that you want your home listed online he or she may not do so.
4. Another real estate myth is that having an open house will basically guarantee that you home will sell.  While open houses are good to get folks out looking at your house, they don’t always bring the buyer to your door.  Typically those that look at your house during an open house are just browsing and likely won’t give you an offer.

Do your part not to let these real estate myths fool you by knowing them ahead of time before you buy or sell a home.

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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There are some industry pundits claiming that residential home values have risen too quickly and that current levels are on the verge of another housing bubble. It is easy to see how this thinking has taken form if we look at a graph of home prices from 2000 to today.

The graph definitely looks like a rollercoaster ride. And, as prices begin to reach 2006 levels again, it “seems logical” that the next part of the ride would be downhill. However, this graph includes the anomaly of the price bubble and the correction (the housing crash).

What if the bubble & bust didn’t occur?

Let’s assume that instead of the rise and fall in home prices that we saw last decade, we just had normal historic appreciation from 2000 to today. According to the 100+ experts that are surveyed for the Home Price Expectation Survey, normal annual appreciation for residential single family homes from 1987 to 1999 was 3.6%.

Starting with the median home price in 2000, we added 3.6% to it each year since then. Here is that graph intermixed with the above graph.

What this shows us is that, had the bubble and crash not occurred and instead we just had normal annual appreciation over this period, prices would actually be greater than they are today.

Bottom Line

There is no reason for alarm as prices seem to be right in line with where they should be.

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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If you are considering selling your home in the next few months now is the time to get started on some home improvements so that you can get your house ready to put on the market! Below are a few ways you can get started on home improvements both inside and out.

• A fresh coat of paint inside your home is a great way to improve the way your home looks and get it ready to put on the market.   Try to keep a neutral theme if you can when painting because you want others to be able to see themselves living in your home and not the other way around. You will likely be amazed at just how much difference a fresh coat of paint will make to your home.
• Panting your front door a color that pops is a great way to get awesome curb appeal. Many folks will love your home simply because it has a red door and it stands out above all the others in the neighborhood. Use a pop of color on your front door to your advantage when trying to sell your home!
• Pressure washing your home is a great way to make it shine if your home is vinyl siding. You may have lived in your house so long that you forgot what color your siding actually is until you pressure wash it. This is another way to have great curb appeal when you put your house on the market.
• If your house has columns at the front it may be a good time to replace them or at least give them a fresh coat of paint. Over the years columns tend to expand and crack and make the house look older than it actually is. Give your home a facelift by taking care of issues like these before you put it on the market.
• Refinishing your hardwoods is another way to make your home look its best. You can do this yourself or you may want to choose to hire someone to do it for you. Either way, refinishing your hardwoods is a great home improvement idea!

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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HomeVestors and Local Market Monitor have issued a list of top 10 cities for real estate investment for the fourth quarter of 2015. See the press release on this below…

HomeVestors, the We Buy Ugly Houses^® people, and Local Market Monitor, the premier real estate forecasting solution, have published the Best Markets Top Ten List for Real Estate Investing in the last quarter of 2015. The data is ranked based on cities with increased job opportunities in the past year. The overall national average increase was 1.9 percent.

Grand Rapids, Michigan topped the Best Markets Top Ten List, with Orlando, Florida coming in second. Texas cities remain strong, with San Antonio third, Dallas fourth and Austin fifth.

“Due to a shortage of home construction since the recession, local housing markets with a strong economy will experience more demand than supply in the next few years,” said Ingo Winzer, president and founder of Local Market Monitor. “This will create higher priced homes and rising rents.”

“In 2015, prices in all of the top ten housing markets have increased by at least six percent,” said David Hicks, HomeVestors co-president. “Prices will continue to rise, which is one of the reasons HomeVestors, the We Buy Ugly Houses^® people, continues to become an excellent option for independent investors.”

The remainder of the list includes Portland, Oregon sixth; Seattle, Washington seventh; Charlotte, North Carolina eighth; Salt Lake City, Utah ninth; and Fort Lauderdale, Florida tenth. While housing prices continue to increase, cities such as Portland and Seattle present an opportunity for investors because of their increase in income due to the expansion of high-value industries.

The fourth-quarter 2015 Best Markets Top 10 List for Real Estate Investing includes:

1. Grand Rapids, Michigan
2. Orlando, Florida
3. San Antonio, Texas
4. Dallas, Texas
5. Austin, Texas
6. Portland, Oregon
7. Seattle, Washington
8. Charlotte, North Carolina
9. Salt Lake City, Utah
10. Fort Lauderdale, Florida

About the Quarterly Data:

The data identifies markets that will be good rental markets and where home prices are likely to rise at an increased rate over the next few years. Criteria include markets where:

• the population has been growing at above-average rates (four percent or better) with growth coming from people moving there in search of jobs;
• the current rate of job growth of two percent or better; and
• there is low unemployment, so that new jobs will be filled by people who move there, not by unemployed people who are already there.

Markets are excluded that:

• Have a small population because they do not have stable economies.

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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There are some people that have not purchased a home because they are uncomfortable taking on the obligation of a mortgage. Everyone should realize that, unless you are living with your parents rent free, you are paying a mortgage – either your mortgage or your landlord’s. As The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University explains:

“Households must consume housing whether they own or rent. Not even accounting for more favorable tax treatment of owning, homeowners pay debt service to pay down their own principal while households that rent pay down the principal of a landlord plus a rate of return.   That’s yet another reason owning often does—as Americans intuit—end up making more financial sense than renting.”

Christina Boyle, a Senior Vice President, Head of Single-Family Sales & Relationship Management at Freddie Mac, explains another benefit of securing a mortgage vs. paying rent:

“With a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, you’ll have the certainty & stability of knowing what your mortgage payment will be for the next 30 years – unlike rents which will continue to rise over the next three decades.”

As an owner, your mortgage payment is a form of ‘forced savings’ that allows you to have equity in your home that you can tap into later in life. As a renter, you guarantee your landlord is the person with that equity. The graph below shows the widening gap in net worth between a homeowner and a renter:

Bottom Line

Whether you are looking for a primary residence for the first time or are considering a vacation home on the shore, owning might make more sense than renting with home values and interest rates projected to climb.

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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As rates are inching up but still very affordable, buyers should remember that there is an alternative to a fixed rate mortgage that can provide the lowest cost of housing for the homeowners who understand the parameters.

A $300,000 fixed-rate mortgage at 4% has a principal and interest payment of $1,432.25 per month for the entire 30 year term. A 5/1 adjustable mortgage at 3% has a $167.43 lower payment for the first five years and then, can adjust, up or down, based on a predetermined index.

Another interesting fact is that the unpaid balance on the ARM at the end of the first five years is $4,624 lower than the fixed-rate mortgage. The total savings in the first five years on the ARM is $14,669.00.

Adjustable rate mortgages are not the right choice for everyone but buyers should at least consider the options based on their individual situation. It could be an obvious choice for a buyer who is only going to be in the home for five years or less.

Use the ARM Comparison worksheet to see what possible savings you could have based on your actual numbers. A trusted mortgage professional can help you to understand the advantages and disadvantages based on your situation. You need the facts to make the best decision.

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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In school we all learned the Theory of Supply and Demand. When the demand for an item is greater than the supply of that item, the price will surely rise.

SUPPLY

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently reported that the inventory of homes for sale stands at a 4.8-month supply. This is significantly lower than the 6 months inventory necessary for a normal market.

DEMAND

Every month NAR reports on the amount of buyers that are actually out in the market looking for homes, or foot traffic. As seen in the graph below, buyer demand this year has significantly surpassed the levels reached in 2014.

Many buyers are being confronted with a very competitive market in which they must compete with other buyers for their dream home (if they even are able to find a home they wish to purchase). Listing your house for sale now will allow you to capitalize on the shortage of homes for sale in the market, which will translate into a better pricing situation.

HOME EQUITY

Many homeowners underestimate the amount of equity they currently have in their home. According to a recent Fannie Mae study, 37% of homeowners believe that they have more than 20% equity in their home. In reality 69% of homeowners actually do!

Many homeowners who are undervaluing their home equity may feel trapped in their current home, which may be contributing to the lack of inventory in the market.

Bottom Line

If you are debating selling your home this year, meet with a local real estate professional that can evaluate the equity you have in your home and the opportunities available in your market.

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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Over the years there hasn’t been that much to talk about when it came to housing for Veterans but as the months and years go by things are beginning to look up for those who have protected our country and are still continuing to do so. Let’s take some time and look at a few ways that veterans housing is improving for the better.

• Many companies are beginning to get on the band wagon of helping out veterans in our country. One of those companies is the Arizona Fisher House. This facility will provide housing for vets and their families who are being treated in medical facilities in Tucson Arizona. This housing will be temporary while the vets are being treated but it will be provided at no charge to the veterans.
• Homes For Heroes is an awesome program that allows veterans as well as other home town heroes a chance to own a home of their own. In order to find out more about homes for heroes you can look them up online. This program offers great discounts to veterans and their families so that their dream of owning their own home can become a reality.
• Marmion Apartments in Los Angeles is offering housing for 24 veterans and their families as well as 24 low income families. There are almost 3,000 homeless veterans in Los Angeles alone. That number is not acceptable and this is one of the reasons why changes are finally being made.
• In Green Bay Wisconsin Veteran’s Manor will be opening in June for Veterans who need a place in which to live. This location will offer 50 one bedroom apartments in which to house 50 veterans and their families.
• If Tennessee is where you call home you may want to check out Patriot Place which is a 34 unit apartment complex for Vets and their families.

These are just a few ways that things are beginning to look up in the housing market for veterans. I believe as time goes on we will see programs like this in our local community. After all veterans have done and how much they and their families have sacrificed their lives for our country’s freedom, this is the least that can be done. If you see a Veteran today, be sure to offer them your sincere thanks and appreciation for your freedom!

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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