On Saturday, December 13th, the YMCA in Lake Mary, Florida will host a Pancake Breakfast with Santa from 8:30am-10:30am. In addition to having their picture taken with Santa and his Elves, visitors will enjoy a yummy pancake breakfast and holiday arts & crafts. Admission is $10.00 per person for adults and $5.00 per person for children ages 3-10 years-old. Children 2 & under are FREE!     To buy tickets, visit the J. Douglas YMCA at 665 Longwood-Lake Mary Road, Lake Mary, FL 32746 in person or call them at (407) 321-8944. As YMCA members for more than 12 years now, my family and I are planning to attend the Pancake Breakfast on the 13th! We'd be happy to show you around and help you get connected with others in the community! All proceeds from this event will be donated to the Central F... 12/06/2008

  Yes... Those are tails you see wagging!  In a unanimous decision last night the Lake Mary City Commissions approved the plan to add an off the leash Dog Park to Liberty Park in Lake Mary.  Lake Mary Florida (Voted the #4 Place to Live in The Country in 2007 by Money Magazine) is truly on the forefront of enhancing the lives of it's residents.  Not only is Lake Mary known for it's top rated School System, but the parks and recreational facilities are second to none.  The addition of the dog park will continue to make Lake Mary the top choice for Seminole County home buyers.   If you are interested in learning more about Seminole County and Lake Mary or are looking for your next home.  Please contact me for additional information.   Move To Lake Mary & Orlando Florida Real Estate Lake M... 12/05/2008

Lake Mary - One of Central Florida's Most Beautiful CitiesLake Mary is centrally located being only 30 minutes from downtown Orlando, and 45 minutes from the Daytona Beach and area attractions and immediate access to Interstate 4 for easy commuting.Lake Mary is well known for the industry and variety of jobs which enhance the local economy and career opportunities.  During the week about 35,000 commuters arrive in the city from various locations throughout central Florida.Money magazine named Lake Mary #4 of the Best Places to live in 2007.  For more information on the Money magazine article and a snapshot of the area, demographics, etc. click on the link below:http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2007/snapshots/PL1238425.htmlWorld class shopping, fine restaurants and entertai... 12/05/2008

Aha the title caught your attention. Admit it, it intrigued you, it made you click on my blog and now you are stuck. Muhahaha  Ok so I dont grow sushi, but I come from a long line of gardeners and own a salt water tank with fish named after sushi. Without further adieu have been tagged by Rich Dansereau. Someone found me interesting enough to want to know 6 useless things about me. Wow only 6, how shall I choose. In honor of my poor boyfriend who puts up with me I know immediately my #1 useless bit of information. 1. I enjoy scarring people and being scarred. I know it's weird I have been that way since I was a kid. Quietly hiding waiting to jump out at someone, a weird thrill. But I love haunted houses and of course Halloween Horror Nights. This is the first year I have missed in 18 y... 12/05/2008

The city of Lake Mary takes pride in its strong sense of community. Lake Mary was ranked No. 1 in Florida and No. 4 in the U.S. as Best Place to live. Lake Mary has a commitment to high standards of living. Located near I-4 along the fast growing high tech business center near Heathrow, the city offers well planned residential communities, excellent schools, prominent businesses and a variety of shopping. The inventory levels in the Orlando area have decreased to an 8.37 month supply....the lowest since 2006.  Increased sales activity, especially in the lower price range, has helped inventory decline. The market does appear to be moving toward more balance at this time. For all your real estate needs, we are an email away. THE MOORE TEAM - JUNE & DON407-782-7269407-921-7727Toll free: 1-... 12/04/2008

Lake Mary is the top choice for Seminole County home buyers and hopefully soon the top choice for Seminole County dog owners too. Tomorrow night the Lake Mary City Commission is holding a public hearing regarding the proposed off the leash Dog Park in Liberty Park. Liberty Park is located just North of Downtown Lake Mary on the shores of East Lake Crystal.  There is plenty of unused property within the park that would make a perfect playground for Lake Mary Pups. The project has been proposed by the Trailblazers who also brought Lake Mary the Splash Park & Playground.  The estimated $70,000 cost to build the park, on the property that City already owns, would come from private funds. The Dog Park would be a great asset to Lake Mary residents who currently go outside of Lake Mary to Sanf... 12/03/2008

  Lake Mary Holiday in the Park ~ Friday, December 5, 2008 from 6 - 8 pm Join Santa & Mrs. Claus before his big trip on Christmas Eve for The Annual Tree Lighting in The Park at Lake Mary City Hall.  Live entertainment, free face-painting, kids games and reindeer rides.  Bring canned goods or an unwrapped toy to receive refreshments and cookies.  Free to the public - The Park is Located at Lake Mary City Hall at the corner of Lake Mary Blvd. & Country Club Blvd.  6:45 Tree Lighting 7:00 Mr. & Mrs. Claus Arrive    Move To Lake Mary (Orlando & Seminole County Real Estate) Lake Mary is 15 miles North of Downtown Orlando & The #1 Place to Live in Florida Debbie Summers Licensed Real Estate Professional, ALHS, ePRO 407 758-1020 or  Debbie@MoveToLakeMary.com 12/03/2008

This is the weekly update of homes sales, including townhomes and condominiums for Lake Mary Florida.  The "Just Sold" Lake Mary & Heathrow Florida Update includes the 32746 zip code. Another solid week of sales in Lake Mary, I have noticed this week that there is little variance in the listing price to sold prices.  The homes that sold this week all sold within 5% of their list price.  This tells me that sellers are becoming more realistic with their offering prices... Stay tuned to see if this trend continues.  Single Family Homes Sales in Lake Mary Florida Sold Neighborhood Street Address Living Area Beds & Baths Pool $352,500 Heathrow 1389 Chessington Cir. 2,270 4 / 3 Y $260,000 The Crossings 258 Morning Glory Dr. 1,712 3 / 2.5 Y $218,000 Huntington Pointe 297 Hanging Moss Cir. 1,95... 11/29/2008

I'm Celebrating.... The 1st Anniversary of The Lake Mary Farmer's Market and my first post.  Just over a year ago I finally felt like I was ready to write my first post, I had been lurking around reading for months on Active Rain, but wasn't ready to jump in.  I'm so glad that I did with my First Post about the "New" Lake Mary's Farmer Market...   Participating in the open forum of Active Rain has been a wonderful experience for me and I've met a lot of great new people along the way.  Thank you Active Rain for providing a place for all us to learn and grow in... It's great to be in the rain. Lake Mary Farmer's Market...  This post still rings true today and the Farmer's Market has been a huge success! The City of Lake Mary is set to debut their deeply anticipated Farmer's Market on Sat... 11/28/2008

Lake Mary First Time Home Buyers... perk up. We all know what inflation is and the ugliness that can go with it. Most of us know that deflation is the opposite of inflation.... but don;t know much more than that. In fact, business TV and newspapers have inflated deflation [sorry for the play on words... but I like doin' that] as a hot topic this week and, since Monday, Google has tracked 13,000 mentions of it. Make this 13001. Deflation is a recurring cycle in which the prices of goods and services fall. Suh-weet... falling prices that is so cool, right? Well, um, not really. Why? Human nature. When prices are declining across many industries at the same time, IT CAN SHUT DOWN THE ECONOMY! If you think about it... Find out the ugly truth of deflation by finishing the blog post here: Tal... 11/25/2008

Stirling Sotheby's International Realty's Lake Mary/Heathrow office will celebrate their "2nd Annual Thanksgiving Pot-Luck" feast for all of their Sales Associates & staff on Tuesday, November 25th.Joyce Marsh, Managing Director,  started the tradition last year when she took over the management of the Lake Mary/Heathrow team.  This office covers Seminole, Volusia, and Flagler counties with agents servicing those areas.About 35+ agents/guests will be participating.  Our office is definitely international with many multi-cultural and ethnic groups represented.  Everyone is encouraged to bring in various cultural dishes that represent their own traditional thanksgiving celebrations. This is an opportunity for our agents to network with each other as well as enjoy good food, fun, and fello... 11/24/2008

If you are considering buying a bank-owned property in Lake Mary, you should know: The agent who has the house for sale is the listing agent and represents the bank, not you. The bank may require that the home be on the market for a minimum number of days prior to reviewing any offers. So, even if you write a full-price offer the first day the house is listed, the bank may want the home to be marketed for 1 week, 2 weeks or longer before accepting an offer. The bank will continue to keep the property for sale while they are reviewing your offer (and any others they might have). The bank will not provide any disclosures about the property. Since they never lived there, they cannot tell you whether there have been any roof leaks or water intrusion issues. The bank may require you to quali... 11/24/2008

What's Hot and What's Not Week in Review - 11/24/2008 Past Weeks: 10/06/2008 10/13/2008 10/20/2008 11/04/2008 11/10/2008 11/18/2008 Each week will feature the hottest sales and listings in Orange County and Seminole County, FL. As to not offend anyone we will not be listing the Nots. This week we are showing the most lavish homes in the Orlando Real Estate Market located in Longwood FL in a community known as Alaqua Lakes.  One of the most sought after communities in the Lake Mary area. Orlando Luxury Real Estate at it's finest. Hottest Home of the Week JUST SOLD: This weeks hot home sale is located at 4090 BERMUDA GROVE PL LONGWOOD, FL in ALAQUA LAKES. Welcome to this highly customized golf front home in Alaqua Lakes. Privately located on the 2nd fairway, this home features scenic vie... 11/24/2008

Yes, I attended the Active Rain party at Hard Rock Live that was held the same weekend of the NAR convention. Yes, I am a Trulia advocate. No, I'm not a "paid" staff member for Trulia.   But, YES, I've gotten "paid" by being involved with Trulia. These guys really do have a great product...as you'll hear many say (including yours truly) on this video! Thanks Trulia...you guys do ROCK!   Subscribe in a reader 11/20/2008

The Hyatt Place Lake Mary is now open in the Heathrow area at the Center of the High Tech Corridor.  Located just off Lake Mary Boulevard & Interstate 4, this new state of the art "boutique" feel hotel offers the signature Hyatt Grand Bed and 42" flat panel televisions.  The high tech traveler will appreciate the Hyatt Plug Panel that allows guests to connect their devices including laptop computers, MP3 and DVD players to the television. For the business traveler or Lake Mary resident the new Hyatt Place also feature 2,000 sq. ft. of function space including; two meeting/banquet room and an executive board room.  Please see these additional photos of the hotel. The Hyatt Place Lake Mary is offering a special room package now through December 31, 2008.  You receive one night free when y... 11/20/2008

This is the weekly update of homes sales, including townhomes and condominiums for Lake Mary Florida.  The "Just Sold" Lake Mary & Heathro Florida Update includes the 32746 zip code. This week there was a sold number of homes sold in Lake Mary.  There were 8 single family home sales, 1 townhome and 2 condominiums.     Single Family Homes Sales in Lake Mary Florida Sold Neighborhood Street Address Living Area Beds & Baths Pool $932,500 Heathrow 1405 Langham Ter. 4,251 5 / 5.5 Y $485,000   460 Lake Road 3,344 5 / 3.5 N $365,000 Heathrow 1383 Chessington Cir. 2,176 4 / 3 Y $340,000 Heathrow 1522 Cherry Lake Way 3,143 5 / 4 Y $255,000 Cardinal Oaks 465 Cardinal Oaks Ct. 1,744 3 / 2 N $255,000 Heathrow 810 Lakeworth Cir. 2,022 4 / 2 N $ 207,500 Egrets Landing 3244 Egrets Landing Dr. 1,620 4 ... 11/19/2008

As I mentioned in a previous post that you can read here, you CAN buy a home in Lake Mary Florida for $200,000 or less... In searching today for young couple who is hoping to buy their first home, I noted 20 homes with a MINIMUM of 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1500 square feet and a two car garage that are listed for sale in Lake Mary within this price range. Here is a breakdown of those 20 homes: 4 are bank owned  11 are short sales 5 are traditionally owned properties (Being offered for sale without third party approval being required) While 20 homes may seem like plenty to select from, if you are a Buyer who would like to own a home in Lake Mary for $200,000 or less and would like to purchase, close and occupy by December 31st so that you can qualify for Homestead Exemption (which reduce... 11/18/2008

How come everything in Orlando gets cheaper when everyone is worried about their job and don't want to spend any money!! Okay, so it is a rhetorical question and the answer is somewhat obvious, but how cool would that be if, everything got cheaper and you just got a raise!? I feel your pain. Well, on the first Friday of every month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the 'jobs report'... officially called the 'Non-Farm Payrolls report.' Well, the October's data is trending with the rest of 2008. See the pretty graph? Don't let the green fool you. After dropping another 240,000 jobs last month like a newbie at a craps table, the economy... Read the whole story at: Does less jobs mean Cheap Lake Mary Real Estate Deals? 11/17/2008

Appleton's Cafe - Lake Mary FL  The Next Best Thing to Mom's Cooking! A few weeks ago I was traveling to Orlando and I took a slight detour East on Interstate 4.    Recently I was able to reconnect with an old friend of mine from high school.... who I hadn't seen in 30 years. We found each other on-line through a social network that I use to promote my business and it's also generally a place where you can connect with old friends. It was interesting to see how we both look now and how we both ended up in FL after living in NY and being within a few minutes from each other.    Now after all these years we now live a few hundred miles from each other.       I found out through our recent conversations that my friend Tricia Rodriguez owns and operates a very successful restaurant called A... 11/17/2008

SO how are the evil mortgage products doing? Huh, they may actually be better than the fixed products? Maybe they aren't evil after all... just different. It is true that some of the wrong people got bad advice from some neophyte mortgage 'professional', but the good news is that those folks are back waiting tables. The interest rate against which adjustable-rate mortgages [ARMs] change is continuing to fall -- This could very likely be the evidence we need indicating that the worldwide banking system is starting to stabilize. On any ARM, the initial "start rate" remains fixed for some period of time [typically 3 - 5 - 7 - or 10 years], and then adjusts according to some pre-determined agreement. It is more a hybrid than it is a pure "ARM". For a conforming mortgage, an ARM will typica... 11/16/2008