I was totally shocked that the $700 Billion bailout plan proposed by President Bush was shot down today. If history serves me right, we all learned how important the stability of financial institutions are to our economy during the Great Depression. So I really believed the bailout was a good idea, although I was ticked off that the American taxpayer was paying for it. Besides, the American taxpayer fared pretty well from the bailout package following the S & L scandals of the late 80’s and the Chrysler bailout before that.

I think most taxpayers were ticked off, and that’s why the bill didn’t pass aside from party politics. My theory is that Congress believed the bailout was needed but they delivered what the people wanted. We’ll have to see whether or not it’s good for us or not. It’s definitely gonna tighten credit markets even more which is not gonna help the real estate market or small businesses one bit.

So how did our representatives for Central Florida vote? Only Corrine Brown voted yes on the bill and Ginny Brown, John Mica, Ric Keller, Cliff Stearns, Dave Weldon, and Tom Feeney all voted no.

We got what we wanted, but I am a little concerned from here on out.

I just met with a locksmith at one of my properties and somehow we got to talking about the bump key. It’s a low tech device that picks locks like it’s nothing and can be purchased at Wal Mart and on the internet. An entire set of bump keys costs about $30 and it will give you a full arsenal of tools to pick locks.

I did a check on YouTube and there’s all kinds of videos showing how to use this device. It looks like criminals use the internet as well. I was really shocked to see how easy it is to pick a lock on a home. There’s even a 12 year old successfully using a bump key on YouTube.

When replacing locks on your home, it may be worthwhile to consider putting in locks that are impervious to the bump key. I found one solution by a  company called Medeco and another by Schlage Primus who claims to be bump key proof. The locksmith told me that he’s been installing the Medeco locks all over Central Florida especailly where crime is more prevalent. It’s a heck of a lot cheaper than a high tech security system and probably more effective.

For the month of July in 2008, some of the key stats for housing in Orlando were as follows:

• average days on market = 117 days
• sales closed = 1,436
• withdrawn properties = 1,657
• expired properties = 1,661
• properties under contract =3,258
• new contracts = 1,947
• new listings = 4,388
• inventory of homes for sale = 24,472
• average price of a home = $263,800
• median price of a home = $207,500

I’ve worked with lots of buyers in the Dr. Phillips area and also encountered lots of confusion on which areas are considered to be the Dr. Phillips area and which are not, so I created this map so people can figure it out. The zip codes that make up the area are 32819, 32836, and parts of 32835.

I’ll begin with the finest and priciest communities in Dr. Phillips and then cover other price ranges in the coming weeks so stay tuned.

To begin with, Cypress Point is probably the finest community here in my opinion and the prices reflect that as well. Homes can be found just under a million dollars here but will most likely require some updating since the majority of the homes were built in the early 90’s. It’s a small price to pay for such a neat community. Some of the most well known residents in Cypress Point include pro golfers Scott Hoch and Lee Jansen who reside in some magnificent estates overlooking Lake Sheen. Neither one of them live on the best lots here which are on the peninsula at Point Cypress where you have views of Lake Sheen in front of the house and views of Lake Tibet to the rear. The developers have preserved much of the towering oaks that made up this property so you get that grand old south feel throughout the community. There’s also a magnificent clubhouse on Lake Sheen and the guard at the gate is fastidious.

Phillips Landing and Turtle Creek are next on the ladder but to some may be comparable to Cypress Point. The lots are smaller here with less trees, but the homes were mostly built in the late 90’s so the homes are a lot newer and require little if any updating. Both communities are divided into three sections so not all the homes are up to par with the estate homes.

ABD Development developed the Bay Harbour section of Phillips Landing and the homes start at about $500,000. The Heritage Bay section was developed by Park Square Homes and offers the most affordable option in Phillips Landing with homes starting around $400,000. The estate section along the shores of Big Sand Lake is composed of works by some of the area’s finest custom home builders and prices start around $800,000. The most desirable homes have frontage on Big Sand Lake and the priciest with all the homes priced over $1 million. Some of the most well known former homeowners here include AJ McLean of the Backstreet Boys and Scott Stapp of Creed.

Turtle Creek is laid out pretty similarly to Phillips Landing. The most affordable option here is the Avalon section which offers maintenance free villa style homes starting in the mid to high $300’s featuring flat tile roofs, great room style layouts, brick pavers, and courtyards. Boca Pointe offers the mid range option with homes starting in the high $500’s. I prefer this section over Bay Harbour at Phillips Landing because the homes were built by different custom builders and provides for a more diverse set of homes. The estate section called Water’s Edge offers the finest homes with some of them having frontage on the Butler Chain of Lakes at Fish Lake. It’s one of the smallest lakes on the chain and you have to navigate a long and sometimes very shallow canal to make it out to the rest of the lakes on the chain, but still anything with access to the Butler Chain is tops in my book. Just like in the Estates at Phillips Landing, the finest custom builders in Central Florida shaped the landscape here so you can imagine it’s quite nice to say the least.

Then there’s the beautiful grand old lady of the area, Bay Hill. Home to Arnold Palmer’s PGA golf tournament and some of the finest residences in the area. There’s quite a diverse mix of homes that have been built here since its inception in the 70’s, but the most desirable homes back up to the golf course and Lake Tibet or Lake Blanche on the Butler Chain. It’s been pretty common lately for homes to be completely rebuilt on the golf course and the lakes. Tear down properties on the golf course currently start at about $750,000 and the homes on the lake start at just over a million dollars.

The streets that provide the best views of the golf course include: Tarawood, Brookline, Classic, Bay Hill, and Masters. There’s a few others, but the majority of the best views are here.

There’s also a marina and the Bay Hill Club makes it a popular choice for boaters and golfers alike. The Bay Hill Condos offers units overlooking the marina and easy access to the Butler Chain with prices starting around $400,000. They were built in the 70’s and the 8 foot ceilings with popcorn is just too much to get over for some, but it’s a small price to pay for easy access to the Butler Chain

Bay Point, Bentley Park, Tibet Pointe, Isle of Osprey, and Emerson Pointe are small gated sections along the Butler Chain at Bay Hill which command prices far above a million dollars and conversely have the finest homes. My favorite out of the bunch is Isle of Osprey

The newest high end community in Dr. Phillips is Vizcaya. The homes here are the newest, but also have the smallest lots. Many of the homes are three story to accommodate such a large home on a small lot designed by ABD Development. Vizcaya is divided into several sections which include high end condos, townhomes, single family, and luxury homes. My favorite section is the area developed by Reiche Silliman called Mirabella along the shores of Little Sand Lake. ABD built the homes on Big Sand Lake with the best views, but I still prefer Mirabella. One of the neatest features of Vizcaya is that it offers a bit of an urban lifestyle with it being walking distance to “Restaurant Row“.

For those who prefer not to be in a subdivision at all like myself, there’s Kilgore and Charles E. Limpus Road along the shores of Lake Pocket and Lake Sheen of the Butler Chain of Lakes. Not too many trees, but grand estates abound on this small stretch of road. Joey Fatone of the Backstreet Boys, Payne Stewart, Tracy McGrady, and Frank Viola, former Cy Young pitcher of the Minnesota Twins, have called it home here.

In any case, all these areas are the finest options in Dr. Phillips. There should be something here to accommodate most tastes and lifestyles. The ever growing “Restaurant Row” just adds more appeal to the area.

A slumping housing market means you need to come up with creative marketing ideas to sell homes and I think this idea by a Michigan couple trying to sell their home for retirement is ingenious. They’ve put up a replica of their home for sale in the form of a dollhouse for $169,000 and as a bonus you get the real house for free.The homeowners, Gerry and Cindy Mann, found this dollhouse in their basement.

Cindy’s late father created the dollhouse for their kids years ago, but the kids have grown up so they thought to use it for marketing. It took Cindy’s father over a year to create this scale model so I can see how they were inspired to put it to use.

In any case, it’s quite a clever idea. We’ll have to wait and see if it gets their home sold. At the very least, it ought to bring lots of attention.

I just filled up my car at the gas station and the shock of what it costs got me thinking about how this is affecting the home buyer.With gas prices reaching ridiculous levels, consumers are adjusting their behavior to compensate for the inflation.

They’ve obviously cut back on the amount of gas purchased, but also have increased spending on smaller cars, scooters, mules for farming, bicycles, locking gas caps, and homes closer to work or near public transportation.

Economists call this phenomenon the cross price elasticity of demand.

If gas prices continue its climb, real estate values for properties closer to places of work should increase in value more rapidly then properties further away. There’s no good source of public transportation in Orlando and the proposed commuter rail looks like it’s a long shot, so communities near major places of employment should fare better in the future.

Location is the name of the game in real estate, and closer to work will be the most sought after location in the future.

I can’t figure out if this is a clever marketing scheme or a wacky idea.A real estate agent named Deven Trabosh is including herself in the sale price of her home in Palm Beach Gardens on Ebay and Craigslist. The headline on the ad reads “Mary a Princess Lost in America”. Bidding starts at $0.99, but you gotta look out for the $500,000 shipping charge.

Old Deven is a licensed real estate agent, but actually hasn’t practiced in years according to CNN. I really do think they make it all too easy to get a real estate license in Florida. It promotes incompetency and just makes the industry look bad. Stunts like this makes the industry look bad.

Although I’ll have to admit, she’s generated a lot of free press. I’m not quite sure it’s good press, but she’s definitely getting the word out so kudos at least for that.

Watch Devon’s Interview on ABC News Tampa Bay

I think I found my new dream gadget. It’s the Life|ware digital & home automation control. It controls practically everything in a home. It controls the music, lighting, thermostat, television, kitchen appliances, security system, and more. Homes of the future will have a digital network that controls everything and that technology is available today with this product.

The controls can be integrated through any device with a Windows Vista Media Center operating system which includes televisions or personal computer. The Life|point Touch Screen Controller is another option that can integrate into your home like any light switch. It’ll just look way cooler.

Disney integrated Life|ware technology into the new House of the Future attraction at Disneyland which is scheduled to open this month. It is ironic that it integrates technologies that are available today.

I’m not too sure of the pricing, but I’m sure it’s not cheap and only the finest new homes will have this technology for the time being. All I know is I want one.

see the slick interactive demo: Life|Ware

Today is the first day of hurricane season and we already have a named tropical depression called Arthur. When Orlando experienced 3 hurricanes in 2004, the greatest real estate boom ever took place in Central Florida as well as around the country when all the supposed experts were predicting a severe downturn in the real estate market here. It just goes to show ya, you can’t time the market no matter how much you know. I’m not saying there’s any cause and effect here but that’s just how it went down. Maybe they’re not so bad. The good news for Central Florida is that this is where everyone on the coast comes to get away from the hurricanes and there’s plenty of rooms because of the tourist industry here. When the 3 hurricanes came through our area in 2004, most of the damage came from fallen oak trees which have a wide but shallow root system and poorly built roofs that were damaged from the heavy wind and rain. We had a lot of homes with blue tarps on the roof for quite some time in 2004. To protect your home from a hurricane, experts suggest these 5 precautionary measures:

1. seal down loose shingles
2. fill cracks along the exterior with caulk
3. seal windows, doors, gables, and vents with hurricane shutters
4. be aware that the garage door is the weakest part of your home
5. install barrel bolts and at least one deadbolt on double doors

The Weather Channel has some must have resources for hurricanes which includes an alert to warn you of coming storms and Hurricane Central for all the information one could ever want about an approaching hurricane.