In Lakeland and all of Polk County, foreclosures are a big deal. In 2008, 9,467 cases were filed; numbers for 2009 are expected to be about the same. Many homeowners, with their homes at risk due to unemployment and rising mortgage payments, need an alternative before the situation gets that bad. A short sale is becoming a popular way to approach the problem. About half of Polk County's current sales are short sales or bank-owned homes, which means the foreclosure went through and the home is on the market again.  Ever wish someone would explain a "short sale" to you? Well, let's give it a try right here.  A short sale can be defined as a sale wherein a home is sold for less than the current mortgage balance. There are some qualifiers to this type of sale, however. First, the lender has... 11/25/2009

Lakeland Real Estate Update - 11/01/09-11/15/09 Update for the Lakeland real estate market! Currently, there are 1943 homes for sale throughout Lakeland – as of 11/19/09. Newly listed homes for the period of November 1st through November 15th totaled 153 Lakeland homes recently came on the market. A decline from the previous my previous report. Average sales price of $176,647 or $89.01 per square foot with area Realtors®. The types of homes and average prices just listed in Lakeland, Florida according to the Multiple Listing Services (MLS) are as follows:  3 duplex listed with an average sales price of $93,276 6 condos listed with an average sales price of $152,183 7 mobile homes listed with an average sales price of $72,614 6 Townhomes/Villas listed with an average sales price of $92,8... 11/19/2009

If you're thinking of buying Lakeland real estate in the future, why not think about buying now? Here are five good reasons you may want to take that step toward home ownership sooner than you might have originally planned.  1. Historically Low Interest Rates. With the economy in its present state, interest rates have been going lower and lower. You may never see interest rates this low again, or at least not in the near future. So this reason alone may be why you'll want to become a homeowner now.  2. Great Tax Benefits. With the renewal of the Home Buyer Tax Credit, you now have until the end of April, 2010, to find the perfect home in Lakeland and sign a purchase agreement. Meet some other requirements and close on the home by June 30th of 2010 to take advantage of this bonus. Read m... 11/19/2009

Amanda Oaks is a beautiful, prestigous, gated, community in Lakeland. The homes are all gorgeous, custom built homes on larger lots. The subdivision is located near the excellent schools of Scott Lake Elementary, Lakeland Highlands and George Jenkins High School. Come experience the Florida Lifestyle in Lakeland with the nearby sparkling beaches of Clearwater Beach and  just a little bit to the south is St. Pete Beach. It is a just short drive  to I-275 and then it is an easy commute to Largo, Clearwater, Bradenton,  St. Petersburg, or  a quick trip to MacDill Air Force Base or go east to the theme parks of Disney World, Sea World or Universal Studios. Let us show you your new home in Lakeland today! Just contact us at Solaris Realty of TampaBay. Whether you ever wanted a luxury home wi... 11/18/2009

Lakeland Florida Harrison School for the Arts – Fall Orchestra Concert The Harrison Orchestra Students under the direction of Robert Lambert & Matt Davis will be performing repertoire from some of your favorite composers at their annual Fall Orchestra Concert on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. on the main state of the Harrison School for the Arts Theater located at 750 Lakeland Hollingsworth Drive, Lakeland Florida 33801 Come enjoy an evening of orchestral music at the Fall Orchestra Concert. This concert provides an opportunity for you to hear the pieces that will be performed on orchestra’s trip to La Croix Valmer, France in June 2011. Crown Imperial - William Walton (20th century British composer) An American in Paris - George Gershwin Selections from Camelot - Lerner & Lo... 11/18/2009

Many home owners have received their property tax bill for 2009 in the mail. Unless you own your home free and clear, your bill generally will state: This Is Not A Bill - Do Not Pay! To many first time home owners and especially to many future first time home buyers wanting to purchase a Lakeland Real Estate, this is a new terminology to them. The bill also states that your bill has been forwarded to your Escrow Agent. One of the things I love most about my job as a Lakeland real estate professional is that I get to educate my buyers about the real estate purchasing process.  With a doubt, a term that is often not very well understood by new Lakeland home buyers is the term Escrow Account.  So, I’ve written down a brief overview for you here. An escrow account is a specially designated ... 11/17/2009

You've probably heard by now that the FirstTime Home Buyer' Tax Credit has been rewritten and signed into law. If you're thinking of buying Lakeland real estate within the next few months, even if you're not a first-time home buyer, you still may qualify for the credit under this new legislation. Here are five questions to ask yourself to see if your purchase will qualify:   1. Will you be purchasing your new home before June 30, 2010? If the answer is yes, and you can sign the purchase agreement by April 30, 2010 and close by the June 30th deadline, so far you qualify.   2.  Will the new home you purchase be priced at under $800,000? That's the upper limit for a home to qualify for the new tax credit.   3.  Will the new home be used as your primary residence? The newly purchased home m... 11/15/2009

Lakeland Florida Harrison School for the Arts – Fall Piano Concert The Harrison Piano Students under the direction of Rebekah Haubry will be performing solos and ensembles repertoire from some favorite composers, such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, and many more at their annual Fall Piano Concert on Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. on the main state of the Harrison School for the Arts Theater located at 750 Lakeland Hollingsworth Drive, Lakeland Florida 33801 Come enjoy an evening of piano music at The Fall Piano Concert. This concert provides an opportunity for the students to demonstrate their accomplishments of their first semester’s study of solo and ensemble literature. Freshmen Michelle Castillo, Angie Lee, Forin Huang, Holly Scott Sophomores Richard Anderso... 11/11/2009

Free Arts & Entertainment Event in Lakeland Florida - Saturday Nov 14th 2009 Did you enjoy this past weekend's free events honoring the people who service? Check out this Saturday's free art & music event on November 14, 2009 from 11am-5pm. This event takes place downtown Lakeland at the Lake Mirror Amphitheater.   This event would help bring unity to the community of Lakeland through a common passion; creative arts. It would be a place for talented artists within our community to release their gifts, bringing a positive influence into our city. Artists would have the opportunity to network & share with other artists of the same vein and hopefully it would provide profit for them by selling their pieces/music. To simply put it, they want to promote art.  There will be all sorts of live ... 11/10/2009

First Friday in Lakeland Florida – Local Event “Honoring Service” – November 6th, 2009   Being married to a veteran, who served 20 years in the Army and both of my sons (SIL) serving in the military, one as a Marine reservist and the other active duty in the Air Force, this is very dear to my heart. Veterans Day is November 11th and Lakeland, Florida’s First Friday local event “Honoring Service” could not have been timed any better. With all Lakeland First Friday events, Downtown Lakeland Partnership has always done an outstanding job organizing, which proved at last month event of “Art Walk”. I’ve never seen that many people downtown Lakeland comingling, shopping, dining and having a good time. What can you expect to see in and around Munn Park? It all starts at 6:00 p.m. with the Nati... 11/04/2009

Ever wonder just how many people call Lakeland, Florida, home? Well, at the present time, about 93,000 people consider themselves Lakelanders. And of that amount, 46.5% are male and 53.5% are female. The population of Lakeland is actually up about 14.6% since the year 2000.   Lakeland boasts 5 high schools, 7 middle schools and 26 elementary schools. What about private schools and other types of schools in Lakeland? Well, there are 17 of those. So if you can't find an education in Lakeland, you're just not looking in the right places.   The U.S. cost of living index is 100 but Lakeland's is only 84.5 so despite how it feels when you're checking out at the grocery store, it does actually cost less to live in Lakeland than a lot of other cities in the United States. Lakeland real estate i... 11/03/2009

Update for the Lakeland real estate market! Currently, there are 1940 homes for sale throughout Lakeland – as of 11/03/09, still balanced no major increase in inventory for the past few weeks. Newly listed homes for the period of October 16th through October 31st totaled 192 Lakeland homes recently came on the market. Average sales price of $177,940 or $85.32 per square foot with area Realtors®. The types of homes and average prices just listed in Lakeland, Florida according to the Multiple Listing Services (MLS) are as follows: 2 duplex listed with an average sales price of $36,299 5 condos listed with an average sales price of $104,560 16 mobile homes listed with an average sales price of $96,212 11 Townhomes/Villas listed with an average sales price of $110,561 158 single family home... 11/03/2009

Lakeland's CommonGround Park was originally thought of from two Lakeland-area mothers of children with special needs, who contacted the Parks and Recreation Department with their suggestion. After four years of fundraising, planning and construction, this park opened up for all children ages 2-12 earlier this year. CommonGround Park's playground is designed to have fun play experiences, as well as aid children in their cognitive, physical and emotional development.   I just love when Lakeland's community leaders, various fund raising organizations, such as the Rotary Clubs, businesses and volunteers come together and create such a place for children.    Located in Lakeland's Edgewood Park, at the corner of Edgewood Drive and Buckingham Avenue, CommonGround uses the space very efficientl... 10/30/2009

I’m a member of a network of over 400 real estate agents and growing at Short Sale Superstars, Visit Short Sale Superstars who are committed to help sellers and buyers with short sales in Florida and across the America. Short sales can be difficult at times and this is why this group of professionals is so helpful not only to us real estate agents, but for you, especially. I would say that we are a Short Sale Agent support group, helping each other, solving uncommon issues for our clients, making suggestions that can only help you the seller or buyer. We are not complainers - we are solvers, here to help you. There is information about lenders, such as Bank of America aka Countrywide, Wachovia, SunTrust, Wells Fargo, Saxon, and Chase just to name a few. This is a place where agents help... 10/29/2009

Today many people are wanting their homes to be more "green". This month's Parade of Homes in Lakeland is featuring one home, located at 4322 Tokose Place, which is the state's highest scoring Florida Green Building Coalition "Platinum" Level home.  It is also the first home in the state of Florida to receive NAHB ANSI Gold Level Certification.   ANSI approved the National Green Building Standard, or ICC-700 as it is also called, in January of 2009. There are four levels, bronze, silver, gold and emerald that can be earned for an energy-efficient home. By incorporating green features into the homes they build, builders receive points in six specific areas, including site development, energy conservation, water conservation, indoor air quality, resource conservation and homeowner educati... 10/29/2009

Although sale prices continue to impact our real estate market negatively for the month of September, Lakeland sales activity peaked for the second time this year. Lakeland Homes sold in September: 183 - previous month:  166 – previous year September 08: 158 sold Which zip codes represents the most sales activities since January 2009? Lakeland Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Grand Total 33801 20 12 15 21 13 16 17 12 20 146 33803 11 10 16 18 16 19 26 19 22 157 33805 12 11 12 9 5 10 14 14 8 95 33809 13 12 16 11 18 17 16 17 25 145 33810 25 31 34 31 46 37 40 33 42 319 33811 10 16 17 18 18 22 20 15 22 158 33812 10 5 8 13 7 9 16 15 10 93 33813 9 25 27 28 26 33 35 38 29 250 33815 5 3 7 5 7 6 4 3 5 45 Grand Total 115 125 152 154 156 169 188 166 183 1408 Lakeland Real Estate average and medi... 10/23/2009

Whether you're a native of Lakeland, a visitor, or just moving to the area, you've probably noticed the beautiful swans on Lake Morton. They're such a part of the city that the swan has become Lakeland's  mascot with statues of swans at every turn and pictures in every brochure. Native swans have been in the area since about 1923 and their population was at about 20 by the mid-1930's. Disease and predators, however, took their toll on these beautiful creatures and in 1954, the last of Lakeland's swans wound up as a quick meal for a local alligator. A previous resident of Lakeland, Mrs. Robert Pickhardt, then residing in England, heard about the demise of the swans and decided to see if there was anything she could do to remedy the situation, so she contacted the Queen of England to ask... 10/22/2009

It is no secret around here in Lakeland Florida that October is when the students at Lois Cowles Harrison Center for the Visual and Performing Arts present their annual musical theater production. This year’s classic, “Brigadoon”, will be a remembrance of past musicals' great successes. Musicals like “Singing in the Rain”, “Starting Here, Starting Now”, “King and I” and “Pirates of Penzance” brought exhilaration and a full house to Lakeland’s Harrison School for the Arts theatre. This year you will be astonished by these High School kids from departments such as musical theater, music, dance, orchestra and theater departments, showcasing their exceptional talents. Imagine you are going to bed at night and the next day you wake up a century later….. then you don’t want to miss this roman... 10/21/2009

Update for the Lakeland real estate market! Currently, there are 1934 homes for sale throughout Lakeland – as of 10/20/09, which remained balanced for the past few weeks. Newly listed homes for the period of October 1st through October 15th totaled 185 Lakeland homes recently came on the market. Average sales price of $154,469 or $89.68 per square foot with area Realtors®. The types of homes and average prices just listed in Lakeland, Florida according to the Multiple Listing Services (MLS) are as follows: 7 condos listed with an average sales price of $112,385 16 mobile homes listed with an average sales price of $96,662 8 Townhomes/Villas listed with an average sales price of $89,521 154 single family homes with an average price of $165,762 The priciest Lakeland real estate just liste... 10/20/2009

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the annual Mercedes-Benz Lake Mirror Classic takes place around Lake Mirror and in the downtown Lakeland area on October 16/17, 2009. Lakeland expects an estimated 35,000 people wandering around Lake Mirror for the two day event which is considered as one of the best shows in the Southeast. Visiting the extraordinary event will mesmerize car enthusiasts around Lakeland and the country. This two-day charity event raises money for Lakeland’s non-profit groups, such as the Junior Achievement, Pied Piper Players, Boy Scouts, the First Tee, Historic Lakeland, and Lakeland Regional Cancer. More than $200,000.00 has been raised or donated helping them raise needed funds through the sale of food and beverage at the event.   The honorary chairman for this year’s... 10/14/2009