Florida Real Estate, Tourism and Immigration News

Epcot purists are rejoicing that the Mickey Mouse hand and Wand along with the stylised lettering ‘Epcot’ are to be removed. The silver sphere will revert to its oringinal shape as Epcot purists state that the 50 ton hand and wand structure which was put in place for the Disney millenium celebrations in 2000 has served its purpose was not part of Epcots true design and image.

Epcot will be celebrating its 25th – Silver! – Annivesary this coming October so it is felt that the timing is right, especially as it co-incides with the refurbishment of the Spaceship Earth attraction contained within the sphere.

As reported by the Orlando Sentinel

Our Blog, Florida Property, Florida Mortgages and Florida Vacation Rentals is  all you need for all things Florida, we are in Technorati and regularly found in Google. If you are reading this then you must have a passion for Florida.

How do you find blogs about things you like?

Well a blog search engine of course!! Technorati is THE search engine of the blog world, amongst others. Google also has an advanced blog search engine built in to its existing engine.
Blogging is all about updated content..so when a blog is not updated it probably isnt full of content that you will read – however our blog here for instance is updated pretty much on a daily basis with points of interest for you!

There are more than 90 million blogs on the internet so there is going to be something that you like on there!

The Orlando Sentinel Has a great guide (another one in the How 2.. series)
 check it out.

Happy Blogging!

Whilst most cities in Central Florida are on the grow – especially the Four Corners area – some cities in Seminole County – north of Orlando, have seen a decline, but ot by much, most of this has been caused by the lack of annexation by the cities to new communities outside of the city boundaries. – Altamonte Springs for instane lost 408 residents last year, however with 1200 people moving to the state everyday these numbers are dwarfed by the influx of newcomers.

However in terms of population growth the City of Orlando itself increased its number by 6936 last year to a total now over 220,000 as part of the Orlando Metro area which encompasses 2 million people! Other top growers on the list included Winter Garden, Kissimmee and Sanford – as well as Apopka who has its large scale annexation to thank for the growth numbers.

Florida has two of the fastest growing cities in the nation – Port St. Lucie and Cape Coral.

As reported by the Orlando Sentinel

Ok, its your first time in the Orlando area, things look so close on the map…but in real life, they are further apart than most people realize. How can you solve this problem and avoid the hassle of being late or a drive that you thought would only take 10 minutes taking half an hour?

Well, the Orlando Sentinel has a great selection of Vacation Planning tools for you to utilize on its website www.orlandosentinel.com one of these tools will help you out in this particular problem. It has an interactive map which allows you to pick a destination to start and then a terminus upon which a pop up appears telling you how long (in minutes) a drive between these two locations would be – estimated of course. Check out this link!
http://travel.orlandosentinel.com/mapgrid/mapgrid.asp

When searching for your dream Florida home there is only three things that matter: Location, Location, Location! However, when it comes to home improvements there are three ‘different’ words – Research, Research, Research!

Whether you are having the house painted (tip: check with your Homeowners association for approved colours) or installing a pool and spa (again check with the homeowners association) it is important to do your research on a builder or as they call them here – Contractors.

The Orlando Sentinel has written a great guide, ’7 Steps to a Credible Contractor’ which gives some great guidance – especially to a Brit who isn’t used to things over here – on selecting a contractor for a job! One of the main points to note is that generally contractors have to be licensed by the state as well as in their county. You can check alot of this information on www.myflorida.com – however for the local county records the local county websites sometimes have the same search facility if not a call to the local countys administrative headquarters will often help point you in the right direction.

Here is the link to the Orlando Sentinel’s Article "7 Steps to a Credible Contractor!"

Do you have a good photo of you and your family at SeaWorld? The they want to hear from you.

Busch Entertainment Corp, the parent company of SeaWorld, has created a enw website to give an interactive experience for visitors. It estimates that close to 1 billion photo’s have been taken in the park. – The Orlando Sentinel jokes "That doesnt include the thousands ruined in Shamu’s splash zone, having sat in the splash zone myself, which was immense fun, I cant testify to that.

For a limited time every family who submits a photo that is selected for the new site will receive free admission! For more info see the website http://www.seaworld.com/share

We offer the opportunity to keep in touch with the Florida market, however our focus is specifically Florida, other websites do offer RSS Feeds for other parts of the US or even national Real Estate News. One, RSS blog feed which comes to mind if the Orlando Sentinel’s ‘Across the Pond’ Feed, which is written with Brits in mind. Like British Homes Group, it is at the forefront of reporting in all things Florida.

British Tourist Christine Brittain did not thing that her trip to the Sunshine state to shop, sightsee and visit Epcot would turn out like this.

Whilst poolside at her friends vacation home she heard screams from the neighbouring property. Brittain, her son and fellow Brits Maureen and Barry White charged into the burning house as they saved 57 yr old Clarilia Mondesir, a paralysed woman who has suffered cancer and a stroke. The Brits helped the woman out of the house and managed to grab some photos so they wouldnt be lost in the blaze.

Investigators think that an 8yr old nephew was playing with matches in his room and accidentally dropped a lit match onto his bedding. Jack Fillman, Assistant Chief for Lake County Fire and Rescue said "He panicked probably and dragged the burning blanked, leaving a trail of fire as he went running through the house"

Read the Full Story Here by Stephen Hudak of the Orlando Sentinel.