What is the Median Household Income in Orlando, FL

Median household income is an indicator of the economic health of a community.  Unsurprisingly, regions with a higher median household income tend to have better educated residents and more job opportunities.  If you take a look at our what was the median household income of orlando in 2010MoveMap, you can see that income figures vary significantly for the Orlando metropolitan area, partly as a function of economics and partly due to simple geographic factors.  The Orlando area actually consists of the City of Orlando itself and series of satellite suburban municipalities.  These small cities are often called bedroom communities since many of their residents live in them, but work elsewhere; Orlando in this case.  This skews the earnings map a bit since people whose incomes are generated by working within the City of Orlando actually live elsewhere.  Because median household income is tallied based on where someone lives, many suburban communities have higher median incomes than Orlando itself, where the wages are actually earned.

The City of Orlando actually has a highly variable median income with some neighborhoods (particularly in North Orlando) being significantly more affluent than others within the city.  The MoveMap also shows that suburban municipalities to the north of Orlando such as Winter Springs, Longwood and Maitland all have fairly high median incomes across their entire municipal extent.  Likewise, municipalities south of Orlando with high, uniform yearly earnings include Windermere and Bell Isle.  Each city in central Florida is ranked below in terms of its average household income:

City Median Household Income
Windermere

$88,809
Oviedo

$82,168
Lake Mary

$76,037
Belle Isle

$71,270
Maitland

$70,988
Winter Springs

$68,239
Ocoee

$64,017
Longwood

$59,811
Winter Garden

$59,175
Apopka

$58,985
Winter Park

$58,094
Edgewood

$56,528
Altamonte

$48,763
Casselberry

$42,687
Orlando

$42,418
Lake Buena Vista

$39,375
Kissimmee

$35,764
Eatonville

$29,457

Take a look at our MoveMap to see what the earnings levels are for your area.  Even within a small city, the median income can often vary significantly from place to place.

5 Common Myths(and Truths) About Selling Your Home

Pretty much anyone you talk to has had one experience or another with selling a home and for every one of these experiences there is a different story and different advice on the best way to sell your home. Unfortunately not every one is real Common myths about selling a homeestate expert and there are a lot of myths being spread around about selling a home. We are here to debunk 5 of the most common myths people hear about selling a home.

Myth 1: If your home sells quickly, you’ve under priced it

If your home sells quickly, it is an indication that you’ve priced it correctly.  While setting the price of your home high and gradually lowering it over time can be tempting; generally, it is a bad idea.  Setting an unrealistic price will scare off qualified buyers and cause your house to sit on the market longer.  There is only a limited amount of time your home’s listing will be considered ‘new’; after that time has expired buyers’ sense of urgency is significantly diminished, and the whole process slows down.  A good real estate agent will offer you a comparable market analysis to delineate your home’s true market value and help you to price it appropriately.

Myth 2: Making improvements to your home will increase its sale price

Making improvements to your home can either benefit you or hurt you depending on the circumstances.  First of all, don’t go too crazy with the work you do.  While making relatively inexpensive improvements such as a new coat of paint on the interior or replanting the flower bed in your front yard are universally recommended and will help you sell your home; more expensive improvements may not actually pay off.  For instance, completely refurbishing your kitchen or adding a swimming pool may actually cost you money.  Although the improvements may increase the value of the home by $10,000, if they cost $20,000, they’re not worth it.  Investment/price discrepancies like this are especially likely to happen if there are not any comparable properties in the area which buyers can use as a baseline to establish a reasonable home value.

Another word of advice with improvements is to keep it simple and neutral.  Remember that when selling a home, you’re trying to appeal to the widest cross section of potential buyers possible.  So while it’s true that at least a few buyers might like candy apple red walls with bright yellow molding, many more people will be satisfied with beige walls and white molding.  Overall, buyers are looking for a home that is move-in ready – in other words – a home that is in good repair, with a clean and neutral look.

Myth 3: Successful sellers don’t negotiate

You shouldn’t view the buyer as your adversary.  After all, if you argue with every single potential buyer you meet, you’ll never sell your home.  Real estate agents recommend that sellers set their home at a reasonable price and approach the process with a positive attitude.  Being willing to make minor compromises can be the difference between selling your home today, and having it sit on the market for another six months.

Myth 4:  Buyers are able to clearly see potential in homes that need a little work

Most buyers actually have difficulty seeing the potential in homes that need improvements.  This is why many real estate agents recommend that sellers make minor enhancements to their home (such as a fresh coat of paint) before putting it on the market.  Most buyers are looking for a home that is ‘move-in-ready’ and making minor repairs/updates can really help speed up the sale of your house.

Myth 5: Advertising is a great way to sell your house

Advertising is used to generate interest in a home, not make it sell.  Throwing money at ads for a poorly maintained house will not magically cause it sell.  Rather than spend money on advertising, you are far better off researching the correct price for your home and spending your money on any minor repairs/improvements that are necessary.  When used in moderation, advertising is a great thing, but you should understand that it will not be the determining factor in the sale of your home; it will only generate interest in it.  The home’s condition and price are what the buyer will use to determine whether or not he actually wishes to make the purchase.

That concludes our list of 5 common myths and truths about selling your home and we hope you were able to get some good insight into the home selling process. If you have some myths of your own that we didn’t cover please add them to the comments!

If you are currently in the market for a new home make sure and check out the MoversAtlas.com MoveMap which provides in depth information on real estate, neighborhoods, and their surrounding communities!

Best Advice For Buying A Home After Bankruptcy

Buying a home after bankruptcy presents a number of challenges.  Declaring bankruptcy severely damages your credit and significantly lowers your credit score.  This effectively destroys your ability to purchase a home or any other large item buying a home after bankruptcyfor some time.  In today’s economic climate, getting a home loan can be difficult, but the damage bankruptcy does to a person’s credit is temporary and there are a number of things you can do to improve your chances of finding a lender and buying the home of your dreams after bankruptcy.

The best thing you can do is give yourself time.  Most lenders will not even consider issuing you a loan until at least two years after your bankruptcy has been discharged.  On the bright side, two years isn’t that long of a wait and there are many things you can (and should) do during that time to improve your credit and increase your attractiveness to lenders.  The very first thing you should do is get a copy of your credit score.  This will help you more fully understand where you are financially and allow you to spot any mistakes that might be dragging down your credit score unnecessarily.  If you do spot any mistakes, dispute them with the credit agency that issued your score.

After you’ve gotten a handle on where you stand, you can begin working to improve your credit score; with proper planning and discipline your credit rating will improve over time.  Keep in mind that the overall goal here is to prove to lenders that you can be trusted to pay back money that you have borrowed.  Improving your credit score is a way to accomplish this.  While it isn’t necessarily advisable to take out additional credit, obtaining a secured credit card or making regular payments on an installment loan are two methods people use to improve their credit score.

A secured credit card is basically a card whose credit limit is dependent on the amount of money you have deposited with the issuing bank and your previous credit history.  With this type of card, a savings account is used as collateral on the credit available on the card.  As you’re rebuilding your credit, you should only use a fraction of the credit available to you.  In other words, don’t max out all of your cards.  Also, make sure your payments are on time and over the minimum amount required by your bank.  Don’t bounce any checks either as these can also negatively impact your credit score.  Less obviously, try to stay at the same job for at least two years and maintain your current income level.  Lenders like to see stability when they’re evaluating who they’ll give a loan to.   Finally, make a commitment to growing your savings account.  Putting money in the bank will lower your debt-to-income ratio and allow for a larger down payment.  This is important since the larger your down payment is, the more likely lenders will be to talk to you.  A larger down payment can also lower your interest rate.

Once your credit rating is in better shape and you’re ready to get serious about looking for a home, consider getting a loan from the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).  FHA loans are often more accommodating for those who have a bankruptcy in their history than loans issued by standard lending institutions.  Additionally, be ready to pay a higher interest rate.  A past bankruptcy often means a higher interest rate; but a larger down payment can lower it for you.

Finally, make sure to purchase only what you can afford.  Mortgage calculators can help you figure out what sort of down payment you can expect.  Best of luck in your home search; if you’d like to check out communities you’re interested in -  have a look at our MoveMap, it makes finding the neighborhood that’s right for you easy and fun!