Real Estate Information Archive

Stubby

The Yule Lad who arrives on 14 December is called Stubby. He is a little, shall we say, vertically challenged. He is also known as Pan Scraper because in the old days he used to try snatching bits of food from the frying pan.

Stubby was the third called,
a stunted little man,
who watched for every chance
to whisk off a pan.

And scurrying away with it,
he scraped off the bits
that stuck to the bottom
and brims - his favorites.

 

From the poem The Yuletide Lads by Jóhannes úr Kötlum.                             

English translation by Hallberg Hallmundsson.

 

Gully Gawk

On 13 December it is Gully Gawk's turn. Before milking machines were invented he had a habit of stealing into the cowshed and slurping the foam off the milk in the buckets.

The second was Gully Gawk,
gray his head and mien.
He snuck into the cow barn
from his craggy ravine.

Hiding in the stalls,
he would steal the milk, while
the milkmaid gave the cowherd
a meaningful smile.

 

From the poem The Yuletide Lads by Jóhannes úr Kötlum.                             

English translation by Hallberg Hallmundsson.

Sheep-Cote Clod

The first Yuletide Lad comes to town on 12 December. His name is Sheep-Cote Clod and he used to try to suckle the yews in the farmers' sheep sheds.

The first of them was Sheep-Cote Clod.
He came stiff as wood,
to prey upon the farmer's sheep
as far as he could.

He wished to suck the ewes,
but it was no accident
he couldn't; he had stiff knees
- not to convenient.

 

From the poem The Yuletide Lads by Jóhannes úr Kötlum.                              English translation by Hallberg Hallmundsson.

This is how the National Museum of Iceland's shows and explains the story of the 13 Yuletide Lads (Icelandic Santa Clauses) on their website.

The Icelandic jólasveinar (Yuletide Lads) have absolutely nothing to do with the international red-clothed Santa Claus, who is a version of St. Nicholas. The Yuletide Lads are descended from trolls, and orginally they were bogeymen who were used to scare children. During this century they have mellowed, and they sometimes wear their best, red, suits. But they still tend to pilfer and play tricks.

The number of Yuletide Lads varied in olden times from one region of Iceland to another. The number 13 is first seen in a poem on Grýla (the Lads' mother) in the 18th century, and their names were published by Jón Árnason in his folklore collection in 1862. About 60 different names of Yuletide Lads are known.

They visit the National Museum on each of the 13 days before Christmas. They usually wear their old Icelandic costumes, and try to pilfer the goodies each likes best.

I have received my 2012 Calendars and will be mailing them out soon with my Holiday cards. If you are interested in a Free 2012 Calendar, send me a message at Erna@TheVikingTeam.com with your name and mailing address and I will send you one of my Calendars.

These Calendars have recipes for every month of the year 2012 and is magnetic. You can stick it on your fridge or anywhere that has a magnetic surface.

With the situation in the mortgage market, many homeowners are stuck in their homes and unable to sell them. I am not talking about homeowners that are under water, I am talking about homeowners that own their homes free and clear.  I am talking about homes that are in perfect condition and show well, I am talking about homes that are priced fairly.Now you might think: “What is the problem?” The problem is that these homes are located in vacation style subdivisions that are mainly occupied with people that are enjoying our wonderful Florida sun, golf and fun.  These subdivisions are not the type of subdivisions that people like to live in year round, but they are fun to vacation in. Most of the properties in these subdivisions belong to absentee owners, either foreign nationals or northerners and most of the interested buyers are second home buyers and foreign nationals.  Today it is almost impossible for foreign nationals to get loans in the US and it is difficult for local second home buyers to obtain mortgage, as the mortgage industry is now over regulated.

Where there is a will there is a way.

These sellers are not giving up and allowing the lenders to control their lives, they found a way to sell their homes and take the lenders out of the equation. They are now offering owner financing, many sellers of homes that I am working with now are willing to consider owner financing of their properties. They are offering buyers that bring 40% down payment a private mortgage of 60%, with interest rates running about 6%. These loans amortizes over 15 to 30 years and balloons after 5 years. By financing the sale themselves they are now able to move on, they will receive enough funds with the down payment to move on and the monthly payments help with their living expenses until the balloon payment kicks in. This is a win, win situation as now the interested buyers can buy their dream home in a subdivision that suits their needs and the sellers (often elderly) can move on with their lives.

I will not allow them to control my life.

After working for 11 years in the Real estate industry, I have heard many stories from seasoned Realtors about the high interest rates in the ‘80s, the saving and loan collapse and so on. They talk about how the market found ways to work around these problems, which the mortgage industry created. Well we are now in similar shoes today and this seems to be one of the markets answers. In other words, the sellers are saying: “I will not allow the mortgage companies control my life!”

Every Wednesday in Seminole County the children in the public schools are let out an hour early. This has been this way since I was in high school, starting back in 1998 and I'm still not sure when this policy began.

Wednesday afternoons are the designated days for teachers to plan, organize themselves, have meetings and do grading. An extra hour every week so that they have just a little more time, rather than staying up late on the weekends grading papers or preparing their curriculum. As we expect our students to do well in the school system, the teachers need that extra hour to make sure that things are running well on their end as well.

The students love Wednesdays, because it means that there is just a little less lecture time, a little more time to go play with friends or relax.

The parents, may not be as thrilled about Early Release Wednesdays since it means that they have to make arrangements for pick up and/or supervision for the children.

Contact Erna Sigurdsson, Realtor at The Viking Team, Realty at 321-263-5096for help buying or selling a home in Longwood, Lake Mary, Altamonte Springs, Sanford, Seminole and Orange County and the surrounding areas of Central Florida. To Search For Homes For Sale in Central Florida Click Here.

The Internet is becoming a big part of our every day lives and the Seminole County school system now offers an online portal for parents to check on their children's progress. This was not available in my time, I graduated from Lake Mary High School in 2002, but now that my twin girls have started at Winter Springs Elementary I found out that I can check on their grades and attendance by logging on to my parent portal that the school has offered.
 

At the orientation before the kids start school, the school gives you information about logging in and they create an account for you. Then you can log in and see their attendance records and every 9 weeks you can see how they did for the quarter.
 

It is a very easy system to use and gives kids the no excuse for not showing you their report card, if they somehow lose it, the dog ate it or whatnot you can always check on their grades through your portal.

The Application for the Skyward Portal system is available online, if you have not recieved access or information about how to apply, all you need to do is fill this application out and bring it in to your schools front office.

The website to access Family Access will be:
http://family.scps.us

The following information is what the Seminole County Public Schools released regarding the new system:

"Seminole County Public Schools are pleased to announce the start of a phased implementation in August 2011 of Family Access by Skyward, Inc. Family Access is a secure Internet based website that will allow you to easily keep track of your Academic History, Activities, Message Center, Student Demographics with Emergency Contact and Student Addresses. Student Schedules will be available for Middle and High School Students. Graduation Requirements will be available for High School Students. Student Grades, Assignments and Notes, and Attendance will become available at the first progress reporting period."

Parents will be able to access Skyward starting September 15th, 2011.

Contact Erna Sigurdsson, Realtor at The Viking Team, Realty at 321-263-5096for help buying or selling a home in Longwood, Lake Mary, Altamonte Springs, Sanford, Seminole and Orange County and the surrounding areas of Central Florida. To Search For Homes For Sale in Central Florida Click Here.

It's football season again. As a Lake Mary High School graduate and having been a band geek for all four years of high school I wanted to share the football schedule for this years Football season. Make sure if you attend the game to watch the Marching Rams during the half time show for their great show stopping tunes.

2011 Varsity Football Schedule

DATE OPPONENT PLACE TIME

2011 Junior Varsity Football Schedule

2011 Freshmen Football Schedule