Rebecca Holborn, PA

Any plans for the weekend? Why not start the weekend off at the Seminole Towne Center in Sanford this Friday June 11, and Saturday June 12. Champion Karate will be having a live martial arts demonstration, prizes to win, instructors and students to speak with about the variety of the school offers. You can ask them anything about the school, kenpo karate, and they will even have bully prevention experts available to talk with too. At the event, you can register to attend a FREE karate lesson at Champion karate.

There will be lots of informative flyers available to take home about the school. You can grab a class schedule, learn about the upcoming summer camp, or learn more about the self defense class coming again in July. I will be there personally to speak with anyone about that program, which is an empowering and life changing class for women. This program is called "Making it out alive" through the Gift of Power Foundation. Mr. Friedman the head instructor and owner of Champion Karate, is the 2nd instructor on the whole east coast certified to teach this program. Not only do you learn how to physically defend yourself from the 12 most common attacks, but this program does much more. It teaches you to cope with the mental/emotional side of an attack. Other self defense programs address the physical side, but not fear and adrenaline you would feel. This self defense program is a MUST for any woman, especially those who are going off to college for the first time, have a job where you are meeting strangers (like myself being a realtor), or for those women who's spouces aren't there or on duty.

Come out and meet us, we'd love to introduce ourselves to you!

I have decided this year for 2010 to offer a hometown heros home warranty for my firefighters, police officers, nurses, and teachers.

This is because one of the biggest things my buyers have requested, is a 1 year home warranty with the purchase of a new home. So, I am offering a free 1 year home warranty for all my sellers, and it's value is up to $400.00.

A great benefit of a home warranty to sellers is that it gives the new buyer peace of mind. And reasearch has also has shown, it can help to sell homes faster.

My husband is an assistant chief/firefighter/paramedic, and I was a former EMT. I feel that sometimes the heros' of our community get overlooked, and this is a small way I want to pay it forward.

Thanks for continuing to be heros in our community!

Waiting a few extra days or weeks to purchase a home this spring could cost buyers thousands of extra dollars as the office of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) implements several changes for loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Authority (FHA).

Coming just weeks before the April 30 deadline for the Home Buyer Tax Credit and just days after the March 31 expiration of the Federal Reserve Board's mortgage backed securities purchase program (which has kept home loan rates artificially low for over a year), these FHA changes make it even more important to act now to save big.

Here are a few reasons why:

On April 5th, the cost of required up-front mortgage insurance for loans guaranteed by the FHA will increase from 1.75% to 2.25%. For a borrower purchasing a $200,000 home with a $7,000 down payment, the up-front mortgage insurance will increase by $965. Up-front mortgage insurance is typically financed in the final loan amount so the impact to a monthly payment will be minimal but overall, the increase is still borne by the borrower both upfront and monthly.

Later this spring, the amount of money that a seller can return to the buyer from their sale proceeds will be reduced from 6% to 3%. The reduction in these "seller concessions" can increase the amount of cash a buyer will be required to pay at closing by $6,000 for a home purchase of $200,000.

There is only one way to avoid being affected by all of these costly changes that lie ahead - submit all FHA mortgage applications by the last week of March.

Please join us for a blood drive Saturday December 19th from 9am-3pm in Lake Mary. The bloodmobile from Floridas blood centers will be in the parking lot near the corner of Lake Mary Blvd. and Country Club road, and walk ins are available! Stop by anytime to donate, and receive a free gift with your donation! You will see the blood mobile across the street if you are at the Lake Mary Farmer's market, and the physical address for the blood drive is at Champion Karate which is located at

101 N. Country Club Road #105
Lake Mary, FL 32746

Many of us have hesitated giving blood for fear of the pain, or certain medications many of us are on. Before you donate blood, they have you fill out a simple questionnaire to see if you qualify. Many of us do qualify, but don't realize it. Then you will be tested to see if you have low iron or not. If all is good, then it only takes between 5-10 minutes!

On a personal note, I decided to do this because of 2 reasons. I didn't donate blood for almost 19 years, and I have a rare blood type myself. I meant to do it, but I never got around to it. Once I did it, I realized how easy it was, and it felt so good to save a life! I am now a regular donor every 56 days. I figured the best way I could make up for the 19 years that I didn't donate was to sponsor my own blood drive. I asked Mike Friedman of ChampionKarateFl.com, and he immediately offered to have the bloodmobile come to his karate school.

The second reason I decided to sponsor a blood drive is because of my friend Amy who is alive today because 400 people donated blood, for her.

Please email me if you have any questions, or if you'd like to schedule an appointment! RebeccaHolborn@remax.net

At this time of year, our local blood supply runs low. One of the reasons is because of the high volume of tourists in the Orlando area. This blood drive is sponsored by Rebecca Holborn or RE/MAX Central Realty, Champion Karate, and Florida's Blood Centers.

Thank you for reading this, and considering a donation!

Happy Holidays!

The senate just passed the 8,000 tax credit for 1st time buyers, we are awaiting the vote from the U.S. House now, and if signature from the president, which he would be signing on Friday. Let's hope everyone works fast to make this happen for us!

One of the biggest statements I have heard this year was" I wish someone would pay ME 8,000 to move!"

Well, it may not be 8,000, but they're giving us 6,500 instead. So now it's the perfect time to upsize or downsize, not only because the interest rates or low, but the 6,500 would be a nice trip to Tahiti.

This extention would mean first time buyers could take advantage of this until April 30, 2010 AND includes a 60 day extension if an executed contract is in place.

The income limits were also raised as well. $125,000 for single filers/$225,000 for joint filers. Same for both first-time and repeat/move-up buyers.