I was in Orlando a few weeks ago, and found myself wishing that everyday life could be as simple as the Mickey Mouse ears along Interstate 4. Certainly, real estate is becoming more and more complicated, not just the paperwork and recently imposed regulations, but also the prognosis. Will the market be good this year because of increased values or will it be bad because of higher interest rates and lower inventory?

Per the National Association of Realtors, U.S. home sales were down in December, a sign they say that rising prices and higher mortgage rates are taking a bite out of the housing market. The national median sale price rose by 4 percent from a year earlier in December to $232,200, but sales of previously owned homes declined by 2.8 percent.

Manatee and Sarasota counties both had a good year, with the region producing gains of almost a 9 percent median sale price for single-family homes. Median price represents the mid-point where half the sales are above and half below.

Per the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee counties, Manatee County's median home prices rose 7.5 percent in December of last year to $285,000. Sarasota County did even better with an increase of 10.3 percent in December of last year with a median sale price of $264,500. Both of these median sale prices are well above the national median sale price of $232,200. Condos in Manatee County were also up 3.8 percent to a median sale price of $185,000.

This all sounds good, but the problem continues to be a shortage of inventory. The month's supply for single family homes ended the year at 4.1 percent a 13.9 percent increase and condos at 4.4 percent a 10 percent increase.

Forbes magazine published an article outlining some of what the housing experts expect to see in 2017, let's see what they have to say:

Prices will continue rise but more slowly because of high consumer confidence and low unemployment rate.

Affordability will worsen since wages are expected to grow, while low inventory and increased interest rates also continue to grow.

The availability of credit is expected to improve. The new administration promises to roll back much of the financial regulations contained in the Dodd-Frank Act, opening up banks to lend more freely. In addition, the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is in question with the possibility of their becoming private entities.

The supply of homes will improve but will still be below a healthy supply. New home construction also could be up.

More millennials who are under age 36 will become homeowners. Zillow predicts that half of all buyers will be millennials driving the market.

Competition will grow because of lower inventory with homes coming off the market even faster than last year.

And finally, political uncertainty at the beginning of a new administration always influences the housing market. How it impacts housing remains to be seen.

Before heading home from Orlando, we had breakfast in Celebration in a diner designed to look like a step back in time to the 1950s. In fact, all of Celebration looks like a step back in time or maybe just a step back to a time we want to remember. However, we live now and the reality is that real estate has always been volatile and subject to the financial and political times, but in southwest Florida I'm thinking it's going to be a pretty good year.