Happy New Year from The Simmonds Team

There are a variety of opportunities in the South Florida real estate market for both buyers and sellers. If you're a prospective buyer click here for a full home search, or if you're considering placing your home on the market, get a free home value report, right here.

Hey everybody, we just wanted to stop by today and wish you all a very Happy New Year and a healthy 2015. We also wanted to take this time to introduce you to the two newest members of our team, Amy and Julia. They are amazing and have enabled us to provide even better service to our clients and we are excited to have them on board in 2015.

Thanks so much to all of our clients and referrals. We appreciate you trusting us with your home sale and wish you the best this holiday season. If you have any questions or need anything at all from us, never hesitate to call or send an email. We would be glad to help!

How we helped Tim with his real estate needs by making sure he got the information he needed

"We had very good results with the Simmonds Team! Amy did a lot of work for us especially in the situation where we were waiting for some documents for the HOA. It was just taking forever but she was able to make sure that we got all the information we needed."

How we helped Rob by providing our time and expertise

"The Simmonds Team was honest, forthcoming, timely, and very professional. John went out with us numerous times to show us properties and even went back to the same properties when we wanted to look again. He was always helpful and willing to provide his expertise and time. His office administrator Amylynn, was always on top of things and was always communicating with us. On a weekly basis as we got closer to closing she would let us know what she needed, what she didn’t have yet, and just made sure that the process went smoothly."

Exploring the 2 Types of Real Estate Contracts

There are a variety of opportunities in the South Florida real estate market for both buyers and sellers. If you're a prospective buyer click here for a full home search, or if you're considering placing your home on the market, get a free home value report, right here.

 In real estate, there are really 2 types of contracts that we deal with most often. When you find your dream home, what kind of offer should you use to present to the sellers? There are 2 kinds we use, let's start with the "as is" contract. 

"As Is" Contract

 With this contract, you are taking the property "as is" in its current state. Based on the inspection you have done to the property after the contract is offered, you can decide whether you want to move forward with the sale or not. You have the right to cancel the sale at any time for whatever reason during the inspection period in an "as is " contract. 

Standard Contract

 A standard contract is just as its name implies, a standard contract. This type of contract allows you, the buyer, to ask for repairs of up to 1.5% of the purchase price. If the repairs go over 1.5%, we can cancel the contract or we can ask that they be fixed by the seller if they are major problems. 

We hope you found this info helpful. If you have any questions, be sure to give us a call or send us an email. We would be glad to answer them. 

How we helped Amanda with her real estate needs by always being available to her

"Amy was fabulous! She was very responsive, she knew what our needs were, answered all of our questions, and was always available to us. She really had our back throughout the process. We were in a contract on the first house but we ended up backing out and right away she had other houses for us to look at. It was a stressful time and it was very nice to have somebody on our side!"

Giving Back Matters!

There are a variety of opportunities in the South Florida real estate market for both buyers and sellers. If you're a prospective buyer click here for a full home search, or if you're considering placing your home on the market, get a free home value report, right here.

The Simmonds Team takes giving back to the community very seriously. Since we are in a position to contribute more to our community, we would love for you to give us some suggestions of great charities to donate to. Next month, we will launch a promotion to help raise money for the charity we decide on.

Simply send us an email telling us about your favorite charities here in the Jupiter area. Let us know who they are, what they do, and how they would benefit from our contribution. Recently, we've been challenged by our coaching program, BOLD (Business Objective, a Life by Design) to get more referrals. If you've worked with us and enjoyed our service, we ask you to please reach out to co-workers, acquaintances, friends, and family to help us win this competition. Whether they're buying, selling, or investing, we would love to hear from them!

We love what we do and all of our wonderful clients. Because we enjoy those we've worked with so much, we want to build our business out of referrals from friends and acquaintances we care about. Feel free to call, text, or email us with your referrals and charity suggestions! You are the reason we are able to provide premium services and give back to the community, and for that we are truly thankful! 

How we helped Lori buy a home by being responsive

"We ended up with the house that we love! John was always very quick to respond to us. If he didn’t answer his phone, he would make sure to get back to us right away. I can even remember that he helped us in our negotiations while he was on vacation, which I absolutely thought was above and beyond!"

How we helped Bill purchase his condo by giving him good advice on his bid price

"The Simmonds Team was wonderful! The unit that I bought was on the market for substantially higher than they suggested we make an offer for and the sellers actually accepted the lower offer, I was amazed! They have very good connections and was able to refer me to a lot of different tradespeople, mortgage companies, and insurance companies for me use, I especially appreciated that since I was coming here stone cold."

How we helped Darcy buy a home by making everything easy for them

"I think they’re all amazing! They’re just very sweet, kind, and are willing to do whatever it takes to get the information and make it easier on our end. Especially since we’re out of state, they’re doing a lot to make it happen. We don’t have any complaints, they’re wonderful!"

The Best Ways to Increase the Value of Your Home

There are a variety of opportunities in the South Florida real estate market for both buyers and sellers. If you're a prospective buyer click here for a full home search, or if you're considering placing your home on the market, get a free home value report, right here.

The Best Ways to Increase the Value of Your Home

Welcome back, everyone. Today we are going to talk about increasing your home's value through simple maintenance. There are really 4 key ways to add a lot of value to your home while minimizing costs.

1. Paint

 Paint is affordable, with the average can costing only around $25. If you are painting your home for sale, remember to keep the colors neutral, so your home is more inviting to potential buyers

2. Pressure Cleaning

 We live in South Florida, so you probably need to pressure clean your home at least once a year. If you don't , algae builds up and makes your home look old and decrepit. Hire a professional to take care of your house, fences, and pool area. 

3. Inspect Your Home

 We can't tell you how many times we have had a buyer come in to look at a house through an inspection and problems come up. Minor problems are no big deal, but big problems can really hinder the home selling process. If something big comes up during an inspection, we will have to put that in your seller's disclosure.

4. Popcorn Ceilings

 As much as we love the 80's, we don't think buyers enjoy walking into a house with popcorn ceilings. It's the first thing they see when they walk in and it's not an overly pleasant sight. 

These are just 4 of the many steps we have to get your home in top shape before you sell. If you have any questions about impriving your home's value or about real estate in general, we are only a phone call away. Enjoy the last few weeks of summer!

Tips on Keeping Your Home Safe this Summer

There are a variety of opportunities in the South Florida real estate market for both buyers and sellers. If you're a prospective buyer click here for a full home search, or if you're considering placing your home on the market, get a free home value report, right here.

Summer time is here. This is the time of the year when the weather is warm and vacations are plentiful. If you are planning on taking a vacation this summer, you will want to keep your home safe while you are away. By following these 4 simple steps, your home will be much safer and less vulnerable to crime while you are away.

1. Get a friend or neighbor to watch your house
• Ask somebody that you trust to either stay in your house while you are gone, or come by and check on it a couple times during the day. Have them take your garbage to the curb, water your plants, and hold your mail so your home will give the appearance that somebody is there, even if nobody is.
2. Use timers for your lights
• Invest in some timers to turn your lights on and off. Keeping some lights on during the day and at night will also give the appearance that somebody is home and make your home that much safer.
3. Don't "Board Up" your house
• What we mean by this is don't shut all the blinds and curtains to your home or do anything extra to lock up your home. These things are all dead giveaways to criminals that nobody is home.
4. Stay off social media
• One of the biggest challenges for many vacationers is staying off of social media to post about their trip. It might be a good idea to just wait to post pictures of your trip until you get home. Criminals are lurking everywhere today, and may even be on your friend or follower list. 

Thanks for checking our video blog out today. We hope these tips were informative to you. If you have any questions, please feel free to give us a call. We would be happy to help you out in any way we can.

How we helped Jake buy a home by being able to narrow down what they were looking for

"We had excellent results with John. We were only in Jupiter for a short period of time so he scheduled us a large number of viewings. He was able to narrow it down in a very little amount of time to find the final property that we ended up purchasing after one day of checking out properties."

Get the Most up-to-date Listings with The Simmonds Team

There are a variety of opportunities in the South Florida real estate market for both buyers and sellers. If you're a prospective buyer click here for a full home search, or if you're considering placing your home on the market, get a free home value report, right here.

When searching for a new home, time is of the essence. You don't have time to wait when searching for the perfect home. Websites like Trulia and Zillow are great tools for figuring out what you want in a home, but their listings are anything but accurate. When a home closes, it can take weeks and even months for it to show up as sold on these sites. Did you know that about 30% of properties on Zillow are no longer on the market?

This can be devastating for prospective home buyers and can put you out of your dream house before you even have a chance to put an offer on it. We want to make sure that this never happens to you. We set up automated updates for all of our clients and give them access to our Multiple Listing Service. Our MLS sends immediate updates to us when an agent puts a home up for sale. With Trulia or Zillow, it may take up to 9 days for that same listing to be posted and depending on the property, it may be sold at that point. Our MLS is the most accurate and up to date and gives you a competitive advantage over all that using a different listing service to find their home.

Another problem with these real estate websites is  their estimates. They don't take into account many different variables that factor into a homes listing such as home improvements needed, location, view, and exposure. All of these factors are important in understanding why a property is listed as it is, and how much money you may have to put in it upon purchase. 61% of their estimates are over 10% off of the closing price.

If you are looking to buy a house and looking for the most current information, we will give you direct access to our MLS database and you will see immediately when a home goes up for sale. This will give you the edge over your competitors on any great property and will make it easier for you to purchase your ideal home.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us by phone or e-mail. We would love to talk to you and help you land your dream home!

Real Estate Market Update for South Florida

There are a variety of opportunities in the South Florida real estate market for both buyers and sellers. If you're a prospective buyer click here for a full home search, or if you're considering placing your home on the market, get a free home value report, right here.

Real Estate Market Update for South Florida

Today we will be providing you with valuable information on our local real estate market here in Jupiter and in the surrounding areas. It is our hope to educate you and spur you to make more informed decisions when it comes to real estate.

In this update we will be comparing the first quarter of our market this year with what happened last year:

• Closed transactions are up by 14% from last year.
• Home prices have risen by 25%.
• Believe it or not, the market has circled back in favor of the sellers, and we are now situated in a seller's market in Jupiter. If you have been on the fence about selling, now would be a phenomenal time to get your home on the market. 
• If you're a buyer, do not be afraid to look for a home just because the market favors sellers. Interest rates are still historically low and you have a chance to buy a home at a very affordable rate. There are still good homes to buy, you just need to find one that you like and be prepared to act quickly in order to purchase it. 
• Sellers should be careful to price their homes correctly because even though we are in a seller's market, buyers still know a good price from a bad price. You should consult professional realtors such as ourselves in order to come up with an optimal home price.

Hopefully this information has been helpful if you plan on buying or selling in South Florida. If you have any further questions be sure to contact us by phone or email. We are always willing to sit down and discuss your individual needs.

Thanks for tuning in!