What You Need to Know About Appraisals in Jupiter

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.

We've recently been having some issues with appraisals on homes in Jupiter, and I'd like to clear up these issues in this video. 

When a home doesn't appraise to the market value that's being asked for it, what happens and who pays the price? Typically the rule is that if you are financing and you bring less than a 20% down payment on a home that does not appraise, then the terms of the loan will likely change. You can then use the appraisal to bargain with, or opt-out of, the contract. 

However, if you are only financing 50% or 60% of the home, then the seller does not have to come off of their asking price. If the seller is pushy enough, they can force you to purchase the home or lose your escrow deposit. The only way to protect yourself in a situation like this is to have an appraisal contingency written into your contract. This way, if it doesn't appraise, you can opt out any contract no matter what type of financing you have on the home.

This is a very shortened version of what you should do if your home doesn't appraise, but please come to me with questions if you have them.

Have You RSVP'd to Our Annual BBQ?

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 everyone, we just wanted to send out a quick reminder that the Simmonds Team's annual BBQ is coming up! This year's event is going to be held on April 19th over at Carlin Park right near the beach. We've sent out invites to most of you, but if you're interested and haven't had time to get back to us yet, just give us a call or send us an email. We'll have great food, a DJ, and it's going to be a whole lot of fun for the entire family. We hope to see you there!

Why Are Home Inspections Important in Jupiter?

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 everyone, today we are talking about home inspections. Inspections are a huge part of our daily business. Before we get into the details, let's talk about when you need a home inspection. Home inspections always come up when signing contracts to buy a home. Let's first examine the 2 different kinds of contracts.

The first is an "As Is" contract. This contract will allow you to cancel the contract based on the inspection and your sole discretion. You can decide to cancel the contract for whatever reason after the home inspection. The 2nd kind of contract is your standard FAR/BAR contract, which will not allow you to cancel a contract based on the inspection, unless the repair cost meets a certain amount, typically 1.5% of the purchase price. 

What is the point of an inspection? Primarily, it's to see if there is anything significantly wrong with the house. I can tell you from doing hundreds of inspections, every time an inspector goes through your home he will find things to mark down. However, most of these things are nit-picky and usually don't need to be fixed. What home inspections really look out for are those big ticket items. Things like your appliances, your roof, and utilities. They are the most important, and most expensive things to fix.

When it comes to inspections, there is a lot of paperwork to go through, and most of the good inspectors will take pictures of everything, so you can go through them and decide what needs fixing and what can be negotiated with the seller. 

If you have any questions, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to answer any questions, and look forward to hearing from you soon!