David Appreciated Amy's Attention to Detail!

Tell me about your experience working with the Simmonds Realty Team.

"Ultimately we got the perfect house. We got a great deal on it, and in the exact location we were looking for. We really couldn't be happier.

The process was simple. Amy worked with us very thoroughly. She was meticulous. We're probably not the easiest clients in the world, and especially since we were relocating from Boston down to Florida. She was able to help us, even though we were long distance, and find the perfect property. She was on top of the process from beginning to end.

One thing in particular, since we were new to the area, she was very kind to refer other people that she knew or were similar age to me and my wife that we could meet with and get to know. So we could get to know the area and talk to them about their experiences in the area. What it was like living in Jupiter compared to where they were living before, so that was actually really helpful and useful."

To contact the Simmonds Realty Team, call 561-427-6100 or email john@simmondsteam.com.

How Can We Market Your Jupiter Home More Effectively?

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 been asking for feedback about our services in Jupiter, and what we found was that our clients were most concerned with how their homes were being marketed. They said that they sometimes worried whether enough people knew about their homes. Getting the word out to local residents is important, as that's where a majority of our sales are coming from.

That's why we've gone ahead and hired a full time sales associate whose sole job is to call people to get the word out about your home. We've already started this with some current listings and the results have been fantastic. Thank you for your feedback! It really does help to improve our business.

As always, if you need to buy or sell in Jupiter, please don't hesitate to contact us!

Happy Holidays!

What Are We Thankful For?

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 just want to take a quick moment to let you know how appreciative we are of our friends, our family, and our clients. We hope you have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

We look forward to seeing you soon!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Simmonds Team of Keller Williams

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’re having a pie giveaway this Thanksgiving! We’re so grateful for our clients, even though we don’t always see them around. That’s why we’re offering free apple and pumpkin pies. On November 24th, stop by our office between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. for your free pie and some hot apple cider. Let us know if you’re interested before you stop by!

Have a great Thanksgiving!

What Motivates Us to Make a Difference Every Day?

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.

Today, I'm going to do something a bit different. I want to give you a quick update on what's going on in our lives!

It's been a very interesting couple of weeks for our family. Our oldest daughter started high school, and she's doing really well. Our little one started middle school, and it's kind of been a wild ride. All of these changes have really got me to start thinking about how fast everything is moving.

As the business grows and the kids grow, it started making me think about my purpose and making a difference. Really, I'm pretty lucky to be involved in real estate because I view what I do as a very important service. When I'm involved in the process of helping someone and their family move, I feel honored to be a part of that and the other members of our team feel the same way!

The bottom line is we care about the end result of every real estate transaction we are involved in. I just wanted to let you know that we appreciate that you trust us with such a large decision and are thankful for your support. If you ever need any assistance, as professionals or just as friends, don't hesitate to give our team a call. We're always here to help!

What to Do in a Jupiter Bidding War

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.

Today, I want to discuss multiple offers and bidding wars. When you put your offer in and you know that there are competing offers on that property, you want to make sure that your offer is the most appealing.

In order to do that, you must get pre-approved. It's best to get approved by a local lender with a great reputation. That will truly give your offer an edge.

When it comes to the escrow deposit, don't just put down $1,500. If you really want the property, show them you really want the property. Put down as much of an escrow payment as you can.

Have all of your paperwork ready. Don't send in your documents piecemeal; have it all in a nice package so that the seller can respond to your offer immediately, instead of waiting on information from you.

Forget about lowball offers. Go in with your best offer to get the house. Lowball offers simply won't get you the property.

Finally, keep contingencies reasonable. Don't mark up the contract with a bunch of requests. Keep the contract as clean as possible.
If you follow these steps, you will have a great chance at getting the house that you want. If you have any questions about today's video, give me a call or send me an email. I'd be happy to help you!

How Jupiter Town Council Decisions Affect Your Home Value

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 today's video, we'll talk about how to stay in touch with what's going on around your town. It's very important to understand what the town is improving and what's being proposed, because everything new and changing around you affects your property values.

One of the things I've always tried to do is stay close to the town council. That way, I can pay attention to planning and zoning. It's very easy for any resident to get see what's going on. You can join an email list and get updates on the agendas, or you can go to the town's website. Once you're on the site, you simply go to departments and hit the town council link.

The town council page will show you what is being bid on throughout the town, what proposals are being made, what's been approved, and what upgrades they are making to various areas.

Right now, there are a lot of exciting things going on in Jupiter. They are building new sports complexes, upgrading existing public parks, and restoring historic buildings. Other things you may want to know about include information on storage facilities being built near residential neighborhoods, or what's happening with the All Aboard Florida project. 
Ultimately, the website is an easy way to stay in touch.

If you have any questions about today's video, or if you're interested in buying or selling a home, give me a call or send me an email. I'd love to hear from you.

How Can You Spruce Up Your Living Room on a Budget?

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.

If you are looking to sell your home, your goal is to get the most money possible in the shortest amount of time. One of the best ways to add value and appeal to your home is through home staging. You have a lot of options for how you want to go about it. You could hire a professional staging company, but that comes with a hefty price tag. Most of the time, a few simple fixes is all it takes to transform a living room. 

Today we are going to go through some of our most favorite, inexpensive home staging tips or you. We hope these will help you save both time and money when it comes time to sell your home.

A fresh coat of paint is always a good idea. Neutral, warm colors work best for highlighting the natural light in your home. This will make it easier to punch up the room with some colorful accessories and pull everything together.

A common design problem facing many homeowners is that they have no real entry way, as their front door opens up to the living room. To fix this, you can add a table, some lighting, and a rug to "fake a foyer" and make it feel like the living room and entryway are two different spaces.

A patterned rug, some pillows, or bright curtains add a ton of texture and an eclectic layer to the space, which is essential to a well-designed room.

In some cases, a "make-under" is just what you need. In the case of most fireplaces, taking some accessories and clutter away enhances the look and feel of the room greatly.

You could spend well over a few thousand dollars with a staging company, or you could do these fixes yourself for around $500. That's a small investment considering the value that you add to your home by adding those pieces.

If you have any questions for us about staging your home or anything else real estate related, give us a call or send over a quick email. We are always here to help, and would love to hear from you!

How Do Realtors Get Paid?

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 Realtor fees. Most people I meet with don't have a clear understanding of how Realtors get paid for a living in terms of the commission they take.

When you are selling your home with an agent, you are going to pay a commission, usually a percentage of the final sale price. The standard commission in our area is 6%, with 3% going to the buyer's agent and 3% going to the listing agent.

All of our time, marketing, and advertising is invested upfront on our behalf until our client's property closes. For practical purposes, let's say we earn 3% on your sale. Of that 3%, 15-25% will go to our broker, Keller Williams. An addition, costs we incur is our marketing fees, which will be about 10% of that 3% commission. 50 cents out of every dollar we make goes back into our business and our clients. When you hire a Realtor, you want to find someone who will work for you, and that's what we do. If investing half of our earnings back into our clients doesn't demonstrate that, I don't know what does.

If you have any questions or are looking to buy or sell here in Jupiter, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to speaking with you soon!

What Do Jupiter Home Price Reductions Mean for You?

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.

Recently, we at the Simmonds Realty Team have noticed a shift in the market. We keep a close eye on trends and market statistics in our area, and we're starting to see a lot of price reductions in the Jupiter area. 

What does this mean for you?

For one, price reductions mean the market is beginning to stabilize. This shift means our market is less likely to favor sellers right now, like it has in the past. These price reductions mean sellers are getting as much as they thought they would, that their homes are priced too high. Because of this, inventory is on the rise! 

These conditions mean we have more of a neutral market. Because of this market shift, pricing your home right is crucial. Putting the right price on your home will surely help it sell, especially if it's in great condition!

If you have any questions about buying or selling in our current market, or if you need real estate assistance of any kind, give us call or shoot us a quick email. We would love to hear from you!

How Do Realtors Get Paid?

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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 Realtor fees. Most people I meet with don't have a clear understanding of how Realtors get paid for a living in terms of the commission they  take. 

When you are selling your home with an agent, you are going to pay a commission, usually a percentage of the final sale price. The standard commission in our area is 6%, with 3% going to the buyer's agent and 3% going to the listing agent.  

All of our time, marketing, and advertising is invested upfront on our behalf until our client's property closes. For practical purposes, let's say we earn 3% on your sale. Of that 3%, 15-25% will go to our broker, Keller Williams. An addition, costs we incur is our marketing fees, which will be about 10% of that 3% commission. 50 cents out of every dollar we make goes back into our business and our clients. When you hire a Realtor, you want to find someone who will work for you, and that's what we do. If investing half of our earnings back into our clients doesn't demonstrate that, I don't know what does. 

If you have any questions or are looking to buy or sell here in Jupiter, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to speaking with you soon!

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!

What You Need to Focus on When Touring a Jupiter 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.

One of the biggest issues we have with buyers is their inability to see through a home that might have some bad carpet, bad paint, or other minor imperfections. This is a mental hurdle for everyone, but today we want to focus on helping you see through the clutter and see the true beauty of a home.

 
When you are looking at a home, you want to focus on things like the floor plan and the location, and the bones of the house. Don't worry about the carpet, or the paint, or the furniture. All of these things are minor fixes and will completely change your opinion of the property.

One other thing we try to do to combat this is encouraging sellers to stage their homes. However, if you are looking at a home that needs some work, don't fret. A lot of times, many small imperfections can be used as a bargaining tool to bring the price of the home down. So keep an open mind when it comes to buying homes.

If you have any questions for us, be sure to give me a call or send me an email. We would be glad to help out.

How we helped Bruce find a home by showing him all of the options

 
"We love the Simmonds team. They worked with us for a week, and found us a home. The home we’re in now wasn’t what we were looking for initially, but they were very open. They showed us multiple solutions, and allowed us to come to our own conclusions. We’re very happy with our new home! Their support staff stayed in constant touch with us and followed up on everything. The support level is phenomenal!"

When Is the Best Time to Sell?

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.

Today we want to answer a question that we frequently get from sellers. A lot of them are unsure of when they should list their home so they ask us, "When is the best time to list my home? Is there a best time?"

Well, there really is no specific "best" time to sell your home. If it's priced well and shows well, it will sell. That being said, if you do have a home, a town-home, or a condo near the beach, you may want to think about getting it on the market sooner rather than later. 

Many visitors looking for a place in the area will be visiting soon. Most people want to find a place now, so that they can move in later with no complications. Making sure your property is on the market now ensures that everyone who is visiting this time of year will have their eyes on it.

If you have any questions about listing your home, or about anything else real estate related, give us a call or send us a quick email. We can't wait to hear from you!