Real Estate in South Florida

Property Site: http://tour.keyes.com/home/GW7GJS/6781-SE-Amyris-Ct-Stuart-Fl-RX-10489912 Coming Soon. Once you see this home, you'll know you've found the one you've been searching for! Home is in a cul-de-sac with fenced yard and lush landscaping for privacy. This is the Peppertree model which features 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room and family room plus large kitchen and dining room. You have access to the screened back porch through sliding glass doors from the dining room, living room and Master Bedroom. This is a pleasant area to relax and watch the birds. Home is currently rented through March 31, 2018. This home has been a rental for the past 6 years and offers great income potential. All sizes approximate. Bedrooms: 3 Bathrooms: 2 Price: $229,000 For more information about this property, please contact Kelley Smith at (772) 263-1610 or KelleySmith@keyes.com. You can als...

Property Site: http://tour.keyes.com/home/CYL3HP/Address-not-provided-Hobe-Sound-FL-RX-10382650 Come spend your vacation in this turn-key villa this January, February and March. This fully furnished, very clean and bright villa is located in an age restricted community offering community pool and clubhouse. This is an end unit which affords delightful sunlight views of the common grounds and yard with quick access to community pool and clubhouse out the back door. The public beaches are close by as well as several quaint shops and restaurants. Bedrooms: 2 Bathrooms: 2 Square feet: 1,306 Price: $2,400 For more information about this property, please contact Kelley Smith at (772) 263-1610 or KelleySmith@keyes.com. You can also text 4722121 to 67299. See more listings at: http://KelleySmith.keyes.com/ MLS ID: RX-10382650 ...

Property Site: http://tour.keyes.com/home/DU324K/7991-SE-Shenandoah-Drive-Hobe-Sound-FL-RX-10380274 Cambridge At Heritage Ridge South, A mobile home community where property ownership is yours. Own your own lot. Nice double wide, great location with no backyard neighbors. Well maintained home w/Living Room, Family Room, Dining Room, Inside laundry Room, Florida Room, Workshop/Storage Room, covered patio and covered parking. Underground utilities ~ electric, telephone & cable. Central water/sewer. County maintained streets & lights. Cooling ocean breezes. Year round sub-tropic temperatures. Great community featuring heated pool, shuffleboard, clubhouse with exercise, billiards, ceramics, horseshoe, croquet & many activities including dinner dances and plays. Close to golf, beaches, restaurants & I-95 Bedrooms: 2 Bathrooms: 2 Square feet: 1,667 Price: $125,000 For more information...

Property Site: http://tour.keyes.com/home/9PDUW3/8010-SE-Villa-Circle-Unit-2710-Hobe-Sound-FL-RX-10361376 Well maintained furnished spacious 2/2 villa is available for season from December 31, 2017 thru May 31, 2018. Three month minimum required. Enjoy the social activities at the clubhouse and relax in the magnificent community pool complete with tiki hut. Located in a quiet 55+ community. Private screened lanai and open patio. Location near Hobe Sound/Jupiter Island Beaches, both semi-private and public golf courses, shopping and restaurants. Easy access to I-95. Bedrooms: 2 Bathrooms: 2 Square feet: 1,026 Price: $1,800 For more information about this property, please contact Kelley Smith at (772) 263-1610 or KelleySmith@keyes.com. You can also text 4547815 to 67299. See more listings at: http://KelleySmith.keyes.com/ MLS ID: RX-10361376 ...

  These first two pictures were taken by friends that live near St Louis, Missouri  The rest of these pictures were taken by me in Hobe Sound, Florida.  I think they turned out pretty good. We had very hot and humid weather with a mix of sun and clouds. It would rain and then the sun would come back out. It was an interesting experience.  My friend suggested that I put my smart phone in selfie mode. It worked out very well. The sun was very bright but then I realized the reflection of the eclipse was away from the brightest area. Can you see the eclipse, just to the right and slightly lower?  Fast moving clouds, the eclipse is just to the left of the brightest spot.  I captured it through the trees.  This was a neat shot.  Clouds moved in again.  It started about 2:30 PM and was over by 3:15 PM

This is why I live here. Contact me if you want more information on Hobe Sound, Florida Real Estate. I am here to help!                   

I'm in South Florida in August and it's still 90 degrees at 5:00 PM. It's HOT AND HUMID my friends. I try to stay in the Air Conditioning on days like these but I am in Real Estate and houses need to be shown and people need to be met. 💦 So this afternoon, my client for the day is ready to head home after a grueling day of home showings and her car won't start. Dead as Dead can be.  For some reason; I do not have jumper cables (note to self, purchase a set ASAP). Luckily, my client had a set in her trunk. But hey, no battery, no power, no trunk un-lockey.  😦 I crawled into her back seat and found a secret access door to the trunk. Not large enough for a full sized adult to crawl through but large enough for me to reach my arm inside and grab the jumper cables. Yay!!!   😃 My client had no idea how to connect the jumper cables but luckily my dad made me learn at a young age. He did not want me to ever be stranded out somewhere and not be able to take care of...

 It's more expensive to Rent than it is to Buy a Home in Florida. Let's get together to discuss your options for moving out of that rental and moving in to your Dream Home. Rent vs. Own? The Best Option in Each State

Every summer , families across the country decide if this will be the year they sell their current house and move into their dream home. Mortgage rates have hovered around 4% for all of 2017, forcing buyers off the fence and into the market, resulting in incredibly strong demand RIGHT NOW!! At the same time, inventory levels of homes for sale have dropped dramatically as compared to this time last year. Trulia reported that “ U.S. home inventory has tumbled 8.9% over the past year and has now fallen for nine consecutive quarters. ” There is now 20% less inventory than there was five years ago. Here is a chart showing the decrease in inventory levels by category: Bottom Line Demand for your home is very strong right now while your competition (other homes for sale) is at a historically low level. If you are thinking of selling in 2017, now may be the perfect time.

6270 Longleaf Pine Drive, Jupiter, Fl 33458 I will be holding this beauty open today from 1 - 3. 4 Bedroom, 3 Bathroom, Saltwater Pool, Metal Roof, Private Yard. All this for only $549,711     Come Buy Today. Or contact me for additional information.

I just placed a nice couple into this Furnished Rental listing that I market for the owner.  These folks just moved here from out of state, took a new job and have been living in a motel for the past month. Now, they will be residing in this 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1 car garage home with a fenced yard for the next 3 to 5 months until I can find them a nice home to purchase. It's been challenging for them to stay in a motel this long, especially since they have a large dog and a tabby cat. The fenced yard on this home will provide some exercise area for the collie. I am always so happy when I can make a client happy. 

Click this link to find out what your home is worth right now. Then call me to set up an in person interview and together we'll determine the best price and marketing plan to get your home sold. Home Value Estimator by Kelley Smith

I was so excited to see that my orchids are beginning to bloom. I rescued them from the back yard of a person that was not taking care of them. Seems she would buy a pretty orchid at the store; after the flowers dropped off she would just toss the plant into the back yard. I collected them all, took them out of their overgrown pots, cut off all the dead roots, split some of them and pretty much made new ones. It's been about a month and a half in their new pots with fresh wood chips and fertilizer, and plenty of humidity and moisture. The fruits of my labor are beginning to show. I had a few of them open up over the long 4th of July Holiday weekend. SPIDER ORCHID - 1ST BLOOM OPEN SPIDER ORCHID - 2ND BLOOM OPEN OCTOPUS ORCHID CATTLEYA ORCHID CATTLEYA ORCHID      

When you are thinking of making a Real Estate move; Call me first. I can connect you with a top producer in the area you seek to relocate.

In many markets across the country, the number of buyers searching for their dream homes  greatly outnumbers the amount of homes for sale. This has led to a competitive marketplace where buyers often need to stand out. One way to show you are serious about buying your dream home is to get pre-qualified or pre-approved for a mortgage before starting your search. Even if you are in a market that is not as competitive, knowing your budget will give you the confidence of knowing if your dream home is within your reach. Freddie Mac  lays out the advantages of pre-approval in the  My Home section of their website: “It’s highly recommended that you work with your lender to get pre-approved before you begin house hunting. Pre-approval will tell you how much home you can afford and can help you move faster, and with greater confidence, in competitive markets.” One of the  many advantages of working with a local real estate professional is that many have relationshi...

In Realtor.com’s recent article , “ Home Buyers’ Top Mortgage Fears: Which One Scares You ?” they mention that “ 46% of potential home buyers fear they won’t qualify for a mortgage to the point that they don’t even try .” Myth #1: “I Need a 20% Down Payment” Buyers overestimate the down payment funds needed to qualify for a home loan. According to the First Quarter 2017 Homeownership Program Index (HPI) from Down Payment Resource, saving for a down payment was the barrier that kept 70% of renters from buying . Rob Chrane, CEO of Down Payment Resource had this to say, “ There are many mortgage -ready renters today, but they don’t know it. Often, homebuyers remain sidelined for years due to the down payment. ” Many believe that they need at least 20% down to buy their dream home, but programs are available that allow buyers put down as little as 3%. Many renters may actually be able to enter the housing market sooner than they ever imagined with new programs that have eme...

We often discuss the difference in family wealth between homeowner households and renter households. Much of that difference is the result of the equity buildup that homeowners experience over the time that they own their home. In a report recently released by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), they reveal how valuable equity can be in retirement planning. Craig Copeland, Senior Research Associate at EBRI, recently authored a report, Importance of Individual Account Retirement Plans and Home Equity in Family Total Wealth , in which he reveals: “Individual account retirement plan assets, plus home equity, represent almost all of what families have to use for retirement expenses outside of Social Security and traditional pensions. Those families without individual account assets typically have very low overall assets, so they have almost nothing to draw from for retirement expenses.”   The report echoed the findings of a working paper, Home Equit...

      Many real estate economists have called on new home builders to ramp up production to help relieve the shortage of inventory of homes for sale throughout the United States. The added inventory would no doubt aid buyers in their search to secure their dream home, while also helping to ease price increases throughout the country. Unfortunately for builders, there are many forces that are making it difficult for them to do just that! Last week at the National Association of Real Estate Editors 51 st Annual Conference, CoreLogic’s Chief Economist Frank Nothaft broke down the 4 ‘L’s of New Home Construction: Lots, Labor, Lumber, and Lending. The concept of supply and demand is ripe in the new home construction industry. The four ‘L’s of new home construction are each suffering a supply problem, and with that comes added costs. Let’s break it down! Lots – There is a shortage of land near metros at an affordable price, causing builders to move farther and farth...

CoreLogic’s  latest  Equity Report   revealed that 91,000 properties regained equity in the first quarter of 2017. This is great news for the country, as 48.2 million of all mortgaged properties are now in a positive equity situation. Price Appreciation = Good News for Homeowners Frank Nothaft,  CoreLogic’s Chief Economist,  explains: “ One million borrowers achieved positive equity over the last year , which means risk continues to steadily decline as a result of increasing home prices.” Frank Martell,  President and CEO of CoreLogic , believes this is a great sign for the market in 2017 as well, as he had this to say: “ Homeowner equity increased by $766 billion over the last year, the largest increase since Q2 2014 . The rising cushion of home equity is one of the main drivers of improved mortgage performance. Since home equity is the largest source of homeowner wealth, the increase in home equity also supports consumer balance sheets, spen...

The results of the latest Rent vs. Buy Report from Trulia show that homeownership remains cheaper than renting with a traditional 30-year fixed rate mortgage in the 100 largest metro areas in the United States. The updated numbers actually show that the range is an average of 3.5% less expensive in San Jose (CA), all the way up to 50.1% less expensive in Baton Rouge (LA), and 33.1% nationwide! Other interesting findings in the report include: Interest rates have remained low and, even though home prices have appreciated around the country, they haven’t greatly outpaced rental appreciation. With rents & home values moving in tandem, shifts in the ‘rent vs. buy’ decision are largely driven by changes in mortgage interest rates. Nationally, rates would have to reach 9.1%, a 128% increase over today’s average of 4.0%, for renting to be cheaper than buying. Rates haven’t been that high since January of 1995, according to Freddie Mac. Bottom Line Buying a home makes sense ...

As home values continue to rise, some are questioning whether we are approaching another housing bubble. Zillow just reported that: “National home values have surpassed the peak hit during the housing bubble and are at their highest value in more than a decade.” Though that statement is correct, we must realize that just catching prices of a decade ago does not mean we are at bubble numbers. Here is a graph of median prices as reported by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).   We can see that prices rose during the early 2000s, fell during the crash and have risen since 2013. However, let’s assume there was no housing bubble and crash and that home prices appreciated at normal historic levels (3.6% annually) over the last ten years. Here is a graph comparing actual price appreciation (tan bars) with what prices would have been with normal appreciation (blue bars). Bottom Line As we can see, had there not been a boom and bust, home values would essentially...

In a blog post published last Friday, CNBC’s Diana Olnick reported on the latest results of the FAU Buy vs. Rent Index . The index examines the entire US housing market and then isolates 23 major markets for comparison. The researchers at FAU use a “‘horse race’ comparison between an individual that is buying a home and an individual that rents a similar-quality home and reinvests all monies otherwise invested in homeownership.” Having read both the index and the blog post, we would like to clear up any confusion that may exist. There are three major points that we would like to counter: 1. The Title The CNBC blog post was titled, “Don’t put your money in a house, says a new report.” The title of the press release about the report on FAU’s website was “FAU Buy vs. Rent Index Shows Rising Prices and Mortgage Rates Moving Housing Markets in the Direction of Renting.” Now, we all know headlines can attract readers and the stronger the headline the more readership you can attract...

According to a  recent report by  Trulia ,  “buying is cheaper than renting in 100 of the largest metro areas by an average of 33.1%.”  The report may have some people thinking about buying a home instead of signing another lease extension, but does that make sense from a financial perspective? Ralph McLaughlin,  Trulia’s Chief Economist explains : “Owning a home is one of the most common ways households build long-term wealth, as it acts like a forced savings account. Instead of paying your landlord, you can pay yourself in the long run through paying down a mortgage on a house.” The article listed five reasons why owning a home makes financial sense: Mortgage payments can be fixed while rents go up. Equity in your home can be a financial resource later. You can build wealth without paying capital gains. A mortgage can act as a forced savings account. Overall, homeowners can enjoy greater wealth growth than renters. Bottom Line Before you sig...

Here are four great reasons to consider buying a home today, instead of waiting. 1. Prices Will Continue to Rise CoreLogic’s latest Home Price Index reports that home prices have appreciated by 7.1% over the last 12 months. The same report predicts that prices will continue to increase at a rate of 4.9% over the next year. The bottom in home prices has come and gone. Home values will continue to appreciate for years. Waiting no longer makes sense. 2. Mortgage Interest Rates Are Projected to Increase Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey shows that interest rates for a 30-year mortgage have remained around 4%. Most experts predict that they will begin to rise over the next 12 months. The Mortgage Bankers Association, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac & the National Association of Realtors are in unison, projecting that rates will increase by this time next year. An increase in rates will impact YOUR monthly mortgage payment. A year from now, your housing expense will inc...

  Some Highlights: Interest rates have come a long way in the last 30 years. The interest rate you secure directly impacts your monthly payment and the amount of house that you can afford if you plan to stay within a certain budget. Interest rates are at their lowest in years… RIGHT NOW! If buying your first home, or moving up to the home of your dreams is in your future, now may be the time to act!

5 Reasons You Should Sell This Summer Here are five reasons listing your home for sale this summer makes sense. 1. Demand Is Strong The latest Buyer Traffic Report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) shows that buyer demand remains very strong throughout the vast majority of the country. These buyers are ready, willing and able to purchase… and are in the market right now! More often than not, multiple buyers are competing with each other to buy a home. Take advantage of the buyer activity currently in the market. 2. There Is Less Competition Now Housing inventory is currently at a 4.2-month supply , well under the 6-months needed for a normal housing market. This means, in the majority of the country, there are not enough homes for sale to satisfy the number of buyers in that market. This is good news for home prices. However, additional inventory could be coming to the market soon. There is a pent-up desire for many homeowners to move, as they ...

Homes for Sale inventory is very low. Home prices are high. Find out now where your home is currently valued in todays market. Click the link to see now. Call me when you are ready to make a move. Home Value Estimator by Kelley Smith

This was the backyard pond I built about 5 years ago. I had a shade cover over the top in order to keep the hot Florida sun from burning the orchids. I found it to be a great deal of work just to maintain the pond and keep it clean. As a Real Estate agent; I was given about 21 new orchids from a seller because she could not take them to her new condo and the new buyer did not want them. So the old pond is coming out and a new smaller version is going in. That way I will have more space for my orchids.

I am very proud of my accomplishments for this past year. I won an award for being a top producer in my office. I love most of all the ability to assist all of my clients - past, present and future - with all of their real estate needs. Everyone has a passion for something. My passion is helping people, teaching them about Real Estate and the value it adds to their lives by gaining financial stability. www.KelleySmith.keyes.com

Find out what your home is worth in 60 seconds or less. I can help you buy or sell real estate, anywhere in the world. Call, text or email me at (772) 263-1610 or KelleySmith@keyes.com Website:   www.KelleySmith.keyes.com Click here to find your home value now:  Home Value Estimator by Kelley Smith