Tag: Orlando Real Estate

Choosing The Best School For Your Child

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

If you’re a parent like I am, you know that when you make everyday choices in life it’s all about what’s best for your kids first and foremost and everything else comes second. Even the friends that we hang out with these days are other parents we’ve met either through school the soccer team or some other activity that our kids are involved in together, with the common denominator always being the kids.

Back in the day, people wouldn’t put too much weight into what school their kids would be going to when searching for a house to call home. Mostly because their options were very limited, you would either send your child to the closest public school or you would enroll them in a private school. I personally went to a Catholic school in New Jersey [and my ears still hurt]

As parents today we have so many different options that the challenge now is choosing the right school for your child. There are several factors that you should consider when determining the best educational choice. For example, if your child is a soccer star, you may want to pick a school with an outstanding soccer program. Maybe you would like for the school to be close by so that your child can walk to and from school. Whatever it is that you’re looking for in a school, you have to do some research so that you know which school will be best for you and your family.

Working as an Orlando Real Estate Agent, I always try to educate my buyers on the schools that are available in the area they’re looking to buy in. If someone’s not happy with the school that their child will be attending, then they should probably consider living in a different neighborhood if at all possible.

How To Start Researching Schools
A good start would be to write down what your child’s needs are first then the needs of your family as a whole. `
What are your child’s strengths? What are they excelling at? What’s their best shot at getting a scholarship!? For example, if your child excels in science or math, you’d be better off with a school that is known for having a strong science or math program. If your child happens to be a talented guitarist, why not send them to a school that specializes in music.

Once you’ve imagined what the perfect school would look like, you can move forward to the next step, online research. There are countless online resources available to help you get information like national testing scores and how the schools rank statewide as well as nationally.

Go In Person
It’s an amazing time we live in where we can research soo many things at the touch of our fingertips. However, when it comes to finding a school for your child, it’s worth taking that extra step to do an onsite visit of your top choices if at all possible. And if you have the option of bringing your child along, even better. Have a list of questions ready for your visit. Like the ones listed below.

Some Basic Questions To Ask On The School Tour

How many classrooms are there?
What’s the average number of students per classroom?
What facilities do they have?
What extra-curricular activities do they offer?

One of the best ways to research a school is to talk to other parents. They are experiencing the school the same way as you will be. Parents will be able to tell what they like and what they don’t like about the school within a matter of a few minutes. At the end of the day, just knowing that you have different options is a great thing.

Here are some fantastic resources for researching schoolshttp://www.greatschools.org/florida/

nces.ed.gov/

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7 Simple Steps to do Before Selling Your Orlando Home

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Owning a home means that you are constantly doing maintenance as well as home improvements. There’s always something that needs to be repaired, replaced, or touched up. It’s lucky for us that these things happen at different times throughout the year, although sometimes it feels like everything happens at once.      Personally, I tend to procrastinate on the small things until there’s a whole bunch of little things that need my attention. These little things typically don’t get done until my wife decides to have people over the house. It seems that once I have a deadline for my to-do list, everything gets done on the same day.


When you’re selling your Orlando home, however, you should keep it in tip-top shape at all times, even the little things. Research has shown that you will not only get more money for your home but it will actually sell faster if you follow the steps that I’m about to outline for you below.  

1- Cleaning and De-cluttering: This is absolutely the most important thing you can do to improve the overall appearance of your home. As a matter of fact, if you can only do one thing on this list, this should be it. It’s hard for buyers to see themselves living in the home if it’s filled with wall-to-wall stuff everywhere. I would start by moving any large items into the garage that are making the house look smaller or just seem out of place or in the way. After the big stuff is gone, it’s time to clean like you’ve never cleaned before. I’m not talking about your routine cleaning, I mean deep cleaning everything including cabinets, walls, carpets, ceiling fans, fixtures, and whatever ever else can be cleaned.    Removing personal items like family portraits is also a good idea so that potential buyers can envision how their things will fit into a space. Also, you should lock up any guns, medicine, and valuables. Assume that every door and every drawer will be opened up by a stranger.    

2- Maximize Your Curb Appeal: That old saying ” never judge a book by its cover” doesn’t apply when selling Orlando real estate. One saying that does come to mind however is “the perception is the reality”. That means that whatever people perceive to be real is actually real to them.   The front door should make a statement by looking sharp and freshly painted with a color that pops. Keep your lawn and shrubbery perfectly trimmed and plant a few colorful flowers near the entrance. You should also pressure wash the entire house if possible or at the very least, the front.    

3- Fix It If It’s Broken: Assume that a prospective buyer will notice every detail. Don’t leave anything to chance, fix that leaky faucet or cracked window. If buyers notice that little things are in disrepair, they will automatically assume that the regular home maintenance has been neglected. The last thing buyers want is to move into a home and then have to make a bunch of small repairs to it. You should also take into account that buyers will tend to overinflate the price of repairs which may cause them to put in a lower offer.

4- Fresh Paint: There’s nothing like a fresh coat of paint to give your home a facelift. The painting will give you by far the biggest bang for your buck. It’s relatively cheap and makes the biggest impact on the overall appearance of your home. Stick to neutral colors like white and off-white. This will give it a clean elegant look and can be easily painted over by the new buyers if they wish.    

5- Make It Smell Good: Sometimes real estate agents will bake fresh cookies during an open house so that when you walk through, it makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside. You don’t have to go that far or you’d be baking cookies every time there’s a showing. You should, however, make sure that there aren’t any undesirable smells in the air like animal odors. Make sure that the house smells fresh and remove any evidence of pets like litter boxes, pet beds, etc if at all possible. It’s also a good idea to take the pets with you during showings. If that’s not an option, then I would suggest keeping them in the garage or a  crate during showings.

Cigarette smoke is also a big one. I’ve had clients not like a house solely because it smelled like cigarettes. If someone in the house is a smoker, I would highly recommend telling them to smoke away from the home from now on. Smoke tends to attach to curtains furniture and carpet. Unfortunately, getting smoke odors takes a lot more work, like having your carpets, furniture, and curtains shampooed. 

6- Windows: You don’t need to replace your windows unless they’re in bad shape. You should at least make sure that they are spotless inside and out. The same goes for the blinds and curtains. If they are in rough shape, consider replacing them or if you can’t afford it, just remove them together.

7- Lite Staging: This is an important one. I’m not saying that you should hire a professional stager to come in and re-furnish your whole house for the purpose of selling it. As an Orlando listing specialist, I also have experience in staging homes by using the existing furniture and other items in your house to make it look its best for potential buyers.

By following the steps outlined above, you will put yourself ahead of the game when it comes to getting your house sold fast for the highest amount possible.

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Hunters Creek 5th Grader And His Dog Serving The Community

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Matthew Conde, resident of Mar Vista in Hunters Creek has found a fun and constructive way to walk his dog “Jax”. Matthew says ” I’ve been walking him around the pond and he loves jumping in the water and picking up plastic bottles in the grass along the waterline. He kept bringing me the different objects that he found so now I have to bring a poop bag and a garbage bag!”. On a typical walk around the pond, Jax picks up between 3- 5 plastic bottles and other objects.

Matthew attends 5th grade at West Creek Elementary where he recently won 1st place in the school spelling bee. He’s an A student and is involved in several other activities like playing on a U-11 competitive soccer team for the Hunters

dog

Creek Soccer Club. Matthew’s parents, who are both listing agents in Hunters Creek said that ” anything Matthew puts his mind to, he does well”. This is why when he came up with the idea of using his dog to help keep the neighborhood clean, they weren’t at all surprised.

“Jax” is a 10-month-old yellow Labrador Retriever who loves jumping in the water and playing fetch as most Labs do. Jax however, is more interested in retrieving plastic bottles and other objects out of the pond than he is in chasing balls. Matthew’s parents say that the 5th grader spends lots of time playing and training with the K9 on a daily basis. [right after he finishes his homework].

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Finding That Perfect Orlando Neighborhood

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Choosing an Orlando neighborhood to plant your roots and live out the rest of your life is a huge deal!  Choosing the actual home in which you want to live is equally important. This will be the place where you and your family will create memories for many years to come.

Homebuyers need to consider many things before when deciding on which home to buy; like becoming part of a new community, so you need to make sure it’s a good fit. So how do you know if the neighborhood’s a good fit for you and your family?

Here’s a 5 step list to help you decide what Orlando neighborhood is right for you.

1- Make your wishlist:

Make a list of the things that would make your ideal neighborhood and put the most important items on the list at the top and things you could live without towards the bottom. Things like the commute to work and good schools always seem to rank highly for most people.

Having a list of what you don’t want is also helpful like; being too close to a highway or living across the street from Walmart.

2- Online Research:

Like everything else these days, start your research online. Take the list that you just made and Google it! Start by typing in things that are on top of the list and work your way down, “Orlando Neighborhoods with the best Elementary schools” or “Orlando best neighborhoods for pets”, you get the picture. Once you get a feel for the neighborhoods that interest you, you can use our Florida home search tool to see a list of homes are for sale in the area just like a licensed realtor.

3- Time To Visit in Person!

So you’ve done as much research as any one person can do on a computer, now it’s time to check out the area in person. Check out the local schools, supermarkets, and restaurants, and drive around the surrounding neighborhoods at different times of the day. Talking with some local residents will also be helpful.

Are there enough parks? Is there a park for your dog? Is the homeowners association controlled by robots? Can you see yourself living here for the next five, or ten years!!?

All of these are valid questions that you should be asking yourself.

4-What’s the local crime rate?

Ok so you like the neighborhood that’s good but we’re not done yet. It’s time to find out about the local criminal activity, especially if you have children. Visit sites like https://www.crimereports.com/ which offer really cool interactive maps where you can view crime data in real-time. Concerned about sex offenders? You should be, visit http://www.familywatchdog.us/ to get a list of registered sex offenders in the area.

You can even take things a step further by visiting the local police dept. and having a chat with one of the boys in blue.

5-Check local school ratings:

Whether you have kids or not, you need to research schools. It’s a known fact that school districts are usually the biggest beneficiaries of property taxes. In addition, schools that are highly sought after will typically raise the value of the surrounding homes. Check sites like greatschools.org/is a great tool for finding the best-rated schools in the area.

Finding that perfect home goes much deeper than what’s between the walls of the house itself. Take the time to do your research to make sure that the neighborhood you choose would meet all or needs, or at least most of them.

If you need help finding your perfect Orlando neighborhood, I’m happy to help. Call 407-902-7750 or visit https://orlandorealtyconsultants.com/

 

 

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Orlando Listing Agents Vs. Buyer’s Agents

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

You’ll probably never hear a listing agent ask a buyer’s agent, what’s the highest amount their client [the buyer] is willing to pay for a property. So why is it that some buyer’s agents think that it’s OK to ask listing agents how low their client [the seller] is willing to go on the price?

I don’t know of any good listing agents that would spill the beans anyway, why would they? When I became an Orlando Real Estate Agent, one of the first things I learned is that there are 3 things that you never reveal in a real estate negotiation…seller’s motivation, seller’s price, and the terms. It would be kind of like showing your cards to the other players at the table in a high-stakes poker game.

I guess you can’t blame buyers for wanting to feel out what the seller’s bottom line is before making an offer in writing. It’s mostly about saving time and effort. If the seller isn’t interested in accepting a lowball offer, then the buyer could save themselves the hassle of preparing a contract, pre-approval letter, etc. After that, the buyer then has to wait and see if it’s been accepted or not.

Although the seller’s “bottom line” as well as the buyer’s “best and final” is eventually revealed to each other, you can’t just skip the first part of the dance that we call negotiating. Sometimes I wish we could cut to the chase because it would save the realtor some time also.

So when a buyer’s agent asks me what my client’s bottom line is. I say “put your best and final offer in writing and I’ll present it to my client”, and that’s when the real negotiating begins.

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