The benefits of hiring Apollo Realty for property management

Many clients utilize our services because they simply don’t have the time, energy or desire to manage their own investment property or deal with the day-to-day tenant issues. If you’d prefer not to get a phone call at 2:00 am about a leaking water heater or an A/C Unit that has stopped working, this program is designed for you.

Some are investors and are located many miles away from their investment property and desire our ‘local representation’ so that we can respond and act on behalf of the property owner. Other clients retain Apollo Realty simply to avoid the necessity of their personal involvement with tenants, handling tenant disputes, dealing with rent collections, handling rent increases, lease renewals, screening for replacement tenants, responding to ‘emergency’ issues 24/7 which involve arranging ongoing and emergency property maintenance, and the headaches of dealing with multiple contractors.

Apollo Realty clients enjoy the personal ‘cost savings’ to them in terms of their time, effort, and energy, which is needed to manage a rental property on an ongoing basis. Let our property management specialists and agents handle all aspects of caring for your property — 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.

Listed below are a few of the many services included:

Leasing

Quickly find a QUALIFIED Tenant for your property
Provide a THOROUGH background screening, to include:
Verify Income
Verify Rental History
Credit Check
Nationwide Criminal Record Check
Eviction Filing History
Nationwide Sex Offender Registry Search

Property Management

Strictly Enforce the Lease
Rent Collection
Coordinate Maintenance
Payment of Bills
Tenant Eviction Services
Maintain Tenant Relations
Negotiate Lease Renewals
Make-Ready Coordination
Professional Advice and Counsel
Federal, State and Local Law Compliance
Annual Accounting Compliance (issue 1099)

Call Apollo Realty at (321) 784-9602 and let us handle the rest!

Beware of renting through Craigslist…

There are lots of viable rental properties available on Craigslist, but beware of the rising number of scammers. A typical scam happens when someone steals a picture of a home for sale from another website, then lists the house using those photos on Craigslist as a house for rent. The scammer makes up a story about being out of state and requests the renter wire funds via a service. You can guess what happens next….

If you are renting a home, apartment or vacation property…. you’ve come to the right place.  

Whether you’re looking to find a home, apartment, vacation rental, condo, townhouse, or other property, Apollo Realty has one of the largest rental inventories in Brevard County. Our 3-step process makes it quick and simple to get started:

You can count on our team to manage the entire process and make it easy for everyone.  Need a pet-friendly house for rent, a 2 car garage or a fenced yard?  Our advanced MLS search allows you to find the perfect rental within your budget, complete a rental inquiry form, and then call our office to make an appointment. Hesitant to call the landlord when the plumbing leaks? Worry no more, let the Apollo Realty experts handle that!

We welcome you to browse our real estate listings and rental properties, or search the MLS database, and learn more about our talented team of agents and brokers.  Whether you’re looking to buy, sell or rent, call us at (321) 784-9602 or email us at apollorealty321@gmail.com and experience the Apollo difference!

The Rx about why Zillow and Trulia data can’t be trusted

Trusting data from Zillow is like trusting WebMD.com instead of visiting a doctor.  Doctors cringe when a patient says: “according to WebMD.com  I have a cold…” just like we cringe when a client says: “Zillow.com says the house is worth $50K more…”  We cringe because we know that Zillow and Trulia data is inaccurate and out of date, while the MLS system we rely upon is updated every 15 to 30 minutes.

The team at Apollo Realty has its finger on the pulse of the Space Coast real estate market. Every day, we know which properties have just listed, or just reduced, or have just come under contract. We also know which comparative properties (or “comps”) an appraiser is most likely to consider. We also know the particulars of a neighborhood, all of which factors in to our ability to help our clients make a reasonable estimate of what a viable purchase or sales price might be.

Zillow, on the other hand, is notorious for creating a “Zestimate” by using comparison homes (comps) that are not appropriate. The company factors in as many comps as possible in order to even the numbers out. This in turn skews the findings, which can be tens of thousands of dollars off from what a local Broker’s Price Estimate or a Bank Appraisal might be.

A Zestimate is catchy, but unreliable.

Here’s a good example: Zillow and Trulia may state that a home sold for pennies on the dollar, when in fact, it was simply the amount of Trustee’s Sale. Next, they use this skewed value as a comparison for other homes in the neighborhood. It’s not uncommon customers to call and ask why a home is selling for $275 when they can see on Zillow that it “just sold last month for $195K.”

Naturally, Zillow doesn’t hide the fact that its mass-market property-value estimates are off. On its website, Zillow states that its estimates are “educated guesses, based on public records and previous sales.” Research has proven, however, that these “educated guesses” are in fact, off by more than one-third.

A study by the WAV Group determined that “about 36 percent of the listings shown as active on Zillow and Trulia were no longer for sale in the local MLS, compared with zero percent or near-zero percentage for the listings on the brokerage websites.” (source)

The study also found that “listings were slower to make their way to Trulia and Zillow’s websites than brokerage sites. Newly listed homes on the brokerages’ websites showed up a median of seven days earlier than on Zillow and nine days earlier than on Trulia. MLSs typically update their listings every 15 to 30 minutes and so brokerages, which typically are source MLS data, have extremely up-to-date listing data.”

“The findings are clear: real estate brokerage websites showed by far the most homes for sale, recognized which homes were no longer for sale, and displayed new listings much earlier,” said WAV Group CEO Victor Lund in a statement.

Trust your neighborhood realtor, not a website.

So before you trust those Zestimates and Trulia findings, we invite you to use our website MLS search tools and call Apollo Realty at (321) 784-9602. For 25 years, the Apollo Realty team has been helping clients buy, sell and rent in the Space Coast market. We’ve survived through the recession, the real estate bubble, and multiple hurricanes. Our team can also tell you which property values will do well in a recession vs. those that swing hard when the market is down. And like a doctor, we’ll help you make the most informed and accurate buying or selling decision possible!

Rebecca Sparks Earns Prestigious CRB Designation

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Rebecca Sparks Earns Prestigious Certified Real Estate Broker Manager (CRB) Designation.

Attained by only 3% of the nation’s Realtors®, the CRB exemplifies the highest level of professional achievement in real estate brokerage management.  “Earning the CRB is a testament to the high levels of professionalism, quality and ethics that we bring to every client relationship here at Apollo Realty,” said Rebecca Sparks. “

September 30, 2014 – Cocoa Beach, FL – cApollo Realty, Inc. (Apollo Realty), a Cocoa Beach Florida-based real estate and property management agency, today announced that its owner and broker, Rebecca Sparks, earned the coveted CRB (Certified Real Estate Brokerage Manager) Designation by the Council of Real Estate Brokerage Managers.

Real-estate professionals who are designated as CRB are members of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and comply with the NAR Code of Ethics. The CRB Designation is awarded to those individuals who demonstrate excellence in real estate brokerage management. Candidates must successfully complete academic and professional courses covering such topics as finance, marketing, training, recruiting, and strategic planning.

“Earning the CRB is a testament to the high levels of professionalism, quality and ethics that we bring to every client relationship here at Apollo Realty,” said Rebecca Sparks. “I am honored to earn the CRB Designation and to be recognized for achievements in brokerage management by the Council and the National Association of Realtors.

Rebecca Sparks is a licensed broker and owner of cApollo Realty, Inc., a family owned and operated real estate and property management agency the Space Coast of Florida. A member of the Space Coast Board of Realtors and the Florida Association of Realtors, Rebecca Sparks is a valued community leader in Cocoa Beach and serves as:

  • Chairperson of Professional Standards for the Space Coast Board of Realtors;
  • School Board Member of Our Saviour’s Catholic School in Cocoa Beach;
  • Past President of the Space Coast Runner’s Association; and
  • Past Board Member of the Space Coast Art Festival.

Notably, Rebecca is an avid runner and was the first woman to be inducted into the Space Coast Runners Hall of Fame and Inducted in the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame class of 2014.  She’s also a three-time All-American runner and USAF National Champion.

About the Council

The Council of Real Estate Brokerage Managers (CRB) is the central source for brokerage management information and education and is the voice for real estate brokers and managers within the industry. Members are at the forefront of new developments in brokerage management. For more information, call the Council Services Department at 800-621-8738 or visit www.crb.com

About Apollo Realty

cApollo Realty, Inc. is a full-service Brevard County real estate agency in Cocoa Beach, Florida, comprised of licensed and experienced agents and brokers who specialize in residential and commercial real estate and property management in Brevard County. Led by owner and broker Rebecca Sparks, Apollo Realty has been successfully helping customers on the Space Coast of Florida since 1988. For more information, contact Apollo Realty at (321) 784-9602 or visit www.ApolloRealtyInc.com.