Robert Kirkland - Simply Real Estate

Robert Kirkland - Simply Real Estate Port Orange & New Smyrna Beach real estate agent helping families find their dream homes in Florida. Licensed with Simply Real Estate.

Robert Kirkland is a REALTOR® serving Port Orange, New Smyrna Beach, and Edgewater, Florida. Specializing in first-time homebuyers, out-of-state relocations from the Northeast, investment properties, and luxury waterfront homes along the Intracoastal and Indian River. Honest, data-driven real estate advice for coastal Volusia County. Call or text (386) 631-5107 for a free consultation.

09/08/2026

Something that quietly kills deals around here: work that was done without a permit.

Somebody enclosed the lanai. Added a half bath. Put in a mini split. Nice work, looks fine, nothing on file with the county. Then the buyer's lender or their insurer asks about it, and now you're pulling an after the fact permit in the middle of a contract with an inspector standing in your living room, or you're knocking money off the price to make it go away.

Volusia County and most of the cities let you look up permit history on your own address in a couple of minutes. Worth doing before you list, not after you're under contract. If you'd rather not dig, message me your address and I'll pull it and tell you if anything looks off.

09/03/2026

Florida listing descriptions, translated. Keep this open during your next Zillow spiral.

Cozy = you will meet your family in the hallway
Handyman special = bring cash, no bank is lending on this
Island vibe = there is rattan involved
Motivated seller = they already bought the next house
Original condition = 1974 is a condition now
Steps to the beach = we counted generously
Bring all offers = please. any offer

What did I miss? Add yours and I'll steal it for the next one.

09/01/2026

Same budget, two pretty different lives. Pick one.

Beachside: salt air, walk to the water, golf cart weather most of the year, and an insurance quote you should probably sit down for.

Mainland: oak trees, a lot you can actually do something with, cheaper to insure, and a ten minute drive to the sand you moved here for.

I've sold plenty of both and I honestly don't have a right answer. Comment beachside or mainland. If you've owned both I especially want to hear which one you'd do again.

There's a roughly $150 inspection in Florida that people skip and then complain about their insurance bill.It's the wind...
08/27/2026

There's a roughly $150 inspection in Florida that people skip and then complain about their insurance bill.

It's the wind mitigation inspection. Somebody spends an hour looking at how your roof deck is attached, your roof-to-wall connections, whether you've got a hip roof, what protection your openings have. Your carrier applies a credit for each one you pass. On a lot of houses built after 2002 those credits knock real money off the annual premium.

The report is good for five years. If you've never had one, or yours quietly expired, that's the cheapest homework you'll do all year. Ask your agent whether they already have one on file before you pay for a new one, because sometimes they do and it just never got applied to the policy.

08/25/2026

Question for you, and I actually want the answers.

When you walk into a house you're seriously considering here, what's the first thing you check? Not the granite. The real thing.

Mine is the electrical panel, then the roof from the driveway, then whether the air handler sounds like a jet taking off. Three things, about thirty seconds, and they tell you more about your next five years than the kitchen ever will.

What's yours? Comment it. I'm curious how many people say windows.

08/24/2026

Hurricane prep advice you've heard: buy water.

Hurricane prep advice that actually protects your money: take a video of every room in your house today. Open the closets. Open the garage. Narrate it. Ten minutes, phone in hand, done.

If you ever have to file a claim, that video is the difference between "here's proof of everything I owned" and arguing with an adjuster from a folding chair. Do it while it's sunny. Checklist's on my site if you want the full version.

Full checklist: https://www.robertsellsdaytona.com/blog/124

08/20/2026

Peak hurricane season starts about today, so here's the number most Florida homeowners have never actually looked up.

Your hurricane deductible is not a flat $1,000. It's a percentage of your dwelling coverage, usually 2 or 5 percent. On a house insured for $400,000 that's $8,000 or $20,000 out of pocket before the carrier pays anything. The one piece of good news is that on most policies it's per season, not per storm, so a bad year with two hits doesn't double it.

Go find your declarations page and look at the hurricane line specifically, not the "all other perils" one. If you're sitting at 5 percent and didn't know it, that's a call to your agent this week, not in September with something spinning in the Gulf.

08/13/2026

Surprising fact: Florida has one of the SLOWEST foreclosure processes in the country. From first missed payment to auction is routinely 8 to 14 months.

I bring it up because people in that situation always think they have weeks. They usually have a year. And you can sell the house yourself, any time before the auction, and keep your equity.

Not fun to post about, but if this is you, or someone you know, that time matters. My review is free and I don't repeat what I hear.

08/11/2026

Weird thing that confuses almost everyone who moves here from up north:

Your neighbor pays $2,400 a year in property taxes. Same floor plan, same street, you're paying $4,800. Nobody's ripping you off. Florida caps how fast a homesteaded home's assessed value can rise at 3% a year, so the guy who bought in 2009 is locked in low, and the 2026 buyer starts fresh at full price.

Moral of the story: never estimate your future taxes off what the current owner pays. Ask me, I'll run the real number.

Price improvement in Holly Hill, and this one deserves a second look.450 Card Avenue is now $218,000. Three bedrooms, co...
08/07/2026

Price improvement in Holly Hill, and this one deserves a second look.

450 Card Avenue is now $218,000. Three bedrooms, concrete block, one-car garage, on a fenced 100x90 corner lot. Fresh exterior paint, updated bathroom, granite and stainless in the kitchen, tile floors throughout.

The big-ticket items are already handled too: roof, AC, and electrical panel have all been addressed. What's left is just moving in.

The backyard is artificial turf, so weekends belong to you instead of the lawn. And there's dedicated space along the side of the house for the boat or the RV, which around here is not a small thing.

No HOA. FHA and VA welcome. At $218K, the mortgage math starts looking a lot like rent.

Message me if you want to see it before the price change does its job.

Address

481 N US Highway 1
Port Orange, FL
32174

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 6pm
Tuesday 8am - 6pm
Wednesday 8am - 6pm
Thursday 8am - 6pm
Friday 8am - 6pm
Saturday 8am - 6pm
Sunday 8am - 6pm

Telephone

+13866315107

Website

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