Takeaways
- Your Realtor will have many of the resources you need to sell your home
- Many important resources may be “offline”, like existing surveys, invoices, and vendor relationships
Your first step when considering selling your home should be to identify the real estate agent you are going to work with. They will have many tools they can take advantage of to inform your home selling needs. Tools your Realtor will have for your use include:
- Local MLS
- Facebook and other social media marketing channels established
- Transaction Management Software
- Showing Services and tracking
Many of these tools are generally either impossible for unlicensed sellers to get ahold of or very cost and time prohibitive. One of the advantages of using a tech-savvy Realtor is the arsenal of tools they bring with them.
Seller Tool Kit
I created a page here with the top tools and articles I’ve written for anyone considering selling a home in the Fort Hood area. In addition to this page, I hope my toolkit is a useful resource for you as well!
Home Value
Price Estimate
Getting an opinion on a good price for your home is perhaps the one thing every seller wants most. There are many online sources that claim to do just that, like the Zillow Zestimate and other sources. While these resources are improving, they are still very inadequate when compared to a real estate agent with actual local sold data.
Neighborhood Trends
Just like a boat, your home’s fortunes are likely rising or ebbing with the tide – in this case, your neighborhood. Checking on how your neighborhood is faring historically can give you an idea of the trends and headwinds. I have compiled a list of 100 Fort Hood neighborhoods and continue to update and improve on the market stats for each for your use. If your’s isn’t listed, contact me and I will get you everything you need!
Home Information
Your Realtor should be able to provide a lot of information about your home from public sources, including old MLS listings. But you can also do some of your own due diligence and check public records for useful information!
County Appraisal District
Much of the public data available on your home is at the County Appraisal District, like your most current tax assessment and legal description. Realtors in the Fort Hood area have access to Realtist, a CoreLogic product that includes a very comprehensive look at public data, including things like flood zones. The Fort Hood area is comprised of Bell, Coryell, and Lampasas counties.
City Open Records Search
Sometimes, open records search on your home might be useful. For example, the city often keeps a copy of your floorplan that the builder submits when they built your home. Firefighters can use if they need to respond to an emergency. You can use the floorplan when marketing your home!
CLUE Report
A personal CLUE report searches all the insurance claims tied to yourself, including those on your home. It is free, and doing one can help show a buyer what, if any, claims have been made on your home.
Realtor Reviews
I am a Realtor! If you are considering selling in the Central Texas area, I hope you will consider reaching out to me to interview for the job.
Realtor reviews are all over the place. There is no one-stop destination for reviews. But if you are looking for agents, here are the top four places to check out what folks are saying about local agents.
This is probably the best place for agents and brokerages to request reviews, because doing so will help their website show up on Google more often. You can also look for top contributing local guides on Google maps.
Facebook is important for agents to market themselves and their listings. And half of agents are already addicted to it anyway. It is a natural place to solicit reviews for their business pages.
Zillow
Agents have a love-hate relationship with Zillow, but it is definitely a fact that it is the #1 most visited real estate website in America. Many agents have profiles, and often are reviewed there.
Yelp
Yelp is a tricky one. I’ve been reviewed several times, and yet they keep deleting them. I am not allowed to solicit reviews, either, so it just sort of is there. But it is still a leader in local reviews and search, and worth checking out if there is anything there on an agent.
Repairs and Upgrades
My Recommended Vendors
As a local Realtor, I have built many relationships and worked with vendors whom I trust my clients with. I have compiled a list of these vendors for your use! I try to have at least three recommendations per category, and am still building my list, but hopefully this is a great place to start if you are searching for assistance in the Fort Hood area!
Angie’s List
Angie’s List needs no introduction, and is the most prominent site for contractors and repairmen reviews. Contractors themselves have a love-hate relationship with the platform, so there is no guarnantee all the options will show up here, but it is certainly worth reviewing!
Thumbtack
Thumbtack is like Angie’s List meets Fiverr, where you can contract for a variety of local odd jobs from piano tutoring to lawn mowing. It can be another great source to check on local businesses for your home needs.
Conclusion
If you are selling in the Fort Hood area and haven’t already reached out to me, a local real estate agent, please do! And again, I recommend spending time looking at the resources here on my site, including articles I’ve written about everything I can think about selling a home in the Fort Hood area