Hope Leitner, Realtor®, CRS

  In today’s digital age, it’s tempting to rely on automated tools for everything — including figuring out how much your house is worth. But be careful. The automated estimates you’re seeing online often miss key details that affect the true  market value  of your home. Before you toss a  for sale sign  in your yard and expect to bring in the number you saw for your house online, you need to understand why these tools generally aren’t spot-on and why working with an expert real estate agent is the best way to get an accurate picture of what  your house  is really worth. The Myth: Online Home Value Estimates Are Accurate Online home valuation tools give you an approximate value for your house based on the data that’s publicly available for your home. While this can give you a rough starting point, the keyword here is  rough . As an article from  Ramsey Solutions  says: “Online Home Value Estimators Aren’t 100% Accurate . . .  The est...

  When you sell your house, ideally, you want it to go something like this: your house sells for top dollar, you get it sold quickly, and it all goes down without a hitch. But what many people don’t realize is that even in today's market where there are more buyers than homes for sale, there are still things that can cause delays or even keep a house from selling. According to  Zillow , in 2024, as many as  1 in 3 sellers took their home off the market before it ultimately sold. And while the reasons those houses didn’t sell are going to vary, there are some general themes that come through. If you’re having trouble getting your house sold, here are the top three hurdles that could be getting in the way, and how an expert agent can help you solve these issues. 1. Priced Too High It’s no surprise that price plays a major role when you sell. And in today’s market, overpricing a home in a high-mortgage rate environment is the biggest thing keeping homes on the market lo...