AreaVibes uses what the site calls a “Livability Score” for cities and neighborhoods to help users find the best place to live. The rating takes into account amenities, cost of living, crime, employment, housing, schools, and user ratings, and a rating of 100 is the highest an area can receive. Our internal transaction https://www.housebuyersrgv.com/sell-my-house-fast-texas/ data shows that the top 5% of real estate agents sell homes for 10% more on average. HomeLight’s agent-matching platform is 100% free to use, and it’s not pay-to-play, so agents can’t pay to be listed or appear as one of your matches.

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NAR data indicates that the typical FSBO home sold for $380,000 in 2023, compared to $435,000 for a home sale administered by a real estate agent. With rent prices continuing to soften nationwide, now is the time to start looking for your next place. A site like Apartments.com, which makes it easy to search for a wide array of rental listings, is a godsend.

Best For Finding Accessible Rental Housing: Forrentcom

Through all her endeavors, she seeks to build pathways for conversation and connection. But if there ever comes a point where you get tired of the virtual world, you can always put away your screens and ask a top real estate agent for their professional opinion — you know, IRL. While AreaVibes, a site mentioned previously in this article, offers some education data, GreatSchools is an entire website dedicated to providing school ratings and resources.

Best For School District Data: Greatschools

You can also use the map’s draw feature to refine your search to a specific area. In the absence of an agent, a FSBO seller can post their listing for free to Zillow and include video and unlimited photos. The post will appear on Zillow and Trulia to reach a large home buyer audience. You can also opt for a flat fee MLS listing to get your property on the local directory. Think of any online home price tool as a starting point only, as its data may be limited. What’s nice about HomeLight’s tool is that if you want to get even closer to your home’s true value, HomeLight will connect you with a top real estate agent near you as a next step.

With GreatSchools, a user can look up schools within a city and see each school’s summary rating. Plus, you can also find a top real estate agent in your area with the U.S. In addition, some cash-for-homes companies will only buy properties in a certain price range or within limited markets. For example, iBuyers typically only buy homes in fairly good condition and tend to operate in markets that contain somewhat homogenous housing stock. According to the latest data from Ice Mortgage Technologies, conventional loans take an average of 44 days to close, which isn’t always feasible for a seller in a hurry. The demand for a faster process made selling your house for cash more popular in recent years.

The rating factors in academic progress, college readiness, equity, and test scores. The environment tab highlights statistics like the student-teacher ratio, percentage of teachers with three or more years of experience, student demographics, user reviews, and more. NAR’s Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report found that the quality of the school district influenced purchasing decisions for 27% of buyers aged 25 to 33 and 37% of buyers aged 34 to 43. News and World Report offers a wealth of interesting information about what it’s like to live in different places around the country. The difference between a so-so agent and a great one can have serious ramifications. Imagine being disappointed that your agent didn’t notify you about the perfect listing in a hot market, so you lose out to another buyer.

On top of professional photos, many rental listings include video and 3D tours. Users can filter for listings that include a digital walkthrough of some kind. The Real Estate One Family of Companies is a family-owned company based in Michigan. Every day is spent striving towards the mission of creating the best real estate experience for each of our customers. Lily Allen-Duenas is a writer, content storyteller, and graphic designer with over 7 years of professional experience. Her work spans sectors including real estate, travel, health, wellness, arts, and culture.

With the wealth of real estate information available online, we pulled together this round-up of the best real estate websites by category. In the era where remote work is here to stay, homebuyer preferences are only getting more specific. People want a house that has it all — a dedicated home office to focus and take conference calls in and also a patio to relax outside.

Trulia is owned by Zillow, and cannot be used to list a for-sale or rental property — you’ll have to go through Zillow to do that. That being said, it’s still a solid option for users looking to explore the neighborhoods they’re home shopping in. About 6% of recent home sales were for sale by owner (FSBO), meaning the sellers did not enlist the services of a real estate professional in the process. Some sellers choose this route to avoid paying agent commissions, though it’s been shown working with a top agent can help you maximize your sale price, helping to offset or exceed what you’d pay in commission. According to 2024 data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), 90% of sellers and 88% of buyers enlisted the services of a real estate agent in their journey. However, with there being over three million active real estate licensees in the U.S., it can be challenging to know who to hire.

The company analyzes over 27 million real estate transactions and thousands of reviews to determine which agent is best for you based on your needs. For recommended properties, the site provides quick stats on the estimated after-rehab value, the estimated return on investment (ROI) after construction, cap rate, and gross yield. It allows users to search for foreclosure properties and auctions in addition to on-market listings with low prices or recently reduced prices. HomeLight’s Simple Sale website, for example, provides a great alternative solution for sellers who need to move quickly by facilitating cash offers on its platform.