An adage in real estate holds that location is everything. While it may be broadly applicable to home buyers seeking to fulfill a lifelong wish list of wants in their version of the American dream, for homeowners who are moving, the location they are leaving is fixed. In other words, to sell their home someone else has to buy it where it is. That’s where the expertise of a dedicated listing agent comes into play. By knowing area attributes and closely following market conditions, a skilled listing agent understands how to maximize return on investment for the sellers who put their trust in them. Keller Williams Realtor, Carmen T. Colón helps clients in Central Texas get the highest sale price for their homes, selling roughly 100 listings a year in the areas surrounding Fort Hood.
“I’ve been in real estate for 14 years, primarily as a listing agent,” says Colón, who reveals that like every home, every area has its pluses and minuses as well. As a realtor, she says her job is to understand the situational specifics and work to achieve the highest purchase price in the shortest time possible for the sellers she represents. “The markets I serve surround Fort Hood. So, many people I work with are serving in the military. There are several challenges tied to that. In appreciation of their service, I take a lot of pride in getting them top dollar.”
Colón points out that while in Austin, TX, which is roughly 75 miles south of her, the average home buyer stays in the home for ten years, in her market homeowners typically stay three years or less. Members of the military are often compelled to relocate by their profession, some being deployed and others being promoted into a transfer. Known as a PCS, or permanent change of station, throughout their career as they rise through the ranks, service members and their families can expect to be relocated on rather limited notice. For those who own homes, PCS means selling their house and finding accommodations at their new station in a hurry.
“Another consideration specific to selling to military families is their mortgages are often backed by VA loans, which are only available to veterans, service members, and surviving spouses,” continues Colón. Compared to traditional mortgages, the big advantage of the VA loan program is that buyers aren’t required to make an initial down payment. Backed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, VA loans draw money from banks, mortgage companies, credit unions, and other kinds of lenders, by guaranteeing them in case of default. The buyer’s higher risk profile means more stringent scrutiny of the seller’s property in the form of appraisals and inspections. “In our area, perhaps in many areas around the country, the single-family housing market is a little overbuilt, as well. This makes it harder for re-sellers to compete with homes that have never been lived in.”
Asked about the competition in her market, she shares that sellers are up against a lot of other houses in the area that were bought for zero dollars down. Two years later when the Army issues a PCS, many military homeowners have very little equity in their homes. Fortunately for sellers serving at Fort Hood, beyond her arsenal of experience in selling homes, Colón has an ally in Homejab.
“One of my most important marketing resources is my relationship with Homejab,” says Colón of the need to make each house she lists look its very best in the listing photos. A service-on-demand brand, Homejab is an app-based real estate photography platform that Colón and thousands of listing agents around the country use to order professional photographs, video tours, and ariel images of the homes they list. “I have tried a lot of photography services over the years, and it used to become quite complicated. With Homejab scheduling, my preferred photographer is literally just a few taps on my phone. As a real estate agent, I work often work very late and usually need photographs on pretty short notice. Being able to schedule what I want, who I want, and when I want from my phone is a game changer.”
Colón says she schedules homes to be shot two or three times a week and loves the fact that she can request her favorite photographer to be on-site in just a day or two. Homejab’s photographers use High Dynamic Range (HDR) techniques that produce vibrant, life-like images to account for differences in indoor and outdoor lighting during the day. Likewise, increasingly popular listing videos help agents create a realistic walk-through for buyers who may not even be able to see a home in person before they have to make a decision.
“For many military families, the buyers are being relocated from faraway places, frequently outside of the U.S.,” says Colón. “Buyers often have to make their decision based on the photography alone, so having great photographs is imperative to being competitive in my market.”
Colón appreciates that her preferred photographer always takes time to go through the house to eliminate distractions like trash cans or cluttered countertops. She also loves that the images are processed and packaged to go live on her listing platform generally within 24 hours or less. Asked about what she’d want other realtors to know about real estate in her market, Colón is direct.
“In my experience, if the objective is to sell a home quickly, there is no substitute for great photography,” she says. “Homejab makes it push-button easy for me to get great pictures on short notice with supreme reliability. My clients are people who serve our country. Maximum exposure helps sell their homes quickly and for top dollar, which makes me proud to be their agent.”
