What is your Lubbock home worth?

Online home value estimates are a starting point, and often a misleading one. They're built from public records and nearby sales, but they can't walk through your home. They don't know that your kitchen was redone, that the roof is new, that the floor plan flows well, or that your lot backs to open space instead of a busy road. They also can't tell which nearby sales a buyer would actually compare your home to.

That's why two neighbors can get similar online numbers for very different homes, and why sellers who price from an online estimate are often surprised by the market's answer.

A useful valuation does what those tools can't. It looks at your actual home, and it compares it to the homes buyers will weigh it against today.

• A value range based on the sales and listings buyers will compare your home to.
• The reasoning behind it, laid out plainly so you can see how the range was built.
• What adds value and what doesn't, if you're thinking about updates before a sale.
• No obligation. Knowing where you stand is useful whether you sell next month, next year or not at all.

If you do decide to sell, the value becomes the first step of a pricing strategy. See how I price a home and the full selling plan.

Every home's value is a mix of things you can change and things you can't. Knowing which is which helps you decide whether to invest before selling.

Things you can't change, and that matter most. Location within the neighborhood, lot size and position, the street a home faces, and what's around it. A home backing to open space and a similar home backing to a busy road will not sell for the same price, whatever the square footage says.

Things that are expensive to change. The floor plan, the foundation, the roof, and heating and cooling systems. Buyers and their inspectors look closely at these, and their age and condition show up in offers.

Things you can change affordably. Paint, lighting, landscaping, repairs from a pre-listing walkthrough, and presentation. These don't make a home a different home, but they change how buyers feel about it and how quickly they commit.

Things buyers notice more than sellers expect. Drainage, signs of foundation movement, deferred maintenance, and anything that suggests a bigger problem behind a small one. Addressing these, or at least understanding them, protects your price during the option period.

The market around you. What's for sale nearby today, and at what price, shapes what buyers will pay for yours. That's why a value from three months ago, or from a neighbor's sale last year, may not tell you where you stand now.

Your valuation covers all of these, and shows you which ones are worth acting on before you sell.