Look for areas with strong rental demand, low vacancy rates, and proximity to schools, employment centers, and amenities.Future Growth: Check for signs of future development, such as new businesses, infrastructure improvements, or public transportation.

As you'd expect these giys are super busy an d you can't get a quote frpm them to save your life unless you said the magic words;  "I'm desparate and will pay 2x the actual costs today for you to take this job".   

My question is, is there really a "magic formula" that only the Pros know, or can I optimize my website myself?

Let the tenant pretend they’re at high school sneaking around to smoke. 

Both kids were starting school now and it was time for me to build back the old me.

I take an outdated home and modernize it in good neighborhoods with great schools.

Unfortunately the additional fee disproportionately impacts smaller projects (I recently paid the same acceleration fee for  $600,000 SF renovation as I just did for a $2.5M school building conversion). 

For example, if your property is a SFR and your target buyer is a family with younger children then you'll see more movement in the months where school is out so that the children wouldn't be changing districts mid-year (not that this doesn't happen though).

We’re thinking it could be seasonality, especially since our place is ideal for families and perhaps most families have done their moving for the year before school starts.

There's no magic formula - it depends on individual financial situations, risk tolerances, etc.